Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is one of those "wow" concepts which can't help but raise a smile; being able to drive a tiny car around your living room and terrorise your pets is a good time, as you'll know if you've consulted our review.
However, this isn't the first time a Japanese video game company has attempted this trick (it's also not Nintendo's first dalliance with RC cars). Back in the late '80s, Sega created the Sega Super Circuit, an arcade racing title where players controlled RC cars around a massive 80-metre race track, using a CCD video camera mounted on the vehicle.
Players would park themselves in a sit-down arcade cabinet not similar to those used in titles like OutRun and Daytona USA, and up to eight people could take part at any one time. An electronic scoreboard would show each player's position in the race.
Like Mario Kart Live, a lot of human interaction was required – the track had to be manned by paid operators who would have to line up the cars for each race. These individuals were also called upon to supply live commentary for the on-track action.
Sega Super Circuit's origins can be traced back to a deal between Sega and Nissan Motors; the game – then known as Super Game Z – was showcased at the Dream Factory '87 exposition. It was rebranded in 1989 and installed at Sega World Tokyo Roof in Yokohama, Japan. It didn't last long – it was removed in 1990 – and its current whereabouts are sadly unknown.
Thanks to Slopes Game Room for reminding us about this amazing arcade machine!
[source twitter.com]
Comments 43
Interesting. Typical Sega. Invent something. Forget about it. Never bring it home.
Also, did you mean similar or not dissimilar here — rather than not similar. They do look a lot like the racing arcade cabinets.
Players would park themselves in a sit-down arcade cabinet not similar to those used in titles like OutRun and Daytona USA,
With this and the prototype controller pictures that were flying around it shows you they were quite innovative during their day. Shame that they've become just another generic publisher, a poor fate to befall a once worthy adversary.
Any idea how much this cost to play?
hahaha you are welcome guys | love this little bit of forgotten history
Wow, that looks like so much fun!
This is amazing compared to the size of cameras at the time.
Interesting that this was part of the 1987 Dream Factory showcase. When it comes to things related to video games and that exhibit, you always hear about Yume Koujou: Doki Doki Panic(Super Mario Bros. 2(USA)). Interesting to hear that Sega had such an interesting concept on display as well.
Very impressive! Would love to try that if it still existed!
SEGA ruled the arcades!
Nintendo ruled the home.
It's too bad it's for commercial purposes only. Sega isn't doing toys so they never brought this to the consumers which is sad cause they are throwing money away (just like how they still are nowadays I suppose).
Japan's economy was so good in the 80s and 90s that companies could easily find funding for their ideas, even the most crazy ones. Anyway, I always believed that this would be F-zero's natural evolution but nowadays the franchise is dead... so sad.....
That's awesome! Would've been a blast to play. I'm guessing the overhead on this thing made it expensive to play - it probably wasn't ¥100 for one race, which is probably why it died off.
Sega gets a lot of flack. Most of it (all?) is justifiable. But, I’ve always admired them for taking chances. What they did with the Dreamcast is a beautiful example.
Now I´m wondering, why Nintendo didn´t decide to inlcude something like a RC Module that need to be connected to the Switch via USB C with Home Circuit. It would make longer range and better Camera Quality possible. And it would work with both Switch and Switch Lite.
Going to say this once. Sega one looks way more fun than MKL
Sega has always been ahead of its time. Pioneer in arcade and table consoles in several features that are still used today. Unfortunately they did not have a good planning.
@Slowdive Yeah namco and sega were great I love their old arcade games
@BoostPower Sadly I feel that's a problem with the gaming industry in general these days, companies arent so quick to fund "out there" ideas and rather play it safe most of the time
Unfortunately this time around Nintendo made this smaller and portable rack track anywhere. Sega was big box arcade style this is home arcade style. Two different model racing models for two very different RC racing. Sega gets credit for doing this but Nintendo get the innovation idea to use Switch as the Remote Controller for the RC.
@Slowdive I bought a driving force gt for my pc specifically to play arcade racers via emulation, some emulators like the sega model 3 emulator even let's you upscale resolution and widescreen hack, and force feedback of course
Playing things like scud race at native 1440p with widescreen and force feedback wheel in comfort of my own home is incredible ^_^
I'll be getting my sinden lightgun around december time and you bet I'll be playing lots of point blank, time crisis, virtua cop and house of the dead 2
I didnt spend much of my life in actual arcades and dont have much experience but damn I love arcade games
This technology was insanely ahead of its time. RC cars with enough battery to zoom around a track, power an early digital camera, and transmit the live video signal wirelessly to each arcade cabinet. Transmitting the live video wirelessly is the wildest part; that could not have been easy to engineer and program with the resources of that period. What a great find!
