And a sega R360 shows up at Galloping Ghost Arcade (2024)

Odd I didn't see this news on KLOV. The news site has some unwanted popups so I just cut and pasted the text to here..

Galloping Ghost Arcade, the largest arcade in the United States and one of the largest in the world, is celebrating its tenth anniversary. As part of it, owner Doc Mack revealed an extremely rare addition to the playable collection: a Sega R360 with G-LOC Air Battle. It was revealed as its Monday Mystery Game on August 10, 2020 on Twitch. [Thanks, SegaBits!]

Here's the full rebroadcast on Facebook. You can actually see the Sega R360 in action and motion. This is one of only 150 cabinets ever made. Mack noted it runs on three-phase power and needed a generator to run during the demonstration. He noted that he had never played one before this acquisition. He also promised to eventually share the whole story on Facebook.

Around the 45 minute mark, Mack said Galloping Ghost is currently working out how it will arrange for it to be playable for the general public. He noted that at the start, the arcade will note whether or not it will be a Sega R360 day so potential visitors could plan accordingly. Various hurdles were mentioned for safe and proper usage, such as needing an attendant to help man it and having the generator on-hand so it could be used. It also has a 250lb weight limit for users, due to this being a full motion experience. (There is a panic button in the machine, if someone gets overwhelmed.)

Galloping Ghost Arcade is in Brookfield, IL. Admission is $20 for the full day, it is open every day, all machines are set to free play, and there are over 780 games in its collection. Its pinball collection is open on Fridays and Saturdays and has a $15 entry fee for the full day. If you follow it on Facebook, every Monday a mystery game is revealed. Some of the recent ones, aside from this Sega cabinet, were Sega's Daytona USA, Namco's Cyber Sled, and Atari's I, Robot.

The true holy grail for sure. There hasn't been an operating one in the USA since 2002 and the last one I know of was at Smiles Fun Center in Connecticut. The only other operating one that I know about is in the country of Estonia. Rumor has it parents were upset with the machine being there and eventually ran it out of the place. If someone does know of a R360 that operated after 2002 in the USA, then they are welcome to tell me about it. They have to get the 3 phase power installed, figure out a situation for an attendant and then renovate the building the R360 is currently sitting in.

I think the only restriction is you have to be taller than 4'3 and there is a 250lb weight limit but they did say they had heavier people in it and it was just fine.

This is something that I was sure would not ever happen in the USA due to liability, but it did happen. I was talking with Andy of Arcade Club in the UK and they thought about running a R360 but they couldn't do it because of liability and the attendant requirement.

I played this game at Disneyland way back and really liked it.

I went to Joypolis in Japan a few years ago and played what they now call R360, but are very different, and didn't like them at all.

VERY cool.. thanks for the heads up! My parents live about 25 mins from there, so I try to stop by GG when I'm visiting. Somewhat surprising that they'd get a monstrous full motion game like that though, since it seems some of their other full motion games are regularly out of order, or not moving (F-Zero AX and a space game that I can't remember, both near the front door, are the two that come to mind).

DogP

tstone said:

I played this game at Disneyland way back and really liked it.

I went to Joypolis in Japan a few years ago and played what they now call R360, but are very different, and didn't like them at all.

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There isn't a lot of information about the R360Z, the 2 player game that is in Japan only. From what I understand you can't control the motion or the game on this one like you can on the original. It just runs a pre-programmed motion cycle on what I can only assume is something like an on rails shooter type of game. This makes sense for this type of game as its a 2 seater game, its nice that they made a 2 seater R360 though because it feels like the perfect upgrade to the original. I think the original R360 is the only game that goes upside down where the player can truly control the cabinet. It may be a little wonky in that respect, because if the cabinet were to match the on screen gameplay exactly, it would kill the person inside, but its still the only game where you can do that. There have been some chinese clones and some other machines made in recent years that are similar but none made by a major manufacturer and a lot of these are basically vaporware and none have made it to the USA at least that I know of, though its taken about 20 to 25 years before we even saw anyone try to make anything like the Sega R360 other than the original so that is an impressive thing in itself.

There are no original R360's in Japan that I know of at this point but that fact is currently being investigated by a Sega Journalist in Japan.

