FS Game: DEDICATED Space Ace "Upside Down Marquee" North AL

[LeeB99]

DEDICATED Space Ace "Upside Down Marquee" North AL

I have owned this original dedicated Space Ace in the unique "upside down" marquee cabinet since 1993, so I guess that means a little over 26 years. It has been in my collection this entire time, and the game was never restored, as the original condition was nice enough for me. I do not know the exact production numbers for this game, but assume that it is in the 400 to 500 unit range, making it very uncommon and quite desirable.

After owning this game a few years, I was contacted by Ron Schwar about his idea to make a "modern" laser disc player conversion for the original Lair and Ace machines. I sold him the Dragon's Lair machine that he used to develop these conversion kits. Once he made these kits available, I upgraded both this Space Ace machine and my Dragon's Lair with new / NOS Sony players. So this machine has very low hours on an NOS Sony player using the adapter and all original electronics. I also have both the original set of ROMs and the "remade" ROMs that were released a while back to try to correct some of the "quirks" of the original programming. As an aside, Ron was later involved in the pressing of a limited number of "NEW" Dragon's Lair laserdiscs, which also included the prototype footage. He supplied me with one of these as well for my DL machine, and with a simple ROM swap, you can go between the original version of DL and the hybrid version with the "extra" scenes.

So, this machine plays perfectly and is in excellent shape. I really don't want to sell it, but circumstances require it. The last game that I sold a game on here only lasted a few minutes, as it was a Minty Dedicated Major Havoc that I let go of for less than what it should have (according to others who contacted me in private). I am looking to receive reasonable and fair compensation for this machine. I have a price in mind, but after what happened with Major Havoc, I would like to let input from the community confirm (or not) what I think is reasonable.

I am sorry if the photos are not "good enough", but my gameroom is not well lit, and I have to use flash when taking pictures. If there is anything in particular that a potential buyer wants to see, I would be happy to take more pics. The game is located in Huntsville Alabama and I can not provide delivery service. I will, however, work with a buyer to accommodate their needs. The Major Havoc was moved by Bob Cunningham, and that seemed to work out well. Although unrelated, I also have a couple of really nice pins that I am looking to sell, both of which I have had for over 20 years as well. One is The Machine: Bride of Pinbot and a Japanese re-import of Williams Cyclone, both in excellent condition and working properly. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for looking!

Lee

 

[LeeB99]

Have received a few inquiries regarding price. I am looking to get $3,500. Feel free to ask any questions that you might have. Thanks...

 

[Oldworldman]

Very nice Game Lee.


I just purchased one of these and its now on its way to my house via Bob Cunningham.


Mine will be running all of the original hardware. I have a Dexter board as a backup to keep it running in case the LD fails.



I paid about 3000.00 plus shipping for mine.


So your price target is reasonable.


GLWTS

 

[LeeB99]

Thanks for the input. I received a question regarding the differences between conversions and dedicated Ace machines. Here is my two cents, for what it is worth...

For all of these years, it has been my understanding that the "ALL" Space Ace machines out on location in the Dragon's Lair cabinet were conversions. And that all of the dedicated Space Ace machines were made in very limited quantities (such as mine) in the different cabinet with a marquee that is the same as the Lair style, but flipped upside down and with the marquee printed "upside down" as compared to the ones on the original Lair machines. I can certainly attest that when Space Ace was released, my local Showbiz Pizza installed a conversion kit into their Lair machine as opposed to keeping DL and purchasing a "new" Space Ace (in the DL cabinet).

I recently saw someone claim that their "Dragon's Lair" style cabinet running Space Ace was "dedicated", this made me wonder if it was possible that they made some in the regular "Lair" style cabinet. But my instinct tells me that they were likely mistaken. Of course, I could totally be wrong. After all, we had a number of Lunar Lander cabinets that ended up being turned into Asteroids and the "Red" Donkey Kong machines were unsold "Radar Scope" cabinets.

Whenever someone refers to a "Dedicated" Space Ace machine, they have always traditionally been referring to the style that I have. I do not know if anyone knows exactly how many were made, but it was certainly much, much less than the number of conversion kits that were sold for the Dragon's Lair cabinets. It could be as low as 200 or as high as approaching 500 units, but I believe that the exact number probably falls somewhere in the middle. Similar to Joust Cocktail, I think the production numbers are in the same range. This, in my opinion, is the "definitive" Space Ace machine, as it was unique to this specific cabinet and was made in very limited numbers. I can certainly say that in all my years of collecting, my dedicated Ace is the only one that I have seen in person, and I have been in the hobby since 1989.

