Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog Speed Cafes are a recent series of “pop-up” restaurants on global tour. Under this banner, lucky dining establishments will be converted into Sonic the Hedgehog-themed restaurants for a brief time. The torch was passed to Craft Burger in Katy, Texas (part of the Houston Area). Founded by Chopped (Food Network) alumni Shannen Tune, the acclaimed burger joint became the third-ever Sonic Speed Cafe and the very first one in Texas. After the Sega-approved makeover, the establishment re-opened its doors on May 4th, 2024 with shiny new décor and menu items inspired by the franchise. Word of mouth generated a buzz worthy of Sonic’s compatriot Charmy Bee: its opening weeks, the queue stretched out beyond the plaza and sprawled into the parking lot with peak waiting times exceeding an hour.
My brother Sam and I had the chance to visit the Sonic the Hedgehog Speed Cafe in late June. During its opening weeks, the queue stretched out beyond the plaza and sprawled into the parking lot with peak waiting times exceeding an hour. The windows were adorned with silhouettes of Sonic, his friends, and Dr. Eggman. A peek inside revealed skateboards imprinted with the likeness of video game mammalians on them. Familiar tunes like Super Sonic Racing from Sonic R, His World from the highly-acclaimed Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, Palm Tree Panic from Sonic CD and dozens of others as the playlist advanced. The first ones there, we exited the car and formed the line. One excitable young fan behind recited the lyrics to the vocal tracks in perfect tandem.
At 11 AM, blue-shirted, khaki-clad employees opened the cafe for business. Upon entering, we were greeted by a disclaimer from Sega about the business constantly being surveyed, grassy-carpeting inspired by Green Hill Zone (the first level of the original game), cut-outs of Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy and Shadow, tables with silhouettes of the core cast, a mural of Shadow the Hedgehog, two PlayStation consoles running the recent Sonic Superstars, commemorative clocks and shelves of plush toys, and other memorabilia. The area near the bathroom had a tribute to various Sonic games: Sonic the Hedgehog 1, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Mania, and Sonic Heroes, to name a few. After absorbing the sights, it was time to order our food.
Sam and I ordered Sonic’s Adventure (chili cheese fries), Team Dark (a mocha milkshake inspired by Shadow), the Piyo Piyo Tenders (named after Amy’s hammer), Gold Rings (onion rings) and the Blue Blur slushie.
We were fortunate to get to our tables; we elected to dine on top of Dr. Eggman. With only fourteen inside seats, the interior filled up in no time flat. Thankfully, the service was expedient, as you’d want from a place that bears the Sonic name; our food arrived much sooner than expected. Sam was highly satisfied with his Piyo Piyo Tenders. The Team Dark mocha was initially too thick to drink, but after a few minutes of tempering, it quickly melted into one of the most memorable shakes I’ve ever had; the absolute best in recent memory. That was my favorite menu item.
Ever the sweets master and fashionista, Sam chose to purchase a Sonic cookie and a Houston-exclusive Sonic hoodie from their “Black Market” (based on the shady mart you buy Chao goods from in Sonic Adventure 2). Sam said the cookie was simply “fine” but the hoodie was much better.
Most of the other clientele came and went. They were families with pre-pubescent children getting all ecstatic at the theming and a few “Sonic couples” (think of them like Disney couples). Sam and I were among the oldest attendants. After 2 hours of dining, admiring the ambience, snapping pics and recording video, we decided to depart from Sonic’s World and return to banal, unfulfilling reality.
The Sonic Speed Cafe is not cheap. A customer expressed frustration about having to order fries separate. For several reasons, prices and menu will vary on location, though Sega is attempting to keep menus similar between locations. The acclaimed Eggman sandwich which was at one of the California locations was not available. Because of the hype and limited seating you will want to plan out your Sonic Adventure a few days in advance. Personally, I wish they chose a bigger location in the Houston Metro Area to host this pop-up, but it was neat for what it was and worth checking out as a local attraction as Katy has been lacking in those. Die-hard Sonic fans will have a blast.
The Sonic Speed Cafe will be open in Katy, Texas until September 5th. Check out their official website here.
In the fast-evolving world of console gaming in the mid-1980s, arcade game developers had to find ways to keep players coming back to arcades. A simple yet effective way was to advance the graphical and sound capabilities beyond what consoles could do at the time. Sega was an expert of this form of shoeshine, with games like Space Harrier and Virtua Racing far outclassing what consumer hardware could do at the time. Others turned to more unconventional methods, like Namco encouraging players to share secrets regarding their cryptic but far-influencing classic The Tower of Druaga. Some used more interesting methods like pushing for a more premium gaming experience; Taito was a master in this, with games like Darius and Darius II. These games used a multi-monitor setup and a half-mirror to give off the illusion of ultra-widescreen, allowing for a bigger playfield.
