When you think about playing Minecraft, or more specifically, the Minecraft Dungeons spinoff game, you are probably imagining playing it on a PC. Perhaps you’re on a couch, playing it on your Xbox with a friend by your side. Mojang and Play Mechanix have something else in mind with Minecraft Dungeons Arcade, a full-fledged arcade cabinet designed to run a custom version of the game.
Though on the surface it’s very similar to the existing version of Minecraft Dungeons, Play Mechanix wanted the game to have the breakneck pace of a traditional arcade title. There are nine levels, with buttons for melee attacks, dodging, and ranged attacks so that newcomers can play it easily. The original game isn’t exactly a complex action-RPG, simplifying the basic dungeon-crawling gameplay of Diablo with plenty of Minecraft tropes.
To make up for the lack of saving, progression is handled through physical cards that you’ll get after playing. You keep these, and when you go back to play the game again, you can scan it and access the gear. It’s almost like an Amiibo system, and you can scan up to five in total during a session, with 60 available to collect. It’ll certainly be an incentive to keep you coming back.
There’s also a special card meter in the game that fills up as you collect gems. Once activated, you can deliver a devastating attack to surrounding enemies.
Minecraft Dungeons Arcade isn’t the first time Microsoft has turned one of its franchises into an arcade game. Halo: Fireteam Raven was also made with the collaboration of Play Mechanix, as well as legendary designer Eugene Jarvis’ company Raw Thrills. That was a completely separate game from the main Halo titles, however, built from the ground-up to take advantage of the arcade unit’s unique hardware.
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