New UFO Catcher

A New UFO Catcher crane machine at Timezone Ayala Cebu Cinema branch

**New UFO Catcher** (ニューUFOキャッチャー) is a crane game released by Sega in December 1991

This was SEGA's first UFO claw machine to use a YM2612 sound chip which was also used in the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. This was also a successor of SEGA's UFO Catcher (1985) /UFO Catcher DX (1987) / UFO Catcher DXII (1990)

## Description

The machine, compared to the previous three UFO Catcher models, has a larger tank to hold prizes in.

In addition, it includes a prize sensor making it one of the claw machines to feature a prize sensor that can play a sound effect when winning a prize. It also has a Service/Test mode and features a 7-digit display which replaces the 5 LED lights as credit counter.

## Music

The machine includes multiple selectable BGMs depending on the machine condition. The default music track is Marble Zone, Star Light Zone, Scrap Brain Zone & the invincibility jingle from Sonic The Hedgehog (1991), although it can be switched to all sorts of other tracks as seen on the machine's settings, including classical music, christmas music and the opening/ending themes from *Chibi Maruko-chan*, a popular anime series at the time.

## Availablity

Although it is rare to find in US/Europe, this machine was made exclusively in Japan and other Asian countries such as Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia and in Taiwan. However, few of them were seen in Australia.

In Japan, about 60% of this claw machine is common in all areas.

In Other countries like Asia or Australia, It is rare to find one such which are the following:

Indonesia: There is still one at Timezone MIM Bandung Mall (Uses sonic music). It is unknown if the unit is retired.

Philippines: There are few to exist (Including UFO Catcher Mini) in most of the provinces in the Philippines and few number of them in Manila.

Australia: They can also be seen in a now-defunct amusement park, SegaWorld Sydney (1997-2000). They have a New UFO Catcher unit along with the UFO SegaSonic, UFO School Kids models. There is also another one being auctioned in Brisbane (Probably the last unit in Australia).

Taiwan: There is still one to exist in an unknown Tom's World location.

Netherlands: There is one unit to exist via Nationaal Videogame Museum.

USA: There is one unit to exist in a retro game store.

## Other versions

**UFO Catcher Mini**

Released in December 23, 1991. 1-player version of the New UFO Catcher. Released few days after its original model.

**Team NFL**

Released by Sigma in 1991 under license of NFL.

**UFO SegaSonic**

Released in December 31, 1991. Sonic 1 theme. Includes a capsule dispenser as free prize when not winning a prize.

**UFO Circus Land**

Released in January 1992. Circus theme. Includes a capsule dispenser as free prize when not winning a prize.

**UFO Catcher Mini: School Kids**

Released in 1993 in partnership with Sunwise. Uses same music from UFO Catcher Mini. The unit is based on a Bus.

## Trivia

-This was not the first screenless machine that used the 16-bit sound chip. Dream Town, A 4-player prize game was the first ever machine from SEGA to feature the 16-bit soundchip.

-This is SEGA's first UFO Catcher model to have a prize sensor. Much larger, it plays three win sounds via machine settings. The buttons and the LED lights from the claw also flashes when winning a prize.

-This is also emulated in MAME

-Although it plays Sonic 1 Music as default, Sonic The Hedgehog also appears in the Prize Door.

-In the 1-player models, additional sounds were used. This was later applied to newer versions.

-Many New UFO Catcher machines also appear in the Waterways stage in SegaSonic the Hedgehog which is a 3-player platform arcade game exclusive to Japan.