The first game from Taito to use multi-monitors is one not many have heard of: Wyvern F-0. Released to Japanese arcades in June 1985, Wyvern F-0 is a shmup that plays very similarly to Namco’s Xevious, with the idea that it plays from a top-down perspective, and you have sperate shot and ground bomb buttons. Wyvern F-0 is faster-paced than Xevious; you can control the ship’s speed (speeding up the ship by moving to the top of the screen and making it slower by going to the bottom of the screen) owing to that. The main party trick separating it from Xevious, however, is the fact you have ship powerups via accessories that dock with the ship a la R-Type, and fact you can loop your ship a la 1942, as a quick way to evade enemy attacks. You can loop once, and then you can recharge it via surviving and killing as many ships as you can. Looping also disengages any ship powerups temporarily, so you will have to reconnect with the ship powerup when you get back into formation, also much like R-Type.
Otherwise, the game is self-explanatory. It’s a fun Xevious-like and one I often keep coming back to, mostly because of how fast-paced it is and how much fun it is to rack up a high-ranking score in the game. It’s certainly one of the better Xevious clones made of that time. The MSM5232-powered soundtrack is excellent too, done by Naoto Yagishita of ZUNTATA fame, and according to him was inspired by the anime Ginga Hyōryū Vifam.
The gameplay itself, however, is not the most interesting thing about it, but rather the gimmick that dedicated cabinets of the game had. These cabs had two monitors within them, one to display the sky level graphics, and the other to display the ground level graphics. Using a half mirror, the cab combines these two outputs to create a pseudo-3D effect, and even had two separate speakers on the top and bottom, to give off more of a feeling of depth for the top and bottom layers. This was a very convincing effect, according to a few accounts. However, you can run the games on normal cabs, albeit without the stereo and 3D effects.
The game seemed to have been popular for a bit, as it showed up regularly on Game Machine’s top upright games between their June and December 1985 issues, but despite this material on the game is extremely hard to find, owing to the fact that gimmicks can’t save the longevity of a game. Hardly any dedicated cabs even still survive to this day, as they were most likely junked after it became unprofitable, and even PCBs are on the rare side now. MAME didn’t emulate the game until somewhat recently, and it had zero official home ports until the release of Taito Arcade Memories Vol. 2 expansion pack for the Taito Egret II Mini. However, this didn’t stop Taito from reusing the gimmick in the future, as Exzisus also used a very similar gimmick in an even more rarely seen dedicated cab variant compared to the conversion kit version that most of the ports are based on.
Overall, it’s interesting to see how time is a flat circle with forms of entertainment that you once had to trek out of home to see. They establish themselves, technology advances and its more possible to experience it at home, then the original form tries to find ways to one-up the home experience, ultimately with defeat at the end of the day due to technological advancements. It was no different with arcade games, even if some games are unfairly left as a footnote as a result, and Wyvern F-0 is one of many.
Sources:
- https://archive.org/details/ArcadeTVGameListKokunai-KaigaiHen1971-2005/
- https://www.higenekodo.jp/untiku/wy.htm
- https://x.com/TAITO_Apps/status/1062253753766572032/ (cab pics)
- https://www.arcade-museum.com/Videogame/wyvern-f-0 (PCB pic)
- Taito Game Music’s linear notes
- Game Machine June 1985-December 1985
(Some sources suggested by Justin L. a.k.a. Common RAM Error)
Mechanical games where you use a metal claw to capture prizes have been a classic fixture at carnivals, amusement halls and the odd public location since the late 1800’s. Maybe the prize is a plush doll, a plastic toy, or a keychain. These devices have many names: claw machines, crane games and less commonly, skill cranes. Perhaps you recall the squeaky aliens from Toy Story who worshiped one as their god, “Oooo, the claw…” Or a certain the episode of Spongebob Squarepants where Squidward became obsessed with one.
In Japan, claw games are widely known as “UFO catchers”. Their likeness is culturally inferred as an alien spacecraft. According to former arcade machine seller Justin L. (A.K.A. Common RAM Error): “They’re a major component of arcade profitability…” in the Land of the Rising Sun. Quarter Up contributing writer Leland Tursi corroborates “…the signs are plenty there…” Taito Station, one of the largest gesens (game centers) in Japan hosts over 400 individual UFO catcher units.
