VAG Arcade Price Guide 4.1

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2 The Vintage Arcade Gal Presents: The Vintage Arcade Videogame Collectors Field and Price Guide First Edition Cassandra Chiles Edited by Cassandra Chiles & Trinity Quirk

3 The Vintage Arcade Gal Presents: The Vintage Arcade Videogame Collector’s Field and Price Guide Written by Cassandra Chiles Published by Carrot Girl Press www.vintagearcadegal.com Copyright © 2023 Carrot Girl Productions All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. All names of copyrighted characters and/or properties described in this book are the property of their respected owners and are used for descriptive purposes only in this book For permissions contact: [email protected] Cover by Fuzzy Buddy Productions, LLC ISBN: [Print ISBN number TBA] Printed in [Country of printing TBA] First Printing

4 For my Dad

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6 Table of Contents Preface 0 Introduction 0 Arcade Collecting 101 0 Arcade Cabinet Type or Style Identity Guide 0 Identifying Arcade Cabinet Parts and Terminology 0 Arcade Cabinet Type or Style Identity Guide 0 Originality, Rarity, Desirability, and Condition 0 Multicades, Reproductions, and Custom Builds 0 Arcade Collecting Electives 0 The Rising Cost of Collecting Arcade Games 0 Guide to Donkey Kong Style Cabinets and Their Variations 0 Arcade Video Game Price and Field Guide 0 Appendixes 0 Appendix A: The Top 50 Historically Important Games 0 Appendix B: Guide of Major Manufactures 0 Appendix C: Definitions of Basic Game Genres 0 Appendix D: Common Arcade Conversion Classes 0 Appendix E: Major Controller Types 0 Appendix F: USA Released Neo Geo MVS Cartridges 0 Appendix G: Nintendo Play Choice 10 Cartridges 0 Appendix H: Nintendo Vs. Unisystem Titles 0 Special Thanks 0 Photo Credits 0

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8 Preface I have been deeply obsessed with arcade video games for as long as I can remember. Attempting to describe accurately what my first interactions and why I have had this lifelong fascination with arcade games would be like explaining the emotions behind falling in love for the first time. The emotional impact may be truthful, but the facts of the memories are probably woefully inaccurate. These moments are permanently tainted by the bias of warm fuzzy, overly emotional, and blissfully inaccurate nostalgia. Being born in 1972 and the daughter of an electronic engineer, I couldn’t have been a better demographic target audience for the fast-growing video game market during the 1970’s and 80’s. As clear as my foggy memories allow me to see, I believe the first arcade game interaction I ever had was with the Atari black and white classic Stunt Cycle around the age of 6 or so. This moment, if it were to be shown in a movie scene flashback would probably be accompanied by some dramatic lighting, choral music, and a Steven Spielberg style crane shot slowly moving upwards. My mind’s magical moment of this pixel meets girl moment probably took place at either a campground arcade pavilion during a summer vacation, or at a rollerskating ring during someone’s birthday party. The one distinct memory of the experience I do have is the frustration of not really understanding how to play. Despite my lack of comprehension during this first gaming adventure, I was hooked forever to the allure of the quarter sucking amusements of the era. I have found that certain classic arcade game titles can bring back specific memories of places, smells, times, or people. The sounds and sights of Atari’s Kangaroo remind me of grocery shopping as a kid with my mom at the local Safeway. Bally-Midway’s Spy Hunter music

9 (which was of course, taken from the classic TV show Peter Gunn) has cemented the memories of occasional family outings to the Jamesway discount store, but trips to rival Dart Drug recollect the vector goodness of Atari’s Tempest. The taste of a cold Surplee drink from 7-11 triggers past gallivanting with my grade school friend Mark on hot summer days highlighted by rounds of Taito’s Elevator Action and Sega’s Choplifter. That unmistakable greasy smell of Pizza Hut supreme pizza will forever relate to occasional dinners my childhood next door neighbors Michelle and Cheryl. Within almost every Pizza Hut location a Midway Pac-Man cocktail arcade game would await us and the ritual of asking our mothers for countless quarters. Even as the 80’s tuned into the 90’s sounds of Smash TV would become forever mixed with the sounds of falling bowling pins with late high school hangouts at the bowling alley with my friend Rob. These short-day trips to save the universe or beat up bad guys a quarter at a time throughout the years of my youth paled in comparison however to the summer weeks my family would often spend in Ocean City Maryland. With its long boardwalk on the beach lined with massive arcades, it was a paradise for any young video warrior wannabe. I was and still consider myself to be mostly an “indoor kid” so the beach wasn’t so much for soaking up rays or swimming for me. During these summer days I would spend countless quarters playing the newest and greatest from Atari, Sega, Midway, Exidy, and Nintendo. Many hard-to-find machines for collectors today were on display during these glory filled trips including a much-loved Sega Space Harrier from Marty’s Playland. I currently own this exact machine from my early teen years in my collection today. Part of this lifelong obsession can be traced directly to the influences of my father. My dad was a brilliant electronic engineer (if you have ever gone bowling and used an automatic scoring system, you can thank my father for that invention) who made no attempt to hide his excitement for any new technology. Our house was normally the first on the block with any sort of new high-tech device. We had the first home computer that I recall in the area, the first VCR, and one of the first (much to the joy of myself and my older siblings) with an Atari 2600 VCS home gaming system. As technology improved going forward into the later part of the 80’s and into the 90’s, my love for arcade gaming started to skew towards earlier games towards what collectors consider to be the golden age of arcade gaming (about 1978-1984). I held onto my love for all things branded Atari later than most probably specifically due to my loyalty to classic arcade gaming. I foolishly bought an Atari 7800 over a Nintendo NES system despite the rather dismal software for the system. Eventually I would cave in somewhat and invest in a Sega Master System and eventually a Sega Genesis. I also held out as long as I could on the personal Marty's Playland as it is today in Ocean City MD (Photo Credit: Playland's Facebook Page)

10 computing front with my beloved Atari ST computer which was difficult to find software for in the US. As I got a bit older and arcade games got somewhat more sophisticated during the 1990’s. After the downturn of arcades in the mid 80’s they received a bit of a resurgence thanks to the popularity of one-on-one fighting games like Capcom’s Street Fighter series and Midway’s Mortal Kombat series. I tended to avoid these fighters since, one I wasn’t very good at them, and two I longed for the play dynamics of the games from an earlier era. The concepts of memorizing countless button combos didn’t really appeal to me accounting for the many quarters I spent feeding a rather beat-up Bubble Bobble arcade machine during my college years in Virginia from 1991-1993 while my friends fought it out with six button mashers. Like most post college students who had already made several questionable life choices I decided to start as soon as possible to start buying used arcade games. My very first one was from a Goodwill, a well-loved but working Nintendo Playchoice countertop model full of games for which I paid 50 dollars for in 1994. Soon I would be making trips to vending auctions two states away with my mother’s borrowed Volvo picking up all sorts of classic games for prices that would make current collectors weep compared to their value in today’s market. Like many collectors my collection has been smaller and larger over the years thanks to moving, relationships, and financial means. The other day my wife asked me what made me start even think about buying arcade games or the desire to own them in the first place. Some of this might be pop culture influences of media representations of characters in TV shows or movies owning game machines. The American TV show Silver Spoons comes to mind, where the rather wealthy family owned an entire row of arcade games in their living room. I also remember a small interaction when visiting one of those Ocean City arcade games during my childhood and seeing older games for sale… you can own these things… my inner childhood mind was blow away from this fact. Now as I enter my early 50’s, my collection is large, and my knowledge base is decent in both the fields of arcade history and repair. The collecting community for these machines has always been a bit quirky but also willing to share knowledge especially from a technical standpoint. No matter the personal backgrounds of collectors I have noticed the undying desire to keep these machines running and to help those willing to learn more about the rich history of the machines. So, at this point you might be asking yourself, why write a price and field guide to the hobby? Arcade game collecting has been accused of being a bit of a closed hobby for many decades, like adjacent hobbies like pinball machines, jukeboxes, or early penny arcade machine collectors. There are multitudes of reasons for this including the size of the machines, the need for (sometimes) complex maintenance, the lack of understanding of how to get started into the hobby, and the expense of buying and maintain the machines themselves. There have been attempts from some in the collecting community over the years to produce price guides on-line, several of them noble and well thought out efforts. Any attempt at creating a value standard will probably be met with controversy in any hobby, so like any guide your milage may vary and every pricing situation is different. I see this guide as an evolving document as well and my hope is this is not the first or definitive edition of this road map to collecting. So, whether you grew up during the arcade video game high points or not, I welcome you to this humble guide. My hope is this reference will be a tool for those seeking both historical information on games, seeking estimated values of games, or those just looking for a good bit of nerding out on gaming knowledge. Thanks for reading my guide and I wish you happy hunting.

11 Arcade game Price guide and Field guide Introduction Introduction Howdy there, my name is Cassandra and I love arcade games. I have been personally collecting these 300+ pound monsters for almost 30 years and currently own over 30 full sized arcade games. Collecting arcade games has always been a bit of a strange hobby combining nostalgia with very heavy large wood boxes. These beasts can be rewarding, flustering, frustrating, expensive, and all at the same time fascinating to those of us who collect. This guide is an attempt to both transparently attach a declared value to each title and at the same time start to create a more unified approach to collecting values to help those in the hobby or coming into the hobby. It is important to note this is far from the first attempt to make such a guide, but my hope is that this becomes the definitive and complete (as much as possible) one with time. How To Best Use This Guide This is a guide, or a roadmap for collecting and value of arcade videogames in the USA and is not an iron clad declaration of value. This guide is intended as a tool to help with those interested in collecting, those who collect, and those who are simply interested in arcade game history. The guide is not and will never be perfect and should be considered an ever-evolving document.

