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It's the sound, I think...
More than the sandy beaches and palm trees. More than the branching routes and agonising countdown. More, even, than the girl and the Ferrari.
It's the sound that really makes OutRun special.
It's fairly unlikely that I encountered Yu Suzuki's iconic driving game 35 years ago but it was then, late in 1986, that the bright red and vaguely car shaped cabinets first arrived in Japanese arcades.
It's more likely, however, that a couple of years after I would have discovered it when my grandparents took me and my brother on holiday to Great Yarmouth, a popular seaside destination for people living, as we did, on the outskirts of London. This was largely thanks to its Pleasure Beach; a collection of aging arcade machines, roller coasters, and other death-trap rides and attractions jutting out into The Wash.
Continue reading A Love-letter to OutRun
I just bought a Nintendo Playchoice 10 arcade machine, with the dual monitors in April of 2021. I plan to bring it back to life some, because it certainly has seen some neglect. This is my first actual arcade, I have a Street Fighter Arcade 1UP but that is a lot smaller and modern. This thing was a beast to transport, having the two monitors made it that much more heavier than the single monitor Playchoice 10
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Two months ago I smack-talked Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road in the review of SNK 40th Anniversary Collection on Switch. At the least I called it annoying, at the most I called it garbage (in one of my older articles), stating that I would rather eat three year-old hotdogs than play that game again. But something happened after getting SNK for the Switch that had never happened before: I enjoyed myself playing Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road.
It all started more than thirty years ago, back then I would troll the suburbs of Metro D looking for returnable bottles to play arcade games. I've said it many times before, no doubt, but I loved this period of my life, despite the beatdowns I would sometimes have to endure due to my... geeky appearance. One of my most cherished games from this era was Victory Road, a sci-fi flavored sequel to Ikari Warriors. It certainly wasn't at the 7-11 for very long, but regardless I had put this game on a pedestal, from which it refused to budge for thirty-two years. So one day when I happened onto the NES port with the appropriate amount of money in my pocket, the cash couldn't couldn't fly out of my pocket fast enough, and I am pretty sure I set speed records for tearing off plastic and removing the game manual from the box. Wonder I didn't tear it to pieces like an animal. And the results? Not good, though I always felt I tried. The NES port of Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road felt unfinished at the time, and I am afraid that I delegated it to the "Budget Wall" bin along with Hydlide and King's Knight, somewhere deep in my room. In retrospect I probably played more Urban Champion then that game.
Continue reading REDACTION - Victory Road for NES Redux!
Lately, even the mighty pull of an incredible new version of my favorite game of all time (Tetris Effect) can't sit me in front of a console for very long. Oh, I want to plop on our comfy recliner and put in a few long hours into the ever-growing stack of excellent games next to the various gaming systems connected to our best gaming TV. I really really do. However with so many daily tasks, back-and-forth travel, and emergency situations happening I just can't block out the time. (I'd say 'lately,' but when topsy-turvy is more common than normal, topsy-turvy becomes the new normal.)
As in the past, Nintendo has swooped in to save the day with a game machine full of stuff I want to play on a system that can ride along with me. As I was combing through the library of games to take along, I looked through the excellent popular titles that bring out the best of the system; Super Mario Odyssey, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2, Arms, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, etc. Unexpectedly, those have stayed on the shelf lately; the majority of what I want to play these days is a compilation of arcade and retro classics that perfectly fit the few minutes at a time I have to spend. I thought it might be fun to share my current carousel of cartridge cavorting!
Continue reading The Switch Has Become My Portable Arcade Powerhouse
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Hey everyone! It seems that I'm getting out a bit more often as of late, and what better way to spend time out than playing video games! It just so happens that this past Saturday, Yestercades of Red Bank, NJ was there to feed that craving with a delicious smattering of all things retro to right now.
Yestercades is a pay by the hour/day style arcade featuring a large array of classic arcade cabinets, a decent chunk of modern pinball machines, and a set of gaming stations for console gaming. As of the time of this writing, $25 nets you a full day pass, which allows for full play on any of the aforementioned machines, as well as come-as-you-please access to the arcade (which is super useful to go snag pizza from the amazing place across the street).
Continue reading Neo On Location: Yestercades of Red Bank, NJ
Kenichiro Fukui is a composer that few likely know off the top of their head. He began his career as a member of the Konami Kukeiha Club in 1990 under the moniker "Funiki Fukui". The first game he worked on was Sunset Riders in 1991, but he only did the sound effects for the game. His first full composition job was Konami's light gun arcade game Lethal Enforcers. He worked on a few more arcade games at Konami, including 1992's GI Joe with Tsutomi Ogura and 1993's Violent Storm with Seiichi Fukami.
