Mad Bazooka

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Mad Bazooka

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Sega AM4

Number of players: 2-12

Release	Date	RRP	Code
JP	1994-07-20	¥?	?
UK	1996-09-07	£?	?
AU	1997-03-18	$?	?

Mad Bazooka (マッドバズーカ) is a large attraction developed by Sega AM4. Designed as a more traditional interactive bumper car ride attraction for Sega's earlier Amusement Theme Park venues in Japan, it was later exported to appear in the overseas SegaWorld London and Sega World Sydney in 1996 and 1997. Like many early attractions released by the company, no installations remained by the early 2000s, besides a modified version seen at the Japanese Tivoli Park until its closure in 2009.

Story

“	In 2011 A.D., people have fun only by watching the death match projected on a huge plasma display. This program, televised in peak viewing time every evening, is so popular that audiences sometimes get so frenzied and excited that they also die. Extremely large amounts of money moves every night of the game. The truth is that it is the authorized forum that the government invented to legally deal with brutal criminals. The rules are simple. You just need to get on the "MAD CART" and aim bullets at the opponent. Now, it's time the "death match" began.	„
— Official website ^[1]

Gameplay

Mad Bazooka in Yokohama Joypolis, circa July 1994

Mad Bazooka is a indoor bumper car ride/target-shooting game designed to last 3.5 minutes long. Players assume control of 10 carts, divided into two teams, in a 352 sq. meter arena. Each two-seater cart interior is equipped with a steering wheel, acceleration pedal, and joystick to control shooting; the stick can be operated by either the driver or a second player.

While traversing the arena, each cart hoovers up colored foam balls littered on the floor, which can be shot – up to 8 per second at speeds of 80 mph - at targets on top of the other cars through fixed gun turrets. Hitting the targets increases the team's score, which can be seen by players on an LED screen inside the vehicle and bystanders on a series of further LED screens on the walls of the arena.

After the game is completed, the winning team is declared, and a variety of statistics (i.e. the number of hits, contribution to the team, rank within the team, etc.) are totalled for each cart and printed out on a scorecard for the player to keep as a souvenir. Although usually played as a team game, Mad Bazooka also includes settings for individual battle and team-switching modes.^[2]

History

Release

Mad Bazooka was first installed at Yokohama Joypolis as one of three debut attractions in July 1994, later going on to appear in four other indoor theme parks opened by Sega. All four locations besides Yokohama Joypolis had Mad Bazooka removed in the late 1990s before their own permanent closures. One of these installations is believed to have been bought and relocated to Kurashiki Tivoli Park in Okayama, where it was partially rethemed under the name of Hell Fighter whilst still retaining its main gameplay features.^[3] After Yokohama Joypolis closed in February 2001, the Tivoli version became the only example to remain in operation, staying at the park until its closure in 2009.