City Connection
1985 · Racing · Arcade
Overview
Jaleco's 1985 arcade game in which Clarice drives her Honda City across elevated highways, painting the road as police cars give chase — released in North America as Cruisin'.
Deep Dive
City Connection was developed and published by Jaleco for arcades in 1985, and released in North America by Kitkorp under the title Cruisin'. The player controls Clarice in her Honda City hatchback, driving and hopping across layers of elevated road; every stretch she drives over is painted, and the stage ends when all of it has been covered. Police cars pursue her, and she can stun them by throwing oil cans. The idea of covering a whole level while avoiding pursuers came from maze chase games such as Pac-Man (1980) and Make Trax (1981).
Developer Story
City Connection was developed by Jaleco in 1985. Players drove a car around the world, covering road tiles with paint while avoiding police and cats that appeared from oil cans. The game's mechanic of covering every road tile gave it a completion-based objective unusual in arcade games. The world tour setting — from New York to London to Paris — gave it an aspirational travel theme.
Did You Know?
- City Connection's objective — painting every road tile while evading police — was entirely unique in 1985 arcade gaming.
- The car could bounce off the sides of the screen, wrapping around horizontally — useful for evading police but disorienting for new players.
- Oil cans produced cats when hit, which instantly killed the player on contact — a whimsical hazard in an already unusual game.
- The world tour locations — each with a distinct backdrop — gave players a sense of international travel unusual in arcade games.
Sources & further reading
- City Connection — Wikipedia