12 How Are Values Tabulated? Prices are tabulated from a variety of sources, but I make every attempt to make sure the values attached are actual sales of games and not simply the asking price someone might desire. I check sales from on-line forums, on-line auction houses, in person auctions, classified ads, posted person to person sales, and additional sources. A collectable is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. These prices also come from my personal experiences and dealings with collecting over the last 30 years. Prices can (and will) vary from area to area, and from situation to situation. There are always outlier prices from time to time which are either much higher or lower than average, and some titles can also skew wildly in average price. In these events I have attempted to come up with a realistic spread of prices I feel are fair and often games with wild variances will be noted as such. Condition and originality are always the value “King” with any collectable. Most pricing guides for other collectables will use a condition scale for pricing. Condition grading is very difficult with classic arcade games since these were commercial machines with numerous parts and true “mint” condition examples that are 100% original are almost non-existent. With this guide I have decided to take another route and simply post pricing in a simple three tier system without marking for condition. Example Space Jerks, The Awesome Corp., 1983 Dedicated Upright Genre: Jerk Combat Simulator LOWER AVERAGE HIGHER 550 700 850 In the above example, we see that Space Jerks has a value of 550-850. Now that is not to say that if you find a truly mint condition Space Jerks it might not be worth more, or that a ratinfested version won’t be worth less than this spread of prices. With any collectable prices can and will also go up or down as the market dictates. Maybe Space Jerks gets an important cameo in the next big superhero movie and the value skyrockets. Maybe after ten years Space Jerks loses interest with collectors and the value drops. If you are collecting arcade games for an investment, please reconsider this strategy. Regional value can also vary, collectors in areas with higher costs of living tend to pay more for games than those who live in more rural areas. Asking prices on sites such as eBay also tend to be higher than average, as well as prices from commercial resellers who might offer things such as warranties or other services. The prices listed in the guide are for working, and complete games. Game should be mostly original if they are dedicated cabinets and if they are conversions have the major original components that would have been included in the conversion kit. If the game is a dedicated cabinet, the guide assumes it is factory original which would include the original CRT style monitor if it would have come from the factory with one. Games lacking major original components (PCB, sound board, unique controllers, original artwork, etc.), with heavy damage, or are non-working will command less. Gamers which have modern replacement LED monitors in game titles (when such monitors were not originally installed) are much less desirable. Games in recreated cabinets are also considered to be worth less. Games which have seen little abuse, were bought for home use only, have a unique pop cultural significance, or owned by someone in

13 the industry (former video game employees, etc.) can command a much higher price. Always consult an expert before buying something you are not sure about, well, anything. A Word on Conversions Conversion kits or titles became a staple in the arcade industry starting in the early 1980’s and would often become the norm by 1985. Conversion game kits were sold to game operators as an easy and cheaper way to change a no longer profitable title into a (hopefully) newer money making one. Kits normally contained a new game PCB, game artwork, control panels, and sometimes special items. Prices in the guide for games mostly or exclusively sold as conversion kits take no measure on what game was originally housed in the cabinet. It is important to point out however, this can make a big difference. Many original cabinets (even no longer in their original condition or missing critical items) are of a higher value to collectors seeking to restore original and rarer titles. For example, a generic uninteresting JAMMA based side scrolling fighter in a unremarkable cabinet might have little value, but that same game in say, an original Computer Space cabinet could be worth thousands of dollars. Adding to the confusion of conversion kits, many popular titles mostly sold as kits were often sold as dedicated uprights in cabinets made by 3rd party companies used in many titles. It can be a bit of a challenge to find if these titles are indeed in a “true” dedicated cabinet since most serial numbers or ID labels by the late 1980’s were of a cheap paper sticker style and easily damaged or removed. A Final Word My biggest hope with this guide is those in the collecting community see it as a valuable companion in their collecting endeavors and not a roadblock. This guide will often be incorrect, or collectors will probably often disagree with values assigned in this guide. Over time I hope the guide will become more accurate with each annual update. Please feel free to send me constructive criticism or ideas to make this guide better in the future at [email protected] . If you are too angry to send an email, please instead send me all your arcade gamesinstead as punishment. Happy Hunting, Cassandra, The Vintage Arcade Gal

15 Arcade Cabinet Type or style Identity Guide For the newcomer to arcade game collecting, the shear amount of technobabble can be a bit overwhelming at times coming from the mouths of veteran hobbyists. One of the more basic sets of terminologies one will hear, are the descriptions of different arcade game cabinet styles. The traditional arcade game cabinet was really an evolution from years of electro-mechanical game manufacturing, and other various influences of vending machines. Despite various attempts from some manufactures to create much more artistically pleasing cabinets, it is important to remember there are devices designed for commercial usage. Each design type had a specific commercial “fate” or was designed around a need to hopefully allow the operator purchasing them originally to make a profit from that target audience. As with all collectable fields, you will find from time-to-time examples that do not fit into one specific lexicon or category but overlap or are their “own thing”. In the price guide portion of this book, you will find the listing for each know production type for a particular title of game. This does not include prototype machines, outside of the USA releases, or factory one offs. Some cabinet styles were made in very small numbers for some game titles, and as future editions (hopefully) manifest themselves any new information will be included in those updated editions. Upright Cabinet The standard and most produced style of arcade game cabinet. Upright cabinets generally will be somewhere between 5-6 feet tall and about 2-2 ½ feet wide, generally weighting around

16 250 pounds. Control panels can vary in size and control layout, but usually hold no more than the capacity for up to four players. Monitor sizes usually range in the 19–25-inch size, and most cabinets will have a traditional layout consisting of coin mechanics on the bottom font, a lighted marquee on the top front of the cabinet, and an access door for maintenance on the back of the machine. From Left to Right, An Asteroids Deluxe Upright, Cabaret, and Cocktail Cabinet (Atari, Circa 1980) Cabaret or Mini Cabinet Cabaret cabinets (or sometimes called Minis) are small upright cabinets designed to fit where full-sized arcade games could not fit easily. Often these cabinets contain different art elements, smaller monitors (to accommodate for their smaller size) and where often produced in much lower numbers than their full-size upright siblings. Not all manufactures made cabaret cabinets, and not all titles were available from those companies were made into cabaret cabinets. Cabaret cabinet production was mostly though roughly 1979-1984 with a few exceptions post 1984. Cabaret style cabinets are highly sought after by collectors and often are more valuable when compared to the full-size version of the same game title. Cocktail Cabinet A table like arcade cabinet, allowing players to sit usually across from each other (but in some cases, next to each other) and play head-to-head. These cabinets were designed with restaurant patrons in mind, and were commonplace in the USA during the early 1980’s. Much like cabaret cabinets, not all manufactures made cocktail cabinets and not all titles were made available in this format. Despite this, most cocktail versions of games are slightly more common than the cabaret versions (if both styles were made available) with some cocktail cabinet titles having production numbers almost as plentiful as their upright versions (Pac-Man, Ms. PacMan). Cocktail cabinets will usually have minimal artwork when compared to the upright version of the game, will have a large top surface made of glass, and sometimes a smaller monitor. Some manufactures designed the game cabinet legs to adjust the cabinet to a higher or

17 lower position. On average cocktail machines tend to be less valued by collectors and tend to fetch lower prices on the collector market with a few exceptions. Trimline/Standing Cocktail Cabinet Essentially a taller cocktail cabinet, intended to allow players to stand overtop of the game and play. Sega used the term “Trimline” for a series of standing cabinets which were mostly marketed outside the USA. Some manufactures offered optional platforms to allow cocktail cabinets to stand higher to eliminate the need for benches or stools for players. Bartop/Countertop Cabinet Designed to sit on a bar top and allow casual gameplay from patrons. Arcade game titles from the original arcade manufacture’s factory are rare in this format with a few exceptions. Bartop cabinets are more common for touch screen games, casual betting devices (non pay-out casino style games), trivia games, and modern emulation multigame systems. (Left: Nintendo’s Playchoice Countertop, Circa 1988) Deluxe Cabinet Somewhat of a catch-all description of a larger or more feature rich than a standard upright style cabinet. The video screen could be larger, there could be a special interactive control, control for more players at once, or specially build cabinet of an already established title for a special purpose or venue. Showcase Cabinet A term generally applied to post 1990 cabinets with large monitor screens semidetached from the control panel. These cabinets were popular with oneon-one fighting and gun shooting style game kits. These game cabinets were often not game specific but designed to house conversion kits with a few exceptions. (Right: Atari's Showcase "33" Cabinet Atari Games, 1993)

18 Sit-Down/Cockpit Any number of varieties of game cabinets which allowed the player to sit down in an environment intended to immerse the player into the gaming experience. Usually attempts to mimic the environment of a racecar or airplane, since this style of game cabinet is common with racing and airplane combat games. Usually large in size and produced in much lower numbers than compared to the upright cabinet style games of the same title. (Left: Mylstar’s M.A.C.H. 3 Cockpit Cabinet, Circa 1983) Environmental Somewhat of a subset of the cockpit style game cabinet, the main difference being the simulation of the environment compared to sitting down in a faux car or airplane cabinet. The cabinet essentially surrounds the player to allow an enclosed experience but is not necessarily attempting to portray a specific vehicle or craft with the environment. Player can be sitting or standing depending on the particulars of the cabinet design. (Right: Bally-Midway’s Discs of Tron Environmental Cabinet, Circa 1984) Wall Cabinet Cabinet style rare all over the world but even more so in the USA, these cabinets were designed to be installed directly into the wall. Not to be confused with non-video game “Wall Games” from the 1960’s and 70’s. (Right: European Phoenix Wall Mounted Cabinet, Manufacturer Unknown)

