I watched the VHS tape that was in the cabinet.

Today I watched the tape that was inside the weird black cabinet I got a little over a week ago. A friend of mine had a VHS player so I watched it with him. I'm not really sure where to begin, but I will try to describe it as best I can. Eventually I will try to show the video on my blog.

The tape was in awful condition, and the quality was lacking. It was very short, just a few minutes, and it was a simple shot of someone standing next to two other arcade machines, both of them painted black. (You could only see the back of one, but the other you could see the side and it was black.)

While it skipped a bit, I got a lot out of it. The man talking about it claimed to be a "Phillip Bergman," a game developer, but I searched his name online for almost an hour and couldn't find anything about him or his company. Maybe I spelled it wrong, there are numerous ways to spell Phillip and Bergman, so who knows. He seemed to have some sort of European accent, but I honestly can't tell what is what when it comes to accents.

He was the lead developer on this particular machine. He claimed that development almost stopped due to people getting sick or having seizures from playing the game. He also said in it's later development stage that it could cause amnesia, although people would remember "elements" of the game, and they would be able to make them remember phrases or something, but not the game. The end of the video the quality gets incredibly bad, so it's hard to understand what he is saying, but never once in the video does he seem comfortable, he is always quite fidgety.

I wish I knew what game he is talking about, but I don't remember ever playing a game that was like that (although who would if it caused amnesia?)

The only clue I have is there was a marquee laying next to one of the machine, and it appears to end in "IS" or "US." It was blue or green, but it was really hard to see in the video.

I'll try to show the video here soon. It's really odd, and I'm not even sure if it's real. I emailed the man I bought it from again, and hopefully he responds soon. If you happen to have any idea what this game might be, I'm definitely willing to listen.

Finally got that weird black cabinet open...

I ended up removing the lock, and actually I was able to keep the back panel in fair condition. What I found inside was actually really weird, I've never seen anything like this.

Before I begin, let me say that the man I bought this from said he bought these games from an auction out west somewhere. I believe he said Oregon or Washington, I know it was a state in that area though. He told me he had never gotten it open, and it just sat for years. This was one of the reasons I bought it; you honestly never know what you might find, as I found that old Zaxxon instruction manual in perfect condition a while back.

Well, when I opened this one up, it seemed that whatever game had been inside had been stripped out completely. Nothing was in there, and that was rather disappointing, but it's about what I expected. What I didn't expect to find, however, was an old video tape. It looks a bit dirty, but I think it's playable. Only problem is....I no longer have a VHS player so I have no idea what is on it.

I will most likely get ahold of one in the next few days, and I'll see if I can somehow post the video on my blog, if it's even related to an arcade game. I am not sure how to convert a VHS to online, but I am sure it isn't incredibly difficult.

Wow, I've been busy...(I, Robot update)

I totally forgot to make a new blog on Sunday, so hopefully this makes up for it.

So I said I was picking up the I, Robot on Sunday, and I did, but I also got two other cabinets this man had. Let me describe them...

The first is Galaxian, a classic, and the prequel to Galaga. While Galaga is more popular, this game is very fun as well. Got a good deal on it, so I couldn't resist.

The second game is a bit more mysterious. It's all black, and seems to be a Williams cabinet. The screen is gone, and the back is still locked, and it didn't come with a key. I'm really not sure if I should break the lock or not, I don't want to damage it but I would like to see what game it is! He gave it to me cheap, so even if it's just the cabinet (which I think it will be) it is in good condition and was worth it.

I'll upload some pictures later once I get them cleaned off. This is very exciting!

I, Robot and other rare cabinets!

So I may have found a treasure chest of arcades! I have been posting want lists on various sites, and I got a response from a former collector who said he has an entire barn full of old arcade games!

I don't know how exactly he got his, but let me explain a bit what happened after arcades started to close in the mid 80's. A lot of arcades sold their games in lots to places, and a lot of games ended up sitting in warehouses collecting dust. I can only assume that something like this happened with this collector, because he said he has over 30 different rare cabinets! Some of them he hasn't even looked at or tested, so this should be very interesting!

In his message he did say he had an I, Robot machine, and I am going to go meet with him tomorrow (Sunday) so I will post a response as soon as I get back from that. I am very excited about this, it is always entertaining to look at old arcade machines like this, you never know what you might find.

Thanks for reading!

Sinistar Update and I, Robot

I got the Sinistar cabinet last weekend for a good price, as the power supply to this one is bad. I will most likely be getting one this week, so I'll update you more on that when I get it.

