The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 10

In 1992 Namco had created an urban theme park in Futakotamagawa, Setagaya-ku; one of the Tokyo wards. Wonder Eggs was an experiment in play. For all intents and purposes it was also the world’s first video game theme park. The idea of an attraction based on a video game was not new. In fact there was a ride based on a pinball from the short lived World of Sid & Marty Krofft indoor amusement park. That concept extended back to November 1976, but it was riders inside a giant pinball machine, not quite the same thing as a video game, however it did reflect the changing themes in entertainment.

The next stab at a video game attraction came in February 1983. Jim Reilly was with a company called Meeting Planners. He wanted to launch the Electronic Circus, and the World’s Largest Arcade. The Electronic Circus was a traveling show that would visit big, and small towns across the country. He wanted to have the greatest players of certain games compete against local legends. It sounded like a fun spectacle but turned out to be a miserable idea. It lasted just five days. This was covered in the documentary Chasing Ghosts as well as in The Golden Age Arcade Historian Blog.

Many long-time video game fans might think that Sega was responsible for the first video game theme park. In fact I assumed it to be true for decades before researching this series. Joypolis was a chain of indoor amusement parks created by Sega and run by CA Sega Joypolis. It opened on July 20, 1994 with the original location in Yokohama, Japan. Joypolis opened in several cities in Japan and later China. The parks feature arcade games and amusement rides based on Sega's intellectual properties, original themes, and licensed franchises. Alongside the predecessor Galbo venues and the overseas spin-offs SegaWorld London and Sega World Sydney. Sega coined the term "Amusement Theme Park" or "ATP"  in the '90s. Eleven Joypolis theme parks opened, but as of 2021, five parks remain operational; two in Japan (Tokyo and a Sports Center in Sendai) and three in China (Qingdao, Shanghai and Guangzhou); the failure of many of the parks has largely been attributed to poor visitor numbers, managerial problems, and cost-cutting measures. The majority of the closures happened during Sega's global losses during the early 2000s.

I had mentioned some of the most fantastic Sega, and Namco game-meets-theme park rides previously on the blog. Including the Ghost Hunter games featured in Joypolis. There certainly were some amazing attractions that should be studied by amusement fans, but I want to focus on the actual first video game theme park. Wonder Eggs had a lot more riding on it than any other project Namco had undertaken. At the same time they did not plan on putting all their chips on theme park operations. The goal was to make an urban park that lasted just four years, 50 months to be precise. It was about the amount of time between a World Cup, Olympics, or World’s Expo. This span of time also covered the technology leap that would occur in arcades, and even home consoles. If the largest attractions were going to have video game elements then Namco did not want their park to look or feel dated (Toy Story Midway Mania, I am looking right at you!).

This perception of an aging game park could have tarnished their reputation with the growing middle class. Namco was a large company, but they certainly didn’t have a Disney budget. They did not have access to Imagineers with a portfolio of rides, and themed lands ready to go. Nor could they keep buying more land, and expand their footprint. Disney, and the Oriental Land Company (OLC) had that luxury. They were not only able to build Tokyo Disneyland, but they owned almost all the hotels surrounding the property. They were able to host their guests, and cater to their every need so that they never even had to leave the area. The OLC was so successful that they eventually built a second gate with Tokyo Disney Sea. Namco had a smaller, and more modest park by comparison. It was easily accessible by rail line, but did not warrant a hotel for visitors. It did not mean that the park wouldn’t be special.

Wonder Eggs turned out to be a hit with attendees. Namco referred to their customers as “Dreamers” which was important to the story of the park. In fact the entire park had an overall concept, and a series of smaller themed areas within. Making it a true theme park, and not simply an amusement park. Wonder Eggs lasted much longer than anticipated, and would get a refresh every few years. These evolutions were known as Wonder Eggs 2, and Wonder Eggs 3. Here was a summary of Wonder Eggs written by Namco, with additional notes by me.

Namco Wonder Egg brief chronology (8-year trajectory) This is an imaginary park filled with Namco’s original “play.” A number of participatory story attractions where you can experience dreams, adventure, and the future. 

1992 - February 29, A limited-time urban theme park “Namco Wonder Egg” opens. 

1993 - Dreamers (customers) exceed 1 million.

1994 - July, The alchemy nation of play Tamago Teikoku aka the “Egg Empire” opens (from this time it becomes a twin park).

1995 - Dreamers exceed 3 million people.

1996 - July 20, Reopened as "Namco Wonder Egg 2", a media park of love and success.

1997 - Dreamers exceed 5 million people.

1997 - Tomomi Nishimura and Takumi Nishio host the wedding party contest.

