ARCADE WATCH
Keeping an eye on the coin-op gaming scene
Game Biohazard RE:2 Arcade
Manufacturer Bandai Namco
The direction of travel for videogames has historically involved an arcade debut before an eventual arrival on home platforms, often with painful compromises made along the way. But there have always been exceptions, going way back to the ’80s, when Sega turned 1982’s Choplifter into an arcade attraction three years later, and nowadays it doesn’t feel remotely odd to see Mario Kart with a coin slot. Nintendo’s racing series is a slightly different beast in its arcade incarnation, but it hews closer to its inspiration than Bandai Namco’s forthcoming Biohazard RE:2 Arcade, which takes the characters, enemies and environments of Resident Evil 2 and takes the logical route of transplanting it all into a lightgun game along the lines of 2009 Wii release The Darkside Chronicles. You’ll be able to try to shoot Mr X’s silly hat off all over again when it arrives in the west next year as Resident Evil 2: Dead Shot.