Topic: Arcade Version of Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom Uses Wii Technology

[Penguin_Of_Thyme]

Capcom's Japanese fighting game Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes is powered by hardware that bears a striking resemblance to the innards of the Wii.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=17527

 Photos taken by The Stinger Report reveal that the motherboard inside Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom is stamped with Nintendo's name. In addition, the hardware that runs Capcom's fighter lacks an Ethernet adapter and has a WiFi device just like the Wii. It is currently unknown if any other games will use the Wii based arcade system board.    

Since the mid-1990s, it has become very common for arcade games to run on hardware that is based on a popular home console. For example, Namco games such as Tekken 2 and Soul Edge utilized the Namco System 11 arcade system board which is little more than an enhanced Sony Playstation. Another example occurred last generation when Nintendo teamed up with Sega and Namco to create an arcade board based on the Gamecube called the Triforce. According to the coin-op centric website Arcade Heroes, Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes is the first known case of an arcade game that uses technology based on the Wii.    

In Japan, a port of Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom was released for the Wii this past December. While Capcom has said the fighter may see release in North America, there are a number of license issues that would have to be resolved with the rights owners of the Tatsunoko animation characters.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Old news, I showed the arcade board pics with comparison to the Wii Motherboard pics.

[KDR_11k]

Yeah but those pics had nothing in common, someone had to look closely and compare the components.

[RABicle]

Yeah but all that ws found in common was 'Nintendo' and wifi.

[Enner]

Such close analysis is vital!

I have been wondering what US rights issues are there with the Tatsunoko properties. From the top of my head, I figured there was little imported and localized (I only know one for sure and that's Karas).

[NWR_pap64]

The Tatsunoko licensing issues is a mess. Right now I am doing research on "Battle of the Planets" (where Ken the Eagle is from). In February of 2007 Sandy Frank's license expire, and apparently ADV picked it up for the newer productions, so  that's one company for Capcom to pursue. "Karas" was licensed by Manga Entertainment, that's two companies to give credit.

Yatterman just received a remake. The remake hasn't been licensed in any part of the world. The original was never licensed either. The Casshern OAV was originally distributed by Orion, then ADV picked it up  for re-release. Tekkaman had I believe 3 distributors during its original run, Saban being one of them.

Hurricane Polymar has no US distributor. Neither do Gold Lightan, The Genie Family or Ippatsuman.

So to sum it up...Tatsunoko is one big licensing mess.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Maybe Japanese content owners will learn from this and not grant exclusive licenses to foreign distributors, or at least put loopholes in them.  They must recognize that these licenses blocking crossover products from reaching our shores are forcing them to miss big opportunities.  Take the royalties on a few hundred thousand copies of TVC for example.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Yeah but all that ws found in common was 'Nintendo' and wifi.

Wrong, it also had a SD card slot USB ports serial connections where the gamecube ports are supposed to be. Of course the chipset is going to be different to accommodate specific connectors to the rest of the arcade and the monitor and speakers. Here are the pics again. The arcade board is based off the Wii motherboard.

Tatsunoko vs Capcom arcade hardware chasis

Tatsunoko vs capcom arcade motherboard

  Wii console chipset/motherboard

[AV]

ok. the idea of 'arcade' and 'new games' seems so alien to me.
 

[TJ Spyke]

ok. the idea of 'arcade' and 'new games' seems so alien to me.
 

No surprise. Arcades may be basically dead here in the United States, but they are still alive in Japan (although they seem to be on a decline there too).

It's a shame this game will likely never get released here. It's like Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars all over again.