Whatever you call these devices, I have always had a love-hate relationship with them. I don’t recall ever winning a prize from a claw machine in my youth. Historically, I’ve dug into my pockets for funds to play one and got hoodwinked every time. There are several factors that can make a claw game unfair. The grip of the claw relative to its shape can be misleading. The moment of the claw in response to the joystick never felt quite right. I was further discouraged upon learning that operators have settings that reduce the strength of the claw’s grip, sometimes they put decoy prizes in the machine that simply cannot be fairly obtained. To me, crane games were a legalized form of gambling. A stationary bandit there to trick children and the misguided out of their loose pocket change.
On the other hand, my brother Sam had vanquished a few of these beasts. He developed an eye for what games were fair and which ones were not. Once at Busch Gardens Tampa, he obtained a Pac-Man plushie as a trophy.
Through the intel of a birdie in my spy network, I learned a new arcade was coming to Katy Asiantown in summer of 2024. Claw City: an arcade dedicated almost entirely to crane games! Though I had some reservations due to my traumatic history with crane games, I decided to go forward in the pursuit of patronizing a local arcade. In late June, a few weeks into its operation, Sam and I paid a visit.
We were greeted by Claw City employees and statues of Iron Man And Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece as a futuristic, ambient soundtrack eased its way out of the overhead speakers. Claw City’s interiors and claw machines sport a neon-on-white aesthetic, reminiscent of candy cabs. These vibes were all trying to communicate that we have left planet earth and entered an ethereal dimension of gaming.
Like standard arcades of the past, special Tokens are needed to play games at Claw City. Dollar bills and coins are not accepted on the games themselves, however they can be exchanged at a kiosk up front or at the customer service counter. The cheapest game we found at Claw City was three tokens per play, costing almost three dollars. Sam quickly surmised that the games that were the most fair were the ones that had round plushie prizes. The figurines packed in rectangular boxes of One Piece and Dragon Ball characters? Forget it! He also deemed the machines that were teasing Frito-Lays snacks as prizes to be “unfair.”
After a few attempts, we captured several unauthorized Pokémon plushies. I was ecstatic to finally win something out of a claw machine. My inner child had been vindicated. But our eyes grew bigger than our stomachs. To accommodate our full arms, the entrance contained a convoy of pink shopping carts for the purposes of transporting our toy spoils.
With about 130 crane games, Claw City boasts that it is the single largest arcade of its type in Texas. That might seem like an overly specific claim, but after our trip, I learned that there was a rival installation not too far; one constructed just as recently…
Also established in June of 2024, Claw & Fun is another claw machine dominion currently occupying the vicinity of Katy Asiantown. It’s located one mere half-mile from Claw City. Much like the ouroboros devouring its own tail, Claw & Fun’s mascot is a claw machine reaching into itself. Our esteemed colleague Miller joined us for the weekday adventure.
We immediately noticed Claw & Fun had fewer crane machines than Claw City.
Viewing from the outside to the left, was an entire wall of gashapon machines. Gashapon are essentially bulk vending machines for mystery capsule toys; a popular fixture in Japan. Much like Claw City, Claw & Fun required tokens for its games. Most games at Claw & Fun were priced at one or two tokens per play. The vast majority of the games at Claw & Fun teased Pokemon related prizes, with a few Sonics, Hello Kitties and other cuddly characters to provide counterbalance. Unlike the Pokemon merch at Claw City, these were official products and not knock-offs. We found the workers to be much more attentive at Claw & Fun. In fact, if too many people were losing a game at Claw & Fun, they would rearrange the prizes and encourage the arcade guests to try again. I had never seen that before at an arcade. Overall, our group had greater success with the Claw & Fun games.
Overall, both locations give some flair to Katy Asiantown. As of this writing, here are some direct comparisons between the two
Claw City
PROS:
-Bigger location
-Higher token yield per dollar
-Better aesthetics and ambience
-More challenging games
Claw & Fun
PROS:
-Easier games
-Overall lower pricing
-Very attentive staff
-Official Pokemon merchandise
Editor’s Note: This commentary was submitted by Buffalo before his passing in April, 2024.
Yes, all of the above apply to playing pinball as well as helping with mind set in everyday life, like it or not, accept it or not.
Some you win; some you loose.
Pinball requires skill and a lot of luck. The percentages are always in flux, never static, always changing. If you are good with eye/reflex, luck don’t care. If you’re a lucky klutz, skill can sure be a help. having both is blind luck. Anybody who thinks they’re great because both coincide is full of fertilizer, be it horse, chicken, or bull. That is a fact.
