The most important information at the beginning of 1976 is that Fuji Enterprise continued its policy of rapidly launching new games. Let’s look at the first one.
Trot Boy
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| Trot Boy |
Trot Boy appeared in an advertisement in January 1976.1 It directly followed in the footsteps of the previous year’s games.
You select two numbers. The lights cycle through the tiles; if they stop on the right ones, you win.
The machine’s design is quite similar to that of Harness Darby or International Dreifach, for example. The advertisement doesn’t bother explaining what makes this game different from previous titles.
Stepping into a New Frontier
So while this wasn’t the end of lottery/derby-style games—those responsible for Fuji Enterprise’s success—they were no longer small wall-mounted games like Sounder Boy, Sounder Stop, etc.
However, 1976 was the year Fuji Enterprise ventured into a type of game that was beginning to make its mark on the arcade industry: the video game.
It all began at the Amusement Trade Exhibition (ATE) in London during the last week of January 1976.
Only European companies were allowed to have booths at the show, which excluded American and Japanese companies from exhibiting directly. However, British company Alca Electronics (based in Oldham, England) invited several non-European companies to showcase their games at its booth. Among them were Sega (a Japanese company) and Fuji Enterprise.
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| Tokuzô Uragami, chairman of Fuji Enterprise, and R.W Stuart (Alca Electronics) https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19760315p (An erratum was published in the following issue to correct the photo caption.) |
This was the first time—and the last time, but that’s another story—Fuji Enterprise exhibited overseas.
On that occasion, Fuji Enterprise showcased two games:
Fuji Speed Race
Fuji Speed Race (フジ・スピードレース) is a complete copy of Taito’s Speed Race. The game and cabinet are identical (with perhaps only the steering wheel being different?).
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| Fuji Speed Race |
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| Speed Race (Taito) |
Vehicle speed is controlled with the pedal, and steering with the wheel. In Speed Race, you control a race car in a top-down view while the track scrolls vertically. The goal is to travel as far as possible within a set time, avoiding collisions with other cars along the way. Players can gain additional time by reaching certain checkpoints. Taito originally released Speed Race in 1974.
If we ignore all the Pong clones, Fuji Speed Race might very well be Japan’s first video game bootleg. It’s surprising that Fuji Enterprise chose to copy Speed Race rather than Speed Race DX. The improved Speed Race DX had already been released by Taito in mid-1975.
Kamikaze (upright)
Kamikaze (神風) is clearly heavily inspired by Avenger from Electra Games. Electra Games was an American company based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
So first, let’s talk a bit about Avenger for a better understanding.
In Avenger, you control a jet fighter from a top-down perspective as the screen scrolls vertically. Enemy planes fly from top to bottom, one after another.
You control your plane with a joystick, tilting left or right to move, and pushing forwards or backwards to increase or decrease speed. The fire button is on top of the joystick, while an "afterburner" button next to the joystick triggers a sudden speed boost.
The objective is to achieve the highest possible score within a set time limit. Shooting down enemy planes awards more or fewer points depending on your speed. Reaching certain score thresholds grants additional time.
Taking a step back, Avenger could be seen as Speed Race with the added ability to shoot, right?
Avenger (Electra Games)
Fuji Enterprise’s Kamikaze also features aerial combat, but this time you face off against Japanese Zero fighters from WWII. The gameplay is the same as Avenger with one major change: the joystick only moves the plane left or right and fires—there’s no speed control using the stick itself. Instead of the “afterburner” button, there are three buttons to choose your speed.
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| Kamikaze (upright version) |
In the flyer’s picture, the cabinet is clearly turned off and a tinted screen with stickers has been placed over the display (you can see shadows), making it difficult to identify the game’s actual graphics.
What’s clear is that Kamikaze takes the concept and gameplay of Avenger, but does not copy its hardware or its cabinet. Onionsoftware, who owns a Kamikaze cabinet, confirmed on X that it’s not a direct bootleg of Avenger.
What we do know for sure is that Kamikaze sold well. According to Fuji Enterprise chairman Tokuzō Uragami:
“This seems to be because the news about the Maeno suicide plane crashing into Kodama’s residence became a top story overseas. Orders from abroad come in with people repeatedly saying 'Kamikaze, Kamikaze' as the product name, suggesting that this kind of 'kamikaze spirit' is attracting considerable attention.”
(Source – Game Machine, June 15, 1976, page 2)
It’s also worth noting that Kamikaze was initially only released in an upright cabinet. Another version in a much more familiar-shaped cabinet would be released in the second half of 1976.