19 Left to Right: Sega's Standard Motorized Cabinet, The Deluxe, and a Standard Upright (Sega, 1986) Motorized Normally a sit-down style cabinet which moves with the player’s controls. Some cabinets will use advanced hydraulics to create an experience close to that of an amusement park ride. These games are commonly based around driving or aerial themed game titles. Cabinets will often be large and very heavy and were mostly made in very limited numbers due to their original expense. Motorized cabinets are often festooned with elaborate lighting and cabinet designs and can be difficult to keep running properly. Special/Unique Despite these mentioned general categories, there will still be unique arcade game cabinets that don’t quite fall into any of the above categories at all. The unique traits of these games will be briefly described in the price guide section when deemed necessary or meaningful. These unique cabinets could include games with multiple monitors, multiple sides, unique cabinet structures, unique materials, experimental technology, or hybrid games. Some cabinets styles were manufactured exclusively for specific company franchises, stores, arcades, or movie theatres as well. (Right: BallyMidway’s Video Game Pinball Hybrid Baby Pac-Man, Circa 1982)

20 Identifying Arcade Cabinet parts and terminology Introduction For any newcomer exploring the vintage arcade game hobby, the terminology around the parts and pieces of arcade games might seem confusing at first. This section is designed for the arcade collecting newbie who wishes to become more familiar with arcade game collecting “lingo”. Being familiar with the standard terminology of a video arcade game can help not just with navigation in this guide but help with making things clearer when communicating with fellow enthusiasts. The Cabinet The cabinet is the physical structure of the arcade game manufactured either out of wood, plastic, fiberglass, or metal. Its purpose is to protect and house the internal elements for game required for functionality and to position the external controls for the player. Internal elements which are normally fragile and somewhat dangerous to unqualified persons are kept out of the reach of game playing patrons as well as protected against the elements. The cabinet is just this structural enclosure of the game, or the shell, minus any of the other parts or components needed for that game to function. Cabinets can vary in style, concept, or intended use as seen in the previous section of this guide (Arcade Cabinet Type or Style Identity Guide). Certain dedicated game titles can specific or exclusive to that title design dynamics creating additional value (or scarcity) over the normative value for an empty arcade game cabinet. Damage to arcade cabinets can be superficial in nature from normal wear and tear or

21 extreme depending on the events in which the game has experienced in its lifetime. The most common damage faced from arcade game cabinets include damage from haphazard operator modifications, pests, water damage, and vandalism. It is always important to remember these were commercial machines originally and not intended to be used in homes or in any collecting capacity. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude almost any legitimate, unrestored, or original video arcade game machine will have some sort of defect or defects from commercial usage. Dedicated Vs. Conversion Cabinets Dedicated cabinets or dedicated arcade video games are machines that left a factory as a specific game title. These games contain specific artwork, controls, and hardware to play that specific game title. Dedicated machines were intended by the specific manufacturer to play only that single game for their lifetime in most instances. Most American use arcade games before 1983 were offered only as dedicated machines from the majority manufactures operating in the USA. Dedicated machines are highly sought after by collectors since they include those original purpose built and designed elements. Conversion kits are arcade game title kits sold to install into game cabinets that were no longer profitable, popular, or functional for arcade game operators. These kits commonly included new hardware and artwork to transform an older game title into a newer one. By using an existing cabinet with some of the hardware already invested in by the operator (the cabinet, monitor, coin mechs) conversion kits offered an inexpensive way for vending operators to stay profitable. The downside from a collector standpoint is that conversion kits often called for the destruction or modification of the original dedicated elements of the arcade game. Some popular late 1980’s and 1990’s titles were offered in both conversion kit and dedicated cabinet forms. One final cabinet type to mention are game cabinets manufactured with the intention of not specifically housing any specific game title from the start. These cabinets were designed as modular cabinets intended for conversion kits or as replacement cabinets. Modular cabinets were offered from a few companies starting as early as 1980. Many fighting game titles staring in the 1990’s were sold as dedicated cabinets using 3rd party modular cabinet designs to save time and money. On the left, a Dedicated Atari Liberator, and on the right a Liberator converted into a Cabal by TAD/Romstar

22 Control Panel The video arcade control panel can be presented in an almost infinite variety of variations but is usually considered to be the section attached to the cabinet where the players controls are located. Standard control panels often either contain joysticks, buttons, wheels, paddles, yokes, or any number of combinations of unique controls. Control panels are normally adored with some sort of artwork that relates to the rest of the cabinet theming and can also contain playing instructions. Due to wear and tear of the control panel, controls and artwork around the panel can get worn out or damaged. It is not unusual to find classic games without original controllers or with replacement control panel artwork. Original dedicated cabinets which have undergone a conversion into another title will often have the original control panel layout or control arrangement modified to fit the new game. Cabinet Artwork Much of the visual appeal of an arcade cabinet often comes directly from both the cabinet design and the graphical appeal of the cabinet artwork. In addition to any artwork that might festoon the control panel, most of the artwork will manifest itself on the marquee, the bezel, and on the sides of the cabinet. Artwork is normally title specific and sometimes can vary between international releases of the same title. • Side Art o Side art refers to any artwork or design element on the sides of the arcade game cabinet. Dedicated machines normally had this artwork applied during the manufacturing process while conversion kits often came shipped with side art for the operator to apply to the game cabinet. Side art can be either simple or elaborate depending on the manufacture of the game and the specific game title and the method in which the art was originally applied can also vary greatly. • Bezel o The bezel can refer to one or several elements that surround or cover the video arcade monitor. Many arcade video games will include both an internal cardboard or plastic bezel directly around the monitor to cover up the mounting elements to the monitor and cabinet as well as an additional bezel to prevent patrons from being able to directly touch the monitor itself. The outer bezel is sometimes adorned with artwork or design elements that match the theming of the game. The bezel can also provide gameplay instructions, copyright information, or manufacture details. Control panel for Nintendo's Donkey Kong

23 Sometimes these outer bezels contain no artwork of any kind at all. Outer bezels are either made from glass or plexiglass and are normally secured in a fashion which allows removal only from a technician by accessing the interior of the arcade game. • Marquee o Marquees are traditionally found on the top front of a full-sized upright arcade cabinet. Cabaret cabinets sometimes have marquees below the control panel instead of on the top of the game. The purpose of a marquee is to advertise the title of the game. Marquees are often made from translucent glass or plastic allowing for them to be backlit for further eye appeal to perspective players. Marquees themselves can be collectable to arcade hobbyists with rare and desirable titles often bringing in high dollar amounts. • Kick Plate Artwork o The kick plate art (or sometimes called the bottom cabinet artwork) is the artwork found under the control panel area near the coin mechanisms on a standard upright cabinet. Not all arcade games have kick plate artwork and due to its location, this art can be easily damaged on dedicated machines. • Top Glass Art o Top glass artwork is the artwork either screen printed or printed by other means underneath the glass top of a cocktail style cabinet. Cocktail top glass artwork tends to be less elaborate than other styles of cabinet artwork. • Back Panel o Back panel artwork describes any artwork above the monitor area inside the enclave of the cabinet itself. Most machines do not have back panel artwork although they are common with certain companies most notably the early 1980’s dedicated cabinets of Universal. • Additional Title Specific Artwork Elements o Some game titles are so unique in their design they will have specific and specialized artwork elements just for that title. Some examples of these could be Left: Side art from Rally-X Right: Kick Plate Art to Super Pac-Man

24 additional lighted panels for cockpit games, floor artwork for environmental cabinets, custom cabinet toppers, and even artwork inserts for special controllers. Coin Door and Mechanisms Early arcade games starting in 1972 mostly had a single coin slot and single mechanism for accepting quarters for credits. Dual coin slots started becoming more commonplace by the mid 1970’s and would become the norm throughout the industry soon after. By the 1980’s the internal coin mechanism was standardized and could be easily switched out to accept tokens instead of quarters. Many mechanisms also included an electronic system to prevent “slugs” or other unacceptable currency from giving game credits. Internally coin doors will usually have two changeable coin mechanisms located inside the door along with lighted coin returns. Coin doors commonly house testing and volume switches for operators. There was an unsuccessful push throughout the vending industry during late 70’s to allow Susan B. Anthony dollar coins and some arcade game machines from this time might have slots for these coins. Inside the coin door opening a coin collecting bucket or tray for the coins themselves will also be housed. Some cabinets will have a separate lockable door for the coin bucket with others will have access to this money only though the single door which contains the mechanisms themselves. Some coin buckets will have additional locking abilities internally beyond the main external coin lock. Coin counters are also located in the coin door openings and work as the odometer of an arcade game to allow reporting on the number of times the game was played and if audits are needed to compare to money collected vs. money received (or to verify popularity). Coin doors were a common target for vandals and thievery for obvious reasons and the factory installed locks on most arcade coin doors are easily defeated through minimal efforts. Because of this security weakness many operators would install a lock bar style system for added security. The downside for collectors regarding lock bars is the installation of these devices often required additional drilling of holes in the front of the game cabinet. With game titles starting in the 2000’s dollar bill acceptors and magnetic card readers started to appear with more regularity. Classic arcade game titles on location in modern arcades or “barcades” are commonly modified to use these more updated means of payment. Some arcade manufactures had specific coin door designs or elements for their machines, but most manufactures outsourced the actual production of coin doors and mechanisms. Some unique design elements can include metal or embossed plates with the company logo or specific game title artwork. Gottlieb coin door from a cocktail Q*Bert