The machine giveth and the machine taketh away.
That is rule number one of pinball playing.
Rule two is that rule one is constant and you can’t change it. Accept it. When and wherever there is competition, some are gonna lose and there will be one, and only one (damned geometry rules) winner.
A good pinballist will play the ball with skill taught by spent quarters, remembering High School geometry (wish you had paid better attention at the time), and having ‘no thought’ in mind, only eyes for the ball and good eye-hand reactions. In other words, meditation or zazen 101. Zazen is meditation the Zen way which is not easy: clearing your mind, making a void with wei, nothing there in your head.
The problem with listening, of course, is that we don’t. There’s too much noise going on in our heads, so w never hear anything. The inner conversation simply never stops. It can be our voice or whatever voices we want to supply, but it’s a constant racket. In the same way we don’t see, and the same way we don’t feel, we don’t touch, we don’t taste.
Phillip Glass
It is when the mind is empty that there is now room for the pinball to become one with you; “no thought.” There is no right, there is no wrong; all that there is is the now moment with you and the ball. Wei.
It may sound simple enough but trust me, it’s not.
Another way of trying while being ‘selfless’ is music.
Satisfaction, Honky Tonk Women, and I know it’s Only Rock and Roll by the Rolling Stones are three examples that can transport me away when playing the ball. Songs that you know without thinking about when they are playing. The beat, the rhythm, the words touch something inside you, flips a switch and suddenly you’re ‘gone.’ Poof. One with the machine.
If you want to play better pinball, spend quarters; there is no shortcut to ‘becoming one’ with the machine and there is no guarantee you will ever get there. Just keep on tryin’, just keep on truckin’.
Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware.
It does not teach, it points.
D.T. Suzuki
Long Beach Beer Lab
518 W. Willow St.
Long Beach, CA 90806
Season 12 of Long Beach Pinball League runs from July 9th through August 17th. It meets on Tuesdays at 7:30 PM. These are IFPA-sanctioned events. Email info@brewcades.com for more information.
399 Main St.
Lyons, Colorado 80540
Fall pinball league starts September 12th, and runs for 10 Thursdays in a row. 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM/10:30 PM.
$40 entry. All money goes to the prizepool for the end of the season tournament on November 14th.
Suitable for all abilities!
To qualify for finals, you must attend at least 5 of the 9 regular season weeks…so if you are going to be missing a few, don’t worry about it.
Each week you will play five games in a four-player group with those closest to you in the standings. After 9 weeks, there will be an end of the season tournament in Week 10 to determine the final IFPA standings, and trophies & prize money will be awarded.
5th Sunday Classic: Sunday, September 29, 1 PM. Classic machines only. $20 entry fee.
Classics machines only (1985 and older)! Nine rounds of qualifying. Each round is a four player match on one machine, with 7-5-3-1 scoring. After nine rounds (which is expected to end around 4:30-5pm), the top sixteen advance to the finals (after they take a 45 minute dinner break). The finals is four-player matches, on banks of three games, with 4-2-1-0 scoring.
Cost: $20 entry. All entry money (minus WPPR fees & trophy costs) goes to the prize pool. Payouts: 1st: 30%. 2nd: 18%. 3rd: 12%. 4th: 8%. 5th-8th: 4%. 9th-16th: 2%. Games set to coin play.
This event happens on every 5th Sunday of the year. After September 29, the last one of the year will be December 29.
Tournaments on the second Saturday of each month at 3 PM. $10 entry fee.
Women’s Tournaments on the third Saturday of each month at 3 PM. $10 entry fee, first-timers play free.
For more information, visit lyons
600 S. Center St.
Reno, Nevada 89501
Pinball tournaments on the third Saturday of every month, 12:30 PM to 5:30 PM.
Pin-Brawl Tournaments every Tuesday. Registration starts at 5 PM, tournament starts at 6:30 PM. $5 admission, with cash prizes for the top four places. Registration is limited to the first 48 people to register the day of the event. Limited to those 18 and older after 7 PM. This is an IFPA event.
For more information, visit reno
Nicholas Bernhard is the editor of Quarter Up. He is the developer of the Nantucket E-Books platform, and the Shanty markup language. With help from AT Gonzalez, he is building a directory of works by Harlan Ellison. For fun, he plays piano and bass guitar, and hikes. He may be reached at njb@
You may support his work at liberapay.com/nantucketebooks.
