Jaleco Big Run (1989): The Arcade Dakar 4WD Challenge

Published 21 February 2026

A late-1980s desert rally, a wobbling steering wheel, and a cabinet that promised Dakar glory. Jaleco’s Big Run (1989) sits in that intriguing space between spectacle and mastery, remembered more for its atmosphere and ambition than flawless handling. Revisiting the game through memory, MAME, and original cabinet configurations reveals a bold arcade experiment that captured the dust and drama of North Africa, even if it never quite reached the podium of racing legends.

Introduction

In 1989 the Paris–Dakar Rally still felt exotic. It was not a polished Formula One spectacle or a neatly televised touring car series. It was desert, dust, endurance, and mechanical survival. When Jaleco released Big Run into arcades, it arrived at an interesting collision point. You had the mythology of Dakar, the legend of the Porsche 959, and the late-1980s sprite-scaling racing boom.

I remember the upright cabinet more than I remember my success in the game.

It was not a massive drawcard like some of Sega’s racers would later become. It did not feel cinematic. It felt exactly what it was, an arcade game. The steering was wobbly, loose, and sometimes traumatic. It encouraged flinging the car through corners rather than mastering them. The first stage demanded memorisation more than feel. Blind crests hid gotchas. Even now, replaying it, I still find myself unsure whether to drop a gear or stab the brake. It never felt entirely fair.

And yet, I played it.

Not because I wanted to “drive a 959”. The controls were too clunky for that fantasy. I played it because the atmosphere was different. This was not racing on British highways or a closed circuit. The colour palette was dusty and sun-bleached. The terrain carried an African vibe in tone and suggestion. Cars exploded ahead of you. Rivals fell from cliff edges. Burnt-out wrecks littered later stages. At the end of each run an animated blonde girl either celebrated your survival or slumped in disappointment. These were small touches, but they mattered.

I never got very far in Big Run. My memory is vivid for the start of the course and strangely vacant beyond it. That in itself says something about the design. The Dakar theme pulled me in. The gameplay did not quite keep me there.

Replaying the game today through the Internet Arcade has been an exercise in separating memory from mechanics. The dynamics have not changed, but my perspective has. What felt unfair in 1989 now feels revealing. Big Run sits at a fascinating moment in arcade racing history. It is ambitious in theme, bold in cabinet presentation, and slightly uneven in execution.

That tension makes it worth revisiting.

What the Game Is About

• Theme: Paris–Dakar style endurance rally
• Perspective: Third-person behind-the-car
• Goal: Reach checkpoints before time runs out
• Marketing Claim: Press the horn and a klaxon sounds and enourage other racers to move aside
• Cabinet types: Standard upright, deluxe moving cabinet, and Japanese “pony” sit-down configuration

Gameplay

Stage 1 begins in Tunis, Tunisia. The route traces southward across North Africa before eventually reaching Dakar. On paper, this is rally romance. In practice, the opening stage is demanding. Cars surge ahead at the start, only for you to reel them back in within seconds. An early herd of ostriches crosses the road. There is a jump. Then the S-bends arrive, often ending in an unavoidable crash on a blind crest.

The controls feel loose. Smooth driving does not necessarily reward the player. There is little sense that one lap is cleaner or faster than another. Many runs feel aggressive and confident, yet the timer expires without warning. Even today I complete Stage 1 only occasionally. That difficulty mirrors my memory from the late 1980s. I rarely progressed far beyond the opening section.

The car itself, visually reminiscent of a Porsche 959 rally machine, makes little mechanical impact on the experience. The handling character would not change dramatically if the vehicle were replaced with something more abstract. Big Run is not about precision racing lines. It is about reacting to terrain, obstacles, and time pressure.

Yet the game has personality. Cars explode ahead of you. Rival vehicles fall from cliff faces with alarming regularity. Burnt-out wrecks appear in later stages. The palette shifts convincingly between paved highway and dusty tracks. Roads split and converge. The desert scenery feels expansive despite the hardware limitations of 320x240 resolution. Viewed at its native scale, the sprite work and terrain textures are carefully constructed and visually effective.

The Japanese stage listing presents the structure clearly:

• Start Run – Opening high-speed stage to build time.
• SS1 – Mountain stage with large hairpin turns requiring judgment and braking skill.
• SS2 – Fast desert stage. Clear the drifting sand and maintain speed.
• SS3 – River crossing stage. Navigate water sections and uneven terrain.
• SS4 – Technical stage with corners and riverbanks. Controlled drifting is encouraged.
• Victory Run – Final sprint toward Dakar.

