Lucky & Wild

Overview

 Perhaps one of the most unique ideas to be released in an arcade, Lucky and Wild is a game in which two characters set out in their car to put a stop 5 wanted criminals from a crime syndicate.

Lucky was the cool , collected detective, where Wild was his crazier, long haired, early-90s-cool buddy. What makes the game interesting is that it is a combination of a light gun shooter and a driving game. Both characters wield guns and shoot at the enemies ahead, but the person who chooses Lucky gets the interesting position of shooting while driving. Should you be lonely and approach this game friendless, then the other character is taken over by AI control (thus, if you aren't good at multitasking, you can have Lucky drive while you just shoot as Wild). Though it may be rather forgotten, those who have had the luck to try this game can attest to its greatness and hold out with bated breath for a never-gonna-happen sequel.

Gameplay

 The game is divided into 5 different high-speed chase levels. They start with the duo driving Lucky's sweet car when the suspect drives up in front of you, shoots out your windshield ("NO!! My car..." Lucky says), and the game is on. Your enemies are all in their own type of automotive vehicle, and you must shoot either the passengers (who pop out to shoot back at you) or just shoot the car to make it explode.

Other enemies will pop up on motorcycles and some throw bombs at you, which land on your car and can be shot off, rewarding you with no damage. Your life is tied in by a health bar, displayed on the dashboard, and a meter above it shows how many credits you still have. At the top, both the characters faces are shown in the rear-view mirror, showing them get beaten up and their expressions as things happen before them (such as taking a fat ramp jump), and the two trade banter back and forth as the drive along and shoot.
 
Each level has its own areas to go through in the pursuit of the levels boss character. While one may

take you through regular city streets, another cuts you through a mall, another a slum, etc. After battling your way through the level, the boss character crops up in their own car and a timer pops up. Each boss must be defeated within their own time limit or they get away (they pop out again in the last level, and the pair get a chance to take them down again before they get the last boss and his cheap, cheap laser beam), which was a pretty unique system and helped set this game apart in difficulty. It behooves the player to defeat the bosses because, not only is it a better point tally and an easier final level, but the characters also pull in to the Pink Cats Garage at the end of the level, where bikini-clad women with cat-ear headbands come out to service  you and your car. If the boss was defeated, you will use some of the ransom money to get your health back up, but if you didn't manage it, with a cry of "No, i don't have any money!", your characters drive away, health where it was left at the last level.
 

The Cabinet

 The Lucky and Wild cabinet is one of the most unique ever seen in arcades. For one, it's gigantic, especially for a time before you kids and your Dance Dance Revolutions. It's got a rather large seat, for two people, modeled after a car seat. The sides are painted to look like Lucky's car, a red sports car, and the steering wheel, gas and brakes are located where they would be in a real car. The interesting thing is that, while in games like Time Crisis the guns are on a wire and can be moved wherever, the guns in Lucky and Wild are on a pivot. Since they point wherever they need to on the screen, and it's never necessary to point off screen to reload, it's not a big problem past being one of comfort. The Lucky player must position themselves in the right position to have a good grip on both wheel and gun, though the Wild player has an easier time adjusting themselves to a better shooting position.

Tango and Cash

The characters are straight rips from Tango and Cash, though they do drive a different car and without

the hilarity of Sylvester Stallone in glasses and a nice suit. Probably the actual characters are similar as well, but with so small a backstory in the game, the player will probably wind up formulating their own idea of what the characters are like (some sort of loose-cannon cops on the edge who never play by the rules).