Very rare cab found in Europe: Sega Bomber

OK I'll just do a very short version here.

The story is that I found a warehouse a couple of years ago and we already rolled out a good number of classics and some not so classic machines.

One of the machines left there though was a Sega Bomber.
It's a very early (1977) BW game. There is no pictures of it on KLOV and there is no (known) dedicated flyer but it is pictured on this flyer:

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I did a lot of googling for this machine and found absolutely nothing...

Anyway, I picked up this game for my good friend Alpha1 (from "The Ship" fame).
For some strange reason I had a very positive feeling that this one might actually still be working. This was fueled a bit by an Atari Canyon Bomber that was also saved from this warehouse not too long ago that was also 100% working !
It was funny, the warehouse owner is pretty old but when I asked where this machine was he knew exactly where it was and when I asked if he knew it was still complete (with PCB) he said well....it should still be running.

So we powered it up and indeed the marquee lit up, one of the little bomber planes on the bezel ("Mission lights") lit up and after some time there was attract mode !

The only thing "wrong" was a slight horizontal jitter which I'm pretty sure is just a bad pot.

Anyway I could only make pics back home so here we go:

Clearly it was mention to go to mainland Europe from the start....
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But it was made in Japan....
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Robin have a *look at this very rare machine...we like it more and more :)
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Regretfully the machine has no side-art but that's how it is supposed to be.

The best piece of artwork on it is the marquee. I still find it amazing that the SEGA logo is already so old but STILL looking great and not aged....
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The bezel had three bombers that light up depending on the bonus level I guess. The one on the right lit up right away...
There's a very weird RGB color overlay over the monitor which is a bit weird since the movement on the screen is horizontal but maybe it has some function in the game I don't know of yet....
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Gotta love that CP even thought there is no artwork. Look at these very special buttons and the Japanese instructions....:)
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Wit a bit of black paint this is going to look great again:
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English instructions:
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I'm sure it's set-up for Belgian Francs now but I love that coin entry...
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Close up of the buttons. In my best Japanese I can read "Start game" on the yellow button and "release bomb" on the right one ;) ;) ;) Seriously if one of the Japanese guys here could give an exact translation that would be great....
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The coin door in Japanese style (little crime.....) It's simply a cut out of the front plate with a piano hinge.....:)
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I had a look at the back of the monitor before I left the warehouse (for some weird reason ;)). That has a separate "door" that can be simply unscrewed. Ther is a NEC b/w monitor in there with a NEC tube, I've never seen this chassis before.

Regretfully I coulnd't credit it so I can't say if the game plays OK but I expect little trouble. The only "issue" I saw is that the picture is slightly jittering horizontally but I bet that that is just a bad pot meter on the monitor....

I never got to see the PCB. All of these require documentation because there is nothing available on the net.

My plan is to do a basic cleaning of the cab and make pics of the inside. I'll also make a video of the game play if I get it to credit.

Alpha1: you better make sure you have a brand new UK plug at South Coast Slam so we can have it running there right away.

All in all I'm very happy "we" saved this cab, it may be not the most know machine or a real classic, but it certainly is a very rare piece e of SEGA history and as such a very cool machine.
 
Love old Sega stuff! btw, the katakana over the yellow button says "su taa to" or start ;)
 
Really kewl looking machine. Never seen one of those before. Thanks for sharing the pictures and information! Cant wait to see it up and fully running.
 
Dont think the USAF has a real copyright on stuff like that ?

Anyway, At least it isnt just some imaginative plane, think they did a pretty decent job for that time frame of arcade videogames....shame that it lacks side-art though...
 
Looks like the same joystick handle used on zaxxon. They sure got some life out of that mold!
 
Looks like the same joystick handle used on zaxxon. They sure got some life out of that mold!

I just had to go run and take a picture to see. LOL wow im a geek! Looks so much the same other then Zaxxon has the LED on top.
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Close up of the buttons. In my best Japanese I can read "Start game" on the yellow button and "release bomb" on the right one ;) ;) ;) Seriously if one of the Japanese guys here could give an exact translation that would be great....
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爆弾投下 indeed means "Drop bomb" just as you thought.
 
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