Collection Opinion - opening up to public in one week!

dr. mr. pants

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Collection Opinion - opening up to public in one week!

hey all,
i am opening my collection up to the public in just about a week from today

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=164004

and wanted to know what you think i am missing. i want to have a "balanced" collection with a bit something for everyone, but i am a bit too close to it, so i need help looking at it from the outside.

my current working list is here:
http://www.arcade-museum.com/members/member_detail.php?member_id=420915

what do y'all think? let me know, or stop buy next saturday here in chicago and let me know in person!
thanks!
 
just my opinion from looking at your game list - lack of williams games. I would suggest a Robotron and a Joust. I'd also recommend a Tempest. Oddly enough, i'll have all 3 of these for sale soon too.
 
Galaga, Discs of Tron, Space Invaders, Centipede, Joust, and Dig Dug would be nice additions.
 
weird i did not post my tempest. your right about williams! my robotron and joust need a bit of work before they are ready.


just my opinion from looking at your game list - lack of williams games. I would suggest a Robotron and a Joust. I'd also recommend a Tempest. Oddly enough, i'll have all 3 of these for sale soon too.
 
My games of choice are all on the list, so im OK.
BurgerTime
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong 3
Donkey Kong Junior
Ms. Pac-Man
Tempest
Mario Bros.
See ya on the 15th
 
OK, lets see the score:
Color Vectors: Tempest
B&W Vectors: Asteroids
B&W Games: Tank II
Golden Age Classics:Berzerk, Donkey Kong, Food Fight, Burgertime, Frogger, Ms. Pac, Missile Command, Punch Out, Root Beer Trapper, Tron, Zaxxon (12)
Nintendo Games: DK, JR, 3, Popeye, Mario, P.O. (6)
Silver Age Classics: Gauntlet II, RoboCop
Pinballs: Time Warp

The court has seen enough. I am prepared to render an opinion.

First let me compliment you on an excellent collection of games as well as the act of opening it to public. That being said, on the breakdown, its easy to see a blatant absence of Shooters. As most arcades should lean towards the golden age, Galaga is an easy choice, but the selection of Space Invaders would also fill the bill, be another B&W game and another cool cab to boot. Gaplus is the sequel to galaga and is a better game if you aren't a fan of Galaga's repetitive nature. R-Type, or Gradius would be a nice Hor. shooter and that would fit into the Silver Age. Raiden would be a good 90s shootemup.

I also see a lack of jamma games. If you are looking for mass apeal, a generic 4 pl. Konami Cab could be used for Simpsons, X-men, and Turtles. A nice generic 3 button Jamma HS-5 Dynamo could be used for Sega System 16 games like Altered beast, Shinobi, and Golden Ax with a converter as well as a plethora of other beatemups and shootemups.

I think you could use a fight game or 2 to represent the 90s accurately. MKII is my choice, but a nice 6 button HS-5 running a CPS-II board could be used to easily swap out between Super Street Fighter, SF Alphas, Marvels fighting lineup, and Vampire Saviour lot. Thats a lot of diversity and an easy swap.

I think the pin collection could be a little more robust. Your collection is primarly 80s and to keep cost down you should stick with that theme. Good choices would be Pinbot, Black Knight, and Funhouse, although some cheaper DMD titles might be the more bang for the buck. I'm thinking Star Wars by DE, Fishtales is fairly fun and reasonable, maybe Jurassic
Park, or Tales from the Crypt.

I also think you need at least one additional color vector as well as another B&W. For the color, I'm thinking Star Wars or Black Widow. Battlezone, or Red Baron for the B&W. Any of the color vectors would work but SW has that mass appeal and isn't as ridiculous as Maj. Havoc or Quantum. And Space Duel is just a color version of Asteroids.

I wouldn't want to condemn any collector for their choices since a collection is statement about personal preferences, but assuming your collection isn't made up of titles you can't stand to get rid of and space may be a restriction, here are the titles, I would look at cutting from the list:
Kangaroo (most don't care for it from what I have heard)
DK3 and Popeye (the first for the reason above and the second due to the difficulty)
Foodfight (maybe)
Nibbler (maybe)
Vindicators (looks cool but I hear its not a great title)
Vapor Trx (a twin racing game is awesome, but I think there are much stronger titles out there-Hyrdro thunder, Daytona, Rush, Sega GT, Cruisin USA...)

