Before we begin, I want to apologize to the creators of Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers. This review should have gone up a while ago, but when I recorded the interview with Stefan and Aenne (pronounced: En-Uh), I discovered that Zoom is not something I’m very good at and I lost the entire interview. What sucks is that they gave some tremendous content and answers for their newly released product and you’ll get to hear none of them. But I’m going to do my best to try and relay what at least one or two things we discussed in my review and encourage you to check them out on Twitter: @peachyaenne & @ArcadeSpiritsVN.
If you’ve never played the first Arcade Spirits, it’s a visual novel set in the alternate world of 20XX. You’re a good guy and arcades never lost popularity. With the help of an AI named Iris, you begin work at an arcade known as Francine’s Funplex. The Funplex may not be big, but you have all kinds of dedicated gamers and players who know and appreciate retro arcades and arcade games.
Through open choice dialogue, you take control of Ari and begin your rise to arcade leader and friend to your arcade family while having plenty of romance choices around you for any dating sensibility you may have. You can date boys, girls, rivals, friends, and even your best friend if that’s your thing. Your goal is to stay afloat in a competitive arcade scene with a guy named Deco Nami ready to pilfer your arcade at the first sign of failure.
Arcade Spirits’s sequel, New Challengers, builds on this in a big way. New Challengers plays a lot like the first game, but with more choices. More choices for dating, friends, and a more in-depth look at the world built by the first game. We get more answers on Deco Nami, Sue Nami, Polybius, and much more. If you played the first game, you’ll know exactly what these terms mean, but don’t fret if you didn’t because New Challengers is designed to account for new players.
While there are still a few bugs on the Switch version — most notably, the inability to continue your story from the first game as it crashes the game — these things have been patched on the Xbox and PlayStation versions. The patch is expected to drop for the Switch soon, per a tweet to me from the creators. I used the bug to start a new game with a completely new character and once it’s patched, I’ll begin a second game with my old character. So, it’s a way for me to enjoy the game twice, if you will.
The game’s creators also do a great job of reminding you to love yourself. They remind you that failure will happen, but that kindness overcomes all along as it’s accompanied by a genuine love and compassion for those around you and in your life. There’s an inherent reward in being yourself, but don’t forget about the people who helped you become that person. They’re often just as important to your success and it’s important to share those experiences with them. I came away from this gaming learning some good lessons about myself and some harder ones and I’ll be forever thankful for that experience.
These games are all about choices and finding out who you are. It’s funny, too, because the game actually does an effective job of mirroring real life. I’ll give you the perfect example. I spent the entire first game thinking I was romancing Ashley or maybe kinda flirting with Naomi. It turns out these people never saw me that way and it was the most embarrassing rejection when I asked them out only to be turned down. It turns out that my actions had attracted someone I wasn’t interested in but the people I was interested in weren’t interested in me. Tell me that’s not real life.
And that’s what’s great about Arcade Spirits: New Challengers and the Arcade Spirits franchise in general. It’s a pretty damn good recreation of our real life dynamics and even in the games, men and women are clueless about each other’s intentions. After I got over my embarrassment of being rejected, I spent the next twenty minutes laughing at the reality of the situation and that’s why I came back for more with New Challengers and I haven’t been disappointed yet. If you’re into romance visual novels or games where dating can be a side option if you want it and not if you don’t, Arcade Spirits & the new Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers is exactly what you’re looking for and much more.
Kane Webb covers video games, comics, and film/tv for BSO and The Marvel Report. He also covers the USC Trojans for Athlon Sports. He is an entertainment journalist and you can follow him for more on Twitter: @FightOnTwist