Also, for what it is worth, Bob Cunningham was at my house a little over a year ago and looked over my collection when he picked up the dedicated Major Havoc that I sold. I'm sure that he would be willing to provide his opinion on what I am offering. Hope this helps...

 

[Oldworldman]

Well, when I was about 13 when Space Ace came out, I only saw it in the dragon's lair conversion type wherever I went until I branched out to other arcades and I noticed the different cabinet, but did not care, one way or another, whether it was dedicated or not.


It was decades later when I started collecting arcade games when the term "dedicated" even came into my vocabulary.


This "dedicated" term put a whole new meaning to things. Now, it is all I seek and collect.


I remember both versions back in the day, but did not care at the time, we just played them.


Now that I know more information about games, I would have to agree that the one you have is a true dedicated version.


Some Dragon's Lair converted cabinets could have been considered dedicated as they were put into left over Dragon's lair cabinets at the factory, but no one that I know of has any proof of that. Unless it is noted on the badges in the back of the cabinet somehow.



Like your radarscope/donkey kong reference.


I consider this dedicated one to be more desirable IMHO because there were, like you said, so few made.



The real reason I sold my Dragon's Lair converted style Space Ace and bought this version.

 

[swood]

This has been discussed many times before, but let me put it to rest.

I was employed at Cinematronics during the production of Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, so I know this as fact.

Space Ace was originally produced in the DL cabinet. They were not left over cabinets, they were intentionally produced for Space Ace.
The serial number tag of a dedicated Space Ace will have the prefix of "LDS-#####", while a Dragon's Lair will be "LD-#####"

After all of the initial sales were filled, demand dropped off, and Cinematronics shut down. I moved on to a new job.
At that time only DL style cabinets had been produced.

I had never seen an "Inverted" style SA cabinet until years later.
Obviously, Cinematronics opened up again some months later and produced a limited run of these cabinets.
They soon closed again, for good, under chapter 11 bankruptcy.

So, to be clear, any SA with the "LDS" prefix, is Dedicated.
The later, more stylish cabinet is also dedicated, but is commonly referred to as the "Inverted" cabinet.

 

[LeeB99]

Thank you very much for the insight. I had never heard this before, but (of course) I have not been involved in the hobby as much during the last 10 years or so. Didn't what was left of Cinematronics become "Leland"? And they ended up being the ones to release Dragon's Lair 2, and the subsequent Space Ace conversion for those cabinets as well some time around 1989? I'm pretty sure that this is the case because someone at Leland provided me with an NOS Dragon's Lair manual and some other items around that time.

I also have in storage a large "movie size" Dragon's Lair 2 poster that they put out to promote the game. It used the same Dynamo style cabinet with the big marquee that was famously used for the dedicated Street Fighter 2 Champion Editions that were sold exclusively for about 6 months until they started selling conversion kits for regular original SF2 machines...

 

[DLP]

Yes.. In 1987, Mr. Leland Cook, owner of a company called Tradewest purchased the remaining assets of Cinematronics and then renamed the company to Lealand Corp.

Didn't what was left of Cinematronics become "Leland"? And they ended up being the ones to release Dragon's Lair 2, and the subsequent Space Ace conversion for those cabinets as well some time around 1989?

 

[Oldworldman]

Yes.. In 1987, Mr. Leland Cook, owner of a company called Tradewest purchased the remaining assets of Cinematronics and then renamed the company to Lealand Corp.

Thank you so much for clearing this up!



This all makes sense now, because it seems I do remember seeing the newer upside down Space Ace cabinets around 1987. And of course remember seeing the so called First run of Space Ace's in the Dragon's Lair cabinets like I said before.

 

[coinopshop]

I absolutely love the "upside-down" cabinet more than the dedicated...wish I had the cash.

Nice machine !

 

[aceman]

inverted

I wouldn't sell mine for $4k
in fact - Ill just be buried in it.

 

[LeeB99]

Want to pick up a second one to bury your significant other in? You could match...

 

[DLP]

Technically it's not a piece of DL plexi mounted "upside down". The "inverted" style Space Ace cabinet uses a different 3-sided plexi with different angles.

(I'm just mentioning this because I didn't want someone to spend money on a DL plexi someday and thinking they would be able to use it on the inverted style cabinet)

I absolutely love the "upside-down" cabinet more than the dedicated...wish I had the cash.

Nice machine !

 

[LeeB99]

Sale Pending...

 

[Oldworldman]

Sale Pending...

Congrats!! I am sure it will go to a good home.