1999 - The year of the finals of “Wedding Party” and “Super Big Audition”.

1999 - April 3, The countdown park of dreams and romance has been reopened as "Namco Wonder Egg 3." A "bridge of time and space" has been built that connects Wonder Egg and the Egg Empire. 

1999 - Dreamers exceeds 6 million people.

2000 - December 31, “Namco Wonder Egg 3” is finally counting down to the 20th century.

There was a tremendous amount of work that went into each version of Wonder Eggs. I will highlight each iteration in detail over the next few blogs. I’ll be sharing content that had not previously been translated into English from Namco history books, Namco Graffiti magazine, and various Japanese blogs. I hope to see you back for that! Were there any rare theme parks, or amusement parks that you visited? Were they any fun? Please tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks

The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 9

Over the course of this series I talked about the importance that play had with the early success of Namco. President, and founder Masaya Nakamura saw opportunities in the changing economy decades before most of his peers. The company extended this philosophy of “creating play” to their arcades. Unlike other Japanese arcades which were referred to as “Game Centers” Namco called their sites “Play Centers” like Milaiya, Plabo, and Carrot. Each had their own look, their own theme, and branding. These were places where casual, or hardcore gamers could escape the pressures of the world by engaging in play in the truest sense of the word. They could enjoy any number of sports, fantasy, science fiction, or other unique experiences that Namco had created. The way Namco approached each arcade title was akin to the way The Walt Disney Company approached each attraction. All of these wonderful experience were contained within a larger themed environment.

Namco purchased, and operated play centers all around the world. They learned about what different countries enjoyed in gaming, and catered to them. In the United States they worked with the Universal group to put classic style arcades in their Florida park. Their arcades had a vintage feel but featured the latest games. The company had become a major player in the amusement industry in both Japan, and the US. They learned the importance of creating, and maintaining a themed environment. Any mall, any park could have rides, and attractions, but the ability for the park to create a storytelling narrative through the use of detailed themed locations elevated the experience. Walt Disney wanted to create a special place for families to enjoy. He took the best elements of amusement parks, boardwalks, World’s Expos, and pleasure gardens. His imagineers cleaned them up, made them family friendly, and created a superior experience with Disneyland in 1955. It set a standard that was copied the world over. The question was if Namco could follow in Disney’s footsteps? Moreover, could they create what would possibly be the first urban theme park? After all there was a big difference between setting up a few play centers in a themed building, and creating an entire theme park around gaming in the heart of a big city. How would the studio accomplish this?

Before Disneyland opened Walt Disney had already established a series of cartoon, and comic book hits. These characters were destined to become mascots in the young park. Walt’s name was synonymous with pop culture going back to the 1920’s. By the time Disneyland opened 32 years after the founding of the Disney Bros. Studio there was an entire generation that had been raised on his IP. They had Mickey Mouse toys in their crib, wore clothes, and sneakers featuring the iconic mouse, followed along with his antics in movie theaters, comic books, and radio serials. When they were adults, and had children of their own they were eager to share the magic of the Disney brand with a new type of park. Masaya Nakamura, and Namco walked a similar path. The company had launched in 1955, and by 1994 they were ready to open their own theme park as well. There was a generation that had been raised on their rides, and games. There was a generation that celebrated Pac-Man, and Mappy with the same amount of love that the previous generation had for Mickey, and Minnie. These fans were getting older, their tastes were becoming more sophisticated, they were eager to experience the next evolution in play.

Namco had a deep library from which to pull new experiences from. The studio had teased the idea of creating a park with multiple themed areas, such as a labyrinth area inspired by Pac-Man, a race car track inspired by Pole Position, a fantasy area inspired by the Babylonian castle series, a horror themed area inspired by Golly Ghost!, and a science fiction area inspired by the UGSF universe. Drawing concept pieces in their self published NG magazine was one thing, but building an actual park was going to take considerably more time, and money. The good news for them that they had already built two theme park attractions for the World Expo ’90. They had disassembled them, but didn’t destroy them. They would be able to relocate, and build around them. Of course they needed to figure out where they would move the Tower of Druaga, and Galaxian³ “Hyper Entertainment” attractions. Real estate was at a premium in Japan, especially in the most populated cities. It would be less expensive to build any sort of business, or center if there was prepared land available for lease or purchase. 

