Joypolis

Disney created Crazy Taxi: Jon Snoddy interview reveals Disney x Sega collab which became DisneyQuest, GameWorks

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Sega Retro interviewer Ashley Rojas has published an in-depth interview with Jon Snoddy, the former Walt Disney Imagineering designer and founding creative force behind GameWorks. The interview follows Snoddy from his start at Lucasfilm in 1984, where he helped launch THX and bring Captain EO to the Disney parks, through his time at Imagineering, where he did the original concept and ride system for Indiana Jones Adventure and founded the Disney VR Studio in 1992. Snoddy recounts the “Sega Project,” Hayao Nakayama’s failed attempt to bring Joypolis-style venues to America with Disney, and reveals that the brainstorm behind it produced the idea that became Crazy Taxi. He explains how Disney’s decision to go it alone led to DisneyQuest, how Nakayama and Jeffrey Katzenberg both independently chose him to lead what became GameWorks, and touches on the sustainability of GameWorks at large. The interview goes on to cover his 20 trips to Sega in Japan, the 1996 tour with Steven Spielberg, a Disney partnership with Nintendo that never happened, and his return to Imagineering to lead its research and development group through to the modern era.

Read the interview on Sega Retro

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SEGA Talk #163: Tokyo Joypolis Review (2025)

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On this SEGA Talk, Barry takes a visit to Tokyo Joypolis and shares his full day of fun playing games, eating food and getting yelled at by staff! Is SEGA’s last standing theme park a Joy? Watch and find out on SEGA Talk!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Download]

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, have your memories read on the show, select the games we talk about!

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Sonic celebrates his 22nd birthday at Tokyo Joypolis in Japan

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In a video that is sure to make Sonic fans smile, we see Sonic (actually a guy in a costume) celebrating his 22nd birthday at Tokyo Joypolis in Japan. Surrounded by SEGA staff, Sonic received a birthday cake complete with candles and blew them out with the assistance of Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka. The stage featured some snazzy graphics including assets from the upcoming Sonic Lost World, as well as a dancing strawberry cake. No doubt following the event, Sonic and Iizuka hit the club while Jun Senoue tried to convince the DJ to play some of his music. Good times.

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New arcade game Sonic Athletics to release April 25th at Tokyo Joypolis

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Via the Tokyo Joypolis website and The Sonic Stadium comes news of a new Sonic arcade game set to release at the Japanese arcade on April 25th. Dubbed Sonic Athletics, the game features a line of eight treadmills set in front of vertical screens depicting a track stadium. Players choose from Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy, Metal Sonic, Silver, and Blaze and begin running. The faster you run, the faster your character runs. First to the finish wins. Pretty simple game, but quite a slick looking setup. I wonder if the arcade staff allows boosting? After the break, check out a few more images of the new game.

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SEGA to open a ride based on “The Ring” horror franchise

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If you didn’t watch the American adaptation of the horror movies known as the Ring franchise (sequels had different names etc), then you probably don’t know that it’s about people finding a tape, watching it, then dying. VCR no less. A ghost haunts those that watch the tape, and throughout the movie you find out more and more about the girl ghost. Even though the franchise is dead in the States, it isn’t in Japan. They are getting set to release Sadako 3D and SEGA is ready to team up to create a ride.

SEGA’s ride will be based on the upcoming film and be called Sadako 3D: Cursed Tour. It is set to open on July 14th. It is rumored that there is a video of someone who commits suicide and that viewers will ‘follow the leader’ if they watch the tape. A bit morbid if you ask me, especially knowing that Japan has such high suicide rates. SEGA says that Sadako 3D: Cursed Tour is going to be a seven-minute test of courage. You want to experince the morbid ride? You will have to go to SEGA’s Joypolis in Japan.

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SEGA and Capcom team up for Ace Attorney Investigations attraction

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I bet when you read the title of SEGA and Capcom teaming up, you wanted a cross over video game? Ha! Take that! SEGA and Capcom are teaming up to bring an attraction called Ace Attorney Investigations to Joypolis.

Ace Attorney is a spin-off of the popular DS series Phoenix Wright games. The second title of the Ace Attorney series just came out in Japan, what better way to promote?
In the attraction you take the lead role of Miles Edgeworth and physically move around to collect evidence, while searching for the criminal. The whole thing is said to take about 20 minutes. The attraction is hitting Joypolis in Spring, one play will run you ¥600.

[Source: AndriaSang]

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