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[img width=427 height=299 align=right]https://i.ibb.co/Jp10HwH/PSX-20210723-100137.jpg[/img]
It's the sound, I think...
More than the sandy beaches and palm trees. More than the branching routes and agonising countdown. More, even, than the girl and the Ferrari.
It's the sound that really makes OutRun special.
It's fairly unlikely that I encountered Yu Suzuki's iconic driving game 35 years ago but it was then, late in 1986, that the bright red and vaguely car shaped cabinets first arrived in Japanese arcades.
It's more likely, however, that a couple of years after I would have discovered it when my grandparents took me and my brother on holiday to Great Yarmouth, a popular seaside destination for people living, as we did, on the outskirts of London. This was largely thanks to its Pleasure Beach; a collection of aging arcade machines, roller coasters, and other death-trap rides and attractions jutting out into The Wash.
Continue reading A Love-letter to OutRun
I just bought a Nintendo Playchoice 10 arcade machine, with the dual monitors in April of 2021. I plan to bring it back to life some, because it certainly has seen some neglect. This is my first actual arcade, I have a Street Fighter Arcade 1UP but that is a lot smaller and modern. This thing was a beast to transport, having the two monitors made it that much more heavier than the single monitor Playchoice 10
[img width=700 height=697]https://i.imgur.com/9oVY0Ja.jpg[/img]
I never got into arcade collecting to make friends or meet people; quite the opposite actually. As a lifelong introvert and lover (addict?) of solitude, I'd much prefer to make a few clicks on my favorite money-sync websites and wait for my new treasures to arrive in my mailbox, sans interaction. With console game collecting, this approach works great. However, if you were to get into full-sized, real-deal, space sucking arcade game cabinets, things get a little bit more complicated. Taking a quick look on eBay reveals some hard-to-swallow truths for the burgeoning arcade collector. Shipping prices alone for these massive pieces of memorabilia can easily climb to $500 or more, and local pickup options aren't going to be helpful if you live in Nowhere, USA. Where is an arcade addict to turn for their fix?
Enter craigslist and the thrills therein. Every arcade game I own, barring my starter "fake" SNK NEO GEO cabinet, a chance offer from a local friend was found on the magical world of craigslist. Having collected for the arcade cabinet's little brother, the home console, for near two decades now I am no stranger to the strangers of craigslist. Contrary to the horror stories that pervade discussion on local meetup sites, I have never once had a negative interaction with anyone on craigslist. Even for the most introverted of collectors, setting a price, time, and meetup location to pick up a cardboard box of someone's discarded childhood is fairly simple and painless. Public places like gas stations or truckstops provide relatively safe locations to wheel and deal, and being a 6-foot-tall surly-in-looks-only man doesn't hurt. But, what if the object of your neurotic affections is located in that strangers basement? Or deep in the back of a dimly lit garage or barn? Such is the life and times of an arcade collector.
The siren's call of just one more game to build my arcade empire is a seductive one. My first craiglist arcade adventure came with the classic Namco fighting game Tekken 2. I had never played Tekken, nor was I a fan of fighting games, but the one thing I did have was a hunger for a cheap mate to my first cabinet no matter what the title. Messages were sent and arrangements were made. For the low, low price of $360 my faux NEO GEO could have a friend and I could start a bonifide collection. But like any good introvert, the desire for treasure soon began to clash with the terror of meeting a stranger, in THEIR own home no less! What if this game owner was a weirdo? Even worse, what if I was the weirdo? The siren's call could not be silenced, however; yet this gave way to new fears. It was the final hurdle of any arcade collector: logistics.
Arcade games are less collectables and more pieces of furniture with near-antique electronics inside. The monitors themselves can approach 100 pounds of fragile glass and circuitry. The laminated wooden cabinets, even when gutted, are unwieldy and heavy on the best of days. Trying to muscle a fully loaded arcade game without help is a fool's errand. Sourcing an appliance dolly is in your best interest (as well as the interest of your new trophy), and the help of a second fool, er, friend doesn't hurt. Good old dad helped source the dolly but was unavailable in the muscle department. Now that you have your dolly, the logistics further complicate. Are you going to wheel it all the way home on your discount, Harbor Freight friend? Best to leave wheeling arcade games through heavy traffic to George Costanza. What you need is a larger set of wheels, be that a truck or van. Or your wife's SUV with all the seats torn out, pending her approval, of course. Dad came through as dad's do again by lending me his pickup truck for the day with ramps in tow.
