Grail aquired(Sort of): Magic The Gathering: Armageddon

[mrbill2084]

Grail aquired(Sort of): Magic The Gathering: Armageddon

Just picked this rare acclaim game up from one of the programmers: Magic The Gathering: Armageddon.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8498

It looks like its proto 1. They only made about a dozen or two of these before acclaim shut their doors. This is the smaller cab they made with a 27" vga monitor. They also made a huge cab with a 39" vga in it.

Not sure if this was the exact one, but Armageddon made it to cax one year about 10-12 years ago. My nephews really liked the game and played it a bunch at cax. They were upset it was not back the next year. I told them I would try to get one. So more of a grail acquired for them. But since its been so long and they are off in college now, who knows what they will think of it..


After I do some cab repairs and replace the PS, hopefully I can get some screen a cabinet shots. I will make it a regular at cax if people want to see it/play it. Its a cool game. Your a wizard and can summon creatures to fight the other wizard and his creatures. It has a very complex strategic element to it.


here is a side art pic and klov screen grabs:

 

[HighScoreSaves]

Awesome! Love to see the cab. I haven't heard of this game...

 

[Mike Valmike]

You have no idea how much I want this. If you ever consider selling it, please keep me in mind.

 

[mrbill2084]

Awesome! Love to see the cab. I haven't heard of this game...

If its not in mame, other than the 1 year at cax, I doubt many people have seen it other than employees and when it was out on test. I only knew about it as I know one of the programmers and got to play it before it was done and when it was out on test. Some sony guys came to cax one year and wanted to see it. This was just before they released their magic the gathering game. Probably wanted to see if they would get sued..

There can't be very many of these left. I am pretty sure golfland had 2 of them and they eventually just converted the cabs. I made a promise not to sell it and make it available at cax when I got it, so its not going anywhere.

here are flyers for it.

 

[Muel]

Yea Bill!! Definitely bring this to CAX in 2014!
I remember seeing a proto on location - but this was a LONG, LONG time ago....
I didn't realize that only 12 were made..??
This is right up there with "The Act" as far as rarity.

Super nice score by the way!

 

[mrbill2084]

Yea Bill!! Definitely bring this to CAX in 2014!
I remember seeing a proto on location - but this was a LONG, LONG time ago....
I didn't realize that only 12 were made..??
This is right up there with "The Act" as far as rarity.

Super nice score by the way!

Let me try to find out how many we're actually made, but it was not that many. I think it was on test here in the Bay Area and I want to say in Texas.

 

[tbbk]

I think the biggest downside (assuming this emulates the card game) is that the rules of the card game have changed quite a bit since they made this game. I buy the new PC version every year.

Congrats on a one of a kind pickup.

 

[Oryk Zinyo]

I found this years ago while searching KLOV and always wanted to try it out. Maybe I'll get a chance at a future CAX.

 

[willkaotix]

I remember the one that showed up at CAX, quite sure it was the larger size one.
After having seen the one at CAX I remember a number of the boardsets popping up on ebay.
I also remember one of the golflands converting one to come on baby and leaving the sideart intact. I think it may have been converted after that but the sideart was always there and nice. It may still be there... and PCB's are out there.
I played and loved the card game so at the time had thought about trying to get that cab and a pcb off ebay, because hey its magic and rare. But never did because it was hard to justify sinking money into something only because its rare, gameplay wise its not very strong.

EDIT: Damn, I had not thought about this game in a long time. Now thinking about it I regret not picking up some of those PCB's. Someones hording, and its not me. :-(
Will be kinda fun to see one again.

Just picked this rare acclaim game up from one of the programmers: Magic The Gathering: Armageddon.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8498

It looks like its proto 1. They only made about a dozen or two of these before acclaim shut their doors. This is the smaller cab they made with a 27" vga monitor. They also made a huge cab with a 39" vga in it.

