ARCADE WATCH
Keeping an eye on the coin-op gaming scene
Game Missile Command Recharged Manufacturer ALAN-1
If there’s one thing we cannot resist in the world of modern arcade games, it’s a new cabinet with an absolutely monstrous screen. That this latest example is coming from the manufacturer with the best name in the entire business, ALAN-1, is a bonus. Missile Command Recharged follows on the heels of the company’s previous collaboration with Atari, which transplanted Asteroids Recharged from PC and console into the arcade, but ups the ante. Where its previous project used a familiar upright form factor, Missile Command Recharged offers seated play. In time-honoured tradition, you use a trackball to aim shots at incoming missiles in a bid to protect your bases, with additional hazards emerging as you progress. Alongside traditional fire buttons, the two-person hardware also features a single big red button positioned between each player, together with old-fashioned phone handsets alongside both sets of controls. Quite how the latter options come into play isn’t clear, and ALAN-1says that the hardware image pictured above is only a ‘concept rendering’ and subject to change. We’re hoping the final unit doesn’t dial things down too much.