Every two weeks, you can take part in a new challenge hosted on the Recalbox Discord. This challenge is open to everyone!

The concept is simple: try to achieve the highest score on a randomly selected game, often from the arcade catalog.

Selected Game: Aqua Rush

🚀 For this seventh challenge of 2025, the chosen game is Aqua Rush!

Summer is here, and what better way to cool off than by diving into the refreshing underwater world of this original puzzle game from Namco?

Developed and published in 1999 on arcade hardware (System 12), Aqua Rush is often compared to Tetris but brings several fresh gameplay mechanics:

• Unlike Tetris, where the pieces fall down, in Aqua Rush they rise from the bottom of the screen.
• Each piece consists of three columns of bubbles: you can’t rotate them, but you can individually adjust the height of each column using three dedicated buttons. So if a piece doesn’t fit, you can adapt it by increasing the height of one or more columns.
• The goal is to fill gaps and clear full lines (called "rushes") to make your way up to the ocean’s surface.

💡 The game is relatively unknown in Europe, as it was never officially released outside Japan, remaining exclusive to Japanese arcade machines.

Challenge Rules

• 🎯 Objective: get the highest score on a single credit.
• 📅 From June 3 to June 16, 2025 at 11:59 PM.
• 🔁 You can try as many times as you want during the challenge period.

How to Participate?

1. 🎮 Launch the game (ROM: aquarush).
   ⚠️ Unlike previous challenges, the game must be launched using MAME, not FBNeo.
2. 🏹 Play and aim for the highest score.
3. 📸 Take a screenshot or a photo of your final score.
4. 📤 Share your score in the Discord channel #challenges
   or use the command: /submit score leaderboard

Fair Play Rules

To ensure a fair competition:

• The score must be achieved on a single credit.
• No save states, rewind, cheats, or auto-fire allowed, unless the game includes auto-fire by default.

🎁 Rewards & Sportsmanship

The challenge is all about discovering games, sharing tips, and having fun, all in a friendly and competitive spirit!

🏆 The winner will receive a game key (Steam, GOG, etc.) of their choice from a list of around 200 titles.

📌 If you’ve won a challenge in the last 3 months, the reward will go to the next player on the podium.

Good luck everyone, and may the highest score win! 🌊