 |
| Source // YouTube |
Home consoles are dominating the market. The arcades are turning into ghost towns. What do you do to get players back into the habit of pushing quarters into coin slots? You mould a plastic horse onto a rocker and have players exercise their way to victory.
Thus, horse racing simulator Final Furlong was born. Not just a racing game, oh no, but a simulator. No time to sit in the saddle here. Stand in the stirrups and whip like there's nae tomorrow...
Frustrations
Where the hell am I going to find one of these beasts lying around? They're not exactly the easiest of arcade machines to get your hands on, are they?
With the limited possibility to actually play Final Furlong, I currently (because I've got to at least hope I'll come across it in future, right?) have to judge the game based on some helpful YouTube videos, like this one.
Oooookay...
I'm not a fan of horses. They're incredibly practical animals, which is great, but they look all kinds of goofy and seem to lose all sense of nobility they had the more you look at them.
We don't tend to look at horses head on in video games, which isn't a bad thing until you realise that the most we've ever seen of horses in video games are their ridiculously tailed arses bobbing about in the middle of the screen instead.
Final Furlong's at least tries to distract you from that by having cartoon horses and arcadey text splashing across the screen to update you on your progress through the race, but nothing can stop the fact that you're working out on a plastic horse for the sake of bright lights and high scores and nothing much else.
Is there added competition when racing against a friend, both of you looking like pillocks? I'm sure there is, but I still can't help but wonder if there's a better way of deciding who is the better racer.
Fun Times
I can't deny that Namco didn't try, though. It takes some determination to decide that this is what the arcade needed, and what do you know? A decade later it finds itself in a book of must play games, and close to a decade after that I'm here still talking about it.
It has lasting appeal. Somehow. And I can't fault that.
Horses have different stats (of course they do, why wouldn't they), which means players need different techniques to riding them, with appropriate use of the whip button, lest they lose the race.
Never thought I'd be writing stuff like this.
Horses have different stats (of course they do, why wouldn't they), which means players need different techniques to riding them, with appropriate use of the whip button, lest they lose the race.
Never thought I'd be writing stuff like this.
Final Word
Still, I've no idea if it's good to play, and even less of an idea if it's realistic and accurately portrays horse riding. It is a simulator, after all.
My initial reactions were that it's gimmicky, and wins people over because there's nothing else like it. I can at this point look over my shoulder and see a PlayStation VR headset and plastic-tube-a-like VR gun accessory, so I'm not one to talk, really.
I'll be on the lookout for Final Furlong. You probably should be too. These plastic horses don't bite.
Fun Facts
The whip is assigned to a whip button, rather than having the players reach back and slap their horse. Missed a trick there, lads...
Final Furlong, developed by Namco, first released in 1997.
Version watched: Arcade, 1997 (Rod's Pinball Videos, PrimeTime Amusements, Kevin Ludlow, ToaHahli527)