Construction Site Arcade Raid June 2022

Join us on our next arcade adventure as we travel to a construction site to salvage some arcade machines. The machines were previously owned by an old fairground and circus owner and had been stored in a container for several decades.

The Heart Of Gaming & Playnation Games Arcade Tour

In this video we take a trip down to The Heart Of Gaming in Croydon, South London. 

I last went to The Heart Of Gaming a few years ago at their old site in Acton, and it was great to finally check out the new venue.  The arcade has an awesome selection of machines, including some survivors from London’s Trocadero.  It was fantastic seeing Alien 3: The Gun and Prop Cycle, two great games from the nineties which I haven’t played in years and every bit as good as I remember.  The eight player Daytona USA set up was an incredible sight, and we had some great races.  My personal highlight was The Lost World: Jurassic Park DLX cabinet.  There is a bit of a story behind this one.  On a cold, bleak January day back in 2019, I went to have a look at this machine along with a couple of others at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach. 

The machines were stored in an outbuilding probably less than twenty meters from the sea. 

Routing around in near darkness, I also saw Final Furlong 2, GTI Club, Star Wars Racer Arcade DLX and Time Crisis II.  I had no doubt dropped coins into these at some point in the past, and it was sad seeing them in this sorry, neglected state.   

They were all big machines and too much for me to take on, and I contacted The Heart Of Gaming to see if they would be interested.  Fortunately they managed to save The Lost World, and it’s undergone a full restoration.  It was great seeing it again in an arcade, in all its glory for people to enjoy.  Best of all though it was Pizza Arcade Gamer Boy’s favourite game of the day, he loves dinosaurs and couldn’t stop playing it!

The Future Is Now – MVS Collecting

SNK was synonymous with arcade gaming back in the day, with the Electrocoin licensed multi slot cabs down the seafront and generic one slot cabs down the pub, usually with Super Sidekicks installed.  During the nineties versus fighter boom, I remember my classmates proclaiming that Fatal Fury was better than Street Fighter II.  I’m a bit of a Capcom fan boy and they were wrong of course, but there is no denying that SNK left a great impression on me.

I’ve been collecting MVS carts for quite a long time now.  Over the years, my arcade collection has gone in different directions.  For a while I was more focused on the Neo Geo AES.  I was fortunate in that I was able to shop in Akihabara, Tokyo and Den Den Town, Osaka and enjoyed picking up AES titles.  It brought the arcade experience home like no other system.  I loved the box art, and the sheer size of the carts.  It was exciting and novel being able to buy them from game shops.  The console and games were super expensive, and prior to travelling to Japan I had only seen pictures of the home system in gaming magazines and played the games in the arcades.    As I grew older and my focus shifted from console to arcade collecting, I switched to the MVS.  However I’ve managed to hang on to the boxed console I picked up in Osaka and my modest AES collection.  There is something quite special about the system, and it reminds me of a certain time in my life.  I’d be sad to part with it.

Boards and MVS carts I picked up from G-Front and Try in 2011.

I managed to get all the MVS titles I wanted and was happy with my collection.  However the collection is never finished really, and I still manage to set new goals and find more stuff to buy.  Over the last couple of years, I’ve visited old arcade Operators here in the UK, buying up their old video game stock.  They quite often they had MVS carts and so I decided to hang on to any games I didn’t already own.  Ops didn’t always store games very well, and the beauty of MVS is that they’re pretty robust and usually work after giving the edge connector a good clean.  I’ve set myself a new goal of getting a full set of MVS titles, with English label carts were possible, plus the Japanese exclusives.  The boards must be original, no boots.

MVS carts from UK Ops.

As my MVS collection has grown, it’s becoming more difficult to find the titles I need to get the full set.  There are some Japanese exclusives that I stand no chance of finding without widening the search.  I’m in no rush though, and plan to continue chipping away at it slowly.

Here are some new additions to my collection.

Burning Fight, Ghost Pilots, King Of The Monsters and Thrash Rally

I remember playing Burning Fight in the arcades.  Even back then it seemed like a blatant Final Fight clone, only not as good.  It hasn’t aged particularly well, but I like how it takes place on the streets of Osaka with familiar looking shopping malls, arcades and even the Gilco Man!

