Bouncer - Video Footage

turbosub2005

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As promised here is about a minute of footage from 'Bouncer'

This came from a 1983 investor video from Entertainment Sciences.

As you can see the graphics and sounds were ahead of their time.


 
AWESOME!

That would have been a great game. Everything about it was ahead of its time. It's somewhat similar to dash games. Makes you wonder what kind of influence this game would have had on arcade games at the time and if it would have changed the course of things. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it... :)
 
Main site link for the lazy among us:
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7201

This game looks cool, and I was not familiar with it before now. KLOV main site indicates "Wide Release"... I assume it was a low-production game as it was from a small manufacturer? Anyone have any more stories about it?

It also looks like the ROMs never hit MAME?

Edit: Ignore me, found lots of info at the link in OP's signature. Duh. Also searched here on the forum and found some good info.
http://www.multigame.com/bouncer.html
and
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=153055
 
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Something about that scene in the game reminds me of the bar in Leisure Suit Larry. Thanks for posting the video..very interesting and hard to give up on there being ROMs or something out there.
 
Almost creepy actually seeing it after so many years of trying to imagine how it was based on just pictures, looks damn cool and I hope it turns up! Thanks for posting this!
 
I have been reading posts about this game thinking to myself, 'what is the big deal?', until I saw this video. This game looks amazing! I would love for this game to be found and archived. It really does look ahead of its time. Thanks for posting this.
 
Wow, that was really cool. I hope your quest to find one yeilds a prototype or production machine someday. I read your entire post all about the history, went to your website and read even more.. Fascinating stuff!
 
A lot better than I'd thought it'd be. Cool!

Question for you, turbosub2005: have you nailed down which Entertainment Sciences operations were where? I've seen mention of Huntington Beach, but also facilities on Fairview in Santa Ana (the building I took pictures of). Did they manufacture games like Bouncer in one place and then have a showroom someplace else? Was one a distribution office? Etc.
 
Someone sent me a video of Polybius playing but I haven't been able to confirm that yet, because every time I try to watch it I wake up on the ground with foam around my mouth.

:D
 
AWESOME!

That would have been a great game. Everything about it was ahead of its time. It's somewhat similar to dash games. Makes you wonder what kind of influence this game would have had on arcade games at the time and if it would have changed the course of things. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it... :)

The funny thing, despite the advanced technology at the time the operators didn't want it.... it wasn't a laser game :)
 
A lot better than I'd thought it'd be. Cool!

Question for you, turbosub2005: have you nailed down which Entertainment Sciences operations were where? I've seen mention of Huntington Beach, but also facilities on Fairview in Santa Ana (the building I took pictures of). Did they manufacture games like Bouncer in one place and then have a showroom someplace else? Was one a distribution office? Etc.

In answer to your question... Entertainment Sciences was also comprised of Creative Sciences (A medical device company), at one point they shared a facility and eventually moved into their own building. They also subcontracted out to another company that did the manufacturing.
 
Wow! I heard of the "Rare Bouncer Game", but never really paid much attention. That gameplay is really cool! Thats awesome! Good luck to everyone who's hunting! You guys sure seem to have your work cut out for you!
 
I found a article in a Play Meter (Jan. 15, 1984) that had a little snippet of Bouncer.

The article is called "Gene's Gudgments". It's by Gene Lewin and he reviewed games at the 1983 AMOA show in Chicago.

Bouncer: And I qoute "The graphics are excellent. It is almost comparable w/ a laser disc game. Entertainment Sciences uses a high-resolution monitor and a very powerful computer w/ more memory than any other video game. It also has full speech capability. The gameplay is somewhat repititious, as the player is a bouncer in a bar and has to kick out the bad people so they do not disturb the regular customers."

More.... "The bad thing is that the game is going to cost aroung $4k. As a dedicated game, it would not be worth it but Entertainment Scineces says it is going to offer two conversions a year for the cabinet. Being a new company, it is difficult to say if it will follow through w/ the plans or even stay in business. I do think the game is overpriced and wish it were lower because the concept of a powerful computer and new programs every six months is a good one."

His rating for the game was a 7...

Other games he 'critiqued'...
Pole Position II - 9 rating
Donkey Kong 3 - 8
Junior Pac-Man - N/A
Dinosaurs - 6
Popper - 5
Dacholer -N/A
Skelagon - 1
Mega Zone - 5
Marvin's Maze - 6
Eggs - 4
Hoccer - 6
Mr Do's Castle - 9 (wow?)
Stinger - 4
Ambush - 3
Blaster - 8 (He was worried about the price on this one.)
Phozon - N/A (Very cool game, I guess it wasn't licensed at the time.)
Major Havoc - *2* (He knocked it for being a dedicated game. It must not have been offered as a Tempest kit at the time of the show - which he bitched about.)
Great Guns - N/A
TX-1 - N/A
Crossbow - 4 (Again, cost is why he gave it a low rating.)
Track and Field - 8 (His favorite at the show.)
 
I found a article in a Play Meter (Jan. 15, 1984) that had a little snippet of Bouncer.

The article is called "Gene's Gudgments". It's by Gene Lewin and he reviewed games at the 1983 AMOA show in Chicago.

Bouncer: And I qoute "The graphics are excellent. It is almost comparable w/ a laser disc game. Entertainment Sciences uses a high-resolution monitor and a very powerful computer w/ more memory than any other video game. It also has full speech capability. The gameplay is somewhat repititious, as the player is a bouncer in a bar and has to kick out the bad people so they do not disturb the regular customers."

More.... "The bad thing is that the game is going to cost aroung $4k. As a dedicated game, it would not be worth it but Entertainment Scineces says it is going to offer two conversions a year for the cabinet. Being a new company, it is difficult to say if it will follow through w/ the plans or even stay in business. I do think the game is overpriced and wish it were lower because the concept of a powerful computer and new programs every six months is a good one."

This was also the observation by the employees of Entertainment Sciences during field tests. The game play on Bouncer was redundant and the game also became too difficult too quickly. In order to address the high-cost, they made a decision to shelf 'Bouncer' until it had Turbo Sub ready. Once Turbo Sub was released, they were going to make a tweak to Bouncer before starting their third game... Unfortunately, Turbo Sub never shipped (on a production scale).... And that was the beginning of the end.
 
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