Continue reading Composer Compendium: Kenichiro Fukui
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Heya Friends! Over the holiday break, I took a trip to one of my favorite places on earth, and decided it needed to be shared with everyone. Silverball Museum, located on the Asbury Park boardwalk, is a "pay-one-price" style arcade loaded with a plethora of classic and new pinball machines, as well as some staple game cabinets.
Continue reading Neo on Location: Silverball Pinball Museum - Asbury Park, NJ
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Vapor Trail is a vertically scrolling shooter originally developed by Data East for the arcade in 1989. Kuuga: Operation Code "Vapor Trail" is the game's full Japanese name, with the title being changed to Vapor Trail: Hyper Offense Formation overseas. Telenet Japan secured the rights to port the game to Sega's Mega Drive, publishing through its RiOT label for release in 1991. At the time, Telenet also had a North American subsidiary named Renovation Products, who handled the overseas Genesis release in the same year.
This original game spawned an arcade trilogy from Data East. The second game in the Kuuga series is Wolf Fang: Kuuga 2001, and the third is Skull Fang: Kuuga Gaiden. Both of these sequels were ported to the followup of the Genesis, the Saturn. Wolf Fang expanded to Sony's PlayStation, and even took a modern leap to the PlayStation Network, for a PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable release. Wolf Fang switched genre completely when it changed into a run and gun and platforming hybrid; however, Skull Fang returned to the scrolling shooter mechanics of the original.
Continue reading Psychotic Reviews: Vapor Trail
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It has been a long and interesting process. I learned a lot and I am very happy with the final product. Let me show you how I put all of the pieces together
Continue reading Arcade Control Panel Design Part IV: The Final Countdown
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We have 5 areas to route, some Lexan to cut, a little paint to apply, and there was a slight delay with the artwork. All in another day's work when designing a control panel.
Continue reading Arcade Control Panel Design Part III
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We have talked about some of the things you should do when you first pick up a cabinet and we have talked a little bit about monitors and working on them. Now we are going to talk about the control panel ("CP"). There are lots of important decisions that go into designing them and if you are only going to have one or 2 machines, you had better make the CP count.
Continue reading Arcade Control Panel Design Part I
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With the Northern Fan Convention setup all behind us, it was nearly time to kick open the doors and let the public in. A public that was still largely unaware that we existed. Even the ones that knew about us didn't know that we were getting into tabletop games. This was our chance to get people excited about us all over again and at the same time, get some feedback about our new merchandise before rolling it out in our store.
Continue reading Blog Quest: Un"Convention"al Appearance - Part II
 In case you've been living under a rock for the past two weeks, pop music legend, Michael Jackson, has passed away. One thing the Thriller superstar was known for was his giant Neverland Ranch, which was foreclosed and auctioned off last year. As part of the auctions, the arcade in Neverland Ranch was sold. The Orange County Pinball Lab website got a look inside and took several panoramic shots of the arcade. Check it out here: http://www.pinsane.com/pi.../events/MJ_09/index.shtml. Or if you prefer, you can view the arcade's contents in the auction catalogue here: http://www.juliensauction...el-jackson/icatalog4.html
Some of the highlights (for me) include:
- Giant Lego Darth Vader
- Darkstalkers arcade machine
- Super Street Fighter II
- Sega R360 (That thing looks freaking awesome)
- NBA Hangtime (LOVED that game as a kid)
- Galaxy Force (I remember playing that game in the arcade as a kid and how awesome it was that it spun and tilted)
- Several kiosks including N64, 3DO, PS1, Virtual Boy, Saturn, SNES, Genesis, Dreamcast,
- Mocap Boxing (It's like Project Natal!)
- Guitar Freaks
- Dig Dug
- Donkey Kong
- Neo Geo MVS
- Marvel Vs Capcom
Quite the collection I must say. I don't know if he was a gamer, but I'm sure a lot of guests were. Creepy, no?
I know it has not been that long since my last entry but I have made a lot of progress recently so I figured that it was a good time for an update.
I was able to finish cleaning the last six rollover switches and overall I am happy with how they turned out. I think some of the dirt might have been holding them in place better though because since cleaning them numbers three and five now have a tendency to stick, which would not be so bad if they did not rack up the score and make a very annoying noise.
Continue reading My, mostly, lifelong dream PT 4 with more pictures
I bet you were wondering if this was ever going to get posted, well I am happy to report that here it is and I now have a functioning pinball machine, although it still has its fair share of problems....
Continue reading My, mostly, Lifelong Dream Pt 3
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