Other random titles I think you need would be:
Centipede, with new art since women are attracted to this game and Ms Pac
Almost any Universal dedicated game for the cab artwork
A Williams Multi game since I'm not personally a fan but they should be represented in the line up. If you can only pick one dedicated, Robotron, Defender, or Sinistar
Taito could use a little more love. Zoo Keeper, Qix, Elevator Action, or Jungle Hunt maybe.
I also think a shooting game would be awesome in the line up. Personal favorites are Zombie Revenge, Space Gun, and the Jurassic park Sit Down. Newer titles are Area 51, Maximum force, and Carnevil. Games with mass appeal are: T2, Revolution X, and Lethal Enforcers 2.

I hope thats the kind of suggestions you were looking for, and I hope none of the suggestions offend. It was not the intentions. Good luck with your grand opening.
 
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Sorry bout listing the Galaga. Missed it in the previous post. But it really is the must have. But like I said, Gaplus is the better game. and you can turn an old Pac cab into a really nice Gaplus or Galaga 3.
 
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yo! make sure to introduce your self! i would love to get some opinions of our place from people that know games. its V1, and needs critique for sure.


My games of choice are all on the list, so im OK.
BurgerTime
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong 3
Donkey Kong Junior
Ms. Pac-Man
Tempest
Mario Bros.
See ya on the 15th
 
word. i need to find a galaga for sure. hoping to soon, actually was looking to borrow one for our opening andrew laidlaw was talking about coming out too, but i don't have a galaga for him so i thought maybe i could borrow one from a klov'r but, i don't think andrew got a ticket to get here.


Sorry bout listing the Galaga. Missed it in the previous post. But it really is the must have. But like I said, Gaplus is the better game. and you can turn an old Pac cab into a really nice Gaplus or Galaga 3.
 
First off, you have a very nice collection there, and should be proud of owning those titles at one time.

The biggest thing I noticed from your list, as mentioned before, it seems that it is based around the '80s era. For a lot of us, it's a living wet dream, but depending on what type of cliental you want to bring in, some of those games might be out of their mental reach. If a 16 year old kid walks in, do you think he will gravitate to the early '80s games or something that was made or out in the wild, while he's been alive? Would the same kid be up for playing Street Fighter or Asteroids? That would be like asking a 16 year old to fire up one of Apple's or IBM's first computers, and play around on it. It would melt their brains as it wouldn't make sense to them. It all comes down to who you want to pull in. As far as the older and collector crowds, I'd say you have that covered. I'd throw in a few more '90s titles just to cover your bases.

Games I'd recommend:
-Street Fight(of any sort)
-Mortal Combat(of any sort)
-R-Type(recommended earlier, somewhat newer feel)
-Area 51/Maximum Force
-A dual driver from the '90s, Crusin' USA, Daytona USA, Virtual Racing, ect...
-A fewmore pins, maybe a set up that has two '80s pins and two '90s pins.

Try to go for that something old/something new balance. Granted, none of the games listed are "new", but at least some of the younger people will recognize the game or title. And whatever you do, don't ruin an arcade with redemtion games, lol. Best of luck to ya, and if I ever find myself up that way, I'll swing in to check it out.
 
If I wasn't going to be out of town, I'd be all over this. Good luck with this, as it looks to be a worthwhile event! And next time, see if Tim McVey can come out and marathon your Nibbler. :)
 
Looks like a great list Z. I am definitely interested in checking our your spot next time I am in the Chi. I still have a bunch of the games you and I pursued if you want to score any- seems like you could use an MKI in there, as well as the Battlezone, a 4-player cab, Steel Talons and these cockpit drivers!
 
awesome response! thanks for breaking it down for me. i really want to represent as much as possible and get people through the doors to have some fun. even though we are a record store i think that people that come through the doors will have fun playing the games.

your totally right on all fronts, i really want to get some more 90's for sure, i hover around 82/83 mostly.

thanks again!


