What was this unusual driving arcade machine?

kitakyushu

A memory of an old arcade machine popped into my head today and it's going to sound made up but I'm sure I played it.

It was a driving machine with the typical arcade steering wheel but the thing that makes me remember it is that it *wasn't* a computer screen or computer graphic. Instead it appeared to be using actual video or film playback in conjunction with the machines steering wheel.

This was probably mid 80's and I was small at the time so I don't remember how it actually worked but I guess it must have been something along the lines of 'Dragon's Lair' in that the video was called up from a disk or hdd in response to whatever the input was. Important diff is that this was actual filmed material rather than cartoon animation or computer graphics. I seem to remember it having a very '70's look to it' (imagine 70's american cars from tv shows) and also that the picture itself seemed rather faded or fuzzy.

I'm not sure what to google in this instance either as 'video driving game' etc could have a million results. Any help identifying this machine gratefully received.

Retr0gamer

Road Avenger?

Pyongyang

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Road Avenger?

As in Road Avenger/Road Blaster on the Mega CD? LOVE that game, I believe it originally made it's debut on the Laseractive format. Could be wrong though...

kitakyushu

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Road Avenger?

Pyongyang wrote: »

As in Road Avenger/Road Blaster on the Mega CD? LOVE that game, I believe it originally made it's debut on the Laseractive format. Could be wrong though...

This?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CNf3luFiLw

No, not even close. Just to clarify, the game I'm talking about used *actual filmed car chase footage*. It was like looking at a car chase scene from a 70/80s tv show rather than a video game.

I was probably giving it too much credit comparing it to Dragon's Lair as I doubt its operation was even that sophisticated.

Just imagine an arcade machine of this typical shape (ie stand up machine with a steering wheel)
http://www.subarubrat.com/misc/Powerdrift.jpg
but instead of a screen filled with a computer game with pixilated graphics it had what resembled filmed footage that was somehow connected to be interactive with the steering wheel.

Pyongyang

Oh I know the game you are on about! That was in the local arcade where I grew up. Was it a game based on the show COPS?

kitakyushu

Pyongyang wrote: »

Oh I know the game you are on about! That was in the local arcade where I grew up. Was it a game based on the show COPS?

Glad it rings a bell. At least I wasn't imagining it!

I'd say easily older (older than both COPS and C.O.P.S.) so not based on them.

Pyongyang

Hmm so it wasn't this?

http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/c.asp

Cicero

There was a game in leisure land Galway...early 80s...used a video....think the car you drove was a land rover...it was through dirt tracks/ jungle type terrain...no idea of the name of it though.... you felt every bump/crash through the steering wheel...was pretty cool...haven't seen anything like it since..

Pyongyang

Here's another one I remember playing! Street Viper.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9835

Note that Street Viper was released in both upright and sit down flavours. I remember the sit down one in the local arcade.

kitakyushu

Pyongyang wrote: »

Hmm so it wasn't this?

http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/c.asp

Pyongyang wrote: »

Here's another one I remember playing! Street Viper.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9835

Note that Street Viper was released in both upright and sit down flavours. I remember the sit down one in the local arcade.

Those aren't the ones but there definitely the idea of the game I remember. I'd guess the one I'm looking for was probably a distant relative (eg grandfather of...)

Also those games you show have the control car in bottom frame like a classic driver game, but the one I thinking of was far more sloppy and slapdash. I remember you couldn't see the car you were in and at times it was hard to follow what was actually going on or whether you actually had any real control over the game.

Pyongyang

Hmm, I'm running out of suggestions. I'm almost certain we are searching for a Laseractive game but there wasn't that many of them...

Quigs Snr

kitakyushu wrote: »

Pyongyang wrote: »

Hmm so it wasn't this?

http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/c.asp

Pyongyang wrote: »

Here's another one I remember playing! Street Viper.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9835

Note that Street Viper was released in both upright and sit down flavours. I remember the sit down one in the local arcade.

Those aren't the ones but there definitely the idea of the game I remember. I'd guess the one I'm looking for was probably a distant relative (eg grandfather of...)

Also those games you show have the control car in bottom frame like a classic driver game, but the one I thinking of was far more sloppy and slapdash. I remember you couldn't see the car you were in and at times it was hard to follow what was actually going on or whether you actually had any real control over the game.

I'm nearly sure it was street viper, they either had it in Atari expo in the square, tallaght or omni park in santry. It played exactly as you describe, I struggled to think of it as an actual game, it seemed ridiculous to me even then and you couldn't see your car at times ie. It was an in car view.

kitakyushu

Quigs Snr wrote: »

I'm nearly sure it was street viper, they either had it in Atari expo in the square, tallaght or omni park in santry. It played exactly as you describe, I struggled to think of it as an actual game, it seemed ridiculous to me even then and you couldn't see your car at times ie. It was an in car view.

