Is it just me or....

Gary Vincent

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... did a large number of laser disc games get converted into Choplifter? I saw this in the for sale section http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=169860 and it got me thinking. We have a MACH 3 sitdown cab with a Choplifter in it, the museum purchased a Dragon's Lair cabinet with a Choplifter kit installed and our Firefox upright came with....yep, you guessed it... a Choplifter kit installed.

Gary
 
Seen a few, like a Mach 3 cockpit with ChopLifter in it. Its nice when they have a flight stick like the one you are talking about. Never really dealt with laser games much myself. Were they really as unreliable back in the day as people say?
 
Seen a few, like a Mach 3 cockpit with ChopLifter in it. Its nice when they have a flight stick like the one you are talking about. Never really dealt with laser games much myself. Were they really as unreliable back in the day as people say?

My opinion based on dealing with laser games when they were new is yes, they were unreliable. At first they were great but after a while the laser disc players proved to be their downfall. They just couldn't handle being run 12 hours per day and constantly searching for scenes to be played.

Gary
 
Pictures or it didn't happen :)

The marquee was gone from the DL cab but it was 100% Choplifter.
 

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Pictures or it didn't happen :)

The marquee was gone from the DL cab but it was 100% Choplifter.

I didn't take pics of mine before I removed all the Choplifter stuff, but it's identical to yours. The one good thing with mine is it is unmolested on the yoke. It still retains it's original overlay in mint condition.
 
I checked, most of the laserdisc games came out in 83 and 84, then choplifter came out in 85. So they must have worked for about 2 months, then gave trouble for several months, and after about a year of that the ops said fuck it and bought the newest kit out which happened to be choplifter, lol.
 
The answer to the reliability issues is that they were highly unreliable. Not because of being run as much as they were highly suseptible to vibration. Any sort of cabinet abuse translated into a head misalignment requiring a trip to the shop to be realigned. Operators would forget to lock the head down when they would move the cabinet and another trip to the shop for a $100 head realignment. Move the cabinet next to it, oops, another trip for head realignement. Breathe on it wrong, head realignment.

Combine that with declining revenue and it's just another wooden box waiting for a new game.

ken
 
Add me to the list ...

I had a Mach 3 cabinet that played Choplifter like a champ! I have since sold Mach 3 Choplifter, but I know I have some pics somewhere ... I'll dig them up later and post them.

Steve
MM
 
I currently own a Choplifter installed in an Astron Belt upright, and over the years, I've seen Choplifter kits installed in Cliff Hanger, Cobra Command, Dragon's Lair, Firefox, Galaxy Ranger, and MACH 3, upright and cockpit.

So yeah... lots of laser conversions.

Although the wackiest Choplifter conversion I've seen was in an Omega Race cockpit. Still had the "space capsule" side art too.

Kyle :cool:
 
... did a large number of laser disc games get converted into Choplifter? I saw this in the for sale section http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=169860 and it got me thinking. We have a MACH 3 sitdown cab with a Choplifter in it, the museum purchased a Dragon's Lair cabinet with a Choplifter kit installed and our Firefox upright came with....yep, you guessed it... a Choplifter kit installed.

Gary

One of my fav parts of visiting you guys is playing that sit down Choplifter :p

Dan.
 
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The Galaxy Ranger I advertised here on KLOV was converted to a Choplifter! :( I think the ops converted flight stick games to Choplifter since it was easier and already had the right "feel".

Scott C.
 
... did a large number of laser disc games get converted into Choplifter? I saw this in the for sale section http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=169860 and it got me thinking. We have a MACH 3 sitdown cab with a Choplifter in it, the museum purchased a Dragon's Lair cabinet with a Choplifter kit installed and our Firefox upright came with....yep, you guessed it... a Choplifter kit installed.

Gary

YES, I've seen several Mach 3 as well as Astro Thunder (is that what it was??? Sega laser game?) converted to Choplifter. They were troublesome games and poor earners, Choplifter only came as a kid and was popular already due to being big on home computers... perfect match... :)

Wade
 
I have to find that DL-molded Choplifter marquee I have, too...

FullView.jpg
 
I've seen Choplifter in a M.A.C.H. 3 cab in the wild.

At the defunct Super Bear Arcade - presumably still there and locked away in the darkness - is a M.A.C.H. 3 sit-down with Galaxian installed. Very odd. Actually kind of fun to play that way, too.
 
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