The System 21 consists of four PCBs housed in a metal crate.
It was in development for over three years before release, since around the mid-1980s. According to Phil Harrison (in the September 1989 issue of Commodore User), who visited Namco's Tokyo office, Atari's Hard Drivin' ran on an earlier, less powerful, version of this hardware, stating that Namco and Atari Games were sister companies at the time and that the System 21 was a shared development.2
"Namco System 21 (Concept)". https://www.giantbomb.com/namco-system-21/3015-8558/ ↩
"Commodore User Magazine Issue 72". September 1989. https://archive.org/stream/commodore-user-magazine-72/Commodore_User_Issue_72_1989_Sep#page/n89/mode/2up ↩