Exidy Vertigo

Area69

Active member
Joined
Apr 14, 2008
Messages
990
Reaction score
63
Location
Plant City, Florida
What are the chances of resurrecting one of these from the original plans. Are there any roms out there, and did this game ever actually exist?

vertigo.JPG
 
Did a little research: never MAME'd, no known rips around. It DID come out as some guy called Matt mentioned on a bunch of forums talking about them apparently demolished 20 of them.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=36933

KLOV member Keiths3 claims to have one.

And he was selling most of the lot it came out of:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=144698

Never posted a list, but it's possible the board was in there and may be for sale (or that you can figure out who bought it and contact them). Either way there is a PCB floating around waiting for a ROM dump.
 
If you want to try to ressurrect a prototype motion platform game you might have more luck making a Strike Avenger, it used a ROM card on the common Bally/Sente SAC-1 system, plus the ROMs are dumped and schematics are available I believe.
 
KLOV member Keiths3 claims to have one.

And he was selling most of the lot it came out of:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=144698

Never posted a list, but it's possible the board was in there and may be for sale (or that you can figure out who bought it and contact them). Either way there is a PCB floating around waiting for a ROM dump.

Now this is something we need to see completed at the very least.
 
If you want to try to ressurrect a prototype motion platform game you might have more luck making a Strike Avenger, it used a ROM card on the common Bally/Sente SAC-1 system, plus the ROMs are dumped and schematics are available I believe.

It's not likely that I'll be able to personally ressurrect the game, I'm just throwing it out there. As in the case of the Moon Patrol HS kit. =)
 
I'd love to see that game come back from the grave, I guess it was like a motion platform vector version of Tunnel Hunt, sounds kind of psychedelic! It's also a MAME ROM dump grail, so they'd be thrilled to see it turn up.

It's not likely that I'll be able to personally ressurrect the game, I'm just throwing it out there. As in the case of the Moon Patrol HS kit. =)

Personally I'd love to reproduce a Turbo Sub, it's an awesome game, the ROMs and schematics are available but it looks like a total hardware nightmare (like a stack of 5 full-size PCBs!), which I guess was why it was too expensive to be commercially viable.

Not to somewhat hi-jack the thread, but has anyone heard of someone reproducing a prototype game from just ROM dumps and schematics?
 
Last edited:
I'd love to see that game come back from the grave, I guess it was like a motion platform vector version of Tunnel Hunt, sounds kind of psychedelic! It's also a MAME ROM dump grail, so they'd be thrilled to see it turn up.



Personally I'd love to reproduce a Turbo Sub, it's an awesome game, the ROMs and schematics are available but it looks like a total hardware nightmare (like a stack of 5 full-size PCBs!), which I guess was why it was too expensive to be commercially viable.

Not to somewhat hi-jack the thread, but has anyone heard of someone reproducing a prototype game from just ROM dumps and schematics?

Not necessarily a real prototype, but one dude on the web made a Polybius cabinet using a fake ROM and basing it on a blurry black and white photograph. Of course, it's most likely the cabinet never existed to begin with, but that only makes it all the more impressive.

I think it is completely in the realm of logical possibility to recreate a machine that LOOKS like a Venture. But to build all the hydraulics or pneumatics or whatever makes it move around when the only schematic pic we have excludes that... not as likely. :( Even if you managed to make one that can move it would probably be too different from the original cabinet to actually work with the commands the PCB would send it to move to the game events.

http://www.spies.com/arcade/Manuals/Vertigo.pdf claimed to have a full manual. I tried to use webarchive to get it...

http://web.archive.org/web/20000824145926/http://www.spies.com/arcade/Manuals/Vertigo.pdf

But unfortunately... it says the file was damaged. Perhaps there is a manual somewhere?
 
Not necessarily a real prototype, but one dude on the web made a Polybius cabinet using a fake ROM and basing it on a blurry black and white photograph. Of course, it's most likely the cabinet never existed to begin with, but that only makes it all the more impressive.

I think it is completely in the realm of logical possibility to recreate a machine that LOOKS like a Venture. But to build all the hydraulics or pneumatics or whatever makes it move around when the only schematic pic we have excludes that... not as likely. :( Even if you managed to make one that can move it would probably be too different from the original cabinet to actually work with the commands the PCB would send it to move to the game events.

http://www.spies.com/arcade/Manuals/Vertigo.pdf claimed to have a full manual. I tried to use webarchive to get it...

http://web.archive.org/web/20000824145926/http://www.spies.com/arcade/Manuals/Vertigo.pdf

But unfortunately... it says the file was damaged. Perhaps there is a manual somewhere?

