Brave Firefighter continued Sega’s heritage of pitting players against huge real-life dangers – terrorists, criminal syndicates, dinosaurs – with three levels of incendiary action. A ring on the nozzle let you control the shape of your spray, from wide angle to precise beam, and the level design featured some tremendously scripted events.

Although a novelty on the surface, like a fair amount of Sega’s arcade output at that time, Brave Firefighter‘s quirky exterior gives way to reveal a satisfying arcade experience. Saving civilians isn’t quite as rewarding as in Sega’s home anti-incendiary classic Burning Rangers, but the fire is much more menacing and, I’m sure, served as inspiration for Far Cry 2‘s recently much-acclaimed fire. Yep.

Hey, and guess what? Wouldn’t it be perfect for the Wii Remote? I can just imagine someone at Sega furiously scribbling notes at this countdown. “Of course! Lightgun games would be perfect for Wii!”