exA-Arcadia

The exA-Arcadia^[a] is a ROM cartridge-based arcade system board released on November 27, 2019 by the Japanese game company of the same name.

Development of the exA-Arcadia hardware began in September 2017. The system's first title, Aka & Blue Type-R, was developed by ex-Cave Interactive staff. It was the first shoot'em up game to be sold in the arcade market since Dodonpachi True Death in 2012. Partnering with Microsoft, exA-Arcadia created a custom operating system based on a simplified version of Microsoft Windows, similar to the approach used by Microsoft's own Xbox line of consoles. It removed numerous pieces of the operating system in order to optimize it for gaming. In 2019 the 2D Fighter Maker 2nd engine was licensed exclusively to exA-Arcadia, resulting in the release of Axel City 2. exA-Arcadia rebuilt the engine to improve rendering and input.

In March 2020, Cave Interactive joined exA-Arcadia in the development of the Dodonpachi True Death EXA Label, the first title in the EXA Label series, which was released in the same year on November 30th.^[1][2] In Japan, video-game distribution was handled by the prize manufacturer, Eikoh, while retail partners, Beep and KVClab, began carrying exA-Arcadia products in the same year in September.

Due to the cancellation of events as a result of the widespread COVID-19 pandemic, the US trade show debut of exA-Arcadia was held at Amusement Expo International (AEI) 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada in June.^[3] A deluxe sized American style cabinet with a 55" (139cm) 4K display was showcased at the event, along with 24 games on exhibition. In the same year, several developers joined exA-Arcadia as content partners, including Team Arcana, with their updated version of Arcana H licensedeart 3 Love Max Six Stars!!!!!! Xtend, SNK Corporation with an uncensored version of Samurai Shodown V Perfect and Success Corporation with their title Cotton Rock 'n' Roll, the first arcade cross platform release on exA-Arcadia and Sega's ALL.Net P-ras MULTI Version 3 (APM3). Dave & Buster's and Round 1 USA began to operate exA-Arcadia conversion kits at a number of locations nationwide from the fall of 2021. The first ever official Team Shanghai Alice licensed Touhou Project arcade game, Touhou Perfect Sakura Fantastica, was released on exA-Arcadia in 2022.^[4]

The same year at the IAAPA Expo held in Orlando, Florida in November, exA-Arcadia debuted their new ARC-1 cabinet in 1, 2 & 4 player configurations. At the same time exA-Arcadia was also planning to expand their American distribution channels to nationwide distributors AVS Companies^[5] and Shaffer Distributing. ExA-Arcadia showcased 32 games on the show floor, including several new in-development titles for players to enjoy. Tatsujin, the current IP holder of Toaplan titles, collaborated with exA-Arcadia to release Batsugun EXA Label in June 2023, as the fourth title in the EXA Label series.

The Dutch company, Hawt Pink Club BV, develops Hawt Pink Club, an exA-Arcadia-compatible arcade board that focuses on adult arcade games. This system made its debut at AVN Expo 2020 held in January.^[6] After this exhibition, no news would be revealed until the following year in April in Japan where the company, Hacker Global, announced it would start distribution of this product line.^[7] The system and games were exhibited in a private location at Amusement Expo International that July.^[8]

In Japan, GM Corporation (Japanese: 株式会社ジーエム商事) started distribution of exA-Arcadia product while Genda GiGO Entertainment, who acquired all the Club Sega locations, began operation of exA-Arcadia conversion kits throughout Japan. In the United States, distribution was expanded though major nationwide distributors Player One Amusement Group (Cineplex Entertainment) and Moss Distributing. CSML Group started distribution in India, and PT Megaindo Gemilang Lestari brought distribution of exA-Arcadia products to Indonesia.

In 2024, exA-Arcadia released the game Jitsu Squad featuring Samurai Pizza Cats, based on the game Jitsu Squad from Tanuki Creative Studio and the animated series Samurai Pizza Cats. By April 2024, over 2,000 games were in operation throughout the world, and the company had acquired the rights to Gazelle's games. The first Gazelle title to be released on the platform was Airgallet EXA Label, which was developed by the original staff, including Junya Inoue, who returned to work on this remaster. Another title from Tatsujin was FixEight EXA Label, which was released the same year in October, developed by the original staff from Toaplan, including Nanpei Kaneko. At EVO Japan 2024 held in Ariake GYM-EX, Japan in April, exA-Arcadia announced their new Japanese style sit down cabinet dubbed the ARC-32, and 10 new fighting games. By that year, exA-Arcadia became the only remaining Japanese arcade manufacturer still releasing traditional joystick arcade games. In the same year, exA-Arcadia acquired the rights to Vanguard Princess via a ruling made by the Government of Japan's Agency of Cultural Affairs.^[9] That July, exA-Arcadia became the first foreign arcade company in history to be accepted as a member by the Japanese Amusement Industry Association (JAIA (Japanese: 一般社団法人 日本アミューズメント産業協会)).^[10]

• OS: Customized Microsoft Windows^[11]
• CPU: Intel^[12]
• Memory: 8 GB^[12]
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce^[12]
• IO: JVS and JVS', utilizing JVS to JAMMA I/O boards, compatible with JAMMA^[11]
• Resolution: 4K, 1080p, 768p, 720p, 480p (4:3), horizontal and vertical screens
• Dimensions: A4^[12]
• Media: ROM cartridge up to 2 TB
• Compatible engines: Unity, Unreal Engine, GameMaker Studio 2, Clickteam Fusion 2.5+, Corona/Solar2D, XNA, Construct 3, Godot, STG Builder, OpenBOR, 2D Fighter Maker 2nd, Pixel Game Maker MV, HTML5
• Input latency: 0.3 frames
• Network connectivity: N/A
• Network revenue share fee: N/A

exA-Arcadia has developed 3 different cabinet styles since the system's introduction in 2019:

• Funco
• ARC-1
• ARC-32

The exA-Arcadia system has a total of 63 games.

• Official website