Gaming: Yakuza Kiwami 3 Includes The First Official Emulation Of 2 Bizarro...

Forget all that yakuza drama. Time to play some obscure arcade games.

In the glory days of the video arcade, no idea was too weird for a multi-thousand-dollar machine built around a CRT. Take, for example, two of Sega's more obscure late '90s arcade cabinets: Magical Truck Adventure (which does not feature a truck) and Emergency Call Ambulance (which does feature an ambulance). Released in 1998 and 1999, neither has been re-released in any sort of arcade collection or made available digitally until now, via in-game emulation in Yakuza 3 Kiwami. Both are delightful.

Magical Truck Adventure is classic Sega arcade stuff: bright and bubbly and immediately throwing all sorts of stuff at the screen within seconds. You take control of one of two kids operating an old-fashioned train handcar, chasing down a pair of crooks who've stolen your magical jewel and decided to flee by rail, making them incredibly easy to catch.

At least if you're in good shape: the physical arcade machine requires you to constantly pump the handcar's lever to maintain speed, while a pair of pedals allow you to lean left or right off the rails and jump over the barrels and other random obstacles they hurl your way. You also teleport/time travel between stages, naturally.

Magical Truck Adventure is a short game (with a few branching paths depending on how well you do in each stage), which is ideal considering how tired your arms will be after a couple levels. I've played the real arcade machine several times and never gotten past the second level, so I enjoyed playing the emulated version at a recent Yakuza Kiwami 3 preview event immensely. Flicking a couple analog sticks up and down is a lot less tiring!

This emulated version of Magical Truck Adventure can't capture the fun gimmick of controlling a game via frantic lever action, but it's still a fun, cute game that I'm glad people can now play without seeking out an incredibly rare arcade cabinet.

Emergency Call Ambulance, meanwhile, I have never seen in an arcade or indeed even heard of, but it is nuts. You're an ambulance driver speeding away from the scene of some disaster with a grievously wounded patient, and each level is an on-rails course that gives you just enough time to make it to the hospital, assuming you don't collide with oncoming traffic or take even a few turns a little too slowly. In the first level, another ambulance briefly passes you in haste and then immediately careens off the road into the sea.

This game real

Source: PC Gamer