Editorial: Sega‐developed Arcade Games by DrJordo - RetroAchievements/RANews GitHub Wiki
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What games do you first think of when Sega is mentioned? Probably one of their many console franchises: Sonic, Yakuza/Like A Dragon, and so on. But Sega is also an extremely prolific arcade publisher and developer, having made their earliest arcade machines in the 1960s. In this article, I'll be looking at some lesser known arcade games developed by Sega over the years.
Astron Belt (1983)
Upon its release in 1983, Cinematronics’ Dragon’s Lair is credited with introducing arcade gamers to laserdisc technology, which allowed players to interact with full-motion-video that blew anything else around at the time out of the water, graphics-wise. But, Dragon’s Lair was not the first game of its kind. In fact, the idea to create a laserdisc game came to Dragon’s Lair’s creator Rick Dyer when he saw a certain game being showcased at the 1982 Amusement & Music Operators Association show in Chicago. That game was Sega’s Astron Belt. In this game, the player controls a spaceship flying through a series of video scenes, shooting enemy ships and dodging obstacles along the way. The gameplay wasn’t exactly unique, even for its time, but the graphics made gamers feel like they were playing a real sci-fi movie. Astron Belt might have kick-started a massive phenomenon, if it had released first. But, Dragon’s Lair beat it to American arcades by several months, and Astron Belt would be left behind, nothing more than a footnote in the history of gaming.
Stack Columns (1994)
The reader might be familiar with Sega's Columns series of puzzle games, from their many console ports: Arrange falling columns of 3 gems into straight lines of 3 or gems of the same type. Stack Columns focuses entirely on duels, lacking a solitary play mode entirely. Players can make chains of matches not just to strengthen their own attack, but to weaken the opponent’s built up attack power. The attack can be used at any time, so some strategy is required. Where Stack Columns really differs from other games in the series is its presentation. It has an actual story! The player's father died 10 years ago while participating in an international Columns tournament, and now the player is entering that tournament to learn the truth of their father's fate. In this world, Columns is treated like a glamorous gambling game played by the rich and well connected, and the player will travel to famed gambling locales such as Las Vegas and Macau to compete. Opponents range from the mundane, like a Middle Eastern oil baron, to the bizarre, such as a cyborg. And the final opponent, well, you'll have to see for yourself.
Cool Riders (1995)
In Sega’s popular racing game Outrun (1986), the player drives a car through several branching paths in an effort to get to the finish line before time runs out. Cool Riders can be considered a spiritual successor to Outrun, in that it plays very similarly. As one of eight motorcyclists, the player embarks on a high-speed tour of the United States, the east, or the west. Each path is filled with unique stages from all over the world. In each stage, you must race against another biker. The winner gets to pick which stage to race on next. Like many games of this genre, real-life geography is thrown out the window: You could start in the Grand Canyon, and in the next stage visit Polynesia. The entire game has a wacky style to it. Playable characters include an Elvis impersonator and an old British gentleman riding an antique pedal-powered motorcycle. Every locale you visit has its own surprises: In India, you’ll drive through the Taj Mahal and share the road with elephants. Brazil features the festive Carnival, and rampaging dinosaurs! Needless to say, it’s not the most culturally sensitive of games, with each region being like a theme park ride filled to the brim with the most well-known landmarks and stereotypes of the area. Adding to the hilarity is the graphics: everything is rendered in a digitized style like Mortal Kombat. This one’s worth checking out for the unique, zany style alone.
Gunblade NY (1995)
Gunblade NY makes an immediate impression on anyone who sees a cabinet of it. The lightguns attached to it are HUGE! So big, in fact, they have to be mounted on a stand; the average arcade goer probably couldn't hold one of theses behemoths up for long. The player takes the role of a helicopter gunner, fighting terrorists in New York City. There are two scenarios to choose from, with four stages each. The player's weapon is powerful, befitting its size, and the gun itself shakes when it is fired. It doesn't need to be reloaded and never runs out of ammo, so feel free to hold down the trigger and let loose! A sequel, L.A. Machineguns, was released in 1998. Console ports of both exist, but this is one you'll want to experience in the arcade. The big gun makes the experience that much more immersive.
Emergency Call Ambulance (1999)
Medical emergencies happen all the time, and ambulance drivers are key to saving lives in these perilous situations. Emergency Call Ambulance puts you behind the wheel of an ambulance and tasks you with driving a wounded person to the hospital before they succumb to their injuries. You must drive quickly, of course, but also safely: your time isn’t measured just in seconds, but also your patient’s health. Crash into something, and the patient will take damage, leaving you with even less time to save them. Complicating matters is the city this game takes place in: it’s a very dangerous place, with traffic accidents and police chases threatening you at every turn. For example, one level features a gigantic speeding van that appears throughout the stage. If you don’t know its coming, it could end your game, and your patient’s life! The last level is like something out of an action film, where you must ferry a very important person through the most violent lightning storm you’ve ever seen. A secret code lets you ditch the ambulance and play as two super-fast emergency personnel, speeding the patient down the road in a gurney.
SegaSonic Bros. (Unreleased)
The Sonic franchise was such a huge hit for Sega, but for whatever reason, they didn’t really capitalize on this in the arcades. There’s SegaSonic The Hedgehog (1993), which was Japan exclusive and difficult to play in emulation due to its trackball controls. Sonic The Fighters (1996) was a fighting game with very little of the depth that fighting game players expect from the genre. Other than some minigames attached to rides for small children, that’s it! However, there was one more arcade sonic game, which would never see an official release in arcades. SegaSonic Bros. Is a falling block puzzle designed by Fukio Mitsuji, known best for designing Bubble Bobble. In this game, the player drops square blocks of four mini-Sonics of various colors onto the play field. The Sonics turn into balls when placed, and the goal is to create lines of balls that connect the walls of the play field to each other, or to the very bottom. This clears not only the balls that form the line, but also any ball beneath them. Occasionally a chaos emerald appears, which can be used to clear out the row it lands on, and anything above itself. The game has both single and 2 player modes. After failing location tests in 1992, SegaSonic Bros. would remain almost completely unknown until 2017, when a private collector posted screenshots online, and later brought their cabinet to arcade gaming events. It would not become playable in MAME until 2021.
This is just a taste of what the realm of arcade games has to offer. I encourage any readers to explore further, to see what kind of unique experiences they can find. Though these games can be a little more difficult to emulate than the typical console game, the effort is certainly worth it, in my opinion.