Namco didn’t want to build too far from a major city, or train station. Parks that were difficult to reach didn’t last very long in the amusement industry. There was a reason why Tokyo Disneyland, and Tokyo DisneySea were built on reclaimed land from Tokyo Bay, it was far less expensive to purchase, and develop than anywhere near central Tokyo. At the same time both parks, and the surrounding hotels were easily accessible by light rail for tourists, and families. In the early ‘90s Namco discovered a perfect place to build their own park, Futakotamagawa Garden in the southern Tokyo ward of Setagaya-ku. It was colloquially referred to as “Futako” or “Nikotama,” the latter coming from an alternate reading of the first three kanji characters in the name. I think this location was selected thanks to Shigeki Toyama. It was the park that he used to work at when he was younger, and that featured a roller coaster designed by his grandfather Tokio. Namco would build in roughly in the same place of the amusement park, which was in operation from 1922 to 1985. The coaster, and various attractions had long since been torn down by the time Namco got their hands on the property.

The company had a name for their massive undertaking. They called their urban theme park Wonder Eggs. It was proposed to be unlike any other theme park before, and would challenge the other arcade titans to step up. I would argue that the work Namco put into Wonder Eggs would make Sega pursue their own Joypolis amusement centers. Wonder Eggs was designed to be a temporary urban theme park. Namco would build, run, and disassemble the park within a few years. I do not know whether this was an arrangement with the lease, or a business decision from the top. In either case it was meant to be a unique experience for visitors. The Disney parks domestically, and overseas were in a constant struggle to keep themselves fresh for visitors. Walt would say he was “plussing” the park by reinvesting in the individual attractions, and themed areas of Disneyland. These sometimes minor additions in the queues, restaurants, rides, and staff left visitors with a favorable impression. They could see, and feel that the park was not becoming stale or outdated. It was the gold standard that all other parks would be measured against. Namco did not have ambitions to challenge Disney, or Universal in the theme park arena. The company did however want to show that they could create something equally memorable in a short span of time. They would be willing to redo two of their standout attractions, and turn the temporary structures from the expo into more permanent buildings.

Namco challenged their staff to go far beyond the work that they had put into the World’s Expo. They saw first hand how quickly the entertainment industry evolved between Expo ’85, and Expo ’90. The technology used with their own video games jumped exponentially in that time. They had moved from 2D sprite art into 3D polygons within their arcade hits. The company knew that unless their attractions kept pace with these changes then they would become stagnant within a few years. Setting an end date for Wonder Eggs would prevent them from hemorrhaging money on upkeep, “plussing” or developing new rides. The initial goal was for Wonder Eggs to run for about four years. Similar to an Olympics, or World Cup. What happened instead was the park ran for eight years, and brought in almost 15 million visitors. To be fair Tokyo Disneyland had about 16 million visitors a year in the early ‘90s, however that park was massive by comparison, and had been in operation since 1983. I would argue that Namco managed to do much more with less, and in a shorter amount of time. In fact Wonder Eggs was so successful that it ended up having a sister park built right next door within two years. To put it in context Disney California Adventure opened in 2001 across from Disneyland. This was 46 years after Disneyland began operations. Tokyo Disney Sea also debuted in 2001, some 18 years after Tokyo Disneyland opened their gates.

Namco certainly had a hit on their hands, but it was much more than being in the right place, at the right time. The philosophy of play that Masaya Nakamura cultivated had a lot to do with it. It was embraced by his company, and allowed his staff to reach into the psyche of visitors, and give them experiences they never knew were possible. In fact some of the attractions were never equalled, and others are barely being matched by the titans of theme parks some 30 years later. We will look at the phases of the urban theme park in the next blog. Were there any unique theme parks, or amusement parks that you visited as a kid? Are there any around these days that you still visit? Please tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks

The horse jumped over the moon, The story of Namco, part 8

The bookkeepers at Namco were not thrilled that so many resources had been put into Expo ’90. No matter how much money visitors spent at the midway, or how they reacted to Galaxian³, or the Tower of Druaga active simulators, they saw little value in creating temporary rides for the World’s Expo. They asked Shigeki Toyama, and the other designers at the company to never spend that much money creating one-off attractions ever again. I think their showing had the opposite effect on the team, and especially the president of the company. After all it was putting their chips into play that shaped Namco. The founder, and President Masaya Nakamura believed in the power of play. He created a business that ran contrary to what other Japanese studios were doing at the time. He didn’t want to pursue what other corporations were doing, and just stick with manufacturing like his father before. Instead of hiring the top graduates at local universities Mr. Nakamura was hiring creative thinkers, artists, and composers that had no formal gaming education. His company found the right roles for them. They learned as they went along, created their own tools when none existed, and found new ways to create play. Mr. Nakamura used their contrasting personalities to create hit, after hit in the arcade. It was not unlike the way Walt Disney used the contrasting personalities of his “Nine Old Men” (who didn’t always get along) to revolutionize animation, live action film, and theme park design.

