Current Events > PSA: if you like Cruis'n Blast on Switch, look out for the arcade cabinet

(+) Yeah! (+)

Cruis'n Blast just came out on the Switch, but if you get a chance, find an arcade machine.

I was in Canberra for a week back in May, before COVID reamed the country all over again. I was at a place called Kingpin, which is an adult arcade with a bar and karaoke and a bowling alley and shit - it had a ton of great games like Midnight Club and a surprisingly faithful adaptation of the original Rampage with the aesthetics of the live-action movie.

I went to scan my card to try a strength tester - which I sucked at in the end - but I accidentally scanned the Cruis'n Blast cabinet instead. So I shrugged my shoulders and climbed in, because I may as well get my money's worth.

The thing was on fucking hydraulics.

https://youtu.be/AEUrwwMIEEY

Imagine getting thrown side to side and rocked back and forth along with this fucking action going on. Shit was wild. I was cackling like a fucking moron.

Like before it'd let me play, I had to clip myself in. That's how wild this shit got. It was fucking jerking me around, and it was awesome.

I tried to look up video of this happening, but I couldn't find any hydraulic cabinets. It looks like there was a standard cabinet and a hydraulic one. Still, if you can find a Cruis'n Blast cabinet that throws you around, fucking play it. I'm gonna get the game on Switch, but you haven't lived until you've played the arcade version.

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Used to love the cruisin arcade games as a kid

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Gonna bump this flopic once and no more

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Thinking about getting it at some point on Switch, I'm just real bummed out there's no online play.

And yeah, the arcade experience is always so good. Playing Hydro Thunder in an arcade machine was fucking awesome.

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The arcade game only has like 5 tracks, which is weird

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DarkRoast posted...

The arcade game only has like 5 tracks, which is weird

More variety is always good, but it's not that weird. You have game series like Ridge Racer where most of the courses are made up of 50% recycled racetrack, sometimes boiling down to 4 or so courses that are slightly rejiggered variations on the first track.

Occasionally you'll get a huge franchise like Wangan Midnight, where there are a ton of courses as well as like online leaderboards and character profiles and all that sort of thing - but those types of games are huge events in themselves, and with the declining popularity of arcades, Wangan Midnight might as well be the last one of those left.

While arcade racing games on home consoles did branch out into more content - extra cars, extra tracks and more dedicated singleplayer content, whether it was a port of an arcade game like Ridge Racer or Daytona or a game developed specifically for home consoles like Burnout - the arcade originals have had a long history of sparse content. What matters is the entertainment value, which usually boils down to how good it looks and sounds, as well as being able to race your friends and post your scores and stuff.

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