Muggo!
From Sega Retro
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| Muggo! | |||||||||
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| System(s): AS-1 | |||||||||
| Publisher: Sega | |||||||||
| Developer: Berkshire Motion Picture Company[1] | |||||||||
| Supporting companies: Kleiser Walczak Construction Co. (computer graphics)[2], Post Perfect (digital image compositing)[2], Gear+Rose (motion control)[1] | |||||||||
| Genre: Simulation | |||||||||
| Number of players: 1-8 | |||||||||
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Muggo!, also known as Muggo's Revenge[1], is an AS-1 motion simulator ridefilm developed by the Berkshire Motion Picture Company and published by Sega.
Contents
Story
Muggo! transports the audience to the spacecraft of the titular Muggo, a scrappy but affable space pilot, as he seeks his "revenge" against a second, more sleek fighter craft. However, his first attack quickly draws retaliating fire from the opposing force and he is shot down into the surface of a nearby planet. As Muggo attempts to repair his ship mid-flight, the audience is tumbled about a desolate industrial landscape and barraged by further hostile artillery. As the ship careens wildly through a maze of grimy buildings and rocky tunnels, Muggo finally regains control and pulls his craft back into space. Having seemingly escaped destruction, he turns to the audience and breathes a sigh of relief, only for an entire squadron of enemy ships to appear behind him. They all fire their missiles simultaneously, sending Muggo to an explosive end and concluding the ridefilm.
History
Development
During the early 1990s, Sega AM5 were developing the first of numerous attractions as centerpieces for the company's increasingly large amusement centers, including the AS-1. Division director Hironao Takeda recalls that throughout its initial creation, the team felt they had little experience in the way of creating multi-person, family-oriented experiences, as up until then, Japanese arcade games had been focused more on the individual. Sega had already been involved in the creation of one ridefilm, Sega SuperCoaster by Graphics Technologies and future AM3/Sega Rosso developer Kenji Sasaki, however this was only intended to be a basic prototype simulation for use in the AS-1's location test stage at the Carnival game center during January 1992.
In 1991, American film director Douglas Trumbull (known for the pioneering Universal Studios motion simulator Back to the Future: The Ride) contacted Sega of America Upon learning of his availability, Takeda then made the decision to commission Trumbull to create a preliminary ridefilm that would both demonstrate the AS-1 and provide a development reference for AM5 to work from.[3] Muggo! was made by Trumbull's Berkshire Motion Picture ridefilm team in Japan to display a number of characteristics integral to successful ridefilm use, such as utilizing an on-screen host (Jeff Kent, as the eponymous Muggo) to contextualize the experience, or the use of sudden velocity changes to exaggerate ride motion.[4]
As a result of their contact with Trumbull and his team, AM5 were able to pick up valuable know-how on motion ride design, which Takeda has credited with perfecting the AS-1 and its use as a base for further attractions, including the VR-1.
Release
Muggo! was primarily released in Japan through the first fully-fledged appearances of the AS-1 at amusement industry expositions; up to that point, the simulator had only been showcased at these events as a prototype design. After the film's completion in February 1992, it made its public debut in March at AOU Show 1992, and would go on to also appear at Amusement Machine Show 1992. The film was subsequently advertised alongside the AS-1 as its marquee title in promotional material during that year, however by 1993 it appears to have been de-emphasized upon the advent of Sega's own ridefilms for the simulator, Scramble Training and Megalopolis: Tokyo City Battle. Nonetheless, reports exist of the film occasionally running in some overseas installations of the simulator, as well as other examples developed by other companies such as the Venturer S2.
Production credits
- A Berkshire Motion Picture Inc. Production of an Arish Fyzee Ridefilm
- Starring Jeff Kent as Muggo!
- Creative Consultant: Douglas Trumbull
- Executive Producer: Nick Kelley
- Production Designer: Robert Taylor
- Writer: Douglas Trumbull
- Digital Image Compositing: Post Perfect
- Computer Graphics: Kleiser Walczak Construction Co.
- Composer: Christopher Brubeck
- Producer: Eugeanie Sills
- Director: Arish Fyzee
- © 1992 Berkshire Motion Picture Inc., The Ridefilm Group
Promotional material
Magazine articles
- Main article: Muggo!/Magazine articles.
Video gallery
External links
- Ridefilm clips from Select Simulation
- Promotional poster and flyer
- "Once upon a time there was a company called Sega Enterprises (4)" by Hironao Takeda
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://www.gearandrose.com/credits.htm (Wayback Machine: 2019-06-24 11:53)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 File:AS1 Muggo Poster.jpg
- ↑ https://blog.goo.ne.jp/lemon6868/e/964683a1754808ef332712561e51b4c0 (Wayback Machine: 2021-05-07 02:05)
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEoLaYLpW7A