Namco was founded by selling small kiddie rides to malls in 1955. That was the same year that Disneyland opened its doors. It didn’t take long for Namco to move from single person rides, to running entire amusement parks on the roofs of Japanese department stores. It wasn’t just a handful of locations, but instead in every major city in Japan. This lead to them developing their own ride technology, robots, and animatronics as well. When it came to entertainment Mr. Nakamura knew that it was going to become a major part of the Japanese, and global economy. He saw the importance of investing in R&D at every chance. Namco launched a robotics department, whose mandate was on entertainment rather than manufacturing. This sounded absurd to any Japanese business. Automation was already revolutionizing the auto industry. Robots were predicted to take over all of the jobs in the next few decades, and Namco was making them play music, and do dances. The company was among the first to make the leap from electromechanical to video games. The entire time he, and his team were aware of the lessons the Walt Disney Company was teaching the industry. They were fans of the things coming from the west. They were finding out ways to make the art, design, and approach from Disney work for Japanese audiences. One of the things they did was heavily theme their own arcades. They wanted guests to be completely immersed in a world of play that they created. That was especially true with the Milaiya arcade, and its anime spaceship design.

The ability to synthesize, and remix western culture with a unique Japanese aesthetic was one of Namco’s strengths. They were able to create titles, and especially art that worked in just about any market. Yet it wasn’t the only thing that the company was working towards that would be universally appealing. Everything they did was in service of play. The company did not want to get stuck repeating themselves. They had seen how Atari, Kee Games, and other studios in the USA rose, and fell because they stopped innovating. They did everything they could to push the concept of play forward. For example every space game from Namco broke new ground. Namco’s first big hit Galaxian was a superior version of Taito’s Space Invaders, but they knew that a follow-up had to go in a different direction. They would add scrolling to space adventures in Xevious, and later build a 3D masterpiece with Starblade. The alien action game Baraduke predated Nintendo’s classic Metroid. Even the tank combat game Grobda was a revolutionary sci-fi title that remixed the Atari mechanics found in Missile Command, and Combat. Best of all the Namco hits were set within a shared UGSF continuity. The studio built a brand that audiences could become familiar with on every new release.

In addition to innovating rides, video games, and robotics the studio was very smart with their IP. Instead of selling games to the international market, they licensed the IP, and allowed games, and merchandise to be produced locally. The royalties they collected helped the company grow rapidly. Unfortunately they didn’t learn that it was bad to remake the same game over and over. Pac-Man (1980) was their biggest star, and highest-earning character. He launched the maze game revolution. Any other company would have been quick to bring sequels to market. Namco tried it, and their sequel flopped with audiences. International players didn’t quite understand the rules, or mechanics behind Super Pac-Man (1982). Collecting keys, flipping cards, and more with two versions of the titular character didn’t seem as intuitive as the first game.

Namco went back to the drawing board. The Pac team needed to figure out what else they could do with the character before he fell out of favor with the public. They saw how popular he was in the US, and how outside companies were making variations of the original, but with the members of his family. A number of the popular “sequels” that you might remember were not designed by Namco at all. Ms. Pac-Man (1982), and Junior Pac-Man (1983) were designed by General Computer Corporation. Baby Pac-Man (1982) was designed by Midway. It could be argued that Namco didn’t even consider that a video game mascot could have a family until the IP was licensed to the US. In the west Pac-Man had a family, and they were featured in the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon series.

Namco would learn some of the nuances of localization. The version of Pac-Man in the cartoon looked slightly different from the version on the original Japanese marquee art. He wore a fedora, his nose was shorter, he had white eyes, and black pupils like classic US cartoon characters rather than anime designs. Namco wanted to take their version in a bold new direction after the failure of Super Pac-Man. Perhaps he should go on some sort of adventure? His town would be the backdrop for a platform game. The studio would make sure to create sprites that were slightly different for US, and Japanese audiences. This was how Pac-Land came to be, one of the first platform hits from 1984. From that point on the designers at Namco made sure to sprinkle in relationships between the main characters of their various titles. For example Taizo Hori, the star of Dig Dug (1982), was the husband of Masuyo “Kissy” Toby, the hero of Baraduke (1985). They would have a few kids, and one of the more famous was Susumu Hori aka Mr. Driller (1999). This tradition would help their IP grow organically in comics, and cartoons not unlike Disney through their comics, and cartoons as well.

