ARCADE WATCH

Keeping an eye on the coin-op gaming scene

Game Cruis’n Blast Manufacturer Raw Thrills, Nintendo

Raw Thrills founder Eugene Jarvis was the man behind the original Cruis’n USA for Midway and Nintendo in 1994 – and then its two sequels – so it feels entirely fitting that his company should be reviving the well-known series for a new coin-op. With Cruis’n Blast, Raw Thrills hopes to capitalise on what it describes as “unprecedented player demand” within the arcade scene.

The globetrotting game takes in stages across locations such as London, Madagascar, Singapore, Rio De Janeiro and the baked tarmac of Death Valley. Tracks include on- and offroad sections, along with some stomachchurningly big jumps. The titular Blast refers to a boost button that’ll send your car – selected from a garage that includes the Nissan GTR and Lamborghini Veneno – hurtling up to 200mph through inexplicably, but entirely endearingly, explosive scenery.

Cruis’n Blast is powered by an Nvidia GTX 750 Ti and uses a 43in LED monitor. The relatively modest screen is surrounded, however, by some of the 1,000 RGB LEDs that line the edges of the partially enclosed cabinet, ensuring – in the unlikely event that you miss the garishly coloured machine – that youry eye is drawn awn by the rainbows flashing across its surface. All that visual noise ise is supportedd by Raw Thrills’ lls’ seatshaking Thrill-D Blaster audioudio system, and nd up to eight cabs can be linked nked together for multiplayer.yer. Blast is dueue to reach arcades cades worldwide de in January. ry.