Not sure if this was the exact one, but Armageddon made it to cax one year about 10-12 years ago. My nephews really liked the game and played it a bunch at cax. They were upset it was not back the next year. I told them I would try to get one. So more of a grail acquired for them. But since its been so long and they are off in college now, who knows what they will think of it..


After I do some cab repairs and replace the PS, hopefully I can get some screen a cabinet shots. I will make it a regular at cax if people want to see it/play it. Its a cool game. Your a wizard and can summon creatures to fight the other wizard and his creatures. It has a very complex strategic element to it.

 

[MoxManiac]

Thats pretty awesome, never knew such a game existed.

 

[mrbill2084]

when acclaim closed, they were going to trash some cabs that were left. Ken and tj got a call and they picked up I think 2 39" bodies with no boards. For a few years, they used them to announce the pinball standings.

I think they got a board for armageddon a few years later(probably from golfland), but it either did not work or it was unstable. I remember when acclaim closed we joked about driving over and just picking them up as no one was going to go get them. Pretty sad when they just turned up converted.

I have never played the card game, so I have no idea of how closely its related to that game.

I remember the one that showed up at CAX, quite sure it was the larger size one.
After having seen the one at CAX I remember a number of the boardsets popping up on ebay.
I also remember one of the golflands converting one to come on baby and leaving the sideart intact. I think it may have been converted after that but the sideart was always there and nice. It may still be there... and PCB's are out there.
I played and loved the card game so at the time had thought about trying to get that cab and a pcb off ebay, because hey its magic and rare. But never did because it was hard to justify sinking money into something only because its rare, gameplay wise its not very strong.

EDIT: Damn, I had not thought about this game in a long time. Now thinking about it I regret not picking up some of those PCB's. Someones hording, and its not me. :-(
Will be kinda fun to see one again.

 

[sosage]

This is great! I remember seeing a cab in a backroom of SVGL turned off while there for a SF tournament. That was the only time I had heard or seen anything about it. +1 would love to try it. Bring it to CAX!

 

[mrbill2084]

just got some more info on the game. hopefully it will help fill in some blanks and answer some questions.

Was the game finished?
1. You have the final production ROMs. This was the complete game, ready for full production.

How did the game relate to magic the gathering card came? Did you plan to update the game as the card game changed?
2. It used the MtG license and we were inspired by ideas in the cards. There were plans to create cards for key creatures/characters in the game, but I don't think those cards were ever released. No, there were no plans to update unless we made a sequel.

Is this cab proto 1 and how many were made?
3. Not many units. You have the first prototype cabinet and production hardware. We built 29" and 39" VGA cabinets. I think 2 or 3 of the 39", a dozen or so of the 29". There were a few copies in Las Vegas casinos for a while.

How did the game do on test and how close was it to production?
4. We tested at all of the Golflands and at the Great Mall. The game was ready for full production, was earning well and had orders, but Acclaim was under severe financial pressure at the time and chose to shut down Acclaim Coin-Op instead.

 

[Tharizdun]

This was at some Disney locations as well.

The gameplay is nothing like the card game. "Inspired by" sounds about right.

Nice pick-up. I was trying to get one as well.

 

[mrbill2084]

This was at some Disney locations as well.

The gameplay is nothing like the card game. "Inspired by" sounds about right.

Nice pick-up. I was trying to get one as well.

Going on 15 year old remberences can be kind of sketchy. Especially on short notice. Plus he might not have known/remembered all the test details.

I remember contacting someone about one a long time ago. I think it was on ebay listing. I thought he was in Texas and they were working on some aspect of it and that's why they had the game.

 

[mrbill2084]

Had a little time to mess with the cab today. Its mostly back together. I fixed the structural problems with missing back lower part. I just need to reattach the front pedestal part and reconnect the wiring. Then I can move on to testing the PS and powering it up.

Here are some pics. Garage is still a mess after cax.

upper right corner of the control panel is broken off. I hope its in the pedestal.

 

[z3k3]

Nice find, Bill. I love seeing obscure rarities uncovered. You do a great job in tracking down this stuff. Thanks for posting.