From Chicago...
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| Cash Box magazine - October 1975 https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1975/CB-1975-10-18.pdf (page 89) |
What might have happened is that someone from Fuji Enterprise attended the MOA Expo and was impressed by Avenger, but naturally couldn’t know the hardware inside the machine. So, Fuji Enterprise copied the idea and gameplay of the game, but the hardware design was “made in Japan.”3 This hypothesis is even more plausible considering that just a few months later, Fuji Enterprise released another game inspired by a title first shown at the MOA Expo '75 (we’ll talk about that in a few paragraphs — it’s Jet Fighter).
...To London
Since we talked about the ATE '76 in London, there are several interesting pieces of information that came out during the show:
1. Fuji Enterprise signed a contract with Australian company Leisure and Allied Industries. Leisure and Allied would handle the overseas distribution of Fuji Enterprise products. Based on the flyers I’ve seen, this likely concerned Fuji Speed Race and Kamikaze. But there might have been more games involved.
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| Cash Box - March 1976 https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1976/Cash-Box-1976-03-13.pdf |
2. Fuji Enterprise created a department dedicated to exports and began selling its games overseas starting in November 1975.4
But...!? Isn’t that just a few days after the MOA Expo in Chicago...? Fuji Enterprise hadn’t released any video games yet, right? So it seems they must have started by exporting electromechanical games, right?
As for who the overseas clients were, that remains a mystery. Leisure and Allied Industries? An American company? Personally, I suspect Alca Electronics, since Fuji Enterprise exhibited at their booth — a strong clue. I also suspect a Spanish company. I’ll probably cover that in the next year article.
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| Play Meter - March 1976 https://archive.org/details/play-meter-volume-2-number-3-march-1976/Play%20Meter%20-%20Volume%202%2C%20Number%203%20-%20March%201976 |
3. The Game Machine article says the following:
“Fuji Enterprise, in particular, has been actively promoting titles like Kamikaze for overseas markets, and over the past few months, they’ve gained considerable confidence. Their main sales destinations are the United States and Australia”
So, was Fuji Enterprise already selling Kamikaze abroad by late 1975? It seems unlikely, but not impossible. My personal opinion is that Fuji Enterprise was able to sell Fuji Speed Race overseas as early as 1975, which gave them a head start when they produced Kamikaze, a game with a fairly similar game design.
That’s a lot of information, but the takeaway is that the early days of Fuji Enterprise in the video game industry are far from clear. One or two key pieces of the puzzle are still missing to fully understand how events unfolded.
So, shall we continue?
More and more games
Let’s take a look at the games released through mid-1976.
Keirin Setto
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| Keirin Setto |
Do you remember Fuji Harness Deluxe, the horse-racing game heavily inspired by (or outright copied from) Sega’s Harness Race? Keirin Setto isn’t really a game in itself, but rather a conversion kit for Fuji Harness Race. The advertisement mentions that this kit can also be used to convert “harness games from other companies.”
The game’s theme is changed: instead of horse racing, it’s keirin, a type of cycle racing. While largely unknown in the West, keirin is very popular in Japan, and like horse racing, it generates huge sums of money through betting.
Keirin Setto involves placing stickers over the original background and swapping the horse figures for animated cyclists. The cyclists’ legs move as they race.
Miracle Table Race
Miracle Table Race (ミラクルテーブルレース) appeared in an advertisement for the first time in April 1976.
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| Miracle Table Race |
It’s a small lottery/derby-style game, designed to sit on countertops — typically in bars, as suggested by the beer placed next to the machine in the promotional photo.
The machine contains no integrated circuits, and there are no complicated rules or extra features.
Insert a token, choose your bet using a button, press start, cross your fingers — and that’s it.
May 1976 was a prolific month in terms of new releases.
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| Game Machine - May 1976 https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19760515p |
Token Exchanger
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| Token Exchanger |
This isn't a game and it didn’t actually launch in May 1976. It’s a machine that exchanges 1,000 yen bills for tokens.
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| Money Changer (Tsumura) |
The advertisement mentions that the machine is adjustable: you can set the number of tokens given in exchange for a 1,000 yen bill (depending on the token price), or even dispense 100 yen coins instead. The machine can also accept 500 yen bills. Did 500 yen bills actually exist in the 1970s?
(Semi) Big 6 Bonus
%20Big%20Six%20Bonus.png) |
| (Semi) Big 6 Bonus |
Likely a variant of Big 6 (1974).
