Wheels

About

Wheels is an early 1970s arcade racer where you guide a pixelated car along a vertically scrolling road using a dedicated steering wheel. The goal is to overtake other vehicles without crashing while maximizing your speed. Points increase with each pass and with how fast you drive. A 90-second timer forces quick decision-making. Later versions added split-screen two-player modes and improved graphics. The game emphasizes simple but tense reflexes over complex strategy, with crashes instantly ending your run. Despite a 1.0/10 user review citing "toddler art," the original Wheels sold 10,000 cabinets in the US alone in 1975. It set Japan's 100 yen arcade price standard and popularized vertical scrolling. The game's 1975 DX update and 1976 follow-ups remained top-grossing titles. While modern playtests skew harsh, historical data confirms it shaped arcade racing fundamentals and inspired decades of scrolling mechanics.