When you saw converted cabs back in the day

Sectorseven

Active member
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
1,888
Reaction score
23
Location
Connecticut
Did you even notice it when you were in the arcade and saw the new game it had become?

If you did notice, did it bother you?

I was primarily a 90s gamer and most of the games got cycled through the Dynamo and showcase cabs, so it just sort of got ingrained in my head that cabs got reused. Of course these cabinets were designed for that and the transition was a little more graceful.
 
I was just in awe about the fact that I actually got the play these games when I was a kid BITD. They were all awesome to me.
 
I never really paid attention to the art/cabinets until I began collecting them. Back in the day, I just wanted to feed them quarters and play! I was oblivious to the cosmetics...
 
I never really paid attention to the art/cabinets until I began collecting them. Back in the day, I just wanted to feed them quarters and play! I was oblivious to the cosmetics...


This.

I did not notice, I was only interested in feeding the monkey too!

ArcadeMaze!
 
I never really paid attention to the art/cabinets until I began collecting them. Back in the day, I just wanted to feed them quarters and play! I was oblivious to the cosmetics...

I'm in that club too. The only thing I remember is occasionally running across Williams cabinets with the silver dollar slot and find the coin door unusual, but it never even occurred to me that it used to be another game. I think this was due to the fact I don't ever remember seeing a Williams(early 80s) game in the wild until there was a Defender cab at the college I went to in 1996.
 
I noticed conversions very early on, and they fascinated me. I always paid attention to the artwork and shape of game cabinets because I drew them in my spare time, so when I saw games in non dedicated cabinets, I was intrigued.

In fact, I wrote an article for Rotheblog all about "my conversion education" this past March.

http://www.rotheblog.com/2011/03/ugc/arcade-conversions-education/#more-5851

Kyle :cool:
 
I'm actually beginning to feel guilty that I never noticed stuff like that. It's uber-important now, how did I not see it BITD???
 
the only ones i remember were the pac man variations, like how cool it was when i would find a pac man somewhere and it would be pac man plus or something like that.
 
When I was young the only time I noticed was at one arcade by me where the op was lazy and would just toss in the new board and marquee. It would upset me when I saw Tron and Star Wars from a distance and when you got up to it there was something else running. :(
 
Whenever I walked into an arcade, usually they were stacked too close together to even see any artwork on them or cabinet shapes. All you saw was the marquee, control panel and front panel.... and most of the time I paid no attention to the front panel other than noticing some had the red plastic slots, and some had the Midway style slots.

-Hans
 
I never really paid attention to the art/cabinets until I began collecting them. Back in the day, I just wanted to feed them quarters and play! I was oblivious to the cosmetics...

Same here. I didn't pay attention to the cabinets until I realized that regular people could own arcade games. I never realized back then that games were converted. I don't remember seeing really ugly games or conversions when I was a kid.
 
I never noticed.....I was too focused on the game itself, and wanting to play it
Now I see each one as a mini work of art.....
As an auto buff too, honestly I see many machines like a car collector sees a classic car.....
For me, a Pacman cab = a 57 chevy..........
 
I stopped in to play Cliff Hanger one day in late 1984 at my local arcade and when I arrived at the spot where it normally sat, there was something that looked very much like the machine, but was now Super Basketball. I had some trouble understanding what had happened and when I asked the attendant, he explained that nobody was putting money in the game and a new game was installed in the same cabinet. It stung for a while, but I finally understood.
 
And then he went home and found out that his puppy had moved to a farm upstate to live with another family. Your statement my friend is particularly moving, completely understandable, and definitely saddening. This is why I am glad I never noticed that games were recycled back in the day. I guess I never really put enough token time in games until after the advent of the NES and most were already converted in the mid eighties. My first couple of grails were conversions, but I can only recall that Rastan was a pac man. No real loss there I suppose. I can't recall what Ninja Gaiden was. I had a Robocop in a DK jr if I was guessing. Also had an Alcon in a heavy ass Centipede that I promptly sold rather than try to move it upstairs. Most of the games that really stuck with me were the games that didn't lend themselves to conversions. Things like Star Wars, Red Barron, Firefox,Dragon's Lair, and Space Ace although I have seen my fair share of horror stories.
I stopped in to play Cliff Hanger one day in late 1984 at my local arcade and when I arrived at the spot where it normally sat, there was something that looked very much like the machine, but was now Super Basketball. I had some trouble understanding what had happened and when I asked the attendant, he explained that nobody was putting money in the game and a new game was installed in the same cabinet. It stung for a while, but I finally understood.
 
For me it was when I went to the arcade and saw a Tempest - still with all original art - was playing some non descript raster game. First one I noticed and was annoyed over.
 
Obviously I a big fan of Rygar, the game I played by far the most along with crossbow and tempest, but Rygar was one of the first run of kit games, it was in a converted ms pac cab, so I restored one just like I remembered, and still love it today...hows that for noticing conversions... at the time I didnt even notice
 
I noticed conversion cabinets back in the day. Sometimes you would see the old sideart on the machine or a incorrect control panel overlay, or things didn't look right. I think we had a butcher of a operator in my area back in the day...because some machines were just so converted so badly, it was almost hard NOT to notice!
-Mark
 
Back
Top Bottom