davyK wrote:

Aye...attract screens are a lost art.  And the way Atari built a tutorial into the first couple of levels was very clever.

Gauntlet 2's first level was a work of genius. A short turorial stage that let the player choose between a fixed sequence of 5 levels or drop right into the randomised dungeon.

https://www.libertygames.co.uk/images/1/products/737_star-wars-cockpit.jpg

@davyK you show off!

That's an old pic above - before it was moved to the hall. 

I got to pick the t-molding. That's "Discs of Tron Blue" apparantly.

You can see bumps on the control panel where the new vinyl is crinkled but it's in really nice condition apart from that.

I love the Atari cone shaped "volcano" buttons. For 1 player / 2 player game start. A real Atari trademark of that classic era. The leds in them still work.

A deluxe cabinet in visible the rec room set of "The Thing".   However the original Asteroids is probably truly iconic - but - Deluxe is a better game.

Warlords cocktail.

and this....

Darius sit down version!!  Complete with headphone sockets. The new Darius Chronicles cabinets are fucking amazing looking. Worth checking out.

My list is inevitably dominated by the cabinets we actually had in the local arcade I frequented as a child.  Still, here goes:

Star Wars (sit down cabinet) - Obviously.  I will still immediately run to play this if I see it in an arcade somewhere.

Gauntlet - Hours were spent playing this with my brothers when I was a kid. (They would invariably fight over which character they would be.  I was always Valkyrie, which they didn't want because "she's a girl".)

Robotron: 2084 - The only one on this list my local arcade didn't have.  I became obsessed with it on holiday once (they had a cabinet in the dodgy hostel we were staying in) and like the Star Wars cabinet will always make a bee-line for it if I see it these days.  The original and best. (OK there were other twin stick shooters before it, but this was the first good one...)

Xenophobe -  Slightly obscure, but perfect for 3 brothers who fought a lot. 3 joysticks, and a 3 way horizontal split screen - so we didn't have to stick together if we didn't want to.  (There was also an element of friendly fire with some weapons which added to the potential for us to antagonise each other...)

Out Run - Every bit as obvious choice as Star Wars.  Again my brothers and I would fight over who got to go next, my elder brother insisting that it was indistinguishable from driving a real care.  (Something he'd never actually done at that point.) It was the fantasy as much as the game that sold it to us, I think, as we were all pretty terrible at it.

How could I have forgotten Xybots... Best in 2 player as usual.

And Propcycle.

I mean, look at this fucking thing...Pilotwings with pedal power. Apparantly there's even a fan to blow in your face.

You are dropping some absolute bangers here davyk!

drumbeg wrote:

You are dropping some absolute bangers here davyk!

Aye. The arcade left its mark on me. I was 14 in 1980 and I've never really got over it. The arcade style is still my preferred type of game.

Looking at these pics I can remember the noise of an arcade - that cacophony of competing machines. Nothing quite like it.

There's a SUPER NES Mario Kart feel to it. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it didn't influence.  Has a cast of characters and short twisting tracks raced over multiple laps - though Power Drift has hills which defeats old Mode 7. Really fast too.  

Just found some nice footage. It got a good Saturn port but it costs a packet.

The Saturn version comes close apparantly.  There's a Dreamcast port too as part of the Suzuka Works compilation but that's probably even more expensive than the saturn port. 

Robotron was in the mix for my decision. As was Tempest.  I wanted a game that would last - be timeless. Robotron fits the bill all right.

Namco did a 2-in-1 cabinet called Class of '81 with Galaga and Ms.Pacman. That would be a great buy but it's a later cabinet and lookswise it just doesn't have the X factor. Nothing like a classic dedicated cabinet for looks.