Originally from Pennsylvania, AT Gonzalez began his video game journey as a toddler playing Super NES. This opened up a whole new dimension of artistic expression for him. He began collecting games as a hobby a few years later down the line. His favorite game franchises are Mega Man, Mario, Metroid, Castlevania, F-Zero, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear, and plenty of others!
Currently based in Southeast Texas, he writes, makes short films, does studio photography, voice-over work, and audio production in his spare time. He may be reached at @At
You may support his work at ko-fi.com/atgonzalez.
Leland Tursi is an aspiring video game historian from North Carolina who specializes in documenting Taito and Namco games. Has written for various sites including Hardcore Gaming 101. He may be reached at tremirodomi.bluesky.social.
Buffalo was our resident color-commentator at Quarter Up, covering the places where life and pinball intersect. After spending most of his life in the San Joaquin Valley of California, he moved to Cope, Colorado on the eastern plains. There, he ran Buffalo’s Last Stand, where you could find all things bison-related, and eastern Colorado’s finest bookstore. He also baked a mean cookie.
In 2023, his novel Tales of a Metal Fisherman, filled with adventures in the life of a hard-living repo man, was published by Nantucket E-Books. A sample of the book may be read by clicking here, or you may order the e-book and/or paperback at nan
Buffalo passed away in April, 2024.
I grew up in a small village in the great impenetrable forests of Sweden, the climate was harsh and culture sparse. The winter long and the summers cold. When it was time to leave home, I quickly felt the calling of adventure. Any adventure! Maybe my head was too full of them or maybe that’s just how I am. But believe it or not, I left Sweden on my motorbike one day, and finally I ended up in France, the country of art and beauty. What a change!
Long time sketcher (my school books were full of imagined things already), I started trying inking and eventually coloring. The comics omnipresent in France sure did help, Moeubius, Pratt, Tardi, and lots of others! They sure set the bar high, but also a goal to strive towards and showing that maybe you can do it too one day.
My favourite techniques are aquarelle ink because of its vivid colours and it’s unforgiving nature, and oil because of the seemingly endless possibilities!
I hope your day sparkles and is filled with beauty!
Find more of Loulou’s work at pixelfed.art/Loulou.
This issue of Quarter Up is © 2024 Nantucket E-Books, LLC. Copyright for the articles contained in this newsletter is reserved by their respective authors.
Check out these past issues of Quarter Up. If you like what we do, consider subscribing to our RSS feed, or check out the official Quarter Up page on nantucket
In Memory of Buffalo (1951-2024) by Nicholas Bernhard. Coverage of ATG Expo 2024 in Waco, TX by AT Gonzalez. Classified Ads. Grappling to New Heights: Roc’n Rope’s Unintential Birth of the “Wire Action” Genre by Leland Tursi. Reader Response to Last Issue’s Sinistar Article. Views From the Road: Cricket’s Draft House & Grill, Waco, TX. Cover art by Chris Bordenca.
Coverage of ATG Expo 2024 by AT Gonzalez. Games seen on the road. The reverse-engineering of Sinistar by Synamax. A recap of the year’s pinball games by AT Gonzalez. A special offer from color-commentator Buffalo. Cover art by Pencilforge.
The history of Nibbler by Leland Tursi. An interview with Steve Mitchell of Classic Amusements, by Nicholas Bernhard. A promo for the Houston Arcade Expo 2023 by AT Gonzalez. Color commentary: Buffalo explores pinball and the blues in Denmark. Cover art by Brad Albright.
The legal woes of Ms. Pac-Man by AT Gonzalez. Arcade games seen on summer road trips. The History of Chack’n Pop by Leland Tursi. Color commentary: memories of pinball in Modesto, CA by Buffalo. Cover art by Jeremy Mendiola.
Coverage of Houston Arcade Expo 2022 by AT Gonzalez. A recap of a panel with Brian Colin (Rampage) by AT Gonzalez. Reader Q ’n’ A. An entry-level guide to arcade sticks by Miller Burruss. Color commentary: “Long Live Pinball” by Buffalo. Cover art by Kris Vaswig.
A brief history of pinball by Miller Burruss. Pinball terms you need to know, by AT Gonzalez. The history and leak of Marble Madness II by Carlos Martinez. Ten Pinball Machines that Changed the Game: an interview with Pinball Hall of Fame owner Tim Arnold. A history of the arcade game Mystic Marathon by AT Gonzalez. A promo for Houston Arcade Expo 2022. Color commentary: Meditation, Zen, and the Art of Pinball by Buffalo. Cover art by Christopher Jacobs.
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