So in the first two installments of Arcade Rewind, I covered two of the biggest, badest, rarest, most outrageous arcade machines ever created: Sega's R360 and Namco's Galaxian 3. This time I want to take a different route. I want to focus on a sleeper... a game that has nothing particularly special about it... a game that doesn't have a great deal of depth, one that didn't revolutionize anything, nor make tons of money. I'm looking for a game that showcases arcade festiveness, but could have been developed further.

I decided to pick Sega's GP Rider, a fun little motorcycle racing game released in 1990 that lacks depth, but delivers quality graphics (for the time) and an awesome soundtrack.

If you're like me, the things you appreciate most in life are the things that were once the coolest, most
advanced forms of entertainment in the world, but are now virtually unknown. Last time on Arcade Rewind
(which I must admit was too long ago) I recounted the glorious R360 arcade machine, Sega's full motion
simulator ride from the early 90's. Around the same time period, Sega's biggest competitor in the arcade
industry, Namco, released a game that equaled the R360 in all around impracticability - Galaxian 3.

During our post broadcast discussion after last night's radio show, I somehow managed to bring up Sega's R360 mid conversation. After Huey made the accurate yet distasteful comparison between the design of the R360 to that of a particular plot device in a certain episode of South Park, I felt inspired to shed some light on this legendary piece of arcade equipment.

So what is a Sega R360? It's this. Behold.

The R360 is a motion simulator arcade cabinet that has the capability of sending players into full 360 degree rotations at any angle. Sega released the R360 in 1991 with a sticker price in the range of $90 to $100 thousand! While Sega and Nintendo were in a bitter fight to the death in the realm of home consoles, Sega was secretly dominating the arcade industry, which Nintendo had decided to abandon. As a leader in the arcade business, Sega had the luxury of experimenting with huge, cutting edge, and expensive technology that other manufacturers wouldn't even dream of developing...

The pinnacle of their innovation is without a doubt the R360.