When did companies stop supporting their arcade games?

Sectorseven

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When did companies stop supporting their arcade games?

What I mean is the ability for operators to buy replacement parts or buy new games altogether. Like, say it's 1993 and I need a new bezel for my Donkey Kong. Would I be able to get a new stock bezel or had Nintendo dropped support by then?
 
What I mean is the ability for operators to buy replacement parts or buy new games altogether. Like, say it's 1993 and I need a new bezel for my Donkey Kong. Would I be able to get a new stock bezel or had Nintendo dropped support by then?

I would be inclined to think that they weren't screening new Donkey Kong bezels in 1993. Might be able to buy them though? Not sure. I'm bet if you had a good distributor they could find one for you.
 
What I mean is the ability for operators to buy replacement parts or buy new games altogether. Like, say it's 1993 and I need a new bezel for my Donkey Kong. Would I be able to get a new stock bezel or had Nintendo dropped support by then?

Typically, support lasts about 5 years after the date of first release.

Thats getting closer to 3 years these days.

Matt
 
I know when I bought my first game, Space Invaders deluxe, in 1988 I wrote to midway that I just purchased the game and there wasn't a manual and was wondering if I could purchase one. Figured no chance as the game was 8 years old at the time. Well 2 weeks later I had one in the mail at no charge!
 
A lot of it depended on how much stock the manufacturer kept on hand. Typically it was about 10% of the production run. Then the distributors used to carry some stock as well and big operators would keep a few on hand, just in case. If it was a game that didn't get broken very often, you can still ocassionally find NOS parts that have been sitting in dusty back corner of an operators warehouse for the last 27 years.

ken
 
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What I mean is the ability for operators to buy replacement parts or buy new games altogether. Like, say it's 1993 and I need a new bezel for my Donkey Kong. Would I be able to get a new stock bezel or had Nintendo dropped support by then?

I'd imagine for the same reasons its hard to find a charger, hip holster or screen protector for a 10 year old cell phone. Life expectancy was what...18 months max? And by the end of that time they were shuffled to some crappy bar or 7-11 where nobody paid attention to them anyway...
 
When did companies stop supporting their arcade games?

When i contacted Nintendo about a Monitor replacement back in the early 90's. People told me then they had nothing to do with there arcade games anymore.
 
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