King of the Arcade Review

Developed and published by Super Villain Games, King of the Arcade is an attempt to capture a feEl of the past when arcades were all the rage. I don’t mean the arcades of the current era either; I mean the buildings of wonder in the late 80s and 90s where you can play games you couldn’t play at home. But although it did bring back memories of the arcades of old, the variety of tongue-in-cheek titles always felt like taster sessions.

There is a short story mode to play through which feels like an introduction to many of the cabinets on offer. Nonetheless, you play as Mac McCormick, an arcade hero of the past who has become a bit of a loser and needs a job. He visits the arcade to see if he can apply for a job there and his timing couldn’t be better as the evil Jimmy Joysticks is looking to put the arcade out of business. But the arcade is given a chance for redemption – if any of their staff can beat the scores of Jimmy’s arcade gang in a game of their choosing then he will leave the arcade alone. So, Mac’s first job at the arcade is to save the arcade and be the champion he once was.

The graphics and layout of the arcade feel like something that was created in the Roblox universe. It is very blocky and the voice acting feels like it was all done using speech software text-to-voice audio. I know the preference is voice acting over just walls of text but I feel this is only slightly better. The layout of the arcade is pretty good and it’s fun to see all the names of the cabinets and how they heavily borrow from original games. For example Jump Pals, Chatter Man, Sidewalk Fighter 2, Duck Shot and Meteor Shower – some of you might make the connection to the original titles.

Most of the games can be played with 2 players locally, but each of them just plays like a sample of a game – not too much of a surprise considering there are over 40 playable games as well as this title’s low price range. But it does mean you will tire of some of the games quickly as you will either complete them or you are just repeating the same levels. Don’t get me wrong they are fun the play and the twist of the titles are amusing. You will have to search around the arcade to find some of the games as they can be hidden away like playing Snake on an old mobile phone.

The story mode can be completed in an hour or so and is not too challenging. You just have to beat a certain score in the game next to one of the goons and it wasn’t a struggle. Some of the movement controls in the 3D-based fighter games were a bit sticky but it didn’t take too long to overcome them. I would avoid playing the computer at air hockey though as it’s almost impossible to score let alone have a chance to win. The achievements in the game were also very easy to pop as I managed to get them all without really trying which although sounds like a boast, I don’t seek achievements.

Conclusion

King of the Arcade does a fair job of being a cheaper title that gives you value for money. It’s not too difficult, it gives you a feel of what arcades used to look like in the past and there are plenty of different games to play. Those born around that era they will find the knockoff titles fun to play if not just amusing. It could be a fun way for a parent to expose their kids to games of the past without it being overwhelming and without all the loading.

This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox Series X/S. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.