NiGHTS, Power Truck, and Gyrozetter - A 1UP classic from January 02, 2012

Hello friends, Happy New Year to you and yours! Did you get everything that you asked Santa for? I hope so, I’ll be mentioning the presents got and given to the family in another blog. Right now I’d like to talk about the presents being given to console and arcade players. The biggest of all news comes courtesy of the NiGHTS into dreams… fan webpage. To mark the 15th Anniversary of the game the webmasters and a contributor got together to release a very special recording of “Sweet Snow” the slower version of the title track “Dreams Dreams.” What makes this release special was that it reunited the vocals of the original singers, Jasmine Ann Allen who voiced Claris Sinclair and Cameron Strother who voiced Elliot Edwards. The kids are all grown up now, their voices have certainly matured.

They manage to hit all the right notes like true professionals. This was not a knock at the original Dreams Dreams, the young and inexperienced voices made the song sound absolutely sincere. It was and always be one of the best game songs ever recorded. Fans of the original game owe it to themselves to visit the NiD fanpage and download the free MP3. It certainly shows once again how Sega fans manage to do more to keep the community going than the parent company does, especially on anniversary years!

The other goodies to announce are games for the arcade. One is out now and one will be out soon. Both of these titles involve two of my favorite things, cars and robots. First up is Power Truck by IGS. Remember the studio that I mentioned a number of times during the brawler series? Anyhow, their arcade title is less like Sega’s classic 18 Wheeler and more like Burnout.

As with other arcade racing games this title allows players to save data on a card and keep track of their progress. Aside from tracking races and points the card-based system allows players to store any customizations and upgrades they can earn for their trucks.

Power Truck has several truck types and different game modes, what I find interesting is that there is a Story Mode. It’s not enough to have trucks racing and crashing, there has to be a narrative as well?

What type of story can be made out of the stereotypical USA characters like Milky and Hunter? Or the school kids / witches Wolf and Mystery?

What really brings my attention to this game are that the trucks can transform mid race to take down other racers. On of the upgrades is a giant rocket booster that not only speeds up the truck but also seems to allow players to plow through traffic. It's sort of like Hydro Thunder's patented Mighty Hull attack but for cars instead of boats.

There is also a second attack that knocks opponents away with a sonic blast. For those interested in random arcade trivia, the last arcade racer that had a sonic-based attack was the super taxi cab in Spanish developer Gaelco's Smashing Drive. The title from 2000 allowed players to get a temporary upgrade of a massive horn that could cause cars ahead of the player to explode and get cleared out of the way.

I'm not sure if the rocket boost and sonic blast attacks can be combined, it would be interesting to see if they could. The cabinet itself it a sit-down model with a long gear shifter similar to an actual big-rig. By comparison the Sega arcade game had a simpler reverse, low and high gear. I hope to see one of these in a local arcade soon.

The second arcade game being developed is actually by SquareEnix and it is highly doubtful that anyone in the US will see the title. The developer may not be known for their arcade efforts in the west however in Japan they've released a few arcade experiences, none more popular than Lord of Vermillion. I've mentioned the card-based title a few times on this blog, including the announcement that there would be a crossover between LoV II and Final Fantasy IV. SquareEnix actually has a wide range of arcade holdings, including a strong investment in Taito arcades and titles like Darius Burst. But I digress…

Gyrozetter is a multi-player arcade title that has characters driving licensed and fictional vehicles that can transform into robots. What makes the game more than an arcade version of the popular Transformers console games, aside than it is not based on the characters, is that the arcade cabinet actually transforms! The steering wheel flips up and as do the speedometer and RPM dials on the dashboard to reveal a second set of controllers. The dual joystick setup is reported to be comparable to Sega's Virtua On.

The game doesn't have a trailer yet and SquareEnix has not released any animations or full details even on the game website. Hopefully Arcadia magazine will get to preview the game before the other outlets and I'll get a chance to let the visitors here in on the news.

What do you guys and gals think about either game? Would you be willing to try them out in the arcade or at home even? Also, how was your Christmas and New Years, did you go anywhere or do anything? What goodies did you get?

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!

Power Drive & Bigfoot, the almost great monster truck games - Originally published on 1UP - March 15, 2009

NOTE: I have the original images for this blog, but I could not find the HTML files. So I'm rewriting it from memory. I hope you understand.

