City 🇯🇵

In the second half of the 1980's, Sega was determined to rid game centers of their dark image, and decided to lighten the atmosphere. But, for table-type games with lights directly over the screen, reflection became an issue. Out of this problem the City type cabinets were born. By orienting the screen at a diagonal, the glare from the lights was mitigated. And, because the footprint of a single game was less than a table-type cabinet, the cabinets were considered more profitable by operators. In 1986, Sega released the City, the first of the City type cabinets. It was released at the same time as the wrestling game Dump Matsumoto. Its diagonally slanted screen, two-player side-by-side control panel, and cabinet-top instruction board remain features of cabinets to this day. At nearly the same time, Namco and Jaleco debuted cabinets in this style. The novelty of using steel as a material in cabinets was highlighted by its silver color.