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You said that it's sat in someone's basement for the past 15 years, so its wear and tear hasn't happened during the past 15 years. That brings us to 2002. You have to go back quite a bit further than that to give it enough time to get so beat up around the corners and edges. Who was making screen printed reproductions of Centipede sideart back then?
Me neither. Just those fabulous shoes! [emoji151]
Phoenix Arcade was making screen-printed Centipede sideart (from original Atari films) back then. It was also the same type (purple outline around bug) that you see on this cab.
The OP's machine was obviously on location with that side art for some time prior to the early '00s, considering the damage around the control panel areas and bottom corners.
Aside from the major job of removal, you would also need to do some Bondo/filler work around the edges, because by the time the original full side art is so beat up that anyone would consider replacing it, you can be sure the edges of the particle board would be beat up too. I'll bet there are zero signs of any Bondo/filler work ever having been done on that cabinet, because it's incredibly unlikely that its side art isn't original.
I would not make that assumption. Hell, I've seen HUO machines with a lot more damage on them than that Centipede.
We're talking about a game that's probably been in collector hands for around two decades now. Games get dinged up from moving around. I've got games that have worse battle scars just from letting friends borrow them....
Lack of bondo tells you nothing. The guy that puts repro side art on crooked is the same guy that doesn't bother to repair the cab edges.
When I was loading/unloading the game I think I seen bondo or some type of filler on the rear/bottom side panels where the t-molding would go (looks like the cab had water damage and there's some swelling on the bottom part of the panels front and sides).
I don't think it's original because both sides are misaligned (what are the chances of the factory identically misaligning both sides?)
I don't think I'll ever know for sure, lol...