Coming up with a "preservation status" ratings system

Tornadoboy

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Coming up with a "preservation status" ratings system

In the big scheme of things, I think the only way many if not most of what we now know as classic video arcade games are going to survive long term is through the possibility of later reproduction, which will only be made possible by the availability of thorough documentation, such as precise blueprints of cabinets, scans of artwork, ROM dumps etc.

So it got me thinking, shouldn't some kind of "official" ratings system for the preservation status of games be created? And if so, how should it work and be defined?

For example personally I'd think something like Pacman would be consider as say 90% preserved, cabinet blueprints have LONG since been made public, as well as artwork scans, ROM dumps etc, the only thing missing is perhaps PCB foil pattern scans, PCB parts placement diagrams and maybe machinist drawings of the control panel.

In contrast I would say a game like Bouncer should be listed as "extremely endangered" at maybe 5%, with pretty much nothing preserved except for the few pictures of the artwork being available.

What do you think of the idea? I thought this might make for an interesting discussion. I think if these games are going to be preserved then NOW is the time for all of us to record as much info as we can from the originals.
 
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With the amount of collections (or long term storage situations) largely undocumented, online or otherwise, it's kind of impossible to get a realistic grasp on how preserved any one title is. The one kicker this kind of talk dredges up is the level of authenticity of any particular machine. I for one am more impressed by an original machine than one that is, say, 80% reproduction (cabinet, art, etc). Remanufactured stuff is pretty but it's far less collectible to anyone who seeks purity. This a metric I wish were tracked or at least noted.
 
Nice thought, however, aside from those of us who grew up with this stuff and the very small percentage of those who didnt who take an interest, no one cares.
 
I'd list Bouncer as more like 0.001%, actually. Polybious deserves a 5% rating.
 
Keeping originals is ALWAYS preferable, but how likely is that to happen with so many oddball games out there? I'm not saying anything will ever be perfect, but getting as much info preserved is something that ought to be promoted. There will always be Pacmans, Centipedes, Donkey Kongs etc, but rare stuff like say Macho Mouse, Woodpecker, The Wiz etc are more than likely going to go completely extinct at some point. Though yeah coming up with a "ratings system" would be pretty subjective, but it might get an owner to look at it, realize little to nothing is preserved of say the artwork and maybe make a little effort to do something like take photos. I know of at least one KLOVer who has been looking for even so much as a decent photo of Macho Mouse's artwork for years so he can try to recreate it and has come up with nothing.

I'd give Bouncer 5% because at least a couple of control panels have turned up, not that scans have been published yet.

Nice thought, however, aside from those of us who grew up with this stuff and the very small percentage of those who didnt who take an interest, no one cares.

True, and again I've got no delusions of everything getting done, but a least a lot could be. Look at the work the volunteers of MAME have done, thousands and thousands of the most obscure and rare games are now playable for the ages.
 
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Nice thought, however, aside from those of us who grew up with this stuff and the very small percentage of those who didnt who take an interest, no one cares.

yah that....

and much like the often discussed "KLOV price guide" its really easy to have the idea to do stuff like this but who is going to take the time to do it and organize all this information?

people generally dont like doing hundreds of hours of work for free.
 
What will be long forgotten in the future is kit games. Everybody who buys a game that has been kitted, deconverts it back into a reproduction version of whatever it originally was.
 
What will be long forgotten in the future, thank goodness, are kit games. Everybody who buys a game that has been mutilated into a kit game, deconverts it back into a reproduction version of whatever it originally was.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

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As someone just getting into the world of arcade collecting and repairing I love this idea but as pretty much everyone is saying, hard to believe people actually spending the time to document
 
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