Not the usual 'ID this cabinet' request

casm

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This is a 'help me ID this cabinet' request, but with a couple of twists:

* I don't have a photo of the cabinet, so am using the crappy hand-drawn pictures attached below to illustrate it. Yes, I have positively zero artistic ability but they should at least get the idea across. Views are side and frontal elevations.

* I've seen these cabinets on both sides of the Atlantic, and I never saw one that didn't contain a bootleg. Games I can remember seeing in them: Zig Zag (Dig Dug knockoff), Naughty Boy, Crazy Kong, Super Rider, and Frog (Frogger bootleg).

General description:

The cabinet was divided up into three (for want of a better term) cubes; the edges of the cubes facing the player were bevelled and T-moulded. A pedestal at the bottom was slightly wider than the cabinet and supported the lowest cube; the two cubes above it were stacked with small plinths between them which separated the cubes by a couple of inches.

Each cube had a particular function: the lowest one contained the coinbox and speaker, the middle one had the control panel and marquee, and the top housed the monitor. Playing them for a long time as a kid sucked, because my head was constantly tilted back in order to look up at the monitor. I'd also imagine that they were rather top-heavy, which goes some way towards explaining the width of the pedestal.

My recollection is that the pedestal and plinths were always black, and that the sides were either a flat colour (typically beige or something else equally-interesting) or woodgrain.

Again, I only ever saw these housing bootlegs (or possibly conversions), not original titles. My suspicion is that they were sold to operators back in the day as cheap generic cabinets.

If at all possible, I'd love to be able to ID the manufacturer and / or sources for these so that I know what I'm looking for in searches. Any help ID'ing them appreciated.
 

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you don't mean the UA cabinets. I never seen a cube cabinet like you are trying to draw.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=251155&highlight=United+artists+cabinet

attachment.php
 
you don't mean the UA cabinets. I never seen a cube cabinet like you are trying to draw.

Nope, definitely not that one - it's not divided up into individual (but attached as described) cubes.

This would have been seen in the 1981-1986 timeframe, if it helps.
 
is it the one on the far right of this picture?
 

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Sorry, but that's not it. The one I remember had three distinct cubic segments when viewed from the front or side; that one still has the traditional single-piece sides.

Also, where are you from?

There were definitely some oddball bootleg cabinets in and around Europe.

I'm half-Irish, half-American, but grew up on both sides of the water. Moved to the US in the late '90s.

And agreed that there were definitely some comparatively-odd cabinets in Europe, but which ones you would see was typically fairly regional. My recollection is that I saw this one in Germany and Holland, but not Ireland, the UK, or France. In the US I only remember seeing it in L.A., specifically around the San Fernando Valley.

By the way, I dig the Zombie Defense AR lower :)
 

Bingo! That is definitely it, as confirmed by the three-quarters view:

1078346057.jpg


I don't recall having ever seen Cosmic Attackers in it, though, just bootlegs (which probably describes Cosmic Attackers, now that I think of it). Looks like it was only divided up into two sections and not three, but not bad for a 30-year-old memory. And it doesn't surprise me that Elcon made that cabinet; they released a lot of bootlegs and generally-dodgy titles.

Thanks for digging that up; I really appreciate it. Now I just have to find one :)
 
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You're welcome! I actually saw and played a Cosmic Attackers in this style cabinet at a Woolworth store in Maryland around 1980/1981.

Later, I saw the same style cabinet converted into Time Pilot 84... maybe it was even the same machine that had been converted and relocated.

Kyle :cool:




Bingo! That is definitely it, as confirmed by the three-quarters view:

1078346057.jpg


I don't recall having ever seen Cosmic Attackers in it, though, just bootlegs (which probably describes Cosmic Attackers, now that I think of it). Looks like it was only divided up into two sections and not three, but not bad for a 30-year-old memory. And it doesn't surprise me that Elcon made that cabinet; they released a lot of bootlegs and generally-dodgy titles.

Thanks for digging that up; I really appreciate it. Now I just have to find one :)
 
I recall that si clone for sale in canada several years back. It might have been in the US just a bit south nesr new hampshire.....i would stick close to all canadian craigslist ads. Good luck!
 
dude!! Growing up in the homeland(my family is irish too) i bet you saw some crazy stuff we will never see here.

Cannot believe the fellas here found the cab!! Thats nuts!
 
dude!! Growing up in the homeland(my family is irish too) i bet you saw some crazy stuff we will never see here.

The one that really sticks in my head was Dragon's Lair. The first time I played it was on a US cab; playing it a few months later on an Irish Atari model with the on-screen display had me wondering what was wrong with all of the US models that I'd played since they didn't do that :D Took a few years to find out the reason for the differences.

Quick rundown of major differences: lots and lots of original Atari cabs. Go figure :) Sega and Namco were also pretty well-represented, but the majority of games out there were bootlegs or conversions. It wasn't uncommon to go into an arcade and see a dozen or so original cabinets with the remainder being obvious bootlegs. Smaller locations (pubs, convenience stores, fast-food places, etc.) almost exclusively had bootleg machines.

One that I didn't buy when I had the chance which I wish I had: a Super Breakout that had been at the Bray DART (train) station for years. Interesting machine; ran on 220V but the instruction card still referred to inserting quarters! Never saw inside of it and would have loved to have found out a bit more about its history.

Cannot believe the fellas here found the cab!! Thats nuts!

I am seriously impressed by that - the fact that a 30-year-old memory translated into a rough drawing could have someone else say, "oh, yeah, I know what that is..." It's pretty awesome :)
 
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Resurrecting the thread because it looks as though I may have talked myself into second-guessing my own memory.

Recap: I initially thought that the cabinet was composed of three stacked cubes. Pleiades10 dug up Cosmic Attackers, which led to me saying the following:

Bingo! That is definitely it, as confirmed by the three-quarters view:

1078346057.jpg

At the time, I thought that was the one I was looking for and had just misremembered the cabinet slightly.

Moving on to tonight: I found myself looking at the Hellcade page, and ran across this picture:

2kR1ugJ.jpg


Without a doubt, that big, green, ugly cabinet on the right is the style that I was remembering (though I don't recall having ever seen them in that colour). Cosmic Attackers was really close, but I'm positive that this one is it.

So that just leaves me with the question of that cabinet's origins. If anyone else happens to know anything about them, I'd love to hear it.
 
Well, how crazy is that.

I was just up drinking a beer and thinking I was the only one here posting. And finally here you are posting about a pic you saw in MY Hellcade. That's cool.

And that is one ugly ass cab. If I were you I would just delete it from your arcade memories and leave it be in the Hellcade where it belongs...
 
Well, how crazy is that.

I was just up drinking a beer and thinking I was the only one here posting. And finally here you are posting about a pic you saw in MY Hellcade. That's cool.

Hah :) Only reason I'm even here right now is due to a conference call dragging on through the night. I'm just killing time in-between parts that are actually relevant to me with Internets.

And that is one ugly ass cab. If I were you I would just delete it from your arcade memories and leave it be in the Hellcade where it belongs...

Well, I never said they were pretty cabs... ;)
 
Just to tie this one up: one of these cabinets turned up locally and became mine; that thread is here.
 
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