A Comics Adaptation Of A Video Game That Never Existed: Reviewing ‘Arcade Kings’ #4

Welcome to the table,

Arcade Kings continues to play out like the best video game adaptation of a video game that never existed. 

I’ve never fumbled quarters into an arcade cabinet where I controlled Joe or Ken and fought wave after wave with boss battles as the backgrounds changed. As I flip through the pages of this book though it legit feels like the best adaptation of a game I have never played.

Arcade Kings #4 jumps in where our protagonist brothers Joe and Ken meet after being separated for a long while. Joe is excited to see Ken but Ken is not exactly thrilled to see his older brother after such a long time.

Dylan Burnett, the creator, writer, and artist, continues to create such a lived-in setting that I want to dive in deeper in the form of a TTRPG or some kind of Jet Set Radio Future smash and bash platformer just to explore it more deeply.

Walter Baiamonte and Sara Antonellini with Simona Iurato and Sharon Marino do real heavy lifting with the color work. This book wouldn’t be nearly as successful if they were not involved. The vibrant playful tones sell this book, evoking a side scroller of the late 80s and early 90s. When it drops into fight scenes, the color pops, and the tones really bring this whole thing to life.

The themes are fairly predictable, until they are not. That is what keeps me excited for Arcade Kings. Everything you expect to happen with a story about estranged siblings raised by a selfish fighter in a world based on fighting and arcade games plays out exactly how you would think it would, until it stops playing by the established rules. What you see coming ends up being smoke and mirrors and something totally new starts to emerge.

I am speaking in vagueness because I was 100% convinced I knew what was going on with the story until the last few pages of this issue. Where I thought it would go actually ended up in the exact same place, but it was also totally not what I was expecting. I really have no idea what is coming next now and that makes this whole fun brightly colored ride even more enjoyable.

I spent a summer playing some arcade fighters with one hand because the combos were all so predictable it was like typing, then someone came along and destroyed me in a way that made me excited and stepped up my game. Arcade Kings tosses that level of “What just happened?” at the end of this issue and I for one am looking forward to what comes next.

Until next time, Arcade Kings continues to be the brightly colored video game-themed comic that I want to sink my quarters into month after month and I for one hope that after this story wraps there are more tales to tell in this world.