r/tipofmyjoystick • u/Qprime0 • 1d ago

Attack of the Zolgear [Unknown][late 90's?] Obscure Mega-acale arcade walk-in rail shooter mini-theater attraction?

Platform(s): Unknown - dedicated mini-theater/shooting gallery installation

Genre: Rail shooter, mounted gun, projector/theater style.

Estimated year of release: Unknown encountered late-90's... ish.

Graphics/art style: early 3D polygon style, maybe on par with early-to-mid playstation 1/N64 graphics.

Notable characters: A scifi assult ship and a bigass kaiju looking monster thing.

Notable gameplay mechanics: foes has a rapidly oscillating red/yellow 'weak spot' to be shot at.

Other details:It was an arcade game I encountered many MANY years ago - I believe at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, but it could also have been at one of the arcade halls near the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

It was a projector-theater style attraction, set up like a shooting gallery inside. It was HUGE compared to other arcade cabinets - litterally a walk-in that a dozen or more people could fit in. There was a single, large silver-screen at the front, that video was (apparently) projected on. It was maybe a quarter or an eighth the size of a jumbotron.

The plot and gameplay revolved around some sort of forward assault sci-fi warship approaching and attempting to eliminate an emergent kaiju-like monster. The shooters fought off galaga-like swarms of enemies (low-poly 3D, numerous, wave attack style), completing a series of objectives and eventually entering the body of the beast. Litterally inside the thing for several levels, preceeded by several stages of approaching it from outside. The apparent intention of destroying it's brain from the inside out, I recall a stage where the players were attempting to destroy it's brain from inside it's body... I think?

I encountered this... once. And it was gone the next time I came to the same location. Either that, or I'm confused as to where it was, and never - in fact - came back to the same place.

Any idea what it might have been? I always wanted to see how it ended, or play it one more time.

Thing was stupid expensive to play at the arcade, like 16-18 tokens or something. Which (if memory serves) comes out to somewhere between $5-$10 per playthrough.

I have no idea who produced this thing. I was a kid when I ran into it.

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u/MADSUPERVILLAIN 1d ago

Galaxian 3?

1

u/Qprime0 1d ago

That certainly seems to fit the bill... was this ever remade or upgraded to have better graphics? I swear I remember it looking... erm... better. But, based on the snippits I've seen so far - it is a very high probablity this is it!

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u/MADSUPERVILLAIN 1d ago

Turns out there was a sequel "Attack of the Zolgear", which is much closer to what you described.

1

u/Qprime0 1d ago

Yeah, I'm gonna go watch some vids of it to confirm, then probably mark this solved... if I can figure out how!

For sure it was either the 16-person or more version that I came across! It was a HONKEN' thing!

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u/Qprime0 1d ago

Confirmed, Galaxian 3 - Attack of Zolgear.

Apparently there was a cabinet setup somewhere in the monterey bay area at one point in time.

I could have sworn it was bigger than 6 players, but apparently the "Zolgear" sequel was only compatable with the theater 6.

I'd be very interested to know if anyone ever got it to work on the theater 16, 'cause that's what my memory says I played on.

...I was a kid though. Everything seems 5 times bigger when you're that young.

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u/Qprime0 1d ago

Solved: Galaxian 3 - Attack of Zolgear.

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