And the Sega video RC racing talk about coordination driving.
Ah... the Dream Factory Expo in ´87 .... that event that everyone around the internet says it is related to Super Mario Bros 2 but no one knows a single piece of information about it. lol.
This is an excellent small documentary about what was the Dream Factory Expo (Yume Koko ´87) for anyone curious about it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL9o9zzCUsQ&t=9s
@Slowdive and Taito
The Dreamcast VMU even did the Wii U GamePad/GBA Connectivity thing before Nintendo. For example, you could look down at the VMU while playing Virtua Tennis and play a crude stick figure version of Tennis, without looking up at the TV.
You know minus the whole computer vision/augment reality stuff...
@Slowdive So true: Sega always ahead of their time, especially with consoles. Sad that the old Sega appeared to die with the Dreamcast when in fact they still dominate the Japanese arcade scene and deliver wild new hardware and games on a massive scale. Don’t know if you’ve visited Tokyo but a lot of the spirit of the 90s arcades I read about as a kid has carried on. Just hoping the scene survives post-Covid
I remember seeing in one of @djslope videos and thinking it looked bonkers, yet cool as hell
I checked the comments to see if anyone said “Genesis does what Nintendon’t”. I’m very disappointed.
@Handy_Man You know when you say Genesis does what Nintendon't, in Japan that translates to Mega Drive don't leave luck to heaven. Since Nintendo essentially means leave luck to heaven in Japanese, by adding it as Nintendon't you essentially change Sega's luck from decent to worst.
@Slowdive Yea that was kinda a weakness as well the Sega CD while impressive the tech just wasnt there yet despite the fact they were ahead of the crowd, Man working at SEGA in the 80s and 90s must have been a techno paradise.
Some of those drivers ain't doing great though. I wonder if it was hard to control.
Sega were ahead of their time. Unfortunately, they were so ahead of their time the tech was either too expensive or didn’t work as well as it should, or both.
Which probably meant they lost money of it.
I mean, the Sega nomad was a portable genesis that you could plug into you tv... so a switch... but the battery life was not good, and it’s was they days with no rechargeable batteries, so that was a deal breaker
I think our brains are too highly trained Majikthise.
Seen this before. Pretty confident Nintendo were well aware of this thing, given when and where it was displayed. But I doubt it had a lot to do with the conception of MK Live, given the obvious differences (augmented reality fx being one huge one).
@Mr_Persona Looks cool, but a bit more difficult to operate than MKL. Plus the video feed cuts out many times, which can be a bit distracting.
That's just insane, was there anything Sega didn't do lol.
@Hewitt Yet some people claim Nintendo would be better off just making games for other consoles.
I wouldn't want them ending up in the same position as Sega.
@Nico07 but thats old stuff. Right now in these days we can fix it
Who knew Sega possibly came up with this concept ages ago? Those look like the Outrun arcade cabinets I played as a kid but those RC cars look tricky to control. One of the few arcade games where the spectators are having as much fun as the players though they're probably more frustrated if they can't control the car.
Back when the best way to get photo quality realism was with a video camera.
@Damo, Then there was Treasure of the Incas at DisneyQuest.
Not surprised if you ever heard of ‘Treasure of the Incas’, because it was constantly plagued with problems caused by cell-phones’ wireless interference, and was closed down once one of the vehicles caught fire in 2005.
To think it was from Disney’s failed attempt to take on SEGA’s GameWorks. How ironic.
@Slowdive Truly sega's weakness. They were literally firsts on a lot of things, but almost all of them they were just too early on it. They had vision but rushed it almost every time before technology and audiences were ready for it, which caused their products to be niche and never really take off.
Don't forget nintendos messup either. Sony playstation took off because nintendo didn't lock in nintendo playstation with their partnership with sony.
Those early years were a trip. Sega had vision but rushed gun on them. Nintendo lacked vision and allowed a new video game power to take form.
Nintendo shaped up though, but sega sadly threw in towel.
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