The first question is whether this game supports one or three simultaneous players. From the photo, it seems possible there’s one player on the left, another on the right, and one in the middle—but it’s hard to say for sure.
The second question: what does “Bonus” in the title refer to? We see columns radiating in four directions from the “wheel.” These columns contain numbers—could they represent a progressive jackpot (hence the term “Bonus”)?
In any case, Caitlyn from the site A Foreigner’s Guide to Eremeka Arcades found a potential missing link between Big 6 and (Semi) Big 6 Bonus:
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| Big 6 Bonus ? |
It's a game with a similar design to (Semi) Big 6 Bonus, but seemingly a bit wider. Logically, this game should be called Big 6 Bonus and must have come out in 1975 or 1976.
(Semi) Wanderful Race 3
%20Wanderful%20Race%203.png) |
| (Semi) Wanderful Race 3 |
Clearly, it’s a scaled-down version of Wanderful 6 (or rather Wanderful Race 6).
The same question arises as with (Semi) Big 6 Bonus: does the game support one or three players simultaneously? Does the “3” in the title refer to the number of players?
Or might we eventually discover a larger game simply called Wanderful Race 3?
Jet
As with many games, there isn’t much source material about Jet (ジェット).
In the Fuji Enterprise advertisement, we see it’s a video game themed around aerial dogfighting.
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| Jet |
--Confusing the Turtle--
Only one other company advertises this game: a distributor called Turtle (タートル), based in Amagasaki, Hyôgo Prefecture. At the time, Turtle mostly advertised games from Fuji Enterprise. But it’s fair to say Turtle got quite confused when it came to presenting Jet.
June 1976:
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| Jet ? |
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| ...or Jet Fighter ? |
September 1976:
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| Jet ?... Fighter ? |
For all these reasons, I doubt that the smaller cabinet version of Jet ever existed.
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| Jet Fighter ( Atari) |
So, there’s good reason to believe Jet was heavily inspired by Jet Fighter, just as Kamikaze was clearly inspired by Avenger.
Earlier, I mentioned Avenger was first shown at the MOA in Chicago, October 1976. Jet Fighter was also introduced there for the first time.
This reinforces the idea that someone from Fuji Enterprise was greatly inspired by other companies' ideas during that event.
Jet Fighter (Atari)
As for Jet Fighter, it’s a game with a fixed screen for 1 or 2 players.
Two supersonic jets fight each other by shooting. Each successful hit increases a player’s score.
The hit plane continues to fly and fight—it can't be shot down.
The goal is to have the highest score before time runs out.
--Comparaison between Jet and Jet Fighter--
I noticed two differences between Jet and Jet Fighter:
1. The Jet advertisements mention 2-player mode only, so playing against the computer is probably not possible—unlike Jet Fighter.
Time for a break ?
Fuji Enterprise’s advertisement also featured three small games by Kansai Kigyô (関西企業). That might not seem like much, but it hints at major upcoming changes. Especially since something else happened that I haven’t mentioned yet:
Takeo Ueyama (上山武夫), president of Fuji Enterprise, resigned in April 1976.
...But we’ll talk more about that in the next article.
Conclusion5
In the end, we’ve only covered six short months in this article. What’s clear is that Fuji Enterprise kept up a fast release pace and launched many games, including for export. The company kept thinking bigger—
...Perhaps too big?
There will be sudden changes, and Fuji Enterprise will never be the same company again.
1. In this advertisement, we notice the appearance of a new official reseller in the list: Tôkai Amusement (東海アミューズメント). Tôkai Amusement is based in Nagoya. There's not much else to say, except that the company still exists today. ↑
2. In Japan, Kamikaze was also distributed by Esco Bôeki (エスコ貿易), the largest distributor in the country.↑
3. As for who developed Fuji Speed Race, Kamikaze, etc., I prefer to leave that question aside for now. There are a number of clues, but they don’t fit together neatly. I may write a dedicated article about this later. For now, let’s just say that the best candidate for Kamikaze is Pearl Denki (パール電機), the predecessor of Logitec (ロジテック).↑
4. Incidentally, the PlayMeter and Cash Box articles say exactly the same thing. They even contain the same typos: “Urigami” instead of Uragami, and “Kamekaze” instead of Kamikaze. Could they have been written by the same person? One last oddity: the ATE took place in the last week of January 1976, but the articles in PlayMeter, Cash Box, and even Game Machine are all dated March 1976.↑
(To be honest, I partially lost the text I had written when my computer crashed.)↑
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