| Developer: | Sega AM3 |
| Publisher: | Sega |
| Director: | Tomosuke Tsuda |
| Producer: | Hisao Oguchi Mie Kumagai |
| Designer: | Kimio Tsuda |
| Programmer: | Takeshi Goden |
| Artist: | Tetsu Okano |
| Composer: | Maki Morrow Seiichiro Matsumura |
| Platforms: | Arcade |
| Genre: | Rail shooter |
| Modes: | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Arcade System: | Sega Model 2 |
Rail Chase 2 is a rail shooter video game developed and published by Sega for the arcades in 1994, and the sequel to Rail Chase.
Rail Chase 2 is a game set in a coalmine cart racing along its set tracks through various environments as players shoot at everything they see.
Rail Chase 2 was developed by Japanese studio Sega AM3, led by producer Hisao Oguchi. This was the first game worked on by assistant producer and future AM3 head Mie Kumagai, who had recently transferred from Sega's amusement park division. Kumagai stated she had brought in because AM3's staff had grown to about 100 people at this point, making it difficult for Oguchi to oversee projects directly.[1] Kumagai also shared an ideology with AM3 that arcade games should be created to appeal to not just boys, but to girls, couples, and families. She worked closely with programmer Takeshi Goden on the project.[2] The game is a sequel to 1991's Rail Chase, which was built on the sprite-based Sega System 32. Rail Chase 2 utilizes the Sega Model 2, which allowed for 3D, texture mapped polygons.[3] The sequel also follows Rail Chase: The Ride, an attraction featured at Sega's Joypolis theme park in Yokohama from 1994 to 2001.[4] [5] Sega of America's vice president of sales and marketing, Ken Anderson, described Rail Chase 2 as an extension of AM3's popular rail shooter Jurassic Park.[6] Rail Chase 2 was released in Japan in June 1995. It was displayed prominently at the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) show that September alongside other Sega arcade cabinets including Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Striker, and Indy 500.[6] [7]
In Japan, Game Machine listed Rail Chase 2 on their August 15, 1995 issue as being the fourteenth most-successful dedicated arcade game of the month.[8]
Next Generation reviewed the arcade version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "The levels vary greatly – the icelandic and jungle stages are especially imaginative and fun – various tracks can be chosen by shooting at the train stop sign, and the action never stops. This game is simple fun, just like the arcades used to be."[9]