Pac-Land was created by Namco Research and Development 1 programmer Yoshihiro Kishimoto. His job was to make an arcade game based on the American Pac-Man cartoon. The characters were no longer yellow circles on the screen, but rather large sprites with arms, and legs just like in the show. The backgrounds were made to be vibrant and colorful. The music was composed by Yuriko Keino, and she was able to create variations of the catchy cartoon theme despite memory restrictions. Pac-Man was no longer stuck in a single screen maze but could instead travel to a destination across a long course. It was considered an important milestone in the platform genre. It set the stage for Capcom’s Ghosts'n Goblins (1985), Sega’s Alex Kidd (1986), and Wonder Boy (1986). Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani called it his favorite Pac-Man sequel for its interesting concept and gameplay. He said Shigeru Miyamoto told him it had a profound influence on the creation of Super Mario Bros (1985). Miyamoto said that while he was in Tokyo he saw Namco had developed a platforming game he decided that he should follow suit. The only feature of Pac-Land Miyamoto cited as a direct inspiration was the blue background of the game as opposed to the black skies he typically would put in his games like Donkey Kong and the original Mario Bros.

Instead of a joystick the game used buttons to control the left, right, and jump actions. The reason the studio did this was because Konami’s Track and Field from the year before was a breakout hit. They decided to make Pac-Man control through button presses as well. Many arcade visitors, myself included, didn’t care much for it. I wished that his first platform game had a joystick instead. Pac-Land was not only a response to the popularity of the US cartoon series, but also a way for Namco to share their affinity for all things Disney. The plot of the game involved Pac-Man taking some fairies that were lost all the way back to Fairyland, which was on the opposite side of Pac-Land. These characters had never been featured in the cartoons (to the best of my recollection). The fairies were inspired by Tinker Bell, as well as the Blue Fairy from the film Pinocchio. They were closely associated with the Disney brand, and specifically theme parks. The studio didn’t have to change the fedora from the US version, but they needed something that Japanese players could identify. This detail could help tie their mascot in a fantasy setting. I would argue that the feathered cap in the Japanese release was based on the Peter Pan cap sold at Disneyland, and specifically Tokyo Disneyland. Each of the areas in the game had distinct environments, or themed lands if you will.

Namco was approaching 35 years in business when they introduced a hybrid amusement ride, and video game which they called Hyper Entertainment. The technology for the Tower of Druaga, and Galaxian³ would debut in the 1990 Flower Expo in Osaka. Namco could tell where the entertainment industry was headed decades before any other company. They accomplished this because they mirrored the rise of Disney Studios. Namco had a leader that saw things that none of his business contemporaries could. He took chances in an industry that was either young, or yet to live up to its potential. He surrounded himself with creative minds that were able to make the impossible happen. Walt Disney did the same thing for film, and animation. He also surrounded himself with brilliant minds. They created an entertainment revolution. Eventually leading to the birth of theme parks. At every instance Walt knew the power of storytelling as a form of entertainment. It was the backbone of most of his greatest works. By comparison Masaya Nakamura the founder of Namco focused on play. The importance of play shaped the creation of their kiddy rides, electromechanical games, video games, and eventually simulator attractions. The pursuit of play, and different forms of play inspired some of the best creative minds in his studio to build entirely new avenues of entertainment.

The clues for where Namco was headed were sprinkled through every game, arcade, and concept illustration in the ‘80s. As technology grew so did the ability to create titles with bigger, more complex, and immersive worlds. The studio was putting us in the ancient past, on alien planets, the Wild West, high fantasy, a coaster kingdom, and eventually virtual theme parks in their various games. The titles were wrapped in arcade cabinets that were becoming bigger, and better themed as well. Eventually some of their best arcade titles were simulation experiences. The question was whether they could be able to do these themed titles on a larger scale. After two successive Worlds Expo showings Namco was ready to commit to the next evolution in play. They would create a fully-realized video game theme park. They accomplished this by doing a lot of homework, pursuing revolutionary design, and a little bit of magic. We will start a deep dive in the next blog. Until then I would like to know if you were a fan of the Pac-Man titles, or any of the older Namco titles. Did you have a favorite Pac sequel? Please tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks

The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 7

Expo ’90 at Tsurumi Ryokuchi, Osaka Japan was a turning point in the world of entertainment. Namco was able to evolve the amusement park experience with what they called “Hyper Entertainment.” This was the hybrid attraction that was part arcade game, part amusement ride, and part themed environment. The fantasy RPG Tower of Druaga in the previous blog was one of their arcade hits-turned-hyper entertainment attraction, and the other was the science fiction shooter Galaxian³. When astronaut Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the Moon in 1969 he said “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Namco took the “giant” part literally when designing this attraction. I had already sung the praises for this game previously on the blog, and I would no doubt talk about it again in the future.

