The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 19

In the previous blog I mentioned the classic attractions that Wonder Eggs featured. These were traditional things that would be found in the oldest fairs around the world. Things like a carousel, a carnival midway, a creek ride, fortune tellers, and even bumper cars were expected in any amusement park the world over. By the late 20th century however the parks had to keep up with the times. They couldn’t rely on sticking with the classics, and expect repeat visitors. This was especially true in a city as big as big as Tokyo. Tourists, and locals had a million places to see. Any new park needed to make sure they gave clients different reasons to stick around, and spend their money.

One of the easiest things that a park could do would be to provide arcade games. They were popular with guests of every age, but especially with kids. Best of all these games could be put in any corner, and were guaranteed to make money with minimal maintenance. Even Disneyland wasn’t immune to this. In the early days of the park they had a literal Penny Arcade. The machines were turn-of-the-century devices that cost a penny to play. A few of which you could still find in the corners of the stores on Main Street. In the ‘70s, and ‘80s video games started being added into the arcade. There was a larger arcade in Tomorrowland called the Starcade. It was two stories of the latest titles, and some classic hits. In its prime I would rank it one of the top three arcades in all of Southern California.

Wonder Eggs had their own arcade called Cyber Station. Actually they had an enormous building that hosted several attractions. It brought an industrial feel to the rustic village. This area of the park was known as the “Factory of Time.” In the canon of the park this was the place that was previously used to build war machines for the Devil Godot, but was liberated by the Goddess Elds, and turned into a portal for the future. It could be considered the Tomorrowland equivalent for the park. The Factory of Time also hosted Phantomers, which I featured on a previous blog.

One of the big draws to the Cyber Station arcade was a four-player, interconnected cabinet of Driver’s Eyes. Namco was not the first game studio to make a racing game, but they were arguably the best (not named Sega). Pole Position was Namco’s arcade sensation. A few years later they released Winning Run, and Driver’s Eyes. Their hardware was growing by leaps and bounds, and as early as 1988 they were developing polygon games. They pushed the industry to 3D, including their rivals at Sega. Driver’s Eyes was a massive three-screen arcade racing game. The one featured in the Cyber Station in 1992 was four interconnected cabinets. It also featured in game commentary, and a massive display for audiences to follow the action as if it were an actual live Formula-1 race. It was a spectacle to say the least. Not to be outdone Sega would be able to connect up to eight cabinets when Daytona USA was released in 1994.

There was an even more impressive attraction that was available for dreamers to play. Sim Road was not an arcade game as much as it was a real driving simulator. Sim Road featured a real Eunos Roadster (Mazda Miata) with a bright red body. According to a description of the attraction; “The screen that stretches across the front is made up of three 100-inch large screens connected together. Once you fire up the engine, first select one of three difficulty levels. Eunos original course where you can ride with your girlfriend in the passenger seat. It feels great!”

The things the company learned from Sim Road would be applied to a full scale version of Ridge Racer. Sim Road would eventually be replaced with the Full Scale Ridge Racer, the experience was called Naviway. Ridge Racer had a notable bump in graphics when compared to Sim Road, Driver's Eyes, or Winning Run. It featured the next generation of 3D graphics engine, and challenged the supremacy of Sega in the racing department. More than 20 years later Bandai Namco kept the tradition alive. They published a spiritual successor to Driver’s Eyes, Sim Road, and Naviway. The wraparound screen simulator called Real Drive was released in 2015.

A year after Wonder Eggs was opened they unveiled their 15th attraction. Virtual Vehicle was a unique simulator-style ride that mixed live video with a shooting game. Dreamers would get into a metal rig that looked like a clockwork pressure cooker. Once inside the riders would be “shrunk” to a microscopic scale. They would use the video screen or “electronic eyes” in front of them to control the direction of their exploration vehicle. They were tasked to hunt down cybernetic viruses called “Rusu” that were infecting the power source of the Cyber Station. The ultimate virus which was difficult to track down, and defeat was called the “Mother Bug.” The attraction actually “flew” through a physical environment with the use of a microscopic camera. Viruses would pop up on the screen. Players would chase them down in the miniature world, and shoot them with their lasers. Of all the attractions at Wonder Eggs it was the one that had the least images, or corresponding video. I guess it wasn’t a popular attraction.

Being able to fail while designing an attraction was something that the team at Namco was allowed to do. They built many things in the few years that Wonder Eggs was in operation. Many of them went relatively unchanged over eight years. If an attraction didn’t work then they were allowed to update, or fix it. The changes they implemented happened within the span of weeks, to months, rather than years. This was an issue when updating areas of the Disney parks. Disney needed to figure out the logistics of any new build or renovation so that it had the least impact on daily operations. In a few cases the team at Namco updated an attraction multiple times. This was what happened with Mirrorona.

