Welcome once again to Newsbytes, the series of posts here on Arcade Heroes that runs through recent bytes of news around the arcade and pinball worlds. There are a couple major events coming up soon (AAA Expo and EVO Japan) that require coverage across several days, as well as a number of games shipping this month, so let\u2019s get everything else that\u2019s been happening in the meantime out of the way for all that to take center stage soon.<\/p>\n
ARE Expo \u2013 Arcades In Manchester, UK<\/h3>\n
Off the back of the GTI Southeast Asia Expo in Malaysia<\/a>, another new trade show started up recently, this time the UK\u2019s ARE Expo<\/a> (Amusement & Retail Entertainment Expo). This was held across two days at the end of April in Manchester, at the Victoria Warehouse. Ted did check in on the event\u2019s first day, and you can find a few photos from him of its relevant booths on the slides below.<\/p>\n Given that EAG wasn\u2019t too long ago it looks like there was little variation there, with Sega Amusements and Bandai Namco having much smaller booths (according to Ted the focus was on redemption, save for a few small exceptions). There were still a few differences though \u2013 EAG no-show Instance Automatics did attend with their new UNIS product, which gave people the chance to play the likes of Monster Kart<\/em> for the first time, and Cosmic Leisure had one or two new pieces, including a video skeeball game by HY Technology, plus a Gashapon vending competitor to counteract Bandai Namco\u2019s original and others.<\/p>\n As a quick aside, Ted did also pay a couple of locations at the nearby Trafford Centre a visit while in the area; these included the long-standing Namco Funscape<\/a> (featuring actual Gashapon, plus the Taiko No Tatsujin kiddie ride), and newer Archie’s Atomic<\/a>, which has an arcade stocked by Sega Amusements. The highlight of that was apparently the rare upright House of the Dead Scarlet Dawn<\/em>… though see if you can spot the unusual prototype elements on this Drone Racing Genesis<\/em> cabinet there too.<\/a><\/p>\n This year marks the 45th year since Pac-Man became a fixture in gaming and pop culture, and Bandai Namco is ready to celebrate. At the moment it is unknown if that will include a new game (the Class of ’81<\/em>, 25th Anniversary<\/em>, Pac-Man’s Arcade Party<\/a><\/em>, and Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash<\/em> have covered previous anniversaries, although Pixel Bash was released during an off-year<\/a>, serving as both the 35th & 40th anniversary game), although as we recently covered, the Pac-Man “Street Range”<\/a> has been occupying some of that space too.<\/p>\n One new console game that will celebrate Pac-Man’s legacy is the unique looking action platformer Shadow Labyrinth<\/em><\/a>, but there is more going on – especially on Pac-Man’s official “birthday” of May 22nd. That day “the entire city [of Shibuya-Harajuku, Japan] will celebrate the 45th anniversary of Pac-Man” and the company will open a pop-up Pac-Man location on the 4th floor of the Tokyu Plaza Harajuku “Harakado” with more Pac-Goodness. That will include a retro-style cafe and supermarket that is modeled after Shibuya in 1980, but apparently will feature goods and art that lead up to today. You’ll also be able to play Shadow Labyrinth, although the story doesn’t mention if any arcade machines will be set up in this area.<\/p>\n Mom & Dad are so excited that they’re leaving little Haruko behind…<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n What would you like to see Bandai Namco do to celebrate Pac-Man this year?<\/p>\n Ahead of their upcoming appearance at EVO Japan, exA-Arcadia have been pretty busy. Part of that has been down to their latest exALive stream below. Usually these are worthy of their own posts, but they have held back all the big announcements for EVO this time (of which four were teased, alongside their lineup of presently announced titles). In terms of all the little nuggets revealed already though, this post at exa-fan.jp has a quick rundown when translated.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arcadeheroes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/HOTD-SD-A-scaled.jpg?resize=599%2C799&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nBandai Namco Preps Pac-Man Parties<\/h3>\n
![\"Pac-Man's](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arcadeheroes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pacman-45th.jpg?resize=300%2C265&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"Pac-Man](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/arcadeheroes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image_2025-05-03_215210632.png?resize=598%2C296&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nexA-Arcadia Updates (April exALive, Asuka 120%)<\/h3>\n