If you had no idea what I was talking about, the Galaxian³: Project Dragoon attraction was the largest video game in history. It was a polygonal interactive shooter on a gigantic moving platform that supported 28 people at the same time. Shigeki Toyama was in charge of concept planning, system design, mechanical design, graphic design, logo design, decorative design, etc. He had a singular focus; revenge on the 1985 Tsukuba Expo committee for not giving Namco a proper Pavilion. Revenge for not being prepared to have Namco show their best work five years prior. He literally challenged his team to make audiences feel like they were the heroes of Star Wars. They were already fans of the Star Tours attraction in Disneyland, and Tokyo Disneyland. They still wanted to make something far superior. His goal was to get the nation talking about how fantastic Namco’s showing was in the ’90 Expo in Osaka. Since I was still praising it 35 years later I would argue that it was mission accomplished.

I don’t think you understand how epic this experience was to Generation-X in Japan. Up until that point the evolution of space simulator cabinets had been slow but steady. Although the space shooter video game genre started in the ‘70s, the use of deluxe cabinets to immerse the players started in 1981. Sega/Gremlin released Space Tactics, the deluxe sit down cabinet was very much a Space Invaders-meets-simulator. Instead of a joystick the player sat behind a gunners yoke, with an illuminated display. It was one of the early space shooters that reinforced the idea of fully realized simulators. They followed up in 1983 with Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator. It was a vector graphics space combat simulator. It had the same synthesized voice from Space Fury. The game was poorly received, especially when compared to Star Wars by Atari which came out that same year. Sega would elevate the cabinets by adding motion to them starting with After Burner in 1987. The full timeline, and importance of these gradually bigger, and bigger cabinets was discussed previously on my blog.

Namco, and Sega had been going back-and-forth in the racing, and space genres for decades. Everything from game design, to gameplay were hotly contested by fans of the studios. Sega’s motion cabinets could be seen as superior to anything Namco had ever released. While Namco lead the shift to polygons for the industry, Sega managed to get a lot more attention for their efforts. I would argue that Galaxian³ was created in part because it would be all but impossible for Sega, or any other studio to top. How confident was I of that statement? My friend asked if the Mario Kart attraction at the Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios could be considered a bigger video game. While it took a bigger footprint I would argue that it wasn't a bigger game. The Mario Kart attraction had six groups of four riders each for the Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Peach, Toad, and Yoshi teams. That's 24 concurrent players on the same game, still four shy of Namco’s record.

Mr. Toyama joined Namco as an industrial designer in the early '80s. He said that he knew nothing about video games. That part was true, but his love of out of home entertainment ran in the family. His grandfather Tokio designed the “Flying Coaster” at Futakotamagawa Garden in Setagaya, Tokyo. Here’s a bit of trivia for you, the flying coaster appeared briefly in the 1971 film Godzilla vs Hedorah. While the movie was in theaters before I was born, I remembered seeing it in reruns. When I was a little kid the local drive in theaters would feature a Godzilla movie marathon during the summer. It was a cheap way for our parents to keep my brothers and I entertained. We would stuff our faces with hot dogs, and popcorn while watching the rubber suit battles. I was terrified of the smog monster because it melted people with its toxic spray. But I digress…

As a kid Mr. Toyama would practice his illustrating skills by drawing the various attractions in Futakotamagawa Garden. He would end up working at the park before graduating from college. This history would help him plan arcade cabinets for Namco, and later on the largest attraction of his career. The location of the park would become very important for Namco’s history, but we would get to that in a future blog. Mr. Toyama’s team, included fellow designers Hideyuki Kikuchi, Wataru Yanagawa, Tatsuya Ishikawa, Takashi Yano, and Katsunori Mizuno. Yasunori Tashiro as the producer, Koichi Tashiro who was in charge of parts, and assembly, Hajime Nakatani directing, with planning from Hiroyuki Takejima. Kimimasa Matsuura, Norimasa Matsuura, and Jinto Saito handled programming duties. The mechanical structure, and external negotiations were handled by Akira Osugi and Takashi Sano, the electrical design was handled by Masataka Yamada. Fumio Ishikawa was in charge of overall operations, including production, installation, and removal. The team had quite an adventure putting together the enormous Galaxian³ machine.

