Galaga CPO comparison (pics) - Repro vs. NOS

[Wundercade]

I did a similar comparison with Ms. Pac back when I scored some NOS CPO's. I recently scored an NOS Galaga CPO and so here is a comparison against the Repro with Midway logo. Sorry for some of the blurr, holding camera and artwork at same time.

(Note: Neither of these are Twobit's version which is has the Namco logo.)

First, a comparison of the copyright logos. Repro on left. NOS on right.

The repro with the "Tracker Beam" misprint:

The NOS with the proper wording:

A more subtle difference, note the improper alignment on "scoring" and "information" also the NOS has a period after "info" and the repro doesn't.

NOS:

REPRO:

 

[Droler]

On average, compared to what is normally seen on reproductions, how would you rate these discrepancies? They are not noticeable unless you already know what the real thing looks like (although "tracker" beam annoys the hell out of me for some reason) so you'd have to either have a real one for comparison or be a collector to even notice the differences.

But together, they add up to a significant overall difference in quality.

 

[Wundercade]

I didn't notice the difference until I got the repro, and compared it to the tattered original on the control panel that I was trying to replace. It was then I realized it was inaccurate to the original and I knew what to look for on an NOS. Thankfully I finally found one. The TRACKER BEAM issue is only on some of the repros, others have the TRACTOR BEAM but still have the "reserved" missing.

As for rating the discrepancies, for me having a whole word missing on the logo and a totally wrong word is a pretty big deal. It isn't like it's a matter of a line here or there being too thick, or something minor like that.

But ya, most people won't notice...

 

[FlavaDave]

I noticed alot of things...

 

[DPtwiz]

i think it's close enough.. i'm no where near that picky. As long as it's close, the colors are close, and the print quality is there, i'm happy to just be able to get replacements!!

 

[WadeLanham]

The bullets on the list are different too.

These types of differences I can usually live with. You can only notice these things when comparing side to side. The things I really do care about is the color match, overall quality, and artwork reproduction quality. Since the artwork is often being redrawn, it can be more or less accurate depending on how particular the artist is.

Lower quality reproductions are usually pretty far off on the colors and sometimes the texture.

I've also had a few new, quality, silkscreened repros crack at the bends after a short time, and have also seen some twobit artwork with horrible color matches, so even the expensive and licensed stuff isn't always better. With most of this stuff it's a real roll of the dice...

Wade

 

[Pac-Fan]

Now show the comparison against the 2bit version (which is available with the midway not namco logo as well -- before they cut the deal with namco).

2bit's uses a serif font faces for all the instructions that makes it very thin/light and hard to read, plus other discrepancies. It makes the repro above look original!

There also is at least 1 more version floating out there (I have one) that has even more differences.

 

[scottz29]

As long as it's close, the colors are close, and the print quality is there, i'm happy to just be able to get replacements!!

I agree with this, but I also think if someone is going to go through the trouble of reproducing something that effectively qualifies as "artwork", be prepared to have it picked apart, therefore why not try your hardest to do it right?

I used to be a graphic designer, and I am very picky when it comes to this stuff. I can't help that I notice small discrepancies that most other people would not. Looking at that repro, some of those glaring discrepancies are inexcusable, IMHO. Spot colors can be easily matched with a Pantone color book. Spelling mistakes can be avoided by proofreading. Font discrepancies can be avoided by looking for fonts readily available on the interwebs. Those issues are the result of plain old laziness.

That looks like a mediocre repro that could have otherwise been a good one with a little extra effort.

But like DPTwiz said, I'm just happy to have these things at all, so I do my best to take repro stuff with a grain of salt.

 

[Spyridon]

So....want to sell your NOS CPO?????

 

[MaximRecoil]

I agree with this, but I also think if someone is going to go through the trouble of reproducing something that effectively qualifies as "artwork", be prepared to have it picked apart, therefore why not try your hardest to do it right?

I used to be a graphic designer, and I am very picky when it comes to this stuff. I can't help that I notice small discrepancies that most other people would not. Looking at that repro, some of those glaring discrepancies are inexcusable, IMHO. Spot colors can be easily matched with a Pantone color book. Spelling mistakes can be avoided by proofreading. Font discrepancies can be avoided by looking for fonts readily available on the interwebs. Those issues are the result of plain old laziness.

I'm the same way.

I don't get how stuff like this happens (it happened with some of the Ms. Pac-Man reproduction CPOs too). Are there really people out there making drawings to be printed as reproduction art, that are unfamiliar with the concept of tracing? You can't make glaring errors like that if you trace. I even trace letters if I can't find a very close font match; especially if they are large, stylistic letters where differences are easy to spot (I go with a "close enough" font if it is a small, sans serif, instruction card type of font with a lot of words).

It looks like whoever created the source drawing for the reproduction CPO simply glanced at an original CPO occasionally while drawing up a rough approximation. That's a very strange way to approach a reproduction. Tracing is the obvious way to approach such a project, and is far more accurate.

I would do a dead on tracing of the Galaga CPO just for the fun of it if I had a 600 DPI scan of an NOS one and someone wanted to a print run.

I know this is an old thread, but it was linked to in a current thread, so it is new to me.

 

[Tighe]

Wow this is really disappointing, because my cpo is torn on the bend. I think it is original, but I will make sure tonight.

I hate twobit's version with the serif fonts! Bleh!

Well maybe I will find a nos some day.