So I nervously made my way across town to meet my new friend, as well as its former owner. The owner seemed nice enough, or at least any Buffalo Bill vibes had not come through the fog of email. With much trepidation and hopeful drooling, I pulled up to the rural-ish home down a long road out of town. What met me as I climbed out of the protection of dad's pickup cab chilled me to my introverted core; an extremely personable and affable man approaching middle age. All joking aside, the guy was very friendly and put me at ease immediately. As soon as you show the strangers of craiglist that you are indeed there to purchase and carry away their old junk and not murder them, they are generally more than happy to chat about the arcade hobby. Or at the very least efficiently and quickly get this junk collector out of their home, which works for this introvert. The owner opened up his detached garage and revealed a mancave of wonders; a fully stocked barcade complete with a full bar, arcade games and slot machines! The owner confided that he was parting with Tekken 2 to purchase a Quarter Pusher machine (put quarter in, get quarters out in the rare event you win). I'm still not sure what use such a machine would be in a private arcade for one, but as a fellow collector of weird ephemera, I won't judge. After a quick demonstration of the game and any special instructions (game has xyz quirks, here's the keys, don't feed after midnight, etc.), we loaded the game up on the dolly and safely secured it to the bed of the truck. Slightly shaking from nerves, I happily shook his hand and was on my way. A call was made to a fellow collector friend on what felt like the longest 5 mile drive home ever to help unload and I was in business. The entire ordeal had more or less gone off without a hitch, accidently tearing off the oversized control panel and almost plummeting to my blood-soaked death while unloading the game notwithstanding. The game proudly stood in its (temporary) new home in the dining room for months, much to my wife's chagrin and my great amusement.
I had not gone into this adventure expecting much more than a thinner wallet and a new toy. Yet the start of my collection brought with it new thoughts and questions. How many people had played on this machine? Was it someone's favorite? Where had it spent it's 25 year life? What fun-filled nights with friends or dates had it seen? I cannot think of any other group of items I own that have been touched literally and figuratively in their life than my stable of arcade games. Along with the haunt of the smell of stale cigarette smoke, this new game was also haunted with a little piece of every person who had ever played it.
[img width=700 height=393]https://i.ibb.co/xmB9ckd/Title.jpg[/img]
Two months ago I smack-talked Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road in the review of SNK 40th Anniversary Collection on Switch. At the least I called it annoying, at the most I called it garbage (in one of my older articles), stating that I would rather eat three year-old hotdogs than play that game again. But something happened after getting SNK for the Switch that had never happened before: I enjoyed myself playing Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road.
It all started more than thirty years ago, back then I would troll the suburbs of Metro D looking for returnable bottles to play arcade games. I've said it many times before, no doubt, but I loved this period of my life, despite the beatdowns I would sometimes have to endure due to my... geeky appearance. One of my most cherished games from this era was Victory Road, a sci-fi flavored sequel to Ikari Warriors. It certainly wasn't at the 7-11 for very long, but regardless I had put this game on a pedestal, from which it refused to budge for thirty-two years. So one day when I happened onto the NES port with the appropriate amount of money in my pocket, the cash couldn't couldn't fly out of my pocket fast enough, and I am pretty sure I set speed records for tearing off plastic and removing the game manual from the box. Wonder I didn't tear it to pieces like an animal. And the results? Not good, though I always felt I tried. The NES port of Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road felt unfinished at the time, and I am afraid that I delegated it to the "Budget Wall" bin along with Hydlide and King's Knight, somewhere deep in my room. In retrospect I probably played more Urban Champion then that game.
Continue reading REDACTION - Victory Road for NES Redux!
Lately, even the mighty pull of an incredible new version of my favorite game of all time (Tetris Effect) can't sit me in front of a console for very long. Oh, I want to plop on our comfy recliner and put in a few long hours into the ever-growing stack of excellent games next to the various gaming systems connected to our best gaming TV. I really really do. However with so many daily tasks, back-and-forth travel, and emergency situations happening I just can't block out the time. (I'd say 'lately,' but when topsy-turvy is more common than normal, topsy-turvy becomes the new normal.)
As in the past, Nintendo has swooped in to save the day with a game machine full of stuff I want to play on a system that can ride along with me. As I was combing through the library of games to take along, I looked through the excellent popular titles that bring out the best of the system; Super Mario Odyssey, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2, Arms, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, etc. Unexpectedly, those have stayed on the shelf lately; the majority of what I want to play these days is a compilation of arcade and retro classics that perfectly fit the few minutes at a time I have to spend. I thought it might be fun to share my current carousel of cartridge cavorting!
Continue reading The Switch Has Become My Portable Arcade Powerhouse
The hunt for a Candy Cab. For a while now I have lived in Japan but acquiring one of these seemed nearly impossible. Most modern arcades no longer carry these vintage machines let alone trying to maintain them. I did reach out to a friend who spoke to a local arcade owner whos business primarly consisted of these but that seemed to get knowwhere. Well fast forward a few months and we tried again and this time I was successful.
Was not sure how this day was going to go but decided to bring the camera and have a little fun with it. The results turned out much better then I expected. Hopefully you guys enjoy.
[img width=700 height=466]http://i.imgur.com/HrThPSp.png[/img]
Hey everyone! It seems that I'm getting out a bit more often as of late, and what better way to spend time out than playing video games! It just so happens that this past Saturday, Yestercades of Red Bank, NJ was there to feed that craving with a delicious smattering of all things retro to right now.
