Lucky & Wild is a one or two-player lightgun shooter from Namco that is incorporated into a driving game. Not only does each player hold a handgun in one hand, but they also have a steering wheel and two pedals (accelerate and brake) to contend with. That might sound like too much to handle, but it works well in the context of a car chase shoot ’em up. Which is what this game is. Imagine Chase HQ crossed with Operation Wolf, and you get Lucky & Wild.

Player one plays as “Lucky“, and player two is “Wild” – a pairing of Starsky & Hutch/Tango & Cash/Cagney & Lacey/Crockett & Tubbs-like cops who are on the trail of various criminals. Since the steering wheel is on the left side of the cabinet, player one does the driving, but both players have a pistol, each of which are mounted on top of the dashboard.

The idea is to drive after the criminals; dodge whatever they throw at you (everything from grenades, petrol bombs, to rockets); dodge their bullets; dodge road obstacles, and shoot them into submission before the timer runs down. If you run out of time the criminal gets away.

Each of the six stages begin with you approaching the boss (indicated by a big arrow saying ‘boss’), who then shatters your windscreen and zooms off, leaving his henchmen to deal with you. You then have to give chase through city streets, the countryside, through shopping malls, through parks, hedgerows, alleys, and tunnels, shooting bad guys and any projectiles they throw at you.

Occasionally a warning sign with the word “danger” will pop up, which usually indicates that some sort of special hazard is approaching. In some streets there are trams (or trolleys, if you’re American) crossing in front of you, which you might have to swerve to avoid. There are road blocks to plough through (wooden barriers that just shatter when you drive through them); destroyed enemy cars will roll toward you; enemies sometimes jump onto your car and try to shoot you; explosives sometimes drop onto your car and must be shot off before they explode; trucks will drop burning fuel in front of you, and helicopters will attack from the air. The criminals will try every dirty trick in the book to try to stop you, but you have a secret ability to beat them, and that is: the ability to put more credits into the game to continue where you left off, if you run out of health (indicated by the green bar on the dashboard).

In-between stages the goofy duo visit the “Pink Cats Garage“, where their car is repaired by a group of attractive ladies in hot pants – for a fee, of course. This money comes from your arrest bonus – that is: if you managed to apprehend the last criminal.

Lucky & Wild does have some nice touches – particularly the expressions on the faces of the two cops in the rear view mirror (they even become bloodied and lose some teeth when they’re hurt, but the injuries are only temporary and disappear after a few seconds).

Lucky & Wild is a fairly simple game, but it’s also dynamic, dramatic and entertaining. It’s the kind of game that would go down a treat at a party, or with a gathering of friends, because it’s over-the-top to the point of hilarity. If you’ve never played it before, I highly recommend checking it out.

More: Lucky & Wild on Wikipedia