Sega Sonic Arcade sighting in Chicago

[G.Silver]

I talked to someone yesterday who played the Sega Sonic Arcade game in the US! There's an arcade in Chicago called the Galloping Ghost, home of over 400 arcade games, including that one Sonic game that basically nobody has ever seen in person. They don't have it in their arcade list but it does appear on their front page news listing (it arrived in 2012). I remember years and years ago some people having seen it in the UK, but this is the first time since then that I've heard of an actual sighting. According to this guy only one controller was working at the time he visited but he liked it, and described it as "almost a good game." Sounds about right!

Anyway, any GHZers in/near Chicago able to take a peak at this? Are there other "confirmed locations?" Seems like a thing someone should be keeping track of somewhere, if there still actually are any out there!

[Dash]

This calls for a GHZ road trip!

It's interesting watching emulated footage of it now, and seeing how in proper 3D with more levels and whatnot this might effectively be a Sonic version of Mario 3D word, with it being open to 3 players and all. Maybe they should do that! Even using Ray and Mighty, and calling it SegaSonic, to get that Sonic Boom taste out of everyone's mouths.


Give Knux a cameo though, to show he's not going to be a buff mutant forevermore.

[Wombatwarlord777]

The Sonic Fanbase: "Mighty and Ray are back in games?! There is a god!"
Everyone Else: "What happened to Shadow and Tails? They don't look too good." OR "Wha? More new shitty friends?"

In all seriousness, the game should have been on Gems Collection along with Chaotix. The analog stick and four controller ports would've been great for SegaSonic in that era of consoles.

[big_smile]

As a kid, I saw Sega Sonic Arcade in Sega Magazine and was desperate to play it. This graphics were wonderfully detailed and the large play fields seemed to open up all sorts of possibilities.
I couldn't understand why the game got such a limited release and never made it to home consoles. It seemed like the ideal launch title for the 32X or perhaps a budget release for the Saturn.

After playing an emulated version a few years back, I finally figured why they never made a big deal of it: It's terrible. The 3D like levels look like they were made for exploring, but they are in fact completely linear and the auto-scrolling design means that you have to follow the paths exactly. It's just as bad as some of the later 3D era titles.

It's a shame, as the visuals are brilliant. All three of the characters are bursting with personality in their animations and the whole experience feels like being in a cartoon.

[Wombatwarlord777]

Coming to find out about the game after a lot of its mysteries had been discovered, the level design makes sense in theory because something is always chasing you. That doesn't make necessarily make it fun, though. I've never played it (there are those infamous words...), but one thing I've noticed is that the players are never really given a break from imminant danger. Even over the short length of the game, it seems like that would eventually turn the experience from one of danger and excitment to one of exhaustion.

Maybe a better thing to do would be to alternate "chase" levels with more open arenas, where the threats are relatively minimal and your goal is to gather as many rings before time runs out.

Another problem in the game is that there's few instances where having more than one player really helps, unlike virtually any other arcade game. Even the addition of an end-level bonus where you get more extra rings for each surviving character would help.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

I think the "constantly running for your life" is a distraction of sorts from the fact that there are no slope physics (So I've read). This is despite culling from Marble Madness, a game that was faithfully recreated for the NES. That's... kinda pitiful.

It also recently occurred to me that Ray is the only Sonic character that actually belongs to the order rodentia. (unless you count fastidious beaver, which you shouldn't)

[Frieza2000]

Guys, it's an arcade game. The reason you're always being chased is to force you to get to the finish quickly so the kids behind you can get a turn to spend their money. I think even Gauntlet threw something at you if you stood around too long.

[Radrappy]

the character animation for sonic & co is superb tho

[Dr. BUGMAN]

So Google Maps says it's almost exactly a 3 hour drive for me. I mean, the season is uncharacteristically mild and gas prices are at a historical low, but I cannot rationalize such a sojourn for what -- bragging rights? To post pics of myself next to the machine on the internet?

.... Nah.

Guys, it's an arcade game. The reason you're always being chased is to force you to get to the finish quickly so the kids behind you can get a turn to spend their money. I think even Gauntlet threw something at you if you stood around too long.

Yeah, and the Devil from New Zealand Story comes readily to mind.

But the fact is Marble Madness, too, was developed for the arcade, yet that didn't stop them from programming realistic slope physics, something that even Sonic Labyrinth at least attempted.

It also recently occurred to me that Ray is the only Sonic character that actually belongs to the order rodentia. (unless you count fastidious beaver, which you shouldn't)

Whoops forgot about this guy.

[G.Silver]

I think the "constantly running for your life" is a distraction of sorts from the fact that there are no slope physics (So I've read). This is despite culling from Marble Madness, a game that was faithfully recreated for the NES. That's... kinda pitiful.

But the fact is Marble Madness, too, was developed for the arcade, yet that didn't stop them from programming realistic slope physics, something that even Sonic Labyrinth at least attempted.

This is something we'll never know about so you can probably make up any BS excuse for why a game like this is the way it is, but it's extremely unlikely that someone made a prototype for a Sonic game in 1992 and said "well, we didn't put any slope physics in, so I guess we'll make it interesting by making a bunch of shit chase you." Frieza listed one tenant of 90s arcade games (kill kill kill the player) but here's the other--be fast, and be flashy. Marble Madness has slope physics and a track ball and it was fast and flashy in 1984, but it was also a game about maddening precision. SegaSonic Arcade was designed to be fast and flashy with cool animations and lots of crazy shit happening all over the screen, the game simply doesn't need those physics to accomplish what it set out to do. Sonic 1 was not just about curved surfaces, mechanically speaking it is also about carefully managing your speed, and that's something SegaSonic definitely does. It may share a "3D" isometric perspective with Marble Madness but I am certain this was because graphics like that stand out in the arcade and not anything to do with MM, and there's a whole lot of trackball-based games that don't have anything to do with it either.

I mean seriously, Mark Cerny was probably at Sega of Japan when they made this game. Probably no where near the arcade divisions but if they wanted slope physics and couldn't get them out of any of the amazing programmers they already had at the time, they had the guy who MADE Marble Madness right there.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Right. Whatever. Shouldn't've criticized a game I've never, and probably ever, played.

[Neo]

Shouldn't've criticized a

Not on a Sonic forum you shouldn't!