OK, lets see the score:
Color Vectors: Tempest
B&W Vectors: Asteroids
B&W Games: Tank II
Golden Age Classics:Berzerk, Donkey Kong, Food Fight, Burgertime, Frogger, Ms. Pac, Missile Command, Punch Out, Root Beer Trapper, Tron, Zaxxon (12)
Nintendo Games: DK, JR, 3, Popeye, Mario, P.O. (6)
Silver Age Classics: Gauntlet II, RoboCop
Pinballs: Time Warp

The court has seen enough. I am prepared to render an opinion.

First let me compliment you on an excellent collection of games as well as the act of opening it to public. That being said, on the breakdown, its easy to see a blatant absence of Shooters. As most arcades should lean towards the golden age, Galaga is an easy choice, but the selection of Space Invaders would also fill the bill, be another B&W game and another cool cab to boot. Gaplus is the sequel to galaga and is a better game if you aren't a fan of Galaga's repetitive nature. R-Type, or Gradius would be a nice Hor. shooter and that would fit into the Silver Age. Raiden would be a good 90s shootemup.

I also see a lack of jamma games. If you are looking for mass apeal, a generic 4 pl. Konami Cab could be used for Simpsons, X-men, and Turtles. A nice generic 3 button Jamma HS-5 Dynamo could be used for Sega System 16 games like Altered beast, Shinobi, and Golden Ax with a converter as well as a plethora of other beatemups and shootemups.

I think you could use a fight game or 2 to represent the 90s accurately. MKII is my choice, but a nice 6 button HS-5 running a CPS-II board could be used to easily swap out between Super Street Fighter, SF Alphas, Marvels fighting lineup, and Vampire Saviour lot. Thats a lot of diversity and an easy swap.

I think the pin collection could be a little more robust. Your collection is primarly 80s and to keep cost down you should stick with that theme. Good choices would be Pinbot, Black Knight, and Funhouse, although some cheaper DMD titles might be the more bang for the buck. I'm thinking Star Wars by DE, Fishtales is fairly fun and reasonable, maybe Jurassic
Park, or Tales from the Crypt.

I also think you need at least one additional color vector as well as another B&W. For the color, I'm thinking Star Wars or Black Widow. Battlezone, or Red Baron for the B&W. Any of the color vectors would work but SW has that mass appeal and isn't as ridiculous as Maj. Havoc or Quantum. And Space Duel is just a color version of Asteroids.

I wouldn't want to condemn any collector for their choices since a collection is statement about personal preferences, but assuming your collection isn't made up of titles you can't stand to get rid of and space may be a restriction, here are the titles, I would look at cutting from the list:
Kangaroo (most don't care for it from what I have heard)
DK3 and Popeye (the first for the reason above and the second due to the difficulty)
Foodfight (maybe)
Nibbler (maybe)
Vindicators (looks cool but I hear its not a great title)
Vapor Trx (a twin racing game is awesome, but I think there are much stronger titles out there-Hyrdro thunder, Daytona, Rush, Sega GT, Cruisin USA...)

Other random titles I think you need would be:
Centipede, with new art since women are attracted to this game and Ms Pac
Almost any Universal dedicated game for the cab artwork
A Williams Multi game since I'm not personally a fan but they should be represented in the line up. If you can only pick one dedicated, Robotron, Defender, or Sinistar
Taito could use a little more love. Zoo Keeper, Qix, Elevator Action, or Jungle Hunt maybe.
I also think a shooting game would be awesome in the line up. Personal favorites are Zombie Revenge, Space Gun, and the Jurassic park Sit Down. Newer titles are Area 51, Maximum force, and Carnevil. Games with mass appeal are: T2, Revolution X, and Lethal Enforcers 2.

I hope thats the kind of suggestions you were looking for, and I hope none of the suggestions offend. It was not the intentions. Good luck with your grand opening.
 
I think you may need to edit that last post. Unless my web browsers is just messing with me your link sends me to my VAPS list.

Yeah, it's the link to send you to your own list...in my case, it said I Didn't have a VAPS profile ;) Definitely a good collection. I may try and stop there next time I'm in the area. Doubt I'll be there this weekend, but who knows :D
 
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