Staff Blog: Only the Strongest - Roadblasters

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Only the Strongest - Roadblasters

On 04/16/2019 at 10:09 AM by Matt Snee

One of my favorte arcade games I played down at the local Chucky Cheese was 1987's Roadblasters. Basically a racing game with weapons, Roadblasters was nonstop action while you destroyed other cars and tried to make it to the end without running out of fuel.

The sit-down version was the one they had at Chucky Cheese, and with the steering wheel and stereo sound, it was pretty enveloping and thrilling. I used to love playing this game.

One of the coolest parts was when a little airplane would fly over you and drop a new weapon and you'd have to line up your car to catch it. If you were successful, you got some kind of super machinegun or some such thing to kill other cars.

I'll always remember this game. Much better than Spyhunter.

Comments

Super Step Contributing Writer

04/16/2019 at 12:14 PM

That's one thing I miss about the arcades: the driving game cabinets.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

04/17/2019 at 12:59 AM

what I liked about enclosed games like this is that when you climbed in and the stereo music came on, the rest of the arcade would disappear and it would be just you and the game. The steering wheel and foot pedals helped with the immersion too.

Cary Woodham

04/16/2019 at 09:57 PM

I don't know if I would say Roadblasters is better than Spy Hunter. I like them both about the same. Roadblasters is definitely better than the arcade Spy Hunter 2 sequel, though. My brother Jeff LOVES Spy Hunter. When he was only five, he would play it on one of my Midway collections for what seemed like hours!

I remember playing Roadblasters a lot in arcades because it seemed to be everywhere for a while. I remember the sit down cabinet for it because it was unusually narrow. I think it's cool that Roadblasters was in the Wreck It Ralph movie.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

04/17/2019 at 01:00 AM

ha ha, Spy Hunter is pretty cool too! I was just in love with Road Blasters when I was a kid.

I had no idea Road Blasters was in Wreck It Ralph. That's awesome!

Cary Woodham

04/17/2019 at 08:43 AM

Have you seen the Wreck it Ralph movie? The Roadblasters machine plays a pivotal part in the plot, in a way.

I really liked the first Wreck it Ralph movie. So much so that Ralph himself made it to a slot in my top five favorite Disney characters list, right alongside Chip N Dale, Scrooge McDuck, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and Sorcerer Mickey.