REVIVAL Solstice 2016

REVIVAL Solstice 2016 was held at Banks’s Stadium, Walsall on the 30^th and 31^st July.  After the successful comeback event ‘Winter Warmer 2015’, REVIVAL once again returns to large scale with a friendly atmosphere and a great mix of arcade, pinball and console games.  There were some great additions to the arcade line up, including some very rare machines kindly loaned to the show by collectors.

Nintendo Arcade

Nintendo Arcade showcased some classic titles, including Donkey Kong, Sheriff, Space Launcher and VS. Balloon Fight.  It was awesome playing VS. Balloon Fight on the Nintendo Red Tent, and Sheriff was a definite highlight.

The awesome Sharp SF-1 Super Famicom TV combo unit.

The ‘Donkey Kong Barrel’ and ‘NEScade’ custom cabinets were very cool.

The arcade driving game section had a nice selection of titles, with Badlands, Konami GT, OutRun and Turbo OutRun.

Once again there was a great selection of pinball tables.

There was a nice selection of traders selling various retro collectibles.  Rastermania was back selling a selection of PCB’s, MVS and various arcade parts.  I picked up a Chase H.Q. upright manual complete with schematics for a very reasonable £5.

Here are some of my gaming highlights.

Sheriff – 1979

It was the first time I’d ever seen or played Sheriff.  The game was developed by Nintendo R&D1 and was the first game Shigeru Miyamato worked on.  The cabinet is Japanese and is the taller cocktail version, the only one known to exist. 

The player takes on the role of the Sheriff, Jack and must rescue his kidnapped Fiancée, Betty.  In each level, gangs circle around Jack trying to shoot him.  The player must dodge the bullets and kill all the bandits in order to rescue Betty. 

The game is a lot of fun, addictive and has a unique control system.  An eight way joystick controls Jack’s movement, and a cooker style switch is used to aim the Sheriff’s gun.  Push the switch to fire. 

The closest game I can compare it to is Space Invaders, but with a twist!  Here is a video showing how the game plays.

I had only learned about the existence of this fantastic game a couple of months ago, and it was great to be given the opportunity to play it.

Video Pinball – 1978

This is another game I’d never seen or played until the show.  The physics of the ball are great and the game plays really well.  The game utilises a clever mix of video, physical and mirror to combine them, creating the illusion of playing a live action pinball machine.  During the course of the weekend, this is probably the game I kept popping back to play the most. 

The House of the Dead 2 – Sega Dreamcast

I’m not sure if it’s entirely appropriate, but mowing down hoards of zombies with my little girl proved to be a great father and daughter bonding experience.

Centipede – 1980

Another Atari classic I enjoyed playing.

I love the artwork on this cabinet.

Once again an awesome weekend of gaming, I’m eagerly awaiting the next REVIVAL event!