Bob

SEGA Arcade: Pop-Up History

A “pop-up” book was just released that celebrates some of the “body sensation” arcade machines from Sega;  Games that aimed to give players a more immersive experience than just standing in front of a wooden cabinet and playing with a stick + buttons.  The games featured in the book are:  Hang-On, Space Harrier, Out Run, After Burner, Thunder Blade and Power Drift.

This book definitely struck a nostalgic tone with me, as some of my favorite memories as a kid involve sitting inside a movable After Burner machine and “flying” an F-14!  While that game hasn’t aged well for me personally, Out Run is a game that I still love to this day!  We never had sit-down Out Run cabinets in my neighborhood, but any time I saw a stand-up machine, I wanted to “go for a drive”.  I love the game so much, I recently purchased an original machine for myself…although it’s currently in storage ;/

The book contains popups of all six cabinets, as well as a history of the games, including insight from one of the original creators Yu Suzuki!  While I’m a fan of artwork-based books like the amazing ‘The Game Console’ from photographer Evan Amos (link below), I don’t normally have room in my tiny apartment for extra stuff like that.  I think this time I’ll have to make an exception and tell myself ‘it’ll take up less space than an actual arcade machine…’

Link to purchase and more information:  https://readonlymemory.vg/shop/book/sega-arcade-pop-up-history/

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