How Namco built 1996's best arcade cabinet

Almost 30 years ago, I walked into my local Aladdin's Castle and saw a game I didn't recognize. Among the rows of Street Fighters, Killer Instincts, and Metal Slugs was a pastel-blue cabinet housing a bright yellow exercise bike shaped like a bird.

The game didn't match the vibe of the arcade — a dark mall storefront that was better known for fighting game tournaments, and, I suppose, a robbery/homicide a few years earlier. It was the kind of game you'd typically see in magazines in an "only in Japan" column, or nowadays at alt.ctrl.GDC. But Namco gave it a wide release, offering those of us who took a left at the food court a glimpse into another world.

Inspired by Kiki's Delivery Service and Nausicaa, Prop Cycle sat players on a pedal-controlled airplane and instructed them to pop hot-air balloons within a time limit. Somehow both peaceful and exhausting, it nailed the feeling of flight in a way few other games have, and it remains one of the best examples of an arcade game that could never be perfectly replicated at home.

With the game's 30th anniversary around the corner, I tracked down recently-retired Prop Cycle planning director Shigeki Tohyama for an email interview looking back on the game he calls his favorite, despite a resume including Xevious, Point Blank, and others. Below, he discusses how the game came about, its success internationally, canceled sequel plans, and Bandai Namco's VR spiritual successor.