25 Monitors It would be tough to play a video game without the ability to see the action on the screen since it is the defining element for a video game to exist. The earliest arcade games used consumer grade televisions for monitors, but this quickly changed as the industry grew. Some games will use specific brands and types of monitors for correct functionality while other titles don’t have as specific requirements for proper functionality. • Raster CRT o A cathode-ray tube or more commonly known as a CRT monitor, uses a specially made vacuum tube for producing images via an electron beam striking the internal phosphorescent surface therefore creating an image on the screen. Raster style CRT monitors share much with the technology surrounding a standard television that graced households for most of the second half of the 20th century. Raster graphical elements are made up of a two-dimensional grid of colors from smaller cells or “pixels”. Many arcade games before 1979 used black and white raster monitors, sometimes using color gel overlays or mirrors to simulate color or more sophisticated images. Standard sizes installed in most games (measured horizontally) are 13, 19, and 25 inches but there are always exceptions. CRT monitors are no longer manufactured although parts for existing monitors are still mostly available. Due to the glass tube construction, the larger the monitor becomes the heavier it can be making sizes over 25 inches rather difficult to install in a standard arcade cabinet. o Left: Sega's Tac-San using vector graphics, and Right: Namco's Xevious using raster style graphics

26 • Vector CRT o Vector CRT monitors allow for a unique display experience and operates differently from more common raster style CRT monitors. Vector monitors first appeared as black and white arcade monitors in the mid 1970’s with color versions debuting in 1980 with the release of Atari’s Tempest. Vector displays create an image of straight drawn lines (coming from the center) instead of the normal grid of drawn pixels used in a traditional raster style monitor. This allowed vector-based games (for a time) to have somewhat smoother animations and more vivid contrast. This was especially true in the realm of early wire frame pseudo-3-D graphics. Vector monitors can be more difficult to maintain compared to raster monitors which possibly helped with their demise. By 1984 no new vector arcade games were being manufactured and today they are a particular favorite with many collectors thanks to their unique visual appeal. • Projection Style o Before the evolution of LED technology in display monitors, arcade game requiring larger player displays often used projection style monitors instead of traditional CRT style monitors. Projection monitors allow for large displays without the heft or bulk of CRT tubes becoming an issue. The downside to projection technology is the image could often appear washed out or suffer from blurring during faster action scenes in gameplay. Projection screens can also cause heavy screen burn into the physical screen easily causing permeant damage. An added challenge to collectors of games using projector screen style monitors is that parts for many of these monitors are no longer commonly available. • LED Monitor o LED and plasma style flat panel monitors gained popularity in the early 2000’s thanks to clear displays, low profile cases, and ease of installation. As the 21st century started moving forward most new arcade games came installed with LED style monitor displays and CRT production stopped worldwide around 2010. LED monitors are popular installations for multicades and as replacements for CRT monitors but offer several disadvantages for games that were originally intended to be used with CRT style monitors. These disadvantages include incorrect display ratios, incorrect refresh rates, overly contrasting picture, and poor viewing angles. Main PCB (Printed Circuit Board) The main PCB can be either single or multiple printed circuit boards that make up the computing logical functionality of the game. Usually located in the cabinet under the monitor, the main PCB can be considered to the “heart” or the “brain” of an arcade game. The main PCB is in essence the game hardware and program needed to play the game. Early PCBs contained no microprocessors, RAM, or ROM. The evolution of arcade game hardware evolved quickly with microprocessors starting to appear in the mid 1970’s. Many PCBs are unique and are not compatible with each other from game to game and utilize their own unique interior wiring harness inside the game cabinet. By the mid 1980’s thanks to the introduction of the JAMMA standard (JAMMA stands for Japan Amusement Machinery Manufacturers Association), the ability to easily change games without major modifications to the cabinets internally or externally became commonplace. Some PCBs use modular designs

27 allowing for daughter boards or cartridges for changing game titles easily. Other popular game titles have had modification kits made over the years to change the game into another title or give a PCB multigame capability with little intrusion or permanent modifications. It is important to handle PCBs with the utmost care since they are physically fragile and can be easily damaged from static fields. Storing unused PCBs in anti-static bags and away from dust and moisture is imperative. PCBs can also easily be damaged from incorrect voltage issues or from attempted repairs from unqualified individuals. Some games will have a secondary PCB specifically for audio or even speech capabilities while others have this built into the main PCB. Having a separate PCB for audio does have a few advantages when it comes to diagnosing issues around audio problems. Audio PCBs can be found both as stacked or connected directly to the main PCB or in a totally separate position inside the cabinet. Much like other PCB parings some audio PCBs will be game specific and not cross compatible with other titles. Some game titles may also utilize a dedicated and separate amplifier PCB or system for better audio quality or capability. Most pre-1985 arcade games will produce mono sound with stereo sound becoming more common by the 1990’s which saw separate amplifiers become more commonplace. Laserdiscs Laserdisc was a media format mostly used in early consumer video movie players from the late 1970’s though the 1990’s. Laserdisc offered a superior video and audio quality compared to videotape based systems of the time. A Laserdisc itself is a large 12-inch (normally) duel sided disc placed inside player using a laser to read the disc data. Physically a Laserdisc resembles a very large CD or DVD style disc, but unlike these formats Laserdiscs are not digital. Laserdiscs use an analog means of data storage and retrieval making them closer technologically to vinyl records than DVDs in certain ways. Laserdiscs offer the ability for quick instant access of specific sections of data which made them ideal for computing storage retrieval needs. The first Laserdisc based arcade video game was 1982’s Dragon’s Lair from Cinematronics. The game features impressive high quality cel based animation from well-known American animator Don Bluth. The game was a smash hit thanks to its unique and highly impressive audio and visual elements. The success of Dragon’s Lair created a lot of excitement in the arcade gaming industry and sent other companies in the industry scrambling to use Laserdisc technology in future titles. Despite the impressive visual images offered by Laserdisc based games, gameplay was often repetitive and uninteresting with many Laserdisc based games. Laserdisc players also Atari Liberator main PCB

28 proved to be unreliable for the heavy usage required from a commercial arcade video game. These factors along with the higher cost of the machines compared to more traditional arcade games frustrated operators causing a rather quick demise of the format for use in arcade machines. Although the industry excitement around this technology waned by 1984, Laserdisc based games would make a bit of a comeback in the 1990’s with a series of light gun games using live action footage mostly from the company American Laser Games. Wiring Harness The wiring harness is the internal wiring system of an arcade game which connects power, monitor, controllers, and the PCBs allowing for the game to function properly. Most pre 1983 arcade games use proprietary harness designs that are not commonly compatible with other games even within the same manufacture’s catalogue. Defects or damage to a wiring harness can cause a game to function erratically or not at all. Wiring harnesses can be a common target for vermin who might live in arcade game cabinets which have seen long term storage in warehouses. Power Supply and Power System The power system of an arcade game normally consists of a power brick, an isolation transformer, and an AC line filter. Correctly functioning arcade games rely on constant and correct power voltages supplied to the internal components. Many common arcade video game issues can be traced to failures in the power supply system or from incorrect voltages entering critical components. Many vintage arcade games power supply bricks can be replaced with a modern (and more reliable) switching style power supply. Although more adamant collectors will always desire complete originality, replacement power supplies tend not to affect the overall value of an arcade game with any measurable value. Typical standard switch power supply setup in an arcade game

29 Originality rarity Desirability and condition No matter which collecting genre you find yourself drawn to from Beenie Babies, classic guitars, or rare coins the declared value of any given item is normally determined around four main factors: condition, rarity, desirability, and originality. With classic arcade game collecting this can open an interesting debate over how much value we place on a title around these factors. Not every rare game is of interest to the vast majority of collectors. Seeking examples containing 100% originality in a hobby where the items manufactured where designed or public use and abuse can be close to impossible. When we factor in the additional means of modern reproduction of parts, true originality can become very blurry even to the long-term collector. While the prices in this guide do factor in all the mentioned items, using a grading system like other collectables is difficult since all four off these factors can sometimes merge with any give example of a game. Overall condition might be a bit easier to gain a base level understanding of but is not without its challenges as well when dealing with arcade games as collectables. Is a perfectly restored example worth as much as an all-original example that has not been restored? Why are some titles still so heavily desired while others seem to get little attention? And why do some rare games send collectors into ecstasy while other rare titles practically get ignored?

30 Originality Arcade videogame collectors today live with an almost embarrassment of riches when it comes to the availability of reproduction arcade game parts. Dedicated and skilled collectors have spent countless hours recreating everything from artwork for common titles to obscure accurate recreations of hard-to-find complex monitor parts. The availability to tools such as 3-D printers, CNC machines, and high-end large format printers have made parts recreation easier and more cost effective for arcade game collecting enthusiasts. As many of these machines now enter 30 to 50 years of age it’s a bit of a miracle that there are still so many unaltered or unrestored machines out there. A handful of very rare specimens are even still in pristine like new original condition. It is important to reiterate that these machines were originally purpose built as commercial grade machines. The overriding mission was to make money for arcade operators, game companies, and distributors while at the same time to take serious amounts of abuse over the years from patrons. Arcade games were often kicked, punched, broken into, carved, graffitied upon, slimed, and even pushed over. They were also subjected to water damage, poor maintenance, and sometimes neglect. For machines now entering their 4th or 5th decades of existence they often require a bit of help in the realm of new parts to keep functioning. Cabinet and Controllers Overall originality of a machine usually falls into several factors. First, is the cabinet itself the original and factory correct one. Is the cabinet still structurally sound, with its original elements intact, and are other original elements unaltered. Some cabinet damage or modifications to an arcade cabinet are more common than others. Worn paint around the upper cabinet where players might have placed an unused hand are frequently seen on games such as Pac-Man where a player only uses one hand to play. Drilled out holes around the coin door area are prevalent when operators had need to install additional locking bars for security. Often cabinets on location Left: Poor condition Ms. Pac-Man with painted over artwork and incorrect coin door Center: Average condition Ms. PacMan but a solid all original example Right: Restored example with reproduction side and front artwork

