ULTIMATE GUIDE
WITH AN OVERSIZED CAB AND 3D SPRITE TECH THAT PREDATED SEGA’S SUPER SCALER GAMES, BUGGY BOY WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY SIGHT IN ARCADES – IF YOU COULD FIND ONE THAT IS. JOIN US AS WE TRACK DOWN TATSUMI’S THREE-SCREEN MONSTER
Poor Tatsumi. In TX-1 (1983) and Buggy Boy (1985), the Japanese developer created two of the most advanced arcade racing games of the era, yet outside of its homeland, few will be familiar with the name. TX-1 was manufactured in the West by Atari, under licence from Namco, while Buggy Boy was distributed by Taito in Europe and Data East in North America (where it was renamed Speed Buggy). All these big arcade names put Tatsumi firmly in the shade – and to compound matters, when Buggy Boy is mentioned these days, many gamers are likely to think of Elite Systems, the UK developer which successfully converted the game to home computers in the late Eighties.
Buggy Boy debuted in arcades in July 1985 and it was hard to miss. Like TX-1, released 18 months prior, the original sitdown cab featured a steering wheel, stick shift, floor pedals and three monitors that were horizontally aligned to mimic the vehicle’s windscreen. The cab also offered ‘quadraphonic sound’ (translation: four speakers – two up front, two at the rear) that added to the impression of being behind the wheel, racing along to the sounds of revs, bumps and squeals. Buggy Boy was a hulking 700lb monster with a 1.5x2m footprint and it was this scale that caught the attention of CVG magazine. “Buggy Boy is a Goliath amongst arcade machines,” reported an unnamed correspondent in the February 1986 issue. “It’s larger than TX-1 with three screens giving a massive panoramic view of your thrilling ride.
ULTIMATE GUIDE: BUGGY BOY