Yestercades is a pay by the hour/day style arcade featuring a large array of classic arcade cabinets, a decent chunk of modern pinball machines, and a set of gaming stations for console gaming. As of the time of this writing, $25 nets you a full day pass, which allows for full play on any of the aforementioned machines, as well as come-as-you-please access to the arcade (which is super useful to go snag pizza from the amazing place across the street).
Continue reading Neo On Location: Yestercades of Red Bank, NJ
Kenichiro Fukui is a composer that few likely know off the top of their head. He began his career as a member of the Konami Kukeiha Club in 1990 under the moniker "Funiki Fukui". The first game he worked on was Sunset Riders in 1991, but he only did the sound effects for the game. His first full composition job was Konami's light gun arcade game Lethal Enforcers. He worked on a few more arcade games at Konami, including 1992's GI Joe with Tsutomi Ogura and 1993's Violent Storm with Seiichi Fukami.
Continue reading Composer Compendium: Kenichiro Fukui
[img width=700 height=1035]http://i.imgur.com/PNIJoEM.jpg?1[/img]
Heya Friends! Over the holiday break, I took a trip to one of my favorite places on earth, and decided it needed to be shared with everyone. Silverball Museum, located on the Asbury Park boardwalk, is a "pay-one-price" style arcade loaded with a plethora of classic and new pinball machines, as well as some staple game cabinets.
Continue reading Neo on Location: Silverball Pinball Museum - Asbury Park, NJ
[img width=400 height=552]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-040/ms/U-040-S-06550-A.jpg[/img]
Vapor Trail is a vertically scrolling shooter originally developed by Data East for the arcade in 1989. Kuuga: Operation Code "Vapor Trail" is the game's full Japanese name, with the title being changed to Vapor Trail: Hyper Offense Formation overseas. Telenet Japan secured the rights to port the game to Sega's Mega Drive, publishing through its RiOT label for release in 1991. At the time, Telenet also had a North American subsidiary named Renovation Products, who handled the overseas Genesis release in the same year.
This original game spawned an arcade trilogy from Data East. The second game in the Kuuga series is Wolf Fang: Kuuga 2001, and the third is Skull Fang: Kuuga Gaiden. Both of these sequels were ported to the followup of the Genesis, the Saturn. Wolf Fang expanded to Sony's PlayStation, and even took a modern leap to the PlayStation Network, for a PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable release. Wolf Fang switched genre completely when it changed into a run and gun and platforming hybrid; however, Skull Fang returned to the scrolling shooter mechanics of the original.
Continue reading Psychotic Reviews: Vapor Trail
[img width=500 height=733]http://i.imgur.com/dpHg8RG.jpg[/img]
It has been a long and interesting process. I learned a lot and I am very happy with the final product. Let me show you how I put all of the pieces together
Continue reading Arcade Control Panel Design Part IV: The Final Countdown
[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/ZEVqWxz.jpg[/img]
We have 5 areas to route, some Lexan to cut, a little paint to apply, and there was a slight delay with the artwork. All in another day's work when designing a control panel.
Continue reading Arcade Control Panel Design Part III
[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/uoPzhr0.jpg[/img]
We have talked about some of the things you should do when you first pick up a cabinet and we have talked a little bit about monitors and working on them. Now we are going to talk about the control panel ("CP"). There are lots of important decisions that go into designing them and if you are only going to have one or 2 machines, you had better make the CP count.
Continue reading Arcade Control Panel Design Part I
[img width=700 height=206]https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8808/18226401432_7817d9640b_k.jpg[/img]
With the Northern Fan Convention setup all behind us, it was nearly time to kick open the doors and let the public in. A public that was still largely unaware that we existed. Even the ones that knew about us didn't know that we were getting into tabletop games. This was our chance to get people excited about us all over again and at the same time, get some feedback about our new merchandise before rolling it out in our store.
Continue reading Blog Quest: Un"Convention"al Appearance - Part II
I have found a very much under-the-radar, mom-and-pop local game store...and I will likely be spending my time and money there and no longer primarily at thrift stores. I was referred to this game store by a younger kid running rides at my local amusement park over the summer when I asked where he bought his sweet hoodie. (It was an imported Naruto hoodie from Japan. It had Sasuke's head in a small logo on the front, and the Uchiha clan symbol on the back. Not sure if there are any other anime fans here or not).
This store has EVERYTHING. I saw a lot of stuff in person for the first time here, Famicom games, Super Famicom games, an Atari LYNX, A Power glove, A 3DO, Neo Geo, and even a few Nomads. I guess they make enough to stay in business and continue to import new products from Japan like clothes, drinks, small collectables and such, but don't really move much older merchandise; proving my original thought that the Retro gaming market around Denver stinks.
The biggest problem was that my wife was with me, as well as our kids...if they weren't there, I probably would have stayed until they closed talking games with the owner and his son, but we only stayed for about 45 minutes. I will definitely be going back whenever I have extra time or money. It is so nice to finally have somewhere to go that isn't a big name store with multiple locations that price off Ebay when you ask about a game instead of putting price tags on stuff.
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