31 for longer periods of time than average could see more damage than most around the base of the game from either moving the game without care or water from mopping near the game every night. Back doors to cabinets often are missing but reproduction back doors never seem to be a huge negative to collector value except for extreme circumstances. Games whose cabinets were deemed too poor of a condition might find the internals transplanted to a donor cabinet. Original donor cabinets in good condition with minor wear and tear should not affect value greatly but reproduction cabinets with original material inside should be worth less than an original one. The long-term value of reproduction cabinets is unknown, but if other hobbies are to be used as a guide originality will always be more highly valued and desired. Water damage is a common foe to arcade game cabinets. The quality of wood used originally in arcade game cabinets can vary from manufacture to manufacture, but despite the differences in the kinds of woods used water can play havoc with all of them. Cabinets can sometimes require new bottoms to replace rotten ones, or even new tops if a game had been stored under a moist area. Some cabinets unfortunately will succumb to more widespread moisture issues resulting in a swelling of cabinet sides or even mold. Some extreme restoration efforts will cut off the damaged sections of a cabinet and recreate them, while other fully waterlogged cabinets may simply be unrestorable. Ideally the game artwork including side art, marquee, control panel, and bezel from a collector purity standpoint should be the original and factory manufactured kind. Despite this, artwork is probably the most replaced and reproduced of all classic arcade gaming parts in the modern context. Reproduction artwork can vary wildly in quality and its ability to properly match the A Q*Bert cocktail cabinet repaired due to water damage issues A water damaged Simpsons upright undergoes a dramatic restoration effort

32 original. Control panel overlays are commonly reproduced and replaced for games which lead a long life on location, as well as replacement buttons or controllers which may or may not match the original ones. If a cabinet was in a particular harsh location original side art may be in poor condition, painted over, or covered up by other means. It is under these types of conditions when restoration efforts might require new cabinet artwork if the old art is unreclaimable. Many of the original techniques or technologies in which original artwork was manufactured is either too complex or expensive for those who reproduce it today. Atari arcade games for example often used a heated mylar type process for its side art while other companies such as Williams and Midway would sometimes use elaborate stencils. Sometimes when collectors are attempting to restore a game which has been so heavily altered from its original status, they must resort to reproduction artwork. From a collecting standpoint originality is always best, but when this is not possible the hope is for as close to correct replacement artwork in terms of process, quality, materials, and application. Another important factor to consider is the controllers such as joysticks, paddles, wheels, or buttons the original type or have they been replaced with either poorly made reproductions or incorrect controllers. Games that use unique controllers or buttons are often under the mercy of reproduction parts if proper donors from other games cannot be located. Alternative controllers not originally designed for a game can affect both play dynamics for the player and the value of the game itself. CRT vs. LCD Monitors included inside most arcade games before 2005 will be of the cathode ray tube type or better known as a CRT monitor. The likelihood of any CRT monitor being 100% original is very small considering the common failure rate of certain parts with a monitor chassis. Many collectors go to great measures to repair and restore these original CRT monitors. CRT repairs or modifications to make them more reliable, or out of the need for repair, are not considered to be huge factors regarding value. On the contrary, often special CRT monitors such as the ones found in vector style arcade games require not just proper maintenance but have survived over the years thanks to more modern solutions to common failures in their original design. There can be a few critical failure points for CRT monitors. The first being that CRT style monitors simply are no longer manufactured so new replacements are practically Exposed 15-inch black and white CRT vector monitor inside the cabinet of an Atari Battlezone cabaret

33 impossible to all of those who don’t have access to a stockpile of new in box replacements hiding in a secret warehouse. Some critical parts for specific models of common arcade monitors are also no longer in production causing repairs of these models to be impossible. CRT monitors can often suffer from serious “burn-in” from long term image saturation and require a new tube from a donor commercial television. This can be a difficult repair beyond the skillset of the average collector and finding a correct model tube for a specific monitor can also be a challenging endeavor. The worst possible failure point with a CRT monitor can come from the fragility of the neck in the back of the tube which can be easily broken with mishandling. Much like an incandescent light bulb this type of breakage is impossible to repair and can be dangerous given the right circumstances. Often CRT monitors deemed non-repairable are replaced by modern LCD style monitors mostly for the sake of convenance. LCD monitors unfortunately due to their differences in how images are displayed compared to CRT style monitors will appear too contrasty or of the wrong aspect ratio. Games which originally contained a CRT style monitor and have been replaced with an LCD style monitor would be much less desirable to a collector. Many in the collecting community will consider the replacement of a CRT monitor for an LCD style monitor to be almost an unforgivable sin. Multigame Hacks Some original game PCBs can also sometimes be slightly modified by collectors for either reliability reasons or to allow multigame hacks within an original cabinet. These slight modifications are normally easy to reverse if a collector was of a purity mindset and in my viewpoint would not impact the value of a game in anyway. Many PCB modifications were needed almost from the outset of the game entering the marketplace due to issues not foreseen by the original manufacture after shipping certain game titles out. Some game titles are known as having a well-deserved reputation for a lack of reliability so these modifications can be paramount to keep them running consistently. Restoration vs. Keeping it Original Restored games, like any restoration of any collectable, can vary in not only the quality of the restoration but also the care in which the attempt was made to keep it as close to the recreation of the originality. Despite the huge talent and care in which reproduction parts are created by dedicated hobbyists, a game can only be original once. A restored arcade game of the highest order should still be considered a restored arcade game and all non-original or recreation parts should be noted. The original wear and tear of the average arcade game may seem endearing to some collectors and a blight to others. Arcade games still in their original dedicated machines which saw long term placement on location typically might have wear where patrons held the side of the machine while playing, cigarette burns around the control panel, graffiti, or even the occasional vintage piece of dried chewing gum on the top of the cabinet. For less lucky games the damage both internally and externally could be significant affecting the long-term existence or functionality of a game. So, what designates a restoration vs. a repair for a classic arcade game. Small repairs on a cabinet level or mechanical standpoint might not be restoration per se. Small repairs can often consist of things like rebuilding controllers, monitor maintenance, coin door repainting, replacing the bottom of the cabinet, repairing the power supply, or PCB repairs. These repairs would not

34 change the overall structure or attempt to remodify a cabinet back to an original form and overall would have little effect on collectors seeking a mostly original game. It is important to note here that having a 30–50-year-old vintage arcade game as 100% original is probably an impossible task. Electronic components do not last and even many high condition original cabinet games have probably had at least some minor repair work done over the years. Sometimes larger structural or mechanical repairs are needed for a game in need. While this itself might not constitute a classification of restoration, there is a bit of a grey area with certain major cabinet repairs. Repairs dealing with water damage or heavy abuse could be considered as restored games. The nuance of this term depends greatly on the restorer and the collector. Some games unfortunately due to the rough lives they may have led, will require a full top to bottom restoration to continue to exist or be presentable. This can also include games which have been converted into other titles over the years and a collector attempting to “reconvert” the game back to its original form. Many rare and unsuccessful arcade game titles were quickly converted by operators to other game titles, which often meant destroying dedicated cabinet elements. Restoration efforts can be dramatic in their dedication to property restoring these machines back to their factory like new appearances. For most games classified as being restored, this normally means major cabinet reworkings or repairs, new artwork, replacement laminate, rebuilt internal components, and even all new wiring harnesses. A restored game cabinet should still maintain most of its original cabinet or have many of its original (or correct) components to be considered an original yet restored arcade game. Games with reproduction cabinets are not considered to be original games but recreations and should be valued appropriately. If other major components such as main PCBs are reproductions and not original items, this also should be noted and considered with any value. A Sega Space Harrier Sit-Down before and after a full restoration

35 Matching Numbers One of the more extreme demands for pure originality is the newer trend of listing arcade games for sale which include “matching numbers”. This concept has roots in the classic car collecting community to describe an engine, transmission, and chassis of a car are still the same matching serial numbers that the car was grouped with originally when it was manufactured. Many (but not all) arcade game companies included matching serial number decals, plates or labels attached to the physical cabinet, PCBs, and even the monitor chassis. It is unclear currently how much a matching numbers game would influence its overall value. For some collectors this could be viewed as a vetting process for true originality or might signify a machine with a higher overall condition compared to the average machine. The rarity of a numbers matching dedicated arcade games is unknown and could be more common on some titles rather than others. Common titles which used serial number id labels on internal parts often were subjected to part swaps from other games when operators could not repair the original parts economically anymore. My personal Atari Tempest has a different serial number label attached to every major interior component compared to the one on the cabinet itself, a true Frankenstein machine if there ever was one. Other titles which were more successful in the realms of overall reliability might have a better overall average of maintaining their original parts and pieces over the years. It is unclear how much this concept of machine matching numbers might influence pricing in the future. Rarity and Desirability Many of the more popular arcade titles during the golden age of arcade games (1978- 1984) were manufactured in large quantities. It is sometimes hard to accurately describe to younger generations of collectors who were not alive during the “arcade glory days” just how commonplace arcade game machines were in many public places. Some well-known titles such as Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong, and Centipede were produced in numbers well over 40,000 or even 75,000 units for the US market. Other titles however were not as abundant even from major manufactures. Large established companies such as Atari, Midway or Williams Electronics made several titles which had production runs of less than 500 units. On the surface we could logically conclude production is directly tied into the popularity of a specific title or the success that title had at making a profit for the operator buying the game. This might be true for most of the more heavily manufactured game titles but there are exceptions to this. This Thomas Automatics (TAI) countertop is a very rare item, but not very valuable or heavily sought after by collectors

