Factory vs. Willis/Bootleg Artwork

[HFK]

I think the Centipede and Bubbles are an improvement. Most look like crap but those two are cool.

 

[LyonsArcade]

"Anytime the main reason somebody does something is that they can make money without getting the shit sued out of them, they are kewl."

???

Willis was a legit company that licensed the rights to produce overlays. They were not bootleggers.

Oh, so they licensed the bubbles artwork above? Bullshit. I'm not saying they were bootleggers. I'm saying the reason they designed the stuff they made, the way they did it, was to avoid getting sued for copyright infrigement. That's a fact.

 

[DP Louie]

I think the Centipede and Bubbles are an improvement. Most look like crap but those two are cool.

Agreed 100%. Most of the rest look like 2nd grade art projects. As far as the licence issue, I have no idea if they were or not, but I've always wondered why they didn't try to keep the cpo's looking more like the originals? I'm assuming the Willis versions were cheaper than the OEMs, so why if they were legit would they change many of them so drastically? Perhaps to save printing costs?

 

[LyonsArcade]

Agreed 100%. Most of the rest look like 2nd grade art projects. As far as the licence issue, I have no idea if they were or not, but I've always wondered why they didn't try to keep the cpo's looking more like the originals? I'm assuming the Willis versions were cheaper than the OEMs, so why if they were legit would they change many of them so drastically? Perhaps to save printing costs?

The discrepancy is : Willis made SOME licensed art. Some original stuff on original cabinets was licensed and ordered by the manufacturer.

All that other stuff, like the Bubbles/Pac/Kong/Centipede/ etc. was ALL unlicensed, that's why it looks different. It's just different enough that it doesn't infringe on the original artwork and completely legal.

Bootleg would be an exact copy, with inferior quality printing, etc. Willis made nicely made stuff, their licensed stuff is really nice, and SOME of their unlicensed stuff is really nice too. Silkscreened, etc.