Osaka was a massively busy city on the island of Honshu off the coast of mainland Japan, it was known for turbulent changes in weather, this was especially true during the construction of the “Flower Expo.” Namco arrived in February, and the expo started on April 1. Remember that the company had to get both of their untested Hyper Entertainment attractions up, and running in that window. While they did the majority of the work at Namco, taking everything apart, and putting it back together on site was a different battle. They wanted the best graphics, and simulator experience they could get . This meant that they ended up literally debugging, and programming the gigantic hydraulic cabinet with entirely new software, and hardware on site. The team actually had a small office hidden off to the side of the platform where they could troubleshoot any problems during the expo. They were 99% certain that they would not be able to get it ready for opening day. In order to accomplish the impossible Namco added a couple new faces. Mr. Satoru Yano, who designed the motion unit, and Mr. Katsunori Mizuno, who designed the visual, and hydraulic data joined late into the project.

The team worked around the clock in the chilly winter weather. Mr. Toyama placed a sleeping bag under the hydraulics of the attraction, he called it “Hotel Galaxian.” The staff said they survived the freezing winter rainstorms thanks to consuming a massive amount of hokaron (hand, and body warmers). Several of them called it the "Cursed Galaxy" as team members kept getting seriously ill. Mr. Nakatani contracted acute hepatitis, Mr. Takahoku was run over by a motorcycle while riding his bicycle, breaking his arm in the process. The team didn't slow down because Masaya Nakamura, the president of Namco would be visiting on opening day. The final touches, the facade, hallways, airlocks, lights, bulkheads, and other decorations were done within a set budget. Mr. Toyama was not happy with the initial look, he felt it looked sparse, and even cheap. He spent his own money adding additional details, pipes, lighting, painting, and weathering the sets. Sleeping on the floor, and detailing everything down to the very last second when guests arrived. Their biggest compliment came from visitors who assumed they had spent millions on the attraction instead of a fraction of that. According to them it rose to the standard of the Star Tours by Disney Imagineering.

The group in Osaka teased the Namco sound team as having the easiest part of the job. Shinji Hosoe aka Megaten, Ayako Sasou, and a few others were indeed the luckiest during the entire ordeal. Megaten was the main composer, and musician. He was most famous for scoring Ridge Racer, and a number of Namco’s biggest hits. He even worked on Street Fighter EX, which was one of my favorite SF soundtracks. For Galaxian³ he was tasked to come up with five original pieces that were cinematic, and a response to John Williams’ Star Wars music. It was no small task. Especially since he started at the end of February, as the attraction was being put together. The genius composer shocked his coworkers. He cranked out his five pieces in five days. He would write the songs in the morning, and arrange them in the afternoon. The team said great, from that point on he should compose everything that R&D threw at him.

The guests that played the “Active Simulator” absolutely loved it. Best of all the staff loved the employee uniforms that ride operators were given. They said they looked very cool, up until they had to clean up the seats whenever a guest vomited. Namco conducted surveys of the visitors “most people said it was amazing and they were impressed, but 2 out of every 1,000 people said, "I don't want to do it again!" This reaction was mainly from people that got motion sickness from the rocking action. The platform would rise, and fall up to six feet. This happened dozens of times over the course of eight minutes. The guests were warned about the movement during the pre-show video that played in the queue. Of course some people still thought that stuffing themselves with carnival food, and then riding a motion ride was a good idea. 

Between the classic carnival attractions they built, many of them still operating decades later, as well as The Tower of Druaga, and Galaxian³ Namco had proven they were the best entertainment company at Expo ’90. This forced all of the other studios, especially Sega, to step up their game. There was little else Namco could do except dismantle the attractions after September 30th, 1990 when the expo had reached its conclusion. The thing was that the company, and its employees had poured so much of themselves into the attractions that they didn’t want to see it all end. That was with the exception of the sales department, who asked them to never again to spend so much building a one-off attraction. The team scaled down Galaxian³ to a 16-person screen for dedicated locations. They even offered a 6-person Galaxian³: Project Dragoon cabinet for arcades that wanted to advertise the “World's Largest Video Game.” Their revolutionary engine would even get two expansions, The Rising of Gourb, and the Attack of the Zolgear.