36 First, we must understand that despite the dominance of several major companies in the arcade game marketplace during the classic era, there were also many smaller companies attempting to break into the industry. There were also a few mid-range sized companies that perhaps had one or two decent selling titles but never had a huge success of a title like Pac-Man or an Asteroids. Despite the struggles of these smaller companies, they would on occasion break through with a hit game and able to ramp up production to fit the desire for these titles. Two good examples of this are Cinematronic’s Dragon’s Lair and Exidy’s Venture. Unsuccessful arcade titles, or those games which never made substantial profits for an operator during its original life, or games that slowly stopped making enough money to justify their floorspace in any give location often met several possible fates. Many arcade game cabinets were converted using conversion kits which became the dominate industry focus starting in the mid 1980’s. Many of the original components of the game (artwork, PCBs, and control panels normally) were replaced to transform the game into a “new” and hopefully more profitable title. Sometimes operators would keep the original parts often to be discovered by collectors in later years hoping to restore titles to their original factor. Another common fate was a game was essentially “parked” in a warehouse until it was resold to either another operator (often for duty in lesser locations such as laundromats, state fairs, or free-play party rooms) or to a homeowner for their game room. Unsold games stuck in a long-term storage warehouse could unfortunately be subjected to the savages of time in the way of moisture, pests, extreme heat, fires, or just plain neglect. One final fate for games which failed to offer long term profits for operators is perhaps the most heartbreaking for those of us who collect them, they were simply thrown away. While it might be fair to say somewhere there is a collector looking for any given arcade game title no matter how obscure or rare, when we consider the factors around rarity and desirability it still boils down to supply vs. demand. Atari’s 1982 Liberator saw fewer than 800 units manufactured, and we could estimate that perhaps less than 100-150 Liberator machines still exist at best in their original (or close to) condition. While Liberator is desired by some collectors, it does not have the widespread appeal of, say Bally-Midway’s Tapper released around the same time. Working examples of Tapper not only on average sell for slightly more on average than Liberator but was manufactured in much greater numbers. Tapper was also a very successful arcade game, much more successful than Liberator so we can also assume a much greater percentage of units survived over the years in an unaltered condition. Although Atari's Star Wars had a healthy production run, it can still command high prices from collectors

37 One last note about rarity is that some titles made before 1978 can be very hard to find compared to post 1978 titles. Some of this is due to the lower on average production of arcade games before the release of Taito’s 1978 Space Invaders. However, many of these bronze age (1972-1978) games used unique cabinets, controllers, and had black and white monitors which made them difficult or impossible to convert to newer games once conversion kits became commonplace in the industry. When collecting of arcade video games first started becoming a hobby, it also appears many of these bronze age titles were not preferred by collectors sealing the fate for many of them from operators without a profitable way to get rid of them after their quarter earning days were long behind them. Even today the collecting of bronze age arcade games is a somewhat niche collectable in a hobby which itself is rather niche already. Unfortunately, some bronze age titles have been lost to the savages of time or are at best extremely rare today in fully operational condition. This extreme rarity can cause value to be difficult to pinpoint accurately with some titles since these games change hands so infrequently or in non-public manners between private collectors. Condition The last factor affecting game value is the one surrounding overall condition, or the grading of condition. This guide does not use a traditional grading scale as used in many other collectable communities. Much of the decision around this was due to the nuance of originality vs. restoration as discussed in this article. These games were intended to be commercial use machines and were often modified and changed over the years due to the various reasons previously stated. No official or standardized grading system has come to bear into the hobby possibly due to the large amount of nuance that is possible when discussing originality of a game. Although I think that some sort of grading system like those used for comic books, coins, or even classic cars could be implemented in the arcade video game hobby, such a system does not currently exist for this hobby and would be very difficult to universally implement. Highly original arcade games in excellent overall condition will always command more money than the average condition game. Games with major defects or which are made up mostly from reproduction parts will commonly be seen as somewhat less desirable just like any collectable. Since many collectors still use and enjoy these games as functional objects, they are unlike other collectables that tend to get sealed up in protective packaging so that cannot be handled. Although additional wear and tear with a game in a collection is possible, it is unlikely to see any sort of major deterioration in a private collection. That is not to say games kept out of the hands of players don’t exist, as some major public collections do indeed have rare and valuable games behind glass cases, but this is a rare and uncommon situation. Games of average working order in mostly original condition free of major defects or modifications should be the baseline consideration for the price guide in this book. Game cabinets should be free of water damage, structurally sounds, and clean inside and out. Artwork should be mostly original but if reproduction artwork was used, that art should be of similar quality and of the same type of process (stenciled cabinet artwork should be re-stenciled correctly for example). The game PCB should be original and not a reproduction, although repaired PCBs or PCBs with modern add-ons to make them more reliable should not be considered as a negative. Monitors should be of the original type and in good working order. The game should include original controllers of the correct type and buttons of the correct color. And at last the game should function and play correctly and have the ability to operate for an average amount of time without mechanical failures.

38 Multicades Reproductions and custom builds Multicades Chat with classic arcade game collectors for long enough, you will find the subject surrounding multicades as one of the more controversial in the hobby. Multicade is a catch all term designating an arcade video game or arcade game playing device which allows multiple arcade game titles to be played in a traditional arcade game cabinet, computer setup, or on a home television. Multicades are often manufactured as a single JAMMA compatible pinout PCB allowing the user to play multiple game titles inside a properly JAMMA wired cabinet or device. Some multicade PCBs will play only a handful of games while others can play thousands of titles. Multicades are plentiful in both officially licensed variations and in less official ones from a variety of sources. The appeal of a multicade is understandable for anyone who has either a serious or passing desire to tip their toe into video game arcade nostalgia. Most of these devices or PCBs will run via an emulation program making the 100% authentic nature of how the game plays if compared to the original hardware sometimes different. These changes can be due to frame rate drawing of objects, differences in the original hardware design and the emulated hardware design, and even programming hackery. Most organizations that sponsor classic arcade gaming contests or events will not allow emulated games found from multigame devices due to these differences. Other multigame PCBs will be more specific in their PCB pinout compatibility. Products such as the excellent JROK series of multicade PCBs or the BitKit are intended to operate on modernly designed yet compatible to the original hardware designs for a more authentic experience.

39 The multicade concept can be traced back to early grey market and bootleg PCBs from the early 1980s in the USA. Unlicensed and illegal copied PCBs were made available from unofficial game distributors as a cheap alternative to authentic products. Often these game PCBs would run on cheaper and modified hardware causing gameplay differences which normally resulted in a less than desirable experience for the player. The other advantage of these inexpensive PCBs was the design around a modular hardware concept mostly based on Zilog Z80 processor technology. Many of these early bootleg products could easily be switched to other titles or multiple titles with a few changed ROM chips or a daughter card. With the standardization of certain hardware design platforms, some companies started offering official modular hardware arcade PCBs capable of quickly changing game titles. Thanks to these modular concepts, we start seeing an evolution to early attempts of multigame systems such as TAI’s Ten Spot or the more successful Playchoice from Nintendo. That isn’t to say the ideas around multigame systems started here as many Pongtype arcade games in the mid 1970’s offered game variations and play options to patrons. Much of the public and collector interest in multigame systems can be traced back the computer program known as MAME first released in 1996. MAME is an acronym for Multisystem Arcade Machine Emulator. MAME was a project originally conserved of by Italian programmer Nicola Salmoria. Originally meant to be a preservation project for Pac-Man themed arcade game titles, more game title and system support soon followed. MAME became very popular almost immediately after its initial release and today is Thomas Automatic's Ten Spot was an early multigame arcade system A rather poorly constructed multicade machine made from an Atari Battlezone

40 supported by a large community of vintage gaming enthusiasts and developers. PC based MAME systems soon found themselves inside vintage arcade cabinets as the draw of being able to play multitudes of different games from different home and arcade systems in one unit had a wide appeal with players. Despite the importance of preserving gaming titles (which the MAME movement has greatly helped with), the legality of many of these products is legally dubious. Most multigame hacks or PCBs are produced without the permission or license of the original copyright owners which may or may not still be under legal protections. The early excitement over MAME and the movements to convert older arcade cabinets into MAME machines also saw an unfortunate purge of desirable classic arcade game parts and unique cabinets forever modified from their original form factor. Multicade arcade games are commonly sold for both commercial usage and home usage complete in an arcade cabinet. Sometimes these games are sold inside all new cabinet work and other times they come inside a converted classic arcade game cabinet. The quality of the build of these games can be vast, yet they are very popular with both the collecting and non-collecting community. Despite the amount of work many people can put into making very elaborate multigame cabinets, the value of these games from a collector standpoint is mostly down to the value of the parts used. Most multicade PCBs based around the JAMMA standard are relatively inexpensive and vary greatly in quality. Any collectability over multigame cabinets is also questionable to those interested in a more authentic arcade game collecting experience. Multigame Kits on Original Hardware An alternative to multigame PCBs is the growing number of multigame kits that install into original vintage arcade game hardware. Using the original hardware, these kits often consist of additional ROM boards or small workarounds with daughterboard PCBs to play multiple games on one PCB. Since several the hardware designs in classic arcade video games didn’t dramatically change game to game from a manufacture this is possible within certain game titles that share some design similarities. The skill level required to install these kits can vary depending on the complexity of the original hardware design and the design of the kit. Most of these kits allow for a minimal amount of modification to the original hardware or controllers and can be reversed if desired later. This ability of a non-permanent modification is a huge benefit to those collectors focused on preservation and originality. It is also of benefit for unique games that have PCBs or hardware that are more unreliable than average since often these modification kits allow for newer and better than original components in terms of consistent reliability. Multigame Switchers Thanks to the widespread usage of the universal arcade PCB compatibility standard known as JAMMA multigame switchers are another popular add-on into an arcade game cabinet for collectors. These multigame switchers allow for multiple game PCBs to reside inside a single cabinet. Game titles are selected by the player by a button or external switch of some kind sending a command to the PCB switcher to turn off one arcade PCB and change to another. Having a multigame switcher allows one cabinet to not just house multiple game titles, but to house multiple authentic vintage game PCBs in a convenient manner.

