Using date hardware is beneficial to small developers (such as the developers of Arcana Hearts) and also of great benefit to U.S. arcade operators. Very few complete cabinets and set ups, are worth investing in. Most arcades in my area invested in House of the Dead 4 and the latest edition of Maximum Tune. Fighting games however, don't get as much attention, because a lot of the focus is still on fighters from a decade ago (Alpha 3, Third Strike and MVC2, though that is only 8 years old).

I know my local arcade operator was hesitant to even pick up Melty Blood Act Cadenza, because even though it runs on a Naomi board (of which he had plenty), his distributor was only able to get it as a full kit, rather than just as a GD-ROM. He sunk in something around $2,000 for it, but charges $0.25 to play it, just so the machine will get business. It's rough stuff running an arcade.

I see, I see. I knew what the kits were but just didn't grasp onto the financial aspect of it. I guess I figured the game is already niche over here in the first place that anyone who'd purchase it would have a regular crowd to support it.

Either way it's awesome because the game is great.

Let's say you have an old arcade game that uses a compatible board, the game is not making much money anymore, by changing the rom set and the decals you have a brand new game. So that's what a conversion kit is, this differs from a dedicated cabinet that is pre-sold with the game in question on it.

Arcana Hearts 2 probably isn't considered to be profitable enough to be sold as a complete cabinet, but as an inexpensive conversion kit it might sell better, that's why it's being marketed in such a way. It's for Arcade owners who have an arcade machine with a compatible chipset to put in a new game.

That's weird. University Pinball near me has had an import of this game for awhile.

Not sure what the conversion kit stuff is all about?