Gals Panic!
2 Players	Arcade
Kaneko 1990

Somehow ending last in this lengthy article, Kaneko's "Gals Panic!" is probably the second most well-known adult cabinet after "Pocket Gal", and the most successful "Qix" clone ever produced. As such, the objective is to reclaim different girls' pictures presented in enclosed screens by progressively "drawing" over their silhouettes with an on-screen cursor. The ladies gradually lose their clothes over 3 stages after which the player is awarded a nude digitized picture of the corresponding girl.

Arcade flyer

One of three enemies (the slow spider, unpredictable fireball, or quick pyramid) will try to stop the player from unveiling a required minimum of 80% to clear the stage by spawning numerous minions and using special attacks. The cursor is only vulnerable to these when it's drawing, resulting in an intense, nerve-racking rhythm as the player continues to slowly claim picture areas by waiting for enemies to leave the vecinity of the cursor and its trailing line for a split second. All of this in a constant race against the clock. A 3-minute clock.

Japanese arcade flyer

As if this wasn't enough, it's also mandatory to keep an eye on a fluctuating status bar on top of the screen. All is well while its arrow is on the blue area, but our girl will change into various creatures if it happens to go down to yellow, or a life will be lost if it reaches the skull icon. On the other hand, the victory icon on the right side of the bar will automatically take you to the next stage.

Various items are up for grabs, each with a distinctive effect. UFOs will kill all enemy minions, hamburgers grant 4 status-bar points, clocks temporarily freeze all enemies, angels raise status points, and skulls lower them.
Bonus rounds with both hindrances and advantages are alsoavailable after each stage, and secret "challenge stages" are revealed if you are good enough to reach 100% clearance rates repeated times.

Arcade flyer

Gals Panic! does not exactly excel audiovisually, but its colorful presentation, graphic quality and girls' digitized voices did a great job of attracting new players in crowded early 90's arcades. These voices include many sexy innuendos of course, and are surprisingly clear for a 1990 title.

The strategy (a.k.a. Gals Panic! real meat):
Gals Panic! can be played in two ways: casually or strategically. Casual players and beginners usually inch their way to the 80% mark without a plan, not thinking about it too much. What they don't realize is that the game is much harder this way.
The real meat of the game (and what makes it addictive) is to play strategically, aggressively going for the 100% with a plan. First, pick a corner of the screen where the girl's silhouette occupies the least space possible. Next, divide the screen horizontally in two without completely closing it, making sure the main enemy is trapped on the cage's side. Now start dividing the area the enemy is trapped in two again, but be careful to leave enough space for it to fit thru the opening and also leave any parts of the girl's figure outside of this area. Now you just have to camp out, wait for the enemy to step into the trap. When it does, quickly close out the last division for a 100% clear ratio. Pulling this maneuver out is of course not always easy, but following this pattern will always get you further than if you don't.

The ladies:
6 cute Japanese girls you can choose from in any order. Clear each of their 3 stages to strip them completely and get a real nude picture as a prize. Is it me or they actually look better drawn??

Definitely. Easy to pick up, easy to play. Its addictiveness starts to kick in once you learn how to reach 100% clear ratio every time.
This is the only adult cabinet me and my friends actually found to be fun enough to play on a regular basis, and that many 90's arcadegoers still have fond memories of.

Gals Panic! took over Qix's legacy in 1990. Over the course of 12 years it had many sequels, spin-offs, and console ports, which makes it the longest running and most successful adult-oriented arcade series ever made. Here's a quick look at the rest of the titles: