Sega's UFO Catcher remains arcade mainstay after 40 years

Asahi Shimbun

2 days ago

'Just one more try.'
Whether let loose in a state of furious determination or grunted in dull resignation, this sentiment is part of what makes crane games so alluring even 40 years after the Japanese version's debut.
Often called the UFO Catcher domestically, these machines and the temptations they hold within are currently among the top earners at the country's game centers.
And, unlike the grip settings on many, the various iterations of UFO Catchers have yet to release their hold on the public even during the eras of home video game consoles and mobile games rising in popularity.
EAGLES? NO, ALIENS
Game developer Sega Corp. first pitched the UFO Catcher to the market in 1985. Today, the company's trademarked claw machine is virtually synonymous with the term, but spacecraft were not initially part of the equation during the development process.
Sega's short-lived goal was the Eagle Catcher—a concept involving a mechanical bird that arcade-goers could control to ensnare prizes like eagles swooping down on prey from on high.
The enormous difficulty of incorporating the bird into the crane game's design would eventually lead the company to reconsider, and it finally settled on a configuration and name that mimicked an alien abduction.
Around this time, conventional claw machines introduced in the 1960s were about the height of a table and typically featured a top-down design with a rectangular, box-shaped body about the height of a table.
Players looked down into the boxy machines through their glass-covered tops when controlling the crane.
Sega's introduction of its UFO Catcher not only meant a change in player vantage point, but that the bounty of prizes were suddenly all at eye level.
CRANK UP THE LIGHTS
Buoyed by the huge success of 'Space Invaders' following its 1978 release, arcades became ubiquitous across Japan in the 1980s.
The focus on video game titles such as 'Pac-Man' and 'Donkey Kong' meant game centers of the time needed to be dimly lit to better see the arcade cabinet screens. Most customers were male.
The introduction of the UFO Catcher dramatically altered the country's arcades. The machine's vivid lighting to showcase prizes inside combined with its pink tones literally brightened up the atmosphere in game centers.
The result was exactly what Sega expected from its UFO Catcher; its aim at the time was to expand the enterprise's consumer base by appealing to not only men but also women and children.
Mitsuharu Fukazawa, who has devoted himself to the development of UFO Catchers at Sega over the course of more than two decades, explained the appeal of the claw machine that unearthed an entirely new trove of patrons.
'The fundamental style of play has remained unchanged throughout the UFO Catcher's 40-year evolution: moving the crane to get a prize,' said Fukazawa. 'This simplicity is likely among the reasons the game has long been embraced by people of all genders and ages.'
Another simple addition that would boost the UFO Catcher even more came in 1991 with the fourth-generation model emanating background music from Sega's now-classic 'Sonic the Hedgehog' video game that came out that same year.
This model set off a further craze when toys of characters from the celebrated children's anime series 'Let's Go! Anpanman,' first aired in 1988, were added as prizes.
Other corporations' successive introductions of their own crane games would contribute to the further expansion of the market as well.
Plush dolls of the protagonists from multi-generation-defining anime, inclusive of 'Dragon Ball' and 'Sailor Moon,' were consistently appearing in claw machines, and prize types eventually extended to figurines of characters along with other novelties—something that transformed a fad into a long-lasting boom at arcades.
ANALOG ENDORPHINS
Also behind the 'evolution' of prizes were repeated increases in the maximum prize value in the guidelines set by the industry organization.
According to the accounts of the Japan Amusement Industry Association, the prize price ceiling was raised from 200 yen ($1.30) for 1986 to 500 yen in 1990, and then to 800 yen in 1997.
The upper limit of 1,000 yen was subsequently imposed in 2022 under the interpretive and operational standards for the amusement business control law.
With the advent of Nintendo Co.'s Family Computer (Famicom) console, known internationally as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), video games gradually transitioned to a form of entertainment largely enjoyed at home instead of arcades.
Figures from the Japan Amusement Industry Association show that the number of game centers halved between fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2022.
At odds with the overall slump was the turnover from claw machines that jumped 1.9 times during the same period. By category, crane game sales accounted for as much as 59 percent of the total in fiscal 2022.
Hideo Nakamura, representative director of the Japan Crane Game Association who runs a dedicated claw machine arcade on his own, believes the tactile nature of these machines remains their strong point.
'The analog entertainment tool provides players with a one-of-a-kind joy and excitement that can't be replicated in the digital world, as the crane game has remained unchanged since the past,' said Nakamura.
Bottos Benoit, a French social informatics researcher studying claw machines, agreed.
'The game's uncertain design and playing experience derives from human commitment, bringing on a unique attraction never found elsewhere,' he said.