The strict timing of Stage 1 remains my primary critique. A slightly more generous time allocation would likely shift the completion rate from rare to achievable, and make the learning curve feel fairer. That said, the operator manual documents DIP switch configuration options. Difficulty level, continue settings, auto-start behaviour, and motion cabinet activation could all be adjusted in the real arcade environment. My experience reflects one configuration, not an absolute design verdict.

Big Run never became a must-complete experience for me in the way Sega Rally Championship or Le Mans TT did. Those games demanded mastery. Big Run invites participation. Its strengths lie in atmosphere, environmental detail, and arcade spectacle rather than precision handling. That distinction places it just outside the top tier of arcade racing legends, but still firmly within the era’s ambitious experimentation.

Replaying via Internet Arcade (MAME Controls)

• 5 – Coin Slot 1 (Insert Credit)
• 6 – Coin Slot 2 (Insert Credit)
• Left CTRL – Accelerator
• Space Bar – Brake
• Left ALT – Toggle Gear (Low / High)

These controls allow the game to be played directly in the browser through the Internet Arcade implementation of MAME. Timing gear shifts and braking remains as challenging here as it was in the original cabinet. Key mappings can vary by emulator configuration.

Cabinet Configurations

Deluxe Movable Sit-Down Cabinet

This is the deluxe movable sit-down configuration for Big Run. It places the player inside a moulded cockpit shell with a roll bar frame. The monitor is mounted close and deep inside the fascia. The controls are full size and include wheel, pedals, and a two-speed shifter. The cabinet sits on a motorised base that rocks and tilts during play. It turns the game into a physical ride. It also signals premium status on the arcade floor. It would have cost more to buy and more to maintain. It likely earned more per square metre when it was working well.

Stationary Sit-Down Cabinet

This is the stationary sit-down configuration for Big Run. It retains the enclosed cockpit styling and upright monitor but removes the motorised motion base. The player sits lower and closer to the controls than on the upright cabinet. The steering wheel, pedals, and gear selector remain full size. The experience feels grounded and stable rather than physical and reactive. It occupies less floor space and reduces mechanical complexity. It would have been a practical middle option for operators who wanted presence without the maintenance demands of the moving unit.

Pony Type Configuration

The quad “Pony Type” configuration of Big Run reflects Jaleco’s ambition to position the game as a competitive, social rally experience rather than a solitary endurance test. In this compact sit-down format, up to four cabinets could be linked side-by-side, each with its own steering wheel, pedals, gear selector, and overhead position display. The angled monitors create a unified visual wall, reinforcing the sense of shared participation while still maintaining individual player focus. Compared to the larger motion-based deluxe units, the Pony Type is mechanically simpler and more space-efficient, making it attractive for operators seeking multiplayer impact without the cost or maintenance of moving platforms. The linked communication function, highlighted prominently in the Japanese marketing, transforms the rally from a time-trial survival run into a head-to-head contest. In this form, Big Run becomes less about memorising Stage 1 in isolation and more about competing visibly and audibly alongside rivals, which arguably aligns more closely with arcade economics and player psychology of the late 1980s.

Fun Fact: Each Pony Type cabinet weighs 155 kg, which means a fully linked four-player setup tips the scales at well over half a tonne, roughly the mass of a small family car parked inside the arcade.

Screenshots

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Glossary

SS (Special Stage)

A timed competitive section within a rally event. In Big Run, SS1 through SS4 represent distinct environments with specific terrain challenges such as mountain passes, desert stretches, and river crossings.

DIP Switch

A small hardware configuration switch located on the arcade PCB. Operators used DIP switches to adjust difficulty, enable continues, activate motion systems, or modify gameplay parameters without altering the code.

Pony Type

Jaleco’s compact sit-down cabinet format designed for space efficiency and multiplayer linking. It typically featured a 28-inch monitor and could be configured in linked rows for competitive play.

Deluxe movable Cabinet

The premium motorised sit-down configuration mounted on a motion base. The platform tilts and rocks during gameplay to simulate acceleration and cornering forces.

Sprite Scaling

A graphical technique used in late-1980s arcade hardware to create the illusion of depth and movement. Objects increase or decrease in size to simulate distance rather than using true 3D polygon rendering.

Internet Arcade (MAME)

A browser-based implementation of the MAME emulator hosted by the Internet Archive. It allows classic arcade titles such as Big Run to be played online using keyboard input.