What manufacturer's games have held up the Best?

Phetishboy

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
Messages
47,929
Reaction score
9,392
Location
Avon, Minnesota
What manufacturers' games, when picked up 25-35 years later, are in the best shape cosmetically in your experience? Which one's have a higher percentage of being 'good enough' as is when you roll them into the garage? Which ones don't require full-on restores more often than not? I am thinking of this, because even though I feel that the materials used in construction play a huge roll in longevity, many machines built with 'better' materials still don't jive with that theory. Take Nintendo for example. I have had all plywood cabs with the baked enamel finish, and we all know plywood is better than part board or MDF right? But out of the 10 or so Nintys I have had, all but one were beat to shit, needed serious bondoing, repainting/vinyling, needed new bases, had mildew damage, artwork was torn or missing, cabs had dry rot, flaking etc. Now all of my Atari's to date, even though they are made out of particle board, have never seemed to need full on restoes. None of the current Ataris in my personal collection have needed much more than a good cleaning, some touch-up and a monitor rebuild. My Starwars, Asteroids Deluxe, 2 720's, Primal Rage, Toobin, Pole Position cockpit, Pole Position upright, System 1 Cab, Paperboy, Tempest and Asteroids were all in great shape structurally when I picked them up. Only one of my 720's, the Paperboy and the System 1 cab 'Needed' to be restored as none of the three had artwork and they were all 3 painted black. Structurally though, they were solid.

So my choice for the manufacturer with the best condition, most long lived, best preserved-artwork-still-intact cabinets is Atari (pre 1984). Specially Atari cabs with full screened-on or full vinyl artwork. It seems when they tried to cheap out and go the decal route (sys 1, sys 2, etc) they really shortened the life of said artwork.
 
Last edited:
I agree... Atari seems to hold up the best IMHO. Maybe it was because they were built like a brick shithouse and were so damn heavy that most didn't want to move them nearly as often as Nintendo, Midway, or even Williams.
 
Atari /thread over

I wish you'd do that in most of those political threads that run for weeks. Damn, a legit guy tries to start an arcade-related thread on an arcade-themed website, he gets shot down with a 3 letter thread-killer. Sad.
 
I don't think you get much in between with Atari. They are either total shit or decent. If they are total shit then they get smashed otherwise they are saved. Hence more nice Atari cabinets. In the spirit of totally disagreeing with Sav I say Williams hold up the best and also seem to be the most converted probably because of the longevity of the cabinets.
 
Yeah. whatever. This place really blows these days.

crying-waterfall.gif
 
I would say Atari as well. Nintendo's usually have the bases beat to hell and paint/coating (whatever the hell you all decided it was) chipped up at the bottom and back edge. Williams usually have some serious cracking/drying out of the paint as well as usually mangled lower edges. And any mdf cabinet is usually a mess unless they were kept in a climate controlled clean room...
 
I think pretty much any game can end up in terrible shape. Just about every one of these machines was probably deemed worthless at some point in the last 30 years, and stuck in a storage unit/warehouse or converted to a newer game.

Not that many people view these games as desirable collectables, even today.
 
I think pretty much any game can end up in terrible shape. Just about every one of these machines was probably deemed worthless at some point in the last 30 years, and stuck in a storage unit/warehouse or converted to a newer game.

Not that many people view these games as desirable collectables, even today.

Someone needs another hug.
 
I think pretty much any game can end up in terrible shape. Just about every one of these machines was probably deemed worthless at some point in the last 30 years, and stuck in a storage unit/warehouse or converted to a newer game.

Not that many people view these games as desirable collectables, even today.

You need to get off your movie sets, and back to a less hectic, lovable life. Seriously, we all love your work, but please.
 
If I were to judge on durability I would have to say Atari followed by Williams. For example, my friend gave me an Asteroids UR that had sat in a barn for nine years. Yeah the outside was a little rough, but the inside was spotless. The monitor (801) didn't even have any burn in. The ones I have seen that don't hold up very well would have to be Bally/Midway.
 
If I were to judge on durability I would have to say Atari followed by Williams. For example, my friend gave me an Asteroids UR that had sat in a barn for nine years. Yeah the outside was a little rough, but the inside was spotless. The monitor (801) didn't even have any burn in. The ones I have seen that don't hold up very well would have to be Bally/Midway.

+1. Most Atari cabs are still in great shape. Williams cabs hold up almost as well, but the stencilled sides are more prone to damage.

Bally/Midway cabinets have the most flaked off paint, and they have a higher rate of falling apart than all the rest.
 
There is something to be said about the Atari cabs being so dam heavy I bet they didn't get nearly as much movements the lighter cabs....I've moved some of those heavy bastards...foodfight..dig dug to mention a few...

So far a lot of good points...I also think the nintendo got played alot too and that has a lot to do with the beatings they took...probably constantly moved from one location to another...the funny thing is with that heavy duty paint job..its funny they didn't hold up better...but I guess the light weight led to them getting thrown around pretty good..
 
Atari cabinets have a higher percentage of being found in restorable shape only because they were such a pain in the ass to convert to something else. At the end of the usable life, ops would pull some cabs to convert.

Williams cabinets were a piece of cake to convert, so bam!; new boards, new controls, new marquee and back out making a buck. Until they were so beat up, they were used for firewood. I have cleaned Williams control panels that had 4 and 5 layers of CPOs on them.

Ataris, would get one look and then get put into the roundtoit shed (as in "when I get around to it"). 25 years later the operator's heirs get a bill from a storage company and decide to firesale some cabinets. Voilà! A nice Atari cabinet squints when seeing light of day for the first time in 20+ years.

Of the cabinets that I have purchased or looked at purchasing, I have rarely seen Ataris converted to anything. I have 1 Centipede that was converted to a Commando and 1 that had been converted to a Rush'n Attack. The rest have pretty much been what they started life as.

ken
 
Of the cabinets that I have purchased or looked at purchasing, I have rarely seen Ataris converted to anything.
ken

Ever heard of a game called "Tempest"? This game seemed to have some serious conversion appeal for whatever reason. It was prison-raped and publicly urinated on as it was converted to Star Trek, Major Havoc, Shinobi, and others that I'm sure other folks here will be able to shout out.
 
Back
Top Bottom