Topic: Arcade 1up 3/4 scale retro coin op cabinets

[Clonehead]

No, you didn’t hear me say no.

Let’s talk about our experiences with the real Atari Star Wars coin op games.
Mostly in mall arcades in kc,   I can only remember playing the Star Wars  stand up a few times and the original sit down cockpit version probably only a couple of times. Now the empire coin op, which seemed to be more rare,  I only ever seen and played once or twice and I think they were both cockpit machines.
    The Star Wars game was kind of an enigma of the arcades back then, usually posed front and center. I remember the cockpit version having a back viewport behind the seat where another waiting gamer could watch the progress over the players shoulder. Atari was still running a lot of vector graphics games back then and this color vector representation of 3-d flight was one of the first ever experienced this side of say, a Commodore64 flight simulator by many back then.
  I don’t know about the Jedi game but the first two certainly seem to be perfect copies of the original ROMs that the arcade games used although Empire seems to look a little better than it did.

Oh, and I got a couple of those front panels wrapped on the Astroids Deluxe machine earlier in the week. I need some practice but it looks ok.
I need to get the other three on the riser box.

Waiting on a part to customize a different cabinet in a different way that could show up tomorrow.

Oh, according to various sources, Walmart has been throwing some mad clearance prices at some of these older cabinets that sometimes drifts over to the newer stuff in stock. “ look on YouTube for these stories”
Shawn, I’ve heard of a couple of the older ones going for as low as $1, that’s right, 1 dollar paid for space invaders, $1 paid for final fight, the more common story is $50 for a Galaga, street fighter,Astroids, I have even seen a Star Wars go for $50
Head of the turtles going that cheap but usually it’s $199 that they get slashed to. If I could find a centipede it could cost me $1-$50
      I did make a search tonight and found a $50 final fight cabinet. I had considered snatching it up and just collecting the parts I need to turn it into a centipede.

[Tamer]

First off awesome graphics. So taking that to the front pages.

Man, I did like a mega quick check on walmart.com and don't see any prices that awesome. Man, my Walmart never really clearances stuff out right. They put a red sticker on it at original price many times. I think it must be easier for them not to clearance something and then I guess they ship all their unsold toys or clearance items elsehwere?

Anyhow, was sure hopeful there for a second. I will keep checking though, thanks for the tip.

[Clonehead]

I should have been more specific buddy. Those prices will never be reflected on Walmart.com. It’s in the store that the big discounts occur. Try to imagine 10-20 percent of the country’s stores doing this.
    It requires a physical presence at the store to find out what they have and what it really costs. Until that bar code hits the scanner, you will not know for sure. Many stores still have stock in the back room of these just waiting to be asked for.

[Clonehead]

Here is my clearance score for today

Final fight at Raytown Walmart for $50

[Clonehead]

Ok Shawn, try hitting this link and entering your zip code to see what comes up. It’s like a local Walmart arcade game search engine.  I can’t vouch for the in stock or unknown thing. When I search Star Wars, they show a bunch at different locations close to me where they could cost $50, if they were in stock.

https://deals.consolekits.com/

[Tamer]

Man thats crazy, if what it says is true I could get the Rampage System for fifty bucks if I drove an hour.

And then I see the Centipede System for $1, but the stock status shows as unknown? I guess that would be you just show up, give em the code and hope someone would go look for you.

[Tamer]

Awesome deal by the way.

[Clonehead]

Yes, a Rampage for $50 would be very cool. If I could get another one for that price, I would invest in a much more pricey all over graphics package , lit marquee included, to convert it to a Defender or Joust cabinet.
  Since I only have one, my plan is to go Rampage when we dress that one up, lit marquee and all also.
     Speaking of those, look at the pretty lit Space Invaders marquee kit that I got in the mail today from arcademodup.com, also an eBay seller.
  Plexi  in the front, I think, the see thru graphic in the middle, and a thick shaped and machined clear acrylic mounting piece for the back wrapped top and bottom with metal trim. That back piece has the correct slots for accepting other body pieces and holes for mounting screws during cabinet assembly  the thing is weighty and very cool looking, especially held up to be backlit. The graphics are perfect and a more classic representation of the real thing as the new design on my factory cabinet marquee was changed to reflect current licensing ownership. I’ll show you that later.

[Clonehead]

The kit includes an led strip whose plug can be wired through the included splitter to power the strip using the same cord as the cabinet. The only thing missing is a mountable toggle switch to turn it off when you want. I’ll probably wire the whole cabinet to a remote outlet so I can just key the remote for individual banks of cabinets to come to life.
Or I’ll wire a switch in.

The newer cabs like Star Wars or Marvel have a separate power source on the PCB just for powering a lit marquee. You plug it in and it powers up your light when you hit the On switch on your control deck.

[Tamer]

Man that is nice Clint.

[Clonehead]

So I put it in today.
First shot shows the factory static marquee with the new trademark logo on the cabinet and its replacement in my hand with the more classic trademark logos and artwork. Part of the reason I chose arcademodup’s space invaders to be the first to replace a stick marquee with is because of this difference. I appreciate that classic look of the older design.

Installation required me to pull one side of the cabinet off to get the old marquee out. The bottom wood filler piece that is screwed into the factory marquee must be removed and transferred to the new acrylic back piece with holes there to receive the three screws. That assembly screws back onto the led screens wood frame. The factory marquee has a couple of wood pegs for placement and strength but the new marquee only requires two supplied screws going through the side cabinet holes to mount.
   The two way splitter that is provided is hooked up easily enough but the extremely long LED light tape strand that the marquee end powers took a little thought. Most use the lower inside lip of the back piece behind the graphic pointing up with good effects but that was less than a third of the strands length so started at the back panel, and then hit the plexiglass lip and I continued to wrap it around the side and the other backside of the serial number panel and back around a time and a half before the tape ran out.that back panel got two rows and is angled towards the backside of that marquee so, I figure it will light it up  ok.
    It was a slight juggle getting the marquee and the back panel together without disturbing my light tape wrapping but it did go without too much of a struggle.

[Clonehead]

So I got the side on and screwed back together and plugged it in and was impressed by how good it looked. I mean, that thing pops nicely and light distribution is fairly even and bright. The graphic looks crisp and clean and the colors look right. It took several shots to find something similar to what our eyes would register.  There are only the two main screws coming in from the sides of the cabinet into the acrylic that can faintly be seen as ghosts threw the graphic. It doesn’t bug me much here. I wonder how it would look on a white backlit marquee?
  Those strips of metal too and bottom serve to sandwich the two materials and graphic together plus block for light bleed. I almost wish they didn’t protrude on the graphic as much as they do. It doesn’t bug me here but I’m wondering about that white background again, if they are all this way, that is. The slight light bleed isn’t too bad up front and the trade for all of these gripes is that the kit seems to be very well made, the graphic looks great and the materials used are of good concept and quality and certainly their job for $60.
  I think it looks great, the whole presence of Space Invaders is different now. There is a more expensive alternative out there with a more high end touch to it but it is more than twice as much and I think I can live with this stuff.
 I want more.
I think the Rampage cabinet needs one.

[Tamer]

That looks really nice Clint. Very nice.

Off to the front pages.

[Clonehead]

 Thanks buddy

More pics popped up of the Star Wars sit down version at Arcade1up https://arcade1up.com/products/i-star-wars-i-™-limited-edition-seated-at-home-arcade-game

Still available for pre order only from walmart
Includes blue led backlighting on the cab, how thoughtful

[Tamer]

Looks sweet. Man, I am gonna drop some not so subtle hints to my wife about what a great gift this would be for a SW Fan.