Resident Evil 2 is getting a new co-op arcade shooter

Capcom and Bandai Namco have announced Resident Evil 2 Arcade, a new co-op light gun shooter based on the 2019 console remake. The cabinet is currently in development and will launch in amusement centers across Japan and Europe sometime in 2026, with location tests announced for North America.

I rarely get to write about new arcade games these days, so this is an absolute pleasure. The dedicated arcade cabinet market is a fraction of what it was in the 1990s. Bandai Namco still knows how to build a proper on-rails shooter, though. They are the company behind Time Crisis, after all. They understand that modern arcade games survive by offering physical experiences you cannot easily replicate in a living room.

Two players, air blasts, and heavy recoil

The hardware relies heavily on environmental gimmicks to simulate the horror of Raccoon City. The cabinet includes a heavy gun controller with simulated blowback recoil, air blasts that hit players during jump scares, and vibrating floor panels. Up to two players can team up as rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield.

This is not a direct translation of the console game. The original Resident Evil 2 launched in 1998, and Capcom's critically acclaimed remake arrived on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2019. That remake was a slow, methodical survival horror experience where every bullet mattered. The arcade adaptation tosses that tension out the window in favor of nonstop action. You will be gunning down waves of zombies rather than carefully managing your inventory.

The timeline and enemy encounters are also scrambled for the sake of pacing. Leon and Claire will face off against Hunter Gammas, which are amphibious enemies that originally debuted in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Claire also gets a brand new sequence where she meets the corporate spy Ada Wong outdoors. In the original story, those two characters never cross paths during the Raccoon City outbreak.

Players will also encounter familiar threats like Lickers and the towering Tyrant known as Mr. X. Classic items like Green Herbs and Mr. Raccoon dolls will appear as well. These act as health pickups and hidden bonus targets to shoot along the rails.

Testing begins in Chiba this March

Capcom has a long history of turning its survival horror franchise into on-rails shooters. Games like Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and The Darkside Chronicles on the Nintendo Wii proved the concept works well. Pitting two players against a horde of zombies is a formula Sega perfected decades ago with The House of the Dead. Now, Bandai Namco is applying that same arcade logic to the Raccoon Police Department.

It makes perfect sense to use the 2019 remake as the foundation. That game used Capcom's RE Engine to rebuild the labyrinthine police station. The engine produced incredibly detailed, gory zombie models that react dynamically to gunfire. Translating those high-quality assets into a fast-paced arcade shooter is a smart way to reuse the work. It creates a completely different genre of game in the process.

Home consoles no longer support traditional CRT light guns. Arcades are now the only place to get a proper light gun experience with accurate sights and heavy recoil.

The full release is scheduled for later in 2026. It is genuinely nice to see massive, dedicated arcade cabinets still getting manufactured. I just hope the immersive air blasts do not smell like the Raccoon City sewers.