41 Most multigame switchers use the JAMMA wiring standard and can offer anywhere from 2 to 8 PCB slot selections depending on the model. Many nonJAMMA game PCBs can use specific JAMMA adapters to make them JAMMA compatible with little fuss. The only downside to these switchers can be possible compatibility issues with certain game PCBs over sync signals, unique control configuration needs, or voltage concerns. Custom builds, Tribute cabinets, and Reproductions Custom built cabinets are on the rise within the arcade game collecting hobby. While the quality of such builds can vary from build to build, there have been some amazing leaps forward in this area of arcade game collecting thanks to both the availability of tools and the skillsets of some collectors. These games can run the gambit from recreations of rare (or next to impossible) to find games, recreations of prototype games, recreations of games never officially put into production, or collector custom built “fantasy” or “tribute” games which can run a gambit of concepts as well as results. Some of these custom builds will contain original and often, highly sought-after parts from other game titles or versions of that title. We cannot discount the time or money it takes for any custom build to come to life. Dedicated hobbyists can spend years and thousands of dollars to bring such projects into existence and can often be a source of great pride to the builder. While it is unquestioned that these games have value both from a collecting and monetary position, it is next to impossible to grade such a value on a generic scale for a guide such as this one considering that each custom-built game is essentially a one-of-akind item. Multigame switcher set up inside a Nintendo Unisystem VS cabinet A custom-made Atari Liberator cabaret tribute cabinet

42 Recreation cabinets which are purpose built more for specific reproduction needs are also on the rise for both rare and common arcade game titles. The introduction of CNC wood manufacturing machinery at a consumer price point along with advances in technologies such as 3-D printing allow a wide variety of possibilities for collectors who might have a need to replace a damaged original cabinet (that could be beyond repairing), or the ability to recreate a very close replica of a hard to find dedicated or unique arcade game. Rarity of a game title does not specifically dominate the current reproduction cabinet market surprisingly as the most reproduced cabinets in the hobby tend to be some of the most produced titles originally (Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong). Recreation cabinets no matter how high of a quality should not be considered as original items and should be valued accordingly. Prices in this guide assume the cabinet is the original factory one for dedicated arcade game machines. I come to praise the multicade not to bury it! Despite some possible arcade game collector distain for multicades or reproduction cabinets from purists in the hobby, I feel they serve an important purpose. Multicades allow for an entry point for casual retro gaming for audiences who simply wish to enjoy the game itself. Programs such as MAME have helped preserved games that might have otherwise been lost to time while reproduction cabinets for arcade games can help recreate highly damaged cabinets or lost prototypes back to life. Multigame switchers and multigame kits can allow those collectors with limited space for arcade game cabinets a wider variety of games. Multicades and reproduction cabinets have an important role to play in this hobby but also collectors need to be aware of the authentic nature of any classic arcade game they are buying.

43 The Rising Cost of Collecting Arcade Games So… When the Heck Did These Things Get So Expensive? If you, like me, spend a good amount of time on the various arcade game collecting internet forums or Facebook collector type groups one topic seems to come up often from the mouths of long-time arcade game collectors; arcade games aren’t as cheap to collect anymore. Prices for classic games have been on the rise over the last few years, sometimes so dramatically that many game titles are now out of reach for the average collector. While this blanket statement could be applied to any number of things (the housing market, the cost of groceries, etc.) there are more than several logical reasons why “The Good Old Days” of mostly cheap and abundant arcade games from say, 10 or more years ago aren’t likely to ever return. Now for me personally as a collector of arcade games over the last 25 years I can indeed verify that at one time you could walk into a vending equipment auction with a few hundred bucks in your pocket and walk out with a few choice games. I remember one particular auction in the late 1990’s when I bought a beautiful dead mint condition Atari Dig Dug upright and Nintendo Popeye upright for under 300 bucks together. So why is it as we creep into the 21st century has there been a seemly astronomical rise in prices for classic arcade games? The reasons are multifaceted but at times mostly logical to not just collecting arcade games but for most hobbies, so let’s break them down one by one. Nostalgia Isn’t Cheap Timeline wise classic arcade games might now be at a “zenith point” for maximum nostalgia within the public mindset. The original release date for most popular titles collectors

44 seek out were originally released between the late 1970’s through mid 90’s. Take a popular game title with collectors such as Atari’s Tempest which is now over 40 years old or Midway’s Mortal Kombat which is over 30, or even say a bronze age classic such as Pong which is now creeping up to 50 years old. Time has a way of catching up to us in a context that can be both fascinating and frighting. 2050 is now a closer reality for us than the year 1990. Any collectable has a certain “timeline” of being not old enough to be interesting to collectors (which results in cheaper prices for those who collect early), and old enough to be considered collectable by the masses which tends to result in those items being more sought after with higher price tags in tow. So now that we have established that both we and the games we love are getting older, what the heck does that have to do with the price of Space Invaders? Well for one, every year there are fewer and fewer classic arcade games available. This fact is a hard one to wrap your head and heart around if you love these games as much as I do, but sadly these classic games continue and will continue to dwindle in numbers. Events such as fires, termites, water damage, poor repairs, or games that have been carelessly modified beyond their original state are factors that are and will continue to dwindle the number of games in the hobby (more on this in a bit). A second factor is as any collectable gets older (due to the previous stated reasons and others) they tend to get more expensive. More people might join the hobby (more on that as well below), more collectors might hang onto games longer preventing rarer items from seeing the marketplace, the hobby might see more “investor” like collectors who drive up prices, and all these factors can create a speculator market that has infected many other hobbies in the past. The biggest factor perhaps is that people will always pay for nostalgia if they can afford it. Nostalgia makes us feel great, young, and brings us happiness. There is even research that shows leaning into nostalgia can make you healthier.1 Desire for nostalgia goes up, and prices for those items as collectables rise accordingly. It is also interesting to note how vintage home video 1 Neal, B. (2019). A New Study Reveals Why You Get Nostalgic — And It's Not Because You're Feeling Warm & Fuzzy. Bustle. Bustle.com.

45 game system collectable prices have skyrocketed beyond those of arcade game collectors recently. A sealed copy of the very first run of Nintendo’s NES version of Super Mario Bros. sold for 2 million dollars in 2021. 2 Games Are Getting Harder to Find in Original Condition Arcade games were originally purchased by game operators with one goal, to have the game make money for them and hopefully eventually turn a decent profit. Once the quarters stopped coming in consistently for any game title, the future of that original game was in question. Many original cabinets would be “converted” using game conversion kits to turn an original arcade game into a new game title sacrificing things like the original art or unique parts during that transformation. For some rarer arcade game titles that were perhaps never huge hits to being with, original unaltered machines were already a tall order to find before the hobby started growing in popularity. Not all games were converted neatly, with care, or well, and poorly done conversions can make it more difficult for dedicated collectors to restore the game back using original parts or pieces. Obviously the rarer the title, the even more difficult it can become to find specific and unique original pieces for a game. Some collectors can wait years for just the right specific part for more obscure titles if they can ever find them at all. Some parts despite the best efforts of preservationist are not reproduceable at all unless you happen to own a time machine. Items such as CRT monitors (despite the creativity of some collectors with techniques like “tube swaps”), certain PCB components, or unique custom-made items likely haven’t been manufactured in many years. Some complete games are presumed missing completely with unknown fates or futures. Whatever stockpile of hidden parts in some backstock of rarer out of production items 2 Lyons, K. (August 7, 2021). Unopened Copy of Super Mario Bros. Sells for a Record $2 Million. The Verge. Theverge.com. Vox Media. https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/7/22614450/unopened-copy-super-mario-bros-sells2-million-record

46 are getting lean today, leaving many collectors using non-original parts or needing to get creative around reproduction to keep their machines up and running and looking good. I think it would also be unfair of me towards arcade collecting fanbase not to mention the countless original machines over the years which have been ruined by poor restorations, repurposing cabinets for other reasons, terrible conversions to multi-game systems with little regard for the game’s original state, and simple neglect. This practice of hacking up restorable or savable rare titles into cheap multigame systems still goes on today, which ruins unique and interesting games forever. All these factors make original unaltered games harder to find, and worth more money in the eyes of collectors as the years go by. Still from the Film Adventureland, Miramax Films 2009 3 There is Indeed a Limited Supply of Classic Arcade Games Any reader of my blog or watcher of my You Tube channel knows of my affinity for Atari’s ill-fated game Liberator. Despite Atari’s dominance in the arcade game marketplace in the early 1980’s they would only manufacture 762 Liberator arcade games. Liberator was a flop in the arcades, so it is logical to think many original cabinets were converted or trashed by operators. So that begs the question how many Liberators are left in their original condition? So, with that jumping off point how many of any title are left out there? Some games such as William’s Defender or Bally-Midway’s Ms. Pac-Man had huge production runs and are today more common to find by collectors. Some game titles also had much longer successes timewise in arcades which seemed to assure more of them would retain a better survivor rate. The question remains however how many of any title are left in the world? How many of those are still mostly original or in good working condition? They aren’t making any more of anything that existed in the past so there are only so many survivors to go around in any hobby or collecting market. 3 Mottola, Greg, Sidney Kimmel, Anne Carey, Ted Hope, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Margarita Levieva, and Ryan Reynolds. (2009) Adventureland. Burbank, Calif: Miramax Films.