Variations of Galaxian³ lived on after Expo '90, and however the Tower of Druaga would have been lost to history if it wasn’t for a bold idea. President Masaya Nakamura believed in the power of play. His company flourished because they created games at a time when society (and corporate culture) said it was a waste of time. What if his teams could combine everything they had learned over their 35 years in business? What if play was the critical to the next evolutionary step of themed entertainment? They might end up creating something wonderful. We will explore the roots of this revolutionary idea in the next blog. Were you a fan of the Namco space shooters? Had you ever heard of them before today? I’d like to hear about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks

The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 6

In the previous blog I talked about The Tower of Druaga, one of the two games that Namco had turned into an attraction at the Expo ’90 in Osaka Japan. The company felt that the Expo ’85 organizers in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Japan did a disservice to the company. They decided to go all-out and create an entirely new type of attraction for the “Magical Cross” amusement area in Osaka. It would be something completely different from the roller coaster, carousel, or Ferris wheel at the park. In fact the company considered what they were building to be something different from what was available in amusement parks, or even theme parks. They called their attractions “Hyper Entertainment.” Unlike most amusement rides where the audience were passive the Namco attractions promised to put the rider in the role of the hero. They would be challenged in different ways every time they rode.

Akatsuki Kogei was in charge of planning and directing the Tower of Druaga. He had to find the key elements of the three games of the Babylonian Castle Saga. At the time those were the Tower of Druaga, The Return of Ishtar, and The Quest of Ki. The other eight titles in the series hadn’t come out yet. What were the elements that went into the game? What did audiences remember about the experience, and what highlights could be turned into tangible scenes for an attraction? It was clear who the heroes, and main villain would be, but what about the various enemy types introduced in the games? How would 2D sprites look in a 3D environment?

Despite being a video game Namco made sure that when audiences thought of the Tower of Druaga they imagined it as a physical location. They wanted audiences to think that the story happened in a real place, and time. This came through in the original poster for the game. Rather than create a fantastic rendering Namco artist Yuichiro Shinozaki combined physical models, with paintings of the cast. It was presented in a western comic book format, going so far as to feature word balloons in English. This was rare for Japanese game flyers. It explained how to play the game, and even how to approach some of the different enemy types. This advertisement highlighted the western influence of the game. The use of painted miniatures owed a lot to classic tabletop systems such as Dungeons & Dragons by TSR, but also Warhammer Fantasy Battle by Games Workshop. Namco would eventually release novels, and role-playing supplements, as well as a board game based on the Tower of Druaga in Japan. They also released board games for Pac-Man, Xevious, and their other hits. For many kids in Japan this was their first introduction to traditional tabletop RPGs. Aurora Models even released a series of miniatures to celebrate 40 years of Druaga.

Mr. Kogei knew that the sets, animatronics, and location had to have an ancient western feel, and not a Japanese look. Mr. Shinozaki worked on the concept art for the various scenes in the attraction. Making sure that it felt as authentic as possible to the original game. The team had to figure out how to pace the experience, and put the audience in the role of Gilgamesh, the hero. The arcade hit was known for being difficult. It was credited for establishing “notebook carrying” games. In Japan the most dedicated players would map everything they found in notebooks, including layouts of the various floors in the game. Mind you this was before the home version was released. These notebooks predated game guides published by the studios, or game magazines.

The goal for Mr. Kogei, and his team was create an attraction that was “the first role-playing game ride with multiple scenarios and multiple endings.” Up to 4 players at a time would ride in armored carts, as they made their way through the tower. Players used a light gun, which was shaped like Gil’s sword against against all sorts of monsters, and demons. The actual length of the attraction, and score was determined by which targets you hit, and when you hit them, rather than just blasting everything. Audiences had to listen to their opponents carefully, as well as watch for clues during the ride. You could earn “treasure,” or rather clues on each opponents weaknesses as you progressed through the various rooms. Regular scores earned a Bronze ending, and the ride went right to the exit. If you paid attention to hints, the ride went a bit further and featured a battle with a dragon. Players that managed to defeat the dragon earned a Silver ending, and then the ride was over. If you defeated the dragon, and then Druaga then you got the Gold ending. This meant that you would reach, and rescue Kai before exiting the ride.

Those that played through the attraction would say how fun it was, but also that it was indeed difficult. Namco certainly understood that the people that were raised on arcade experiences were getting older, and looking forward to the evolution of the format. The Tower of Druaga not only predicted, but also predated the Disney attractions such as Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin by 8 years, Toy Story Midway Mania by 16 years, and Web Slingers A Spider-Man Adventure by 31 years. Can you imagine how much fun Pirates of the Caribbean would be if you could shoot back at the various scenes in the attraction, earn a longer ride, and perhaps a treasure at the end?

Namco partnered up with coaster manufacturer Togo for the ride system. Togo had been in business longer than Namco, and had a great reputation in Japan for their roller coasters. Their joint venture was called N&T, and was designed to create the next generation of amusement attractions, and amusement parks. With the Tower of Druaga pulling guests 4000 years into the past, the next featured attraction from Namco would send them centuries into the future. We will look at this attraction in the next blog. If you were a fan of the Babylonian Castle Series then I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks