Cowboysandgirls

Gunslinger Stratos: I always describe its awesome control scheme (twin light pistols with dual analogue thumbsticks) and crazy gameplay (8P team deathmatch around Tokyo), then I add a full stop. “And you can fly.”

Pretty cool, huh.

Apart from being cool, it looks cool. The cabinet consists of double-holstered, bowlegged cyber-chaps. It was used as the Mad Dog MacCree Redux cabinet in the 2045 diner in Back to the Future Part IV.

It also gets female players – maybe thanks to its character design, which is less misogynistic than the Tokyo arcade average. (A bar you could dig over.)

Example: the female gunslinger selected in the photo is showing almost no skin, wears loose-fitting clothes and has a fuckyou headset and cyberstilts.

It would be great, then, if the latest AAA from the same dev/pub combo (Byking/Squenix) achieved the same. 2018’s Starwing Paradox is every bit as exciting and convoluted a premium installation, but the first female character I saw had unfortunately been employed as a typically simpering and cleavaged setup/tutorial assistant.

Ho-hum. Baby steps, I guess.

Meanwhile, the Byking/Squenix collab is showing originality, ambition and a serious commitment to flamboyant experience design that can only happen in the arcade. Let’s hope for character design that attracts more and more people to see it.