My grail.....Atari Popeye :)

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....for the coming years no more machines for me, but of course everyone has his grail.....

(See picture)


This picture was taken from the february 1983 edition of Atari's Coin Connection => http://arcarc.xmission.com/Newsletters/Atari Coin Connection/Coin_Conn_V7-N02.pdf

The picture is from the London 1983 ATE show and hence the Irish cabinets there....


Of course we all know the flyer of Atari's Popeye cab but this is the first time I actually see real cabs in "the wild" (as far as you can call a show the wild....)

Browsing through all these Coin Connections (regretfully not all issues are there) you get a pretty nice insight about Atari's arcade division from 1976 to 1983. *Something I noticed was that pictures, quotes and names of Atari's "suits" are EVERYWHERE and NOWHERE you will find one name of the people who created the games......

Anyway, this is a joy to browse through:

http://arcarc.xmission.com/Newsletters/Atari Coin Connection/

Even though I use the Arcade Archive very often I only discovered these scans today :)
 

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Awesome. By some kind of miracle, I picked up an Irish Millipede from a member on here. Looks like it uses the same cabinet as the Popeye.

The cabinet is REALLY rough and was coated with heavy black paint. It is pretty much beyond repair in its current state. I am vectorizing the cabinet and will be rebuilding a new one from scratch with my CNC. Luckily, all of the major hardware is still on the cabinet. When I am finished, I will probably have the only one in the US. Luckily, it uses the same sideart as the full-sized upright, just smaller.

I hope you find your grail. Thanks for sharing the pics too. It would be incredible to find a Popeye like that! Does it use a Wico joystick? These type of rare finds keep the hobby fun and exciting.
 
LOL. I think I have the only fully working Lunar Lander on Europe's mainland, but then again you are never sure :)

About the joystick, no idea, here is the flyer:

274000301.jpg


It does have the looks of a Wico. Pretty sure it makes it a lot easier to control the game :)

I'm not really expecting to find one, but then again I never expected to find a SW cockpit, Lunar Lander, Q*bert, Ms.Pac Man either ;)
 
LOL. I think I have the only fully working Lunar Lander on Europe's mainland, but then again you are never sure :)

About the joystick, no idea, here is the flyer:

274000301.jpg


It does have the looks of a Wico. Pretty sure it makes it a lot easier to control the game :)

I'm not really expecting to find one, but then again I never expected to find a SW cockpit, Lunar Lander, Q*bert, Ms.Pac Man either ;)

That looks cool.. I have owned a few popeye machines, but that one looks awesome..
 
Thanks for the pic of the Popeye flyer. That is rad. I love how the joystick is centered with a button on each side, Dig Dug style. That does look like a Wico too. If only I had another one of these control panels...

not quite. I have Irish Millipede as well. :>

I knew that whoever had one would be quick to post, so now it is your job to take some nice pics of your CPO and marquee so I can repro them. :) Side art shots would be nice too, as well as a shot of the back door which mine is missing. Please take a few pics of your machine for me!!
 
Well of course I never played one, but from the back-side of the flyer it looks like the game is 100% the same.

Yes the side art is basically the same elements but the background color is yellow instead of blue and Bluto and Olive seem to be moved up, and thus the shape of the side-art is different too (to match the cab).

And of course it features the Atari Logo under the Nintendo logo, which given the fact that Nintendo negotiated about the NES with Atari at about the same time makes it even more fun to see.
 
Cool looking cab. Looks l a lot like Konami cabs like Gyruss and Circus Charlie. I take it Nintendo didnt have a factory or didnt ship games to Ireland from Japan is why its was licensed to Atari?
 
Scott has a proto atari time pilot in that cab. He took it cax one year. I think he has another proto in that cab. Maybe a crystal castles or millipede.
 
atari popeye

man i was gonna ask you what you were smoking when i saw the title of the thread. thanks for sharing never knew this i am a rookie, been in the game for only 2 years! i love the euro cabs from atari and williams. i own a fast freddie euro cab and its one of my favorites. you could probably repro one from scratch!
 
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