Anyways, I would like to talk about a much more rare game than Sinistar. The game I am talking about is called "I, Robot" and it has nothing to do with the film that came out a few years ago. This arcade game was revolutionary at the time it came out, because it was one of the first with full 3D graphics. Here is some footage of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmvWxG2zvs8

I remember playing this game when I was young, but I didn't truly appreciate it, and I don't think many did. It was way too ahead of it's time, and wasn't in my local arcade for very long because of it. I read that there are only 750-1500 cabinets made, so it will be a hard find, but perhaps someday I will find one!

Again, if you have any questions about arcades or need help fixing them, I'd be glad to share any advice I have!

Rare Games - Sinistar Part 2

It amuses me that I just wrote about Sinistar, but I have just found an old Sinistar cabinet online for sale that I am most likely going to pick up next week. It is apparently broken, but the cabinet is in great condition. It isn't the sitdown space ship style machine, but I doubt I could find one of those for the price I am getting this one.

I will have more pictures of it next week once I have it here and cleaned up. If I can get it running, that would be a huge accomplishment.

Thanks for reading!

Rare Games - Sinistar

Beware, I live!

Sinistar was one of the first arcade games that had real voices used in it's gameplay, and it was terrifying at the time. Now, with the home games as advanced as they are, characters talk all the time, but this was revolutionary at the time.

Unfortunately, this game came out in 1982, which marked the beginning of the end for the "classic arcade." It was a revolutionary game in not only the voice, but also the fact that it was the first game to use stereo sound in the sitdown version.

I don't have a Sinistar cabinet, but I wanted to share a picture of the sitdown version of it. It is my goal to find one of these someday, but they come at a hefty price, and for good reason. They are very large, and would be nearly impossible to ship. But they are damn cool. Check it out.

The next few blogs I make will be about some of my favorite games, like this one. I only played Sinistar several times in the early 1980's, but I was fortunate enough to actually play it in one of these sit down machines. It did scare me some at first, but it's a type of jumpy game that you want to keep coming back to. Someday, I will add one of these to my collection.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you for reading!

-Drew

Golden Axe/Shinobi/Zaxxon

Today's post is about three different games, although only one cabinet. I recently found (for free!) a Golden Axe arcade game, although it had Shinobi stickers on the side and was inside of a Zaxxon cabinet. Weird, right? But one of those steals that I couldn't say no to. I like to find these sort of deals on arcade games, and free is the best kind. Plus, it even had some quarters hidden inside the bottom of the cabinet!

So why was this game free? The reason is they believed it was broken. I always like to test things myself, and actually they were wrong, the game does work-there is just no sound, as the speaker must be broken. There is a lot to fix on this cabinet if I want it to get in full working order. A new screen is a must, as Zaxxon gameplay is burnt into the screen pretty badly. Obviously a new speaker, and the whole thing could use a good cleaning.

One of my favorite things about getting these sort of cabinets is searching inside and seeing if anything unique is in there. You honestly never know what you might find. Most of the times it is quarters, but this time I found a complete Zaxxon game manual, in really good condition too. It was hard to get to as it almost seemed hidden on the very bottom, but it is a cool piece of history to have.

Once again, thanks for checking out my blog, and feel free to ask any questions you may have!

Vs. Super Mario Bros.

While I was more a child of the early 80's, the arcade cabinet I am showcasing today was much more popular on home consoles than in the arcades. You guessed it, today I will be talking about Vs. Super Mario Bros!

You may or may not have known this game was in the arcades. After doing some research, many Nintendo games were in arcades under the "Play Choice 10" series. This one is different, though, as it is not a straight port of the Nintendo classic.

This game has differences throughout it compared to the original. In some areas where a mushroom might be, it might be gone in this game. Sometimes there are three enemies instead of two. These little differences make this game just slightly more difficult.

Overall, I do not believe this is a game that worked well in arcades. Unlike most arcade games that would often eat a quarter almost every minute, this game could go on for much longer. It is a fun twist to the original Super Mario Bros. and I really enjoy playing it.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment! Thanks for reading!

Hi there!

I'm relatively new internet blogging, but I wanted to have a platform where I could share my greatest hobby, which is collecting arcade cabinets.

My name is Drew, and I grew up playing arcade games in the late 70's/early 80's. I enjoyed all of them that came out during that time: Space Invaders, Defender, Galaga, Robotron, Pac-Man...there are too many to count. I was best at Robotron, and once played the game for three hours on one quarter, which at the time I thought was impressive. From what I've researched though, my high score is nothing close to any world record, but still not too bad for a 14 year old kid.


So, in the next few days I will start to post pictures of various cabinets that I currently am playing. If you have any questions about arcades, please feel free to message me.

Thanks for looking, and welcome to my blog!