Thanks but I'd pretty much lost interest in Arcades by '93 so there's no way it could be Street Viper.

Whatever this game was it was much older. I'd say I played it in the mid to late 80's and even by that stage it already appeared dated to me so it was probably an early 80s machine at best. It indeed had some sort of video playback aspect to it but I'm doubting it even used laserdisc technology at this point as it wasn't even as interactive to the level of something like Dragon's Lair (and even that's not saying much).

Yreval

Looking through the website that was linked earlier, I was thinking it might be one of these two:

http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/gpw.asp
http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/lgp.asp

but these games had Grand Prix cars, so probably not what you're looking for.

kitakyushu

Thanks for all the replies so far everyone.

I also remember the game was car *chase* based rather than racing, so anything you might see with track racing in it is probably not the one I'm looking for. I think the purpose of the game was to chase another car but I can't remember if you were police or what the actual scenario was.

The cars were really old style. Imagine the kind of stuff you'd see in Dukes of Hazzard or Starsky and Hutch (long stretched cars with curved bodies - defo american style anyway and prob 70s early 80s) and you're getting close to the look.

I'm actually getting the feeling the images on the screen were projector based film rather than laserdisc as IIRC the interactivity of the inputs to the projected image was practically nil and the picture was very faded like old film you might see on an old 16mm home projector. Was there ever any arcade machines like this?

It was just a vague curiosity when I started this thread The more I talk about it it's really starting to bug me!

Pyongyang

kitakyushu wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies so far everyone.

I also remember the game was car *chase* based rather than racing, so anything you might see with track racing in it is probably not the one I'm looking for. I think the purpose of the game was to chase another car but I can't remember if you were police or what the actual scenario was.

The cars were really old style. Imagine the kind of stuff you'd see in Dukes of Hazzard or Starsky and Hutch (long stretched cars with curved bodies - defo american style anyway and prob 70s early 80s) and you're getting close to the look.

I'm actually getting the feeling the images on the screen were projector based film rather than laserdisc as IIRC the interactivity of the inputs to the projected image was practically nil and the picture was very faded like old film you might see on an old 16mm home projector. Was there ever any arcade machines like this?

It was just a vague curiosity when I started this thread The more I talk about it it's really starting to bug me!

To the best of my knowledge there were no reel film games. However I know what game you are on about and its bugging me too!

It would very likely be a laserdisc game. The format has been around since the 70's. Oddly enough I was looking for a Dukes Of Hazzard LD game. In fact I could have sworn there was an LD game of it. Or the other one I think I saw was based on the cop show Tj Hooker.

LoGiE

Longshot but is it 'The Driver'?

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10569

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRKkzcWIpU

Steve X2

LoGiE wrote: »

Longshot but is it 'The Driver'?

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10569

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRKkzcWIpU

Oh yes now that has some retro appeal for me. I'd love one of them.
But all those moving parts, imagine the maintenance on it :eek:

.

kitakyushu

LoGiE wrote: »

Longshot but is it 'The Driver'?

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10569

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRKkzcWIpU

Thanks LoGie. While I'll never be 100% sure of the machine I saw, your nominations certainly ticks all the right boxes. Even the generic name 'The Driver' and the unappealing yellow/brown colour scheme on the cabinet seem familiar to me. I'd nearly swear that's the one anyway, If not then that's certainly similar to the machine I remember.

The machine in the y/t clip is sit-down but I remember the machine I saw was stand-up. However this link http://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/kdriver.htm shows that the seat could easily be removed. Also in the link I'm almost certain I played the option with the car on the dirt road with the lead car shooting up skids of dirt into my view (the second frame on the negative in the photo).

Finally , I remember now that it was an arcade in Courttown where I saw the machine. Might still be sitting in someones garage down there today for all I know.

Mystery (almost certainly) solved. Thanks all who contributed to this thread.

Pyongyang

LoGiE wrote: »

Longshot but is it 'The Driver'?

Even if it isn't. It looks amazing. I've never even seen this game before. Looks like it was something Adultappleflavouredbeveragemale would have played.

corblimey

I'm going to be no help to you, as I distinctly remember playing this game in the late 80s too. It was pricey (maybe 20p a go) and IIRC you had very little control over the car. The viewpoint was kinda like the start of Police Squad. As it is, I went looking for the name of this game about 2 months ago, and came up with nada, not being able to work out the correct combination of terms to appease the mighty Google.

Doge

LoGiE wrote: »

Longshot but is it 'The Driver'?

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10569

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRKkzcWIpU

Wow!

Now that is certainly the "Mellotron" of the Arcade Cab world, if ever I saw it!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrXtmKGkSa4

They both share a huge similarity that is simple but extremely innovative.