Arcade machines

[himiro]

Hello,
I'm really looking hard for the 1989 Night Striker arcade machine by Taito. I played it a lot growing up and i want to buy one for my twin brother as a wedding present.

 

[anwaypasible]

this website says there are two members selling the night striker machine:
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8871

coincidently, there is also a listing for one person looking to buy the night striker machine.
makes me wonder, if all three persons are members.. why hasnt the sale happened yet?

 

[himiro]

thank man. Unfortunately i already followed up on that lead and came up empty handed.

 

[anwaypasible]

maybe you need to build one yourself by getting a board and copying the program from the memory and transfering it into an empty memory on your board.

i know some of those units allow for different games to be loaded on the same board.
i dont remember how the information for the game was stored, but they would load a new game and put up new stickers and a sign to make the transformation complete.
i remember them saying sometimes the board was too old to be compatible with the game they wanted to load.
but arcade machines have had time to mature, so you should be able to build an empty one and load the program.
getting the stickers for the outside of the cabinet might prove to be hard to find.
but maybe you can take the picture and have a professional printer make a copy of the sticker.
that is what professional printing companies do.
they make stickers and laser cut plastic/metal .. maybe t-shirts too.

you might be able to build the game cheaper than buying an old version.
getting the software of the game is kinda the same as getting a cd or dvd of a video game for a computer.
it is the data you need, and it might come in the form of an atari or nintendo cartidge
or
you have to program the memory chip yourself.

it might be worth a good look if you can setup options for yourself.
maybe higher output speakers (and higher quality amplifier/speakers)
or
maybe an LCD screen to replace the old CRT screens?
might save some money on the electricity bill.
or
you could go out and get one of the bigger screen versions of the arcade machine.
not all of the arcade machines use the small CRT monitors.
games like 'primal rage' or 'tekken' came with a newer design that uses a much bigger screen.
the joystick area was seperate-like and attached at a distance from the screen.

this is the cabinet i was talking about:
http://cgi.ebay.com/TEKKEN-TAG-BEST-FIGHTING-ARCADE-GAME-MACHINE-LQQK-/270754940407?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0a4085f7

but i think i have seen bigger screens than that.
i only suggested it to provide a bigger screen, and you might want it to be exactly like it was in the past.

i dont know if they make empty cabinets anymore.
but
you should be able to get an empty cabinet and build it piece by piece, as parts should still be available for restorations and collectors.

 

[himiro]

might be worth a shot. I'll look into it. the only thing i'm mostly concerned about is that the game didn't use a standard joystick. It was like this fighter pilot stick. It was a big part of the game's uniqueness. With enough ingenuity perhaps i can scrap something together.

 

[anwaypasible]

the joysticks i've ever seen were usually 8 way joysticks.
but
i've seen some 12 way joysticks too.

if the game had more than 12 directions, i would be intrigued.
either the board needs to inform of how many inputs can be used
or
maybe you need a board that simply had that many directions already.

i cant remember any exact game that uses a fighter pilot stick.
there was this one jet fighter game that came in two flavors, one was a motorized chair that tipped forwards and backwards .. as well as side to side.
it also came in a stand-up version without the chair.
but, i dont remember the name of the game.
i think the motorized chair was the most common version anyways.

the only other word of advice that i can remember is, sometimes the board was too slow or too fast.
as if the board had 'processing cycles' and the game would go faster or slower depending on the board.
these could sometimes be altered to run at the correct speed.

i sent one person to skating rinks or 'family fun centers' with arcades to find a repair person.
if the arcade is large enough, there is probably a person on hand that deals with the problems when a game breaks.
getting into contact with such a person might really help you achieve your goal.
not only do they have knowledge of resources, they should have some experience with 'what' or 'how'

since arcade machines arent popular anymore, i would think the availability of things would be harder to find .. forcing those people to be a bit more resourceful.
for instance, gutting out whatever cabinet to change the game and keep the cabinet to 'get some'