This attraction was part mirror maze, part art installation for couples to explore. It was similar to the pop-up installations for influencers to take selfies inside of in the current era. Once people experienced it then they had no reason to return. This didn’t sit well with the team at Namco. They began looking at how they could incorporate storytelling elements into this place. How could they make a mysterious building into a place for play? We will look at this in the next entry of the blog series. I hope to see you back for that. Were there any defunct parks that you visited? 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 Sega / Namco Rivalry, part 8...

There was no doubt that Namco and Sega had created the first cult of speed for arcade visitors. Pole Position and OutRun would become elevated to icon status by many long-time gamers. If there were a videogame hall of fame those two would undoubtedly be the first racing games inducted. While pursuing 3D technology for the arcade both Sega and Namco had to convince fans that future titles would all be in that format. It would be a tough going considering the visual quality that many sprite based games brought. Surely the studios could continue to push the boundaries of sprite-based engines for another few years based on a title like F1 Super Lap alone. That would not be the case. Once 1990 hit there seemed to be an internal mandate to get Sega to change its arcade development focus. The consoles could continue to rely on sprite-based ports for a little while longer but even those would have to give way to 3D console technology very shortly.

Home computers had come down in price through the '80s and some of the more innovative 3D racing games were available at home instead of the arcade. The arcade publishers knew that they had to change with technology or be left behind. As far as I can remember Namco was the first studio to get a 3D racing game, made out of polygons instead of sprites, in arcades. Winning Run was a rare game from 1988. It predated Atari's Hard Drivin' 3D game by one year and Sega's Virtua Racing by four years. It certainly was ahead of its time. The graphics did look more advanced than what was available on home PCs but not by much. The game looked and played much more like a sim than an arcade racer and that was possibly what kept it from becoming a bigger success.

Arcade racing games were supposed to have some sense of realism but not be completely rooted in reality. Not to burst the bubble of many long-time players but the best arcade racing games were designed by dumbing down the driving experience. Driving a real Formula-1 car could be very difficult. Expecting to be able to fight through a field of other racers while keeping the car on the course could seem impossible for a newbie. Instead studios like Sega and Namco allowed much room for error. They programmed in computer AI that could hold back or charge ahead depending on how well a driver performed. They also limited the amount of oversteer and understeer so that the cars would stay on course, often no matter how fast players were going. Winning Run changed a lot of those rules. It could be somewhat forgiving but was a much more realistic experience than other racing games. It certainly was not a 3D version of Pole Position.

Players worked through five gears on a simple polygonal course. The high walls made it easy for developers to limit the draw distance of the course. As advanced as 3D graphics were becoming they still had a long way to go before they could render scenery and other details with any sort of fidelity. A few buildings and grandstands were all that the player could see over the fence. The car models themselves were very rudimentary. They had rough flat shapes, like a simple paper craft model. Although they did have a few colors on the bodies to signify the team livery none of the cars had sponsor stickers or other identifiable details. The other racing games from that era had big beautiful sprite-based cars. Each sprite model had dozens of colors, sponsor stickers and other details that made them look very realistic. The sprite-based games even had multiple teams and sponsors, each with their own detailed racers. The tracks were often decorated with sponsor logos as well and even hundreds of sprite based fans filling the grandstands.

Aside from the graphics which failed to wow audiences and the control which was too sim for many there were other things that Winning Run had going against it. The game must have been extremely expensive and extremely delicate. In the dozens of arcades that I visited throughout my life there were less than a handful of Winning Run machines that I actually saw. Of those machines very few were working so I only had a chance to play it a few times. Despite my observations the game must have sold enough units for Namco to start a franchise. A year after it debuted the game had its first real track for players to try out. Winning Run Suzuka GP came out in 1989. The graphics and control hadn't been improved but at least the turns and rises and drops in elevation were fairly identical to the famous Japanese speedway. A three-screen build called Driver's Eyes came out in 1990. I think I saw three of those cabinets in my lifetime. They were huge and expensive for the time. However being the racing fan that I was I did enjoy the immersive experience the game provided. The graphics were still very rough but the expanded field of view had given me more of a sense of momentum and acceleration than any other racing game of the era.

Namco had done an amiable job bringing arcade racing out of the dark ages and into 3D. The franchise would make it to see a new decade but go no further. Winning Run '91 was the last game in the series. It had finally had the boost in the graphics and control department that arcade visitors had been expecting but it was too little too late. Other franchises had caught their attention and the home console was becoming a real drain on the arcade market. The PC especially was providing fun 3D racing experience as well. Thankfully Capcom had introduced Street Fighter II at this time and gave the arcade industry a much needed booster shot. The owners of the arcades were still hoping to see a racing experience that would recapture the imagination of the public in the same way that Pole Position and OutRun had done years earlier. They wouldn't have to wait long. Sega had something brewing in the wings. The next blog will look at this title. 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!