SaraAB87 said:

There isn't a lot of information about the R360Z, the 2 player game that is in Japan only. From what I understand you can't control the motion or the game on this one like you can on the original. It just runs a pre-programmed motion cycle on what I can only assume is something like an on rails shooter type of game. This makes sense for this type of game as its a 2 seater game, its nice that they made a 2 seater R360 though because it feels like the perfect upgrade to the original. I think the original R360 is the only game that goes upside down where the player can truly control the cabinet. It may be a little wonky in that respect, because if the cabinet were to match the on screen gameplay exactly, it would kill the person inside, but its still the only game where you can do that. There have been some chinese clones and some other machines made in recent years that are similar but none made by a major manufacturer and a lot of these are basically vaporware and none have made it to the USA at least that I know of, though its taken about 20 to 25 years before we even saw anyone try to make anything like the Sega R360 other than the original so that is an impressive thing in itself.

There are no original R360's in Japan that I know of at this point but that fact is currently being investigated by a Sega Journalist in Japan.

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All true. Not being able to control the motion is the worst part. It made me sick.

Here is a post I made a while back with a couple videos I made in Japan:
https://forums.arcade-museum.com/threads/i-played-the-new-sega-r360-in-joypolis-japan-video.389001/

tstone said:

All true. Not being able to control the motion is the worst part. It made me sick.

Here is a post I made a while back with a couple videos I made in Japan:
https://forums.arcade-museum.com/threads/i-played-the-new-sega-r360-in-joypolis-japan-video.389001/

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So far no one has gotten sick from the GG's R360 and they all ate pizza before they played it. Guaranteed I am sure we have all heard the puking incidents about this machine and I have heard plenty but I can only imagine if you started feeling sick on the R360 Z how many others have gotten sick on it as well.

I find its actually better to go on a ride when you have a bit in your stomach, you don't want to go on right after you eat, but maybe an hour or so after. Going on with an empty stomach can make you sick too.

The real 360 like the one at Galloping Ghost is fun and didn't make me sick.

The fake one where you can't control the motion and get jerked around unexpectedly in Japan made me sick.

DogP said:

VERY cool.. thanks for the heads up! My parents live about 25 mins from there, so I try to stop by GG when I'm visiting. Somewhat surprising that they'd get a monstrous full motion game like that though, since it seems some of their other full motion games are regularly out of order, or not moving (F-Zero AX and a space game that I can't remember, both near the front door, are the two that come to mind).

DogP

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The only advice I can give is visit often and hope to catch your favorite when its working. Motion based games are very difficult to keep working. Yes they are extremely fun but they are a nightmare. Not to mention parts for these are no longer made and some of them like After Burner are 30+ years old. There's a whole host of things that go wrong in these machines, one of the big ones is the monitor, because its constantly being shaken around by the machine, you have all sorts of things happening in there. I have not worked on one of these myself but I have seen what happens first hand. Without going into grave detail I still have an After Burner co*ckpit at a local arcade and prior to covid this thing was breaking down every 2 weeks or more often. You fix it and as soon as you do it goes down again with another problem. One of the biggest problems with this game is the game shakes violently when you die in it, and that spreads to the monitor and everything else like I was saying. There is cracking solder all over the boards and monitor. Parts go out and you can't find replacements, so you have to make something or take it from another machine if you have that option. Even for an experienced tech there are new problems happening in that game because of the age of the game, the shaking, things that haven't been seen in the past.

SaraAB87 said:

The only advice I can give

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Thought of you as soon as I heard the news. You might not know me very well, but I've been floating around RGVAC and KLOV for quite a while and I know that in my opinion, no arcade fan and collector has been more consistently enthused about motion cabinets.

Motion base machines are fun to keep runnning but you need to keep an eye and do preventative maintenance.

For example on the afterburner deluxe..
Bearings that are not free and easy moving causes the motors to work harder. Which puts a strain on the electrical drivers..

Flushing out of the bearings and filter what comed out through a coffee filter will show you what conditions your bearings are in.

Motors can be rewound. New brushes can be bought and the magnetic inside the motor can be rejuvenated.

Remounting silicon greased transistor. If you take a temp reading before your remount. You should see a temperature drop.

Taking the temperature of your machine when it warms up will give you a heads up before it does break down. Bearings, motors,transistors and the flyback are all great places to take the temperature of a game. Once you establish what is normal for your machine. You should be able to get a heads up before things break down.