Description

Journey Arcade Game

Due to the tremendous success of the band Journey and their albums: Escape and Frontiers, Bally Midway created and released the Journey arcade game in 1983. The arcade game begins with all five members of Journey (Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain, Ross Valory, Steven Smith and Neal Schon) jumping into the band’s Scarab vehicle. Each band member is represented by a pixel body with digitized photos of the actual band members faces.

The game itself is broken down into a series of 5 minigames, where the player is tasked with helping the members of the band re-acquire their instruments in time for a concert. The Scarab vehicle lands on a different planet for each band member. Descriptions of the gameplay for each planet as as follows, courtesy of KLOV:

1. Steve Perry: Steve starts at the top of the screen and must make his way through a maze of moving turnstiles to his microphone at the bottom of the screen. Once he has the microphone, he uses the fire button to shoot at rows of passing turnstiles similar to Galaga.
2. Neal Schon: Neal must navigate a cavern using his jet pack. Once he grabs his guitar, he must fly across the cave towards the exit while dodging rockets similar to Scramble.
3. Steve Smith: Steve must jump back and forth between drums, turning them from yellow to blue. He then climbs behind his drum set and shoots bullets at flying infinity symbols similar to Galaxian.
4. Jonathan Cain: Jonathan must make his way down conveyer belts, jumping piano keys by pushing the joystick up. Once he is behind his piano, he shoots at vertical rows of circular objects that converge from the edges of the screen inward. Each object must be shot twice before it is destroyed similar to Donkey Kong and Mega Mania.
5. Ross Valory: Ross jumps between elevators in an attempt to reach his bass at the top of the screen. Once he has reached there, he fires downward at cannons that are firing deadly LP albums.

Once all five planets have been visited and the instruments retrieved, the band then goes on to play at a concert. The player takes on the role of Herbie, Journey’s tour manager, and must block the doorway to prevent fans from swarming members of the band and stealing their hard-won instruments. Upon completion of each minigame, players hear a cassette play one of many popular Journey songs, including: Do not Stop Believin’, Stone in Love, Lights, Wheel in the Sky, Chain Reaction, Still They Ride and a cassette of Separate Ways Worlds Apart.

The Journey arcade game is quite rare and collectible. Vintage Arcade Superstore has this particular game for sale–all original, including original artwork. For an additional $600, the game’s art can be restored just like new.