47 Generation X and Y Now Have Disposable Incomes Let’s also briefly touch on the economics of those who are buying arcade games currently. I am a member of the generation considered to be “Generation X”, born between 1965-1979. With this timeline in play, you can see I was indeed of the generation that was raised on the first wave of classic video games both in arcades and at home with my trusty Atari 2600. Despite the huge current wealth inequality currently within the United States (for reasons I will not be getting into with this article) some Gen X and Y folks who are right in that hot spot of nostalgia from their childhood now have disposable income to blow on fun stuff from their childhood. Generation X also has been for many reasons able to rebound economically after the housing crash of 2007, leading to having more disposable income. 4 I know many people from my age group who collect toys or other collectables form their childhood paying unseemly amounts of money for the pleasure of doing so. I personally have purchased several rather expensive games over the last few years that in previous years I would have never dreamed to do so. Added to this many Gen X families who had kids, are in the timeframe of those kids moving out to start their own lives in families. This leads to more space in the house for things like game rooms or collectables, and yes, more money to spend on such things. A midlife crisis might have once meant Dad running out and buying a Corvette, but now maybe it’s buying a cherry Battlezone arcade machine. Young adults or 20-30 somethings also have little qualms about spending money on things such as pop culture collectables or vintage items for pure enjoyment or nostalgic value. I can’t imagine my father spending large amounts of money on a toy from his childhood where today it is commonplace to see a vintage toy from someone’s childhood on a workplace desk or even behind a fancy glass case in their home. The Rise of the Barcade The popularity of retro arcades and “Barcades” over the last five to ten years is yet an additional factor in the rising cost of classic arcade games for collectors. It seems every hip side of any city is home to at least one of such business endeavors. Vintage arcade games of decent and working condition are the life blood of the concept of a retro arcade bar, and many owners of such establishments are willing to pay a bit more for solid working examples of popular games. Other larger establishments are highly networked in the collecting community to seek out very rare or unusual titles, often purchasing them from private collections that haven’t seen the light of day for many years. Some owners will also “horde” multiple copies of games in order to make sure they have both a back stock of parts, and additional games to use while others are in repair since keeping a 30–50-year-old arcade game working properly in a commercial setting can be more than a slight challenge. Whenever a private collector starts competing in a marketplace with business owners the prices of those items are going to rise. The Popularity of Licensed Multigame Cabinets 4 Fry, R. (July 23, 2018). Gen X Rebounds as the Only Generation to Recover the Wealth Lost After the Housing Crash. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/07/23/gen-x-rebounds-as-the-onlygeneration-to-recover-the-wealth-lost-after-the-housing-crash/

48 Chances are you could get in your car right now and drive down to your favorite big box style mega store and pick up some sort of officially licensed retro arcade game reproduction. Although these licensed arcade game replicas tend to be somewhat looked down upon by classic arcade game collectors, they are bringing newcomer interest into the hobby. It probably isn’t a large leap to spend 500 dollars on an Arcade1Up cabinet replica of say, Pac-Man to then turn around and spend around 1000 dollars if someone thirst for the “real thing”. There isn’t any real hard data on if these replica cabinets are helping drive up the prices on authentic vintage games, but anytime you have more focus on a hobby of any kind from outside sources prices are likely to rise. Recently the market for vintage comic books has risen dramatically thanks to the popularity of superhero films over the last decade.5 When I first started collecting many years ago, arcade games as a hobby seemed like a very small somewhat “secret society” of collectors. Today with the wide scope of retro gaming all over different platforms, media representation, and reissuing of vintage games in many formats, classic gaming has perhaps never been more in the public spotlight. The rise of advances in reproduction of original cabinets thanks to tools such as CNC machines, advanced inkjet printers, and 3-D printers has been both a help and a hinderance to the hobby in some ways. There are indeed many individuals with the talent and drive to create amazing reproduction items of superior quality to help these games survive for generations. Like many collectors I have several vendors I rely on for their top-quality work. There is also an unfortunate side to reproduction not only with those to provide a less than quality product, but those who would pass off such reproductions as a legit or original machine to a less than knowledgeable collector. Many reproduction cabinets I have seen sell for comparable cost to original games, and usually have little of the original charm or possible future value. While I personally have no beef with those who recreate rare or custom arcade game cabinets (I have 5 Lewis, A. (May2, 2012). ‘Avengers’ Movie Hype Drives Record Prices for Vintage Comics. The Hollywood Reporter. PMC Media.

49 made a few myself I am proud of), I do have issue with those who pass them off as something they are not to unsuspecting collectors. The Hobby is Maturing, and that is a Good Thing In any hobby there are always going to be a small number of very serious collectors. These higher end collectors tend to drive up the sale value of those high-end items that any hobby has deemed (for whatever reason) to be the most valuable. Uncomfortably for many of us, what this relates to with collecting is that there are certain titles and games that will just become out of our reach as the hobby continues to grow and the games get older. I personally long for a Computer Space, in my collection but I also enjoy paying my mortgage and car note each month. Many of these serious collectors also tend to hold onto their games much longer than the average collector and may not be as in touch with the collector networks to make themselves widely known. I personally know of two high end collectors who have shunned the collector fandom of the arcade collecting hobby for decades and have collections that would make most collectors green with envy. The hobby also has a bit of a cache now, thanks to media representations and the growing interest in classic arcade games. The more exposure any hobby or pop culture item gets, the more people from outside that hobby will become interested and invested into it. Large pop culture books or films such as Ready Player One can only feed into building this cache and adding to a upswing in prices as demand increases. Conclusion Although many collectors have commented to me their desires for a market crash of prices to scoop up cheaper arcade games into their collections, I don’t see a huge likelihood of this ever happening. High grade original machines will continue to rise in value and become more difficult to locate. Although the occasional bargain or discovery of a rare game will still be had, these events will become rarer as time goes on. I feel like I should end this article with the cavate that I often place with the collecting hobby in general, no matter what you happen to collect. Collect what you love and do it for the love of the hobby. Collecting anything for an attempt to invest is often a risky endeavor and tends to quickly erode one’s love for any passion rather quickly. I may never get my much-desired original Computer Space, but I will also never allow market speculation or value paranoia to destroy my love for the hobby of collecting arcade games. I remember many years ago reading a post by a collector that stated something to this extent; “I would rather talk to a collector with just 2 or 3 games who really loved them, than to someone with a large collection who was only concerned with their value or condition”. Wise advice for sure, happy hunting.

50 GUIDE TO Donkey Kong Style cabinets and their variations Introduction Collectors of arcade games love Donkey Kong, and why not? Not only is it one of the alltime classic arcade games but would become the cornerstone of the empire known as Nintendo. Donkey Kong is like the film Steamboat Willy is to Disney, or the Model T is to Ford, or maybe cocaine is to Studio 54. Nintendo made a lot of Donkey Kong machines, by most accounts around 75,000 - 80,000 upright machines for the US market alone. For arcade collectors it might be hard to imagine a Donkey Kong machine in their minds without thinking of the baby blue color of the cabinet itself. Originally however, the first two runs of these well-known cabinets left the factory with a red laminate and not the classic baby blue. Opinions seem to be mixed, but out of the about 80,000 (Maybe more even, some guess the estimate to be over 100,000) Donkey Kong uprights manufactured, an estimated 1,500 to 2,500 are thought to have left the factory as red cabinets (That would be around 2 - 3% of all manufactured were red if you prefer percentages). And like any variation in any collectable these are highly sought after by collectors, perhaps multiplied by the historical importance of the debut of a very well know videogame plumber in Donkey Kong. It can be confusing to sniff out a legit red cabinet from a false one. My hope is this guide will help end the confusion and entertain those people (like myself) who love odd arcade trivia. So, let's all dive deep into the banana barrel and get started.

51 In the Beginning… In the late 1970’s Nintendo was struggling to get a piece of the red-hot arcade video game market in the United States and elsewhere. Legendary game developer Shigeru Miyamoto would be part of the team that would introduce the world to a game Nintendo hoped would be a huge success, that game would be Radar Scope. Radar Scope is a space shooter very similar to many other such games that would be released in the aftermath of the popularity of Taito’s Space Invaders. Despite the attempt at an early 3-D like playfield the game was a huge commercial failure for Nintendo. This was not so much due to a lack of popularity in Nintendo's native Japan (Where is did well in the marketplace), but it's bet that the game would do well in North America. Radar Scope’s clunky gameplay and annoying sound effects didn’t help the situation. The video game market was at the time already flooded worldwide with countless Space Invader type games by 1979-1980, and Radar Scope simply didn’t click with most gamers outside of Japan. Only around 800-1,000 of the 3,000 estimated units manufactured and shipped to the USA from Japan sold, living Nintendo in a rather tough spot financially. As Nintendo scrambled to resolve this misstep that was turning into a financial crisis, a plan was created to help reconfigure unsold Radar Scope games made with a blaze red laminated wood. Nintendo would reconfigure Radar Scope printed circuit boards (PCBs) into a new game which would be called Donkey Kong (A long and interesting development story that we won’t be covering here). Unsold Radar Scope cabinets would simply be reused and sold as Donkey Kong, the game which would become the foundation for Nintendo’s modern fortunes. The success of Donkey Kong extended well beyond the left-over run unsold red colored cabinets, and newer cabinets would eventually be made in the more commonly known light blue laminated color to Some red cabinets (From Left to Right: Heli Fire, Radar Scope, and Donkey Kong)