Sega Shows Off Next-Gen Arcade Games

Sega's anticipated Lindbergh arcade titles make their way into this year's JAMMA-organised AM show in Tokyo - first ever screens and details from Virtua Fighter 5 and After Burner inside - plus Yu Suzuki's latest.

Earlier this year, Sega wowed E3 attendees with next-gen footage of several of its key franchises. While the company was loath to go into detail about them at the time, the games are on display again this week as part of Sega's line-up at the annual Amusement Machine Show - often better known by the name of its organiser, JAMMA, in Tokyo.

Virtua Fighter 5 was officially announced and shown off in a stunning trailer, showing all the characters, impressive backgrounds, and genre-leading lighting effects.

Sega's new arcade board, Lindbergh, is not based on Xbox 360 hardware, as early rumours had it. Rather, the company has built an affordable and powerful system using PC-based components. Some industry watchers have even billed the hardware as a spiritual successor to the Sammy-built Atomiswave board, which was designed with economic production in mind.

Old fighters return in VF5, while two newcomers are confirmed.

To show off what it can do with its new hardware, Sega showed off its next-gen arcade line-up, which includes such eagerly awaited games as Virtua Fighter 5, House of the Dead 4, After Burner, Power Smash 3 (Virtua Tennis 3 outside Japan) and a new third-person touch-screen-controlled game from Yu Suzuki called Psy-Phi.

Sega has traditionally concentrated on making arcade games. But the shift to home console gaming and the decline in popularity of arcades means that these newly revealed titles are all but guaranteed to show up in your living room sometime soon - although right now, it remains to be seen whether this will be the case on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 - or perhaps more likely, both.

From top row to bottom: The new, Nvidia-powered Lindbergh arcade hardware, the all-new After Burner, Power Smash 3, Yu Suzuki's new title Psy Phi, and new shots from House of the Dead 4. We'll have much more on all these titles shortly.

Kikizo is already working on bringing you more on these games, including hot video coverage. In the meantime, for the discerning arcade fan, these announcements leave little doubt that Sega is well and truly 'back'.

Kikizo Staff