Our local mall's arcade had this machine about 20 years ago. I remember seeing the words: "ONE ATTEMPT ONLY" right before the final level and realizing that the machine wasn't going to let me buy a continue if I failed! I pedaled like crazy and finished the level with only 2 seconds to spare. I sat there, catching my breath as I watched the cinematic of the floating islands returning to Earth. I remember thinking to myself, "There! I finished the story! Now I don't have to play this game again!" ;)
Such an awesome game, with way more lore and personality than it needed. There should be one of these in every gym. The final stage is really not hugely difficult, but the problem is you're worn out by the time you get there!
Once a blue moon, I think of this game and watch it on RU-vid. Only memory I have of it is playing it with my sis in a indoor soccer building. Thanks for the video!
We had it at one of the arcade parlors here in Recife (Brazil). It was somewhat expensive, costing around two tokens (or, later, 50% more the price of a "normal" game, when it came by "credit cards")... Some people tried it sometimes (including me), but all failed. I suppose playing it at a keyboard on an emulator makes it easier?
It's a bit late, but there is a romanisation system called Kunrei-shiki, and when using this じ becomes "zi" rather than "ji". It's not used much outside of Japan because it results in very odd-looking constructions such as "mahoo syoozyo" instead of "mahou shoujo".
Loved playing this in the arcade. Its tiring as hell. The last stage really gets to you, partly because you have one attempt only and are trying super hard :D
Okay, after seeing that final stage the rest of the game actually makes sense now. I never noticed the sparking balloons in the intro. I mean, curses _can_ be very strange and specific, but "Set up three balloon obstacle courses that have to be beaten by a guy on a flying bicycle" is a little bit much even then.
Does that mean that, in the game's world, the first three stages are just training for the great trial of Solitar? Do you have to prove your worth before the Government so they will grant you permission to use their "prop cycle sling" to launch you at Solitar? And... if Solitar is only a sling away, did they evacuated it when it was raised into the sky, by sending balloons and prop cycles? And what happens if you fail to pop the spheres on time? Does the curse gets you stuck at Solitar, unable to pedal your way down? Is that the reason they don't do it more often? Or does the curse allows, say, only one person a year to try the challenge? Or only a few hours per year? So many questions...! 🤯🕵️♂️🕵🏿♀️
@@EuMesmoVII It turns out that if you fail the last stage you get struck by lightning and fall back down (me, upon first seeing this "wait, did I just DIE?"). That really IS the plot of the game, the first three stages are to prove that you can succeed! You can see this in one of the other longplays on RU-vid that shows the good and the bad ending (you can't continue on the last stage).
@@Slonie: Thank you for your answer! I've never had the ability to get through the first stage, neither the people who played at the shopping mall arcade, so I never got to see the ending, ANY ending...!
God damn. I remember how this game's 3D graphics just blew away all the home console stuff at the time. It looks pretty dated in 2022, but the art direction and world design still look pretty great.
So this game was just Brock (pokemon), riding around on Tombo's(Kiki's delivery service) flying bike, and completing Ultron's(Age of Ultron movie) plan for human extinction?
I always wonder about the games background. Why is the Solitar's stage earth bombarded ? What are those "worm like irradiated creatures" ? And did the civilization somehow collapsed in it ?
The game likes to heavily imply it takes place a good maybe 400-500 years after nuclear crisis, In a sort of rapid re-advancement period where humanity is using pre-crisis knowledge to quickly return to it's original standing. Multiple enviroments imply radioactivity and nuclear waste, and particularly solitar, despite having a radiation warning and electrical integration, is referred to in terms commonly associated with antique structures. Industarn has modern skyscrapers and freeways busted up and partially sunken into a rapid forming lake, and the train tunnel just after those is very badly kept, despite still being in apparent use.
thank you for this video! played this game when i was a kid and was always interested ind the full extend of the game. now I saw it all and can die in piece. Thank You!
awesome video! lots of memories of this game and how amazing the soundtrack and simple story is! thanks for the upload, also my last name is Munroe too! so even more respect to ya! :)
We played this game in a small town arcade so much that a friend of mine (a fan of flying, glider pilot) wanted to build the ectual prop cycle. You know what, I will give him a call and try to get him to start working on it again. Now that we have the ultralight material and way more advanced technology, this might even be feasible :D
@@arronmunroe I was looking for one since 1999!!! Finally it came up on Ebay. The problem is I’ll have to drive 2000 miles to get it…. There is one in Vegas in the pinball hall of fame. The screen is busted on it so he put a TV in it but it still works if you want to try it!
Which version of MAME were you using? It definitely works on the latest MAME, but I didn't think there was a problem with the sound on even the older versions.
It looks like the guy playing this is cheating. How the hell is he pedaling that fast? Even Lance Armstrong couldn't do that. And of course it's a perfect run!
