You may be asking yourself why I would be interested in this miniature arcade game? I mean, I already own a dozen versions of Pole Position for various consoles, not to mention the arcade emulations on my Namco Museum collections. The thing that convinced me was the control. This little ditty has its own steering wheel, allowing you to play the game as God intended, with smooth, fine-grained analog control.

This lightweight portable is actually two arcade-perfect racing games in one, letting you select between the original Pole Position (1982) and Pole Position II (1983). Easy to play but tough to master, these classic quarter-munchers have passed the test of time quite well.

The races seem very basic at first. There are two gears. You always begin in low but spend most of your time in high gear. You can reach break-neck speeds on straightaways as you weave through traffic and jockey for position. Rounding each curve is white-knuckle excitement, with your wheels just pixels away from another car, teetering on the edge of disaster. Making any contact results in a spectacular explosion, with wheels and car parts flying off the screen!

Ideally you'll play this machine while sitting at a table for proper support, but I can get by balancing it on one leg. The steering wheel has just the right degree of firmness and sensitivity, making it easy to apply fine adjustments with your left thumb. You really need a soft touch to thread the needle through two cars, but it's a great feeling.

There's a little gear shift in the center that's easy to flick between low and high gear. On the right side are two large buttons for brake and acceleration. While not analog, their texture feels good under your thumb. I ignore the brake in most racing games, but it's absolutely necessary here. I apply it whenever I see a turn coming.

These games are even better than I remember. The display looks so sharp and colorful. The cars scale in and out so smoothly, and I love the sterio sound of their engines roaring past. There are also signs on the side of the road but it's hard to catch when they say at high speeds.

The original Pole Position has one track, but Pole Position II offers four courses, including a seaside location with ocean view and a Suzuka track with a little amusement park. This sequel is far more demanding, requiring you to complete the qualifying lap in 73 seconds. That's not easy.

High scores are recorded separately for each track. The steering wheel controls can be a little jittery when it comes to entering you initials, as they tend to flicker back and forth on the letter boundary.

The bright white arcade cabinet looks terrific, complete with the classic racing artwork on the sides. The system is lightweight but I wouldn't call it "portable". This couldn't fit this into my coat, much less my pocket.

Along the bottom of the cabinet is a red "home" switch (which resets to the main menu), a yellow credit button, and a greet start button. On the back you'll find a power switch, volume + and - buttons, a brightness button. A USB-C port lets you run power to the machine, but it does not charge it. To run the machine in cordless mode you'll need to load four AA batteries.

A fold-out catalog reveals many other arcade titles are available in this format, including Galaga, Pac-Man, Street Fighter II, and a Data East collection. They even threw in a certificate of authenticity, which is kind of odd for a $39 system. I suppose that if a man should ever challenge me to a duel over the integrity of my machine, I'll be able to furnish this card and clear things up right away, without resorting to violence.

The fake coin slots are lit on the front of the cabinet, but I kind of wish the marquee was lit as well. I like the size of this machine. It doesn't take up much room but the screen is large enough to get the full experience.

I keep this in my game room so my friends have something to do when I'm busy chasing wires. I asked Sudz what he thought of it, and he declared it was "awesome". He followed that up with "we should jailbreak it". I wouldn't go that far, but I would definitely consider picking up more of these machines.