It's no secret that Namco was one of the top Japanese developers to truly master the much dreaded 2D to 3D transition that well-established game companies with deep 8 and 16-bit roots had to go through in order not to become extinct during the infant 32-bit era. Not one or two, but most of the company's first-ever polygonal arcades became instant hits and future flagship series that are still very much alive today, covering an incredibly wide range of popular arcade genres like fighting (Tekken and Soul Edge), racing (Ridge Racer), and flight sim (Ace Combat); but also the lesser shooting gallery genre. The latter in the form of their two most recognized shooting series: mini-game-oriented Point Blank, and pedal assisted Time Crisis.

Arcade flyer

The first time Namco attached plastic gun replicas to one of their arcade cabinets was 1990, when Steel Gunner (a futuristic Operation Wolf) and Golly! Ghost! (a charming ghost hunt set in a real miniature house) hit the streets. Ever since, their predilection for originality when it came to light-gun games was evident, staying away from mainstream ideas like digitized graphics and full-motion video but adding some sort of gimmick or innovative play mechanic when they couldn't.

Such is the case of Lucky & Wild. Inspired by Rail Chase's on-wheels shooting and Chase HQ's theme, buddy cops Lucky and Wild (Tango & Cash wannabes) take down the city's most dangerous criminals by..., well, blasting their vehicles to pieces. Two light-guns, one for each player, were mounted on the cabinet for this purpose. But Namco also threw in a set of driving controls (brake, gas, and steering wheel) for the player sitting on the left, making his job a lot more interesting while at the same time turning the game into a unique experience.

Lucky & Wild - Arcade

The game's structure is very close to Chase HQ's. Divided in 6 stages throughout the city's streets, parking garages, alleyways, tunnels, and even malls, desert, and piers; players frantically shoot down cars, trucks, helicopters and other henchmen vehicles until reaching the boss. Bad guys are armed with all sorts of rapid-fire handguns, but also slower weapons like rockets, grenades, time bombs, and molotov cocktails that must be disabled or shot down before they take a chunk off of the car's shared damage gauge.
Other, bigger obstacles like oil drums and small walls can be dodged by player 1 by just steering out of the way (which is also useful when you feel overwhelmed by enemy fire). Once the stage is over, the girls at the "Pink Cats Garage" will take good care of your car, repairing some of the damage.

Arcade flyer

Although the actual task of driving isn't as demanding as in most racing titles (it's impossible to veer off road, and there's no shifting gears) guiding the car and shooting at the same time will take most newcomers some time to get used to. Otherwise, you can always let a friend handle both guns while you drive, which is an awesome sort-of way of cheating.

Namco's take on buddy cop flicks is characterized not only by being a wild rollercoaster ride, but also by its humor. The duo's hilarious reactions seen through the car's rear view mirror are a delighful addition accentuated by funny comments, yells, and screams depending on the situation.
The hardware handles a fast scaling very similar to that seen on Sega arcades like OutRunners and Galaxy Force, but the colorful, beautiful graphics remind me of the SNES 16 bit era.
The sound, unfortunately, is more reminiscent of a Sega Genesis: digitized voices sound embarrasingly less clear than they should, and even though the soundtrack does a good job of keeping up with Lucky and Wild's crazy car chases, the quality isn't the best even for the time.

Arcade cabinet

The uniqueness of Lucky & Wild's arcade cabinet and its particular gameplay mechanics are most likely to blame for the lack of any past console ports or even its inclusion in any of the nowadays common arcade compilation releases. If you never came across the real thing back in the days, make sure you give it a try on MAME. Even if it takes a couple of minutes to properly set up and configure its very particular control scheme.
The Japanese version, for some reason, seems to be more forgiving.