Its real, a trade show prototype, here is the story.
One of my friends from school showed me a magazine in around 1984 which had an article on Elevator Action.
When elevator Action was first displayed at a USA arcade convention for operators in 1982-83, Taito made complete six cabs for operators to play the new game at the Taito trade stand along with other Taito releases for 1983.
The game Taito displayed to operators was hastily renamed Elevator Action for the show and displayed in its original concept Spy Agent upright cabinets. Originally before the trade show debut in the USA the game was titled Spy Agent, but this was changed at the last minute.
After the trade show there was a mix up at Taito HQ in Japan because orders were coming in with operators asking for the elevator game. The sales staff taking the orders didn't understand what the USA operators wanted because the Taito order sheets in Japan still had the game listed as Spy Agent. This was a disaster for Taito.
After a few months Taito executives wondered why they weren't getting any orders for what was supposed to be their hit game of '83, (apparently the people taking the orders couldn't understand elevator, L's and R's don't translate into Japanese - hey, this was 1983...) and anyway the game was still listed in Taito HQ's order books as Spy Agent and this was causing the confusion with orders at the factory's sales dept in Japan.
A.F.A.I.K. the reason Taito changed the title screen in Spy Agent before the trade show and on the later production version - Elevator Action, was because their American lawyers were worried that Taito could be sued by MAD magazine as the game was too close to the comics Spy V's Spy cartoon in concept and gameplay, Mad Magazine could have issued a writ for breach of copyright, also Spy Agent was similar to the James Bond 007 movie franchise in concept and design and that they could have sued Taito for the same.
I am absolutely sure the US gaming magazine said that there was only six Spy Agent machines made and they were for trade show conventions in the US in late 82 or early '83.
When in a brief moment of clarity I remembered the article that I had been shown in 84 the quest was on. Some time later (after over two years of searching on ebay and a Eureka moment) I bought the artwork of a seller in the USA that advertised the parts on Ebay, so I have the marquee, control panel and bezel. The control panel is clearly a prototype, mine has three holes for buttons on the left and right sides of the joystick in the metal underneath the artwork, when the game only has two buttons for the game. These holes are covered up by silver foil covered backing and the vinyl artwork. A production control panel from Taito wouldn't have been done in vinyl, they would have used a painted control panel for these versions, cheaper and harder wearing.
The PCB that I got from this seller was a Taito Frontline, the wrong one and not from the Spy Agent machine.
Over a year later I lucked upon another seller (was that you oregonarcade) with a complete machine for another ebay sale, and after some last second sniping I bought it complete for less than US$100, (I bid around US$300).
As I am in Australia and the price of shipping is too expensive I asked for the PCB to be shipped to me instead, which I then forwarded on to the Guru here in Australia for dumping. He recorded this on his page of contributions to the MAME project.
The Spy Agent PCB that I received was labelled Taito, but was different from Elevator action as it had no MCU protection device (clearly this is a prototype pre-production version without copy protection), the chips had the same roms as what is on the common Elevator Action Bootleg PCB that also has no MCU. The mame roms have since been revised from elevatob to elevatorb as a rom name in MAME because they are now considered to be off an original Taito version not the bootleg board which are the same. (Check Elevator Action listing in MAWS on MAMEworld for clarification and proof).
I am pretty sure that the magazine said that the prototype Elevator Action game was to be shown as Spy Agent on the title screen, but was hastily renamed Elevator Action before being shown at trade shows in the USA in order to avoid these potential lawsuits - this is America we're talking about!
The game magazine said that Taito America sold the machines off before the game became a hit, and didn't keep one themselves, and they also didn't keep a record of who they sold them too.
The magazine also said that the Spy Agent prototype machines were the rarest arcade machines ever made, and that after Elevator Action's success in the arcades Taito wanted one back for themselves as they didn't have one of the Prototype Machines.
I wonder if Taito still have a copy of the original Spy Agent roms somewhere in Japan, maybe they should check their archives or ask the original games developer. They would certainly be a cool inclusion in MAME.
I have racked my brain but I am not sure which game magazine it was, it was multi-platform and popular and was printed in the USA.
Maybe as a nice side project for MAME, MESS, DICE etc we should be getting a scanned library of early gaming magazines together as reference material.
I am looking at photo's your machine oregonarcade, and your control panel has a couple of extra holes too! My control panel is better as are only slightly depressed and have slight ripping and are not poked through. My argument with regard to the artwork is that is was only a mock up done for the US arcade game expo's and that Taito wouldn't have put their name on the prototype vinyl artwork because they weren't final production versions.
I will eventually get around to scanning the artwork that I have for the MAME project, could be a couple of years though as I am now at university and the money's not flowing like it used to!
I noticed that one Spy Agent was up for Auction at the Salem Auction in 2006, did you buy your machine there? The machine I got the PCB from was from two towns away, and that was in late 2007 (Same machine? yours? most probably...) I had to be quiet, as I was on a stealth mission.
My advice to people searching for rarities, you have to cross reference KLOV with MAWS and MAME lists when looking for prototypes, because their not listed anywhere else! (this is a reference to earlier post from FrizzleFried on MAME boards about which was the best site to reference games).
If you have unknown games on PCB, send them to either the Guru or Twisty at MAMEworld forums to get emulated.
If your have some spare time, search out the arcade shops in your area and see if you can find some un-emulated game PCB's, bezels, marquees and artwork for donating to MAME.
Arcade hunting is a rewarding hobby. You get to meet the guys in your region that fix machines, buy some parts and share experiences. Take the list of wanted games and artwork with you. It will get you out of the house on weekends!
If your an arcade operator who has a few unknown games, artwork or ephemera, please help the MAME project and send them in. You'll get a credit as being a contributor.
Nice example oregonarcade, have you still got the Spy Agent machine?
I have only ever seen two Spy Agent Marquee's for sale elsewhere, but no other complete machines, control panels, bezels or Taito Spy Agent PCB's anywhere else. (Only two machines, including yours I think, in various states of completeness in five years!)
Cheers from Australia, Tingoes! (old game finder, student, racconteur.)
It's a bootleg, look for even one taito logo on any of the artwork aside from the cabinet sides. and it's actually an alpine ski converted not a space dungeon i think