I am and have always been a HUGE fan of monster trucks. On this blog I've written extensively about my obsession with them, as well as a general history of the culture. You can read the posts below:  

American Daredevils, the monster trucks that changed the world, part 1 

American Daredevils, the monster trucks that changed the world, part 2 

American Daredevils, the monster trucks that changed the world, part 3 

The monster files, when giants roamed the Earth

Naturally as a little kid I was drawn to every video game featuring those gigantic trucks, which back in the day were few and far between. To give you a sense as to how little there was for me to enjoy think of it this way. The very first monster truck I ever saw was Bigfoot the King of the Monster Trucks. It was featured in the 1981 film Take this Job, and Shove it. As many young boys could tell you the love was instant. I had never seen a truck as big, and as bad. Unless you were like me, and scouring the 4x4 magazines every month then you wouldn't see it in action again until the television show That's Incredible in 1983, and the movie Cannonball Run II in 1984. 

Bigfoot created a new type of off road culture, and when racing against contemporaries like King Kong, and USA-1 had also created an entirely new form of motorsports. It started in the midwest in the late '70s, but would reach global popularity in less than a decade. Yet despite all this Bigfoot wouldn't appear in a video game until much later. I don't think you grasp how painful the wait was for me. I was in elementary school when I first saw Bigfoot, but wouldn't get to play a game featuring the truck until I started high school. When you are young this literally feels like a lifetime has passed. The Bigfoot game was developed by Acclaim Entertainment, and released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in July 1990. By then it seemed to be too little too late. Worse yet it was built on outdated technology. To put it in perspective the Sega Genesis 16-bit console came out in 1988, and the Super Nintendo would debut in November 1990. Games that were coming out for the 8-bit NES were less, and less notable. 

Bigfoot on the NES turned out to be a popular, but ultimately a crappy game. I'm sure if it had come out four years sooner my opinion on it would have been different. The game was split between overhead, and side-scrolling racing. Careful timing of using boosts and weapons helped ensure a victory. I couldn't afford a copy as a kid. Thankfully I could rent it for a buck from the local video store. I got a chance to play it during a sleepover at my friend's house. He knew I was a huge fan of the truck, and made sure that it was one of the games we had rented for the weekend. I managed to destroy all of the levels with a little practice. Visually the game was nice, but limited. After playing for most of the evening I quickly grew bored of it, and looked for other challenges. I was glad I didn't buy it on day one. I might pick it up for much less today just to have it in my collection. 

It would take a long time for a decent monster truck game to appear. The first one of any merit was Power Drive by Bally Midway. It was a mildly successful arcade game from 1987. There was actually one at my local bowling alley arcade. After playing it a few times I was disappointed in the execution of it. It showed how little developers knew about monster trucks, or how they could work in video game form. You could tell something was wrong with it by just looking at the cabinet. There was a gear shifter, and two buttons, but no steering wheel, or gas pedal to control the action. It wasn't like the technology to steer video game cars didn't exist. Atari had introduced that into arcades in 1974 with the game Gran Trak 10. 

As with other Bally-Midway 84-86 arcade titles, Power Drive was designed to separate you from your quarters as fast as possible. You earned credits by winning competitions, but also had to spend credits paying entry fees, and fixing up your truck. So no matter how good you were you would eventually run out of money, and had to put in another quarter to continue. This game was just about pushing the buttons as fast as you could, and executing timed boosts. Sort of like Konami's classic Track and Field. Only this time you were crushing cars, instead of jumping over hurdles. Power Drive featured the staples of early monster truck competitions, these included car crushing, sled pulling, wheelies, and long-distance jumps. It was fun but you would wear out against the ruthless computer within a couple of rounds. 

The thing I enjoyed the best were the graphics, and three playable monsters. There was a red corvette nicknamed Daddy's Girl, a yellow truck named Captain Crush, and a blue Jeep named Sheriff Perry. The computer controlled truck was called Black Lightning. They reflected the imagination that went into early monster trucks. They were all unique. In the early days there was no template to work from. The builders of the first generation of monster trucks were experimenting with different frames, engines, tires, and building techniques. No two looked alike, and I was grateful for their creativity. After the disappointment of Bigfoot I had just about given up hope that there would ever be a good monster truck video game. That literally changed one year later when an amazing game appeared out of nowhere. I'm going to talk about it in the next blog.

Were you ever let down by a video game you were waiting on? Let me know in the comments section please. 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!