I think I have a copy on my computer at home, I'll have to check it tonight.

Another thing that would be critical to reproducing a game would be to have full documentation or at least an understanding of any bootlegging protections built into the design, and also being a vector knowing what type of monitor it used.
 
Last edited:
A different link was posted on the last page, but thanks...

http://www.cityofberwyn.com/photos/TopGunner/index.htm

Supposedly Top Gunner was an exact copy cab wise of Vertigo. Did it ever have a wider release? Either way, it's good to know when piecing one together that pieces of either would work (though you have to be careful not to get confused with the Konami game Top Gunner).
 
A different link was posted on the last page, but thanks...

http://www.cityofberwyn.com/photos/TopGunner/index.htm

Supposedly Top Gunner was an exact copy cab wise of Vertigo. Did it ever have a wider release? Either way, it's good to know when piecing one together that pieces of either would work (though you have to be careful not to get confused with the Konami game Top Gunner).

Looks like the spitting image to me.
 
Looks like the only difference is some plastic decorations mounted on the sides.

As far as making reproductions of games which never actually existed, people have made programs and cabs for The Last Starfighter, Space Paranoids (Tron) and some work is being done to make a Bishop of Battle (Nightmares) and Grabboids (Tremors II) also.
 
Last edited:
Maybe someone will chime in that has played this game. I left a PM for Keiths3, hopefully he'll get back here sometime soon and hand over the board!
 
There were 2 exidy veritgos on the loading dock at jim hills san jose warehouse. I had no idea what they were when I saw them. By the time I figured it out it was too late and they got crushed.

Jim used to have connections with everyone. He would get some strange cool stuff from atari, capcom, exidy, sega and universal. I remember Jim had a proto space lords and a revenge rally in there.. I am sure matt probably saw some other unique things in there back in the day..
 
I loved playing this game in the 80's!

Maybe someone will chime in that has played this game. I left a PM for Keiths3, hopefully he'll get back here sometime soon and hand over the board!

I played the game at a local arcade here in Houston in the late 80's. I never knew it was a "prototype". I just thought it was a fun, challenging game that ate your quarters.
The basic premise of the game was to fly through different colored vectored objects, mostly rings from what I can remember. You also had to shoot various items within the rings and I seem to remember bad guys shooting back at you once you passed the initial "flight school" levels. The flight controls and force feedback were way ahead of their time. The sound was also top notch for the time period. It really immersed you in the game. I would love to see this ROM be found, although playing it through an emulator would not quite give the same experience as sitting in that chair. I do remember it was broken down quite a bit. I think the mechanical design wasn't quite perfected until they released Top Gunner. Sorry to show up late to the party, but I wanted to share my experience.

Here are some more links about this great game:
http://unmamed.mameworld.info/non_exidy.html
http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-ultimate-so-far-history-of-exidy.html
http://arcadeheroes.com/2007/12/07/the-exidy-vertigo-simulator/
 
I played the game at a local arcade here in Houston in the late 80's. I never knew it was a "prototype". I just thought it was a fun, challenging game that ate your quarters.
The basic premise of the game was to fly through different colored vectored objects, mostly rings from what I can remember. You also had to shoot various items within the rings and I seem to remember bad guys shooting back at you once you passed the initial "flight school" levels. The flight controls and force feedback were way ahead of their time. The sound was also top notch for the time period. It really immersed you in the game. I would love to see this ROM be found, although playing it through an emulator would not quite give the same experience as sitting in that chair. I do remember it was broken down quite a bit. I think the mechanical design wasn't quite perfected until they released Top Gunner. Sorry to show up late to the party, but I wanted to share my experience.

Here are some more links about this great game:
http://unmamed.mameworld.info/non_exidy.html
http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-ultimate-so-far-history-of-exidy.html
http://arcadeheroes.com/2007/12/07/the-exidy-vertigo-simulator/

Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing! After Bouncer this game is still at the top of my list of ROMs I desperately want to see found! It's sad to think such a cool game could be lost forever.
 
Last edited:
I am still waiting for one of these to be found. I found a listing for a shrike avenger on eBay years ago but it was in another country and was converted to G- LOC (I have no idea how..

Still waiting for a shrike avenger to be found as well

If either of these games are ever found in their original condition at least before I die.. I will die happy
 
Back
Top Bottom