WaveRunner is a trademarked name and type of

personal water craft A personal watercraft (PWC), also called water scooter or jet ski, is a recreational watercraft that a rider sits or stands on, not within, as in a boat. PWCs have two style categories, first and most popular being a runabout or "sit down" whe ...

(PWC) produced by the

Yamaha Motor Company is a Japanese multinational manufacturer of motorcycles, marine products such as boats and outboard motors, and other motorized products. The company was established in 1955 upon separation from Yamaha Corporation (however, Yamaha Corporation ...

. Unique to the WaveRunner among PWCs is the spout of water that shoots into the air from the rear of the vehicle, a visual brand identifier that exists as a trademark of Yamaha.

History

The first personal watercraft was designed and built in the 1960s by an American motorcycle enthusiast banker,

Clayton Jacobson II Clayton Jacobson II (October 12, 1933 – August 18, 2022) was an American inventor who was credited with inventing the jet ski. Biography Early life Jacobson was born in Multnomah County Hospital, Portland, Oregon, on October 12, 1933, to Cl ...

, and produced and marketed by Bombardier in a licensing agreement. In 1971 Jacobson transferred the license to Kawasaki, resulting in the

Jet Ski Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft (PWC) manufactured by Kawasaki, a Japanese company. The term is often used generically to refer to any type of personal watercraft used mainly for recreation, and it is also used as a verb to ...

. Other manufacturers began making similar vehicles in the 1980s, including Yamaha, which had been building watercraft since the '60s, and with whose water vehicle division Jacobson signed on a consultant in 1986. First produced that year, the WaveRunner (then called Marine Jet 500T) was the world's first saddle watercraft, a model which today dominates the market. In 1987, the handlebars mounted on an articulated arm, characteristic of hand watercraft, were replaced by a fixed handlebar on the WaveJammer 500 (Marine Jet 500S). In 1990, the WaveRunner III 650 (Marine Jet 650TL) was the first personal watercraft to offer a three-person seat and reverse.. The same year, Yamaha released the SuperJet 650, its first personal watercraft. Yamaha then diversified its offer into various categories, ranging from models for beginners to those intended for competition listed below: *1986 WaveRunner 500 (Marine Jet 500T) *1987 WaveJammer 500 (Marine Jet 500S) *1990 WaveRunner III 650 (Marine Jet 650TL) *1990 Super Jet 650 *1992 WaveRunner VXR650 (Marine Jet 650TX) *1993 WaveRunner Pro VXR700 *1993

WaveBlaster The Wave Blaster was an add-on MIDI-synthesizer for Creative Sound Blaster 16 and Sound Blaster AWE32 family of PC soundcards. It was a sample-based synthesis General MIDI compliant synthesizer. For General MIDI scores, the Wave Blaster's wa ...

700 (Marine Jet 700TZ) *1994 WaveRaider 700 (Marine Jet 700RA) *1994 WaveRunner 3 GP (701 cc) *1995 WaveRaider 1100 *1995 WaveVenture 700 (Marine Jet 700VN) *1996 WaveBlaster II *1996 WaveVenture 1100 *1997 WaveRunner GP 1200 *1998 WaveRunner XL 1200 *1999 WaveRunner SUV 1200 *1999 WaveRunner XL 1200 Ltd. *2000 WaveRunner GP 1200R *2001 WaveRunner XLT 1200 *2002 WaveRunner FX140 *2003 WaveRunner GP 1300R *2005 WaveRunner VX Deluxe *2006 WaveRunner FX Cruiser High Output *2008 WaveRunner FX Cruiser SHO *2009 WaveRunner FZR * 2011 WaveRunner VXR * 2014 WaveRunner FX Cruiser SVHO * 2016 WaveRunner VX Limited * 2017 WaveRunner GP 1800 * 2018 WaveRunner FX Limited SVHO * 2019 WaveRunner EXR * 2019 WaveRunner GP 1800R

Models

Products in the WaveRunner line include the

Yamaha WaveBlaster The WaveBlaster is a personal water craft (PWC) made by Yamaha Motor Corporation. Part of their WaveRunner line of watercraft, the Yamaha WaveBlaster 700 (Marine Jet 700TZ) made its debut in 1993. Although technically a runabout style PWC the bl ...

and

Yamaha SuperJet The SuperJet is a stand-up type personal watercraft (PWC) made by Yamaha Motor Corporation. Part of Yamaha's WaveRunner line of watercraft, it was introduced in 1990 and has become one of the most successful stand-up personal watercraft ever made ...

. The

currently produces five different series of WaveRunners. They are: * EX Series * VX Series * FX Series * Performance Race Series * SuperJet

Video game

''WaveRunner'' is a

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

developed and released in 1996. The game was built on the

Sega Model 2 Sega is a video game developer, publisher, and hardware development company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple offices around the world. The company's involvement in the arcade game industry began as a Japan-based distributor of c ...

arcade hardware. The game is based on the water craft of the same name by Yamaha, which Sega consulted with when making the game. The game was reviewed by '' Hyper'' magazine and rated 4 out of 5 stars. ''WaveRunner'' was designed in a cabinet that resembled an actual WaveRunner model. The game features three courses: "Novice", "Intermediate", and "Expert". Players can do tricks on ramps. Players steer by either turning the handlebars or using their weight to make the WaveRunner model lean in the direction of a turn. Up to four cabinets can be linked together for multiplayer racing. ''WaveRunner'' wasn't ported to any home systems. This game is emulated on the Model 2 Emulator by ELSemi. A sequel, ''WaveRunner GP'', was released in 2001 and used the NAOMI hardware and was available on standard cabinet and deluxe cabinet, which is the same cabinet as the first game. However, The standard cabinet was actually a cabinet of Arctic Thunder, which released by Midway a year earlier in 2000.

References

External links

* ;Video game
''Wave Runner''
at the

Killer List of Videogames Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) is a website featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for pla ...

''Wave Runner'' manual
at Sega Arcades and Amusements {{DEFAULTSORT:Waverunner Personal water craft brands Products introduced in 1986 1996 video games Sega arcade games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Hiroshi Kawaguchi

History

Models

Video game

See also

References

External links