Prop Cycle/Walkthrough

Once you've inserted your coin into the cabinet of Namco's 1996 aerial cycling arcade game Prop Cycle, it'll start immediately as the text "CONTROLS" appears at the top of the screen; the text "TO TURN RIGHT" and a picture of the cabinet's handlebars will then appear below it, and the handlebars will turn to the right three times as a right-pointing red arrow and the text "RIGHT" appear to their right. The text of "TO TURN LEFT" will then appear above the handlebars and the handlebars will turn to the left three times as a left-pointing arrow and the text "LEFT" appear to their left - and after that the text "TO CLIMB" will appear above the handlebars and the handlebars will pull back three times as the text "PULL" appears to their left. Finally, the text "TO DIVE" shall appear above the handlebars and the handlebars shall push forward three times as the text "PUSH" appears to their left - and an animation of a sneaker going around on the cabinet's left pedal shall then appear on the screen, with an upward-pointing red arrow to their right and the text "USE THE PEDALS TO GAIN SPEED." beneath them, followed by a digitised photo of a player's arms holding onto the cabinet's handlebar grips with the text "HOLD ONTO THE HANDLEBAR GRIPS FOR SAFETY AND OPTIMUM CONTROL." beneath it. The game's mode selection screen shall now appear:

You shall now have ten seconds to choose either Novice Mode (point attack, one stage only) or Advanced Mode (story, four stages in total) by turning the handlebars left and right to select one of them (with the Starter's pointing brown-gloved hand), then pressing the Start Button to confirm your choice; once you've done it, the timer will disappear off the top-left of the screen as the mode you did not choose falls off the bottom of it (the Starter's hand will also disappear off the screen's bottom). If you chose Novice Mode, that mode's stage selection screen will then be displayed with the text "TRY FOR A PERFECT SCORE." at the top of it, and you'll again have ten seconds to select either Level 1 (Cliff Rock), Level 2 (Wind Woods) or Level 3 (Industarn) whose difficulty is indicated by a Point Blank-style "VERY HARD" icon - and once you have done so, the timer will again disappear off the top-left of the screen as the stage you chose moves to its left side and the ones that you did not select fall off the bottom of it to reveal the text "TO GET A PERFECT SCORE IT PAYS TO KNOW WHERE BALLOONS ARE. GO FLY LIKE THE WIND!" behind them (that Starter's hand shall also again disappear off the screen's bottom). The timer and score will now appear in the top-left and top-right of the screen as the Compass comes down into view from its top and the camera pans off the stage selection screen (which is revealed to actually be a wooden placard held up by the Starter) as your chosen stage begins.

However, if you chose Advanced Mode, the text "DAY 1" shall appear on the screen before the mode's stage selection screen appears with the text of "GO FOR SOLITAR!" at the top of it, and you will again have ten seconds to select either Cliff Rock, Wind Woods or Industarn; once you have done so, the will again disappear off the top-left of the screen as the stage you chose moves to its left side and the ones that you did not select fall off the bottom of it, revealing the text "TO CLEAR STAGE: COLLECT MORE THAN 01000 PTS. EXCEED THE REQUIRED POINTS AND ADVANCE TO THE NEXT STAGE!" behind them (the Starter's hand will also again disappear off the screen's bottom). The timer and score will now appear in the top-left and top-right of the screen as the Compass comes down into view from its top and the camera pans off the stage selection screen (which is revealed to actually be a wooden placard held up by that Starter) as your chosen stage begins - and if you manage to reach Solitar in this mode (as it cannot be selected in Novice Mode) but the timer runs out before you exceed its required point value, you will not be able to insert another coin into the cabinet and continue.