 Art of Fighting 3, Matching Serial #007009

Mutation Nation

Pop ‘n Bounce, Matching Serial #000108

Samurai Shodown II

Arcade Op PCB Pick Ups #1: Sega Mega Play

 

Amongst the PCB haul from an old Op in Blackpool were three Sega Mega Play motherboards complete with ten carts.  I must admit I didn’t know much about the system.  I had come across Mega-Tech carts, but it was the first time I had seen these.  One of the games was Streets of Rage II.  This immediately piqued my interest being an all-time favourite of mine, and I was very excited about the prospect of playing it in a cab.

 

Reading up on the system, I discovered that it was released in Europe and Asia and Sega’s second attempt at bringing Megadrive games to the arcades, the first being the Mega-Tech.  Whereas credits buy the player time on the Mega-Tech system, you get lives for your money on the Mega Play, giving a more traditional arcade experience.  I much prefer this and was never a big fan of the ‘credits to buy time’ concept back in the day.  The system also differs in that it has four cart slots, whereas the Mega Tech has seven.  It appears eleven games were released in total.  The games have been modified to specifically work with the hardware and do not work on the Megadrive.  Significant changes were made to the games to make them more suited to an arcade environment.  For example, Sonic the Hedgehog has very strict time limits, removes the two slowest Zones, Marble and Labyrinth, has no special stages, making chaos emeralds unobtainable, and all the extra life boxes have been removed.  These have a massive impact on how the game is played, making it more of a time attack and high score challenge.  There is a neat page detailing the differences here. 

 

http://gaminghell.co.uk/SonicTheHedgehog.html 

 

A lot of the Op’s boards had been stored poorly, but these had at least been wrapped in bubble wrap and looked barely used.  Two of the three motherboards are fully working, which is a good result!  The system is Jamma compatible. 

Like the Mega-Tech, the Mega Play was designed with two monitors in mind, one for game selection (top) and one for the game itself (bottom).  I noticed that a mod had been carried out on all three of my motherboards, allowing the player to select games by using Button A of Player 1.  This is useful when using the board in a cab without a select button, and the mod is actually described in the Mega Play service manual. 

My Mega Play cart collection, along with their respective product numbers.  I wonder why Golden Axe II number ends with B? 

1. Sonic The Hedgehog 610-0297-01 

2. Golden Axe II 610-0297-02B 

3. Grand Slam 610-0297-03 

4. Tecmo World Cup x3 610-0297-04

5. Streets of Rage II x2 610-0297-05 

6. Bio-Hazard Battle 610-0298-06 

7. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 x2 610-0297-07

 

 

The above carts were picked up from the Op, except for Sonic The Hedgehog, which I bought from a seller in Italy. 

 

I’m currently missing the following titles for a full set. 

 

8. Columns III: Revenge of Columns 

9. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master 610-0297-09 (tbc) 

10. Gunstar Heroes 

11. Mazin Wars 610-0297-11 (tbc) 

 

Some sources suggest the original Streets of Rage was also released, but there is little evidence to support this.  It is mentioned on the flyer, but the screen shots are from the sequel, so it could be an error.  Amusingly the title has been misspelt on both the flyer and the cart label, with Street instead of Streets. 

The games originally came in plastic cases, similar to the Megadrive.  I haven’t got any cases, and the only paperwork I’ve got is for Streets of Rage II.  The art is very similar in size to the MVS mini marquees. 

Given the scarcity of the system and the small number of games released, I suspect the system wasn’t a great success.  It’s unclear whether Sega were trying to replicate the success of the MVS or promoting Megadrive games in arcades.  Graphics and sound would have been underwhelming compared to arcade releases at the time.  Also the Mega-Play was competing against a certain fighter which would go on to dominate the arcades in the early to mid-nineties. 

 

I’m really happy to have discovered this system, it’s an interesting piece and a nice addition to my collection.  I plan to install it in the Lordsvale cab I picked up from the same Op.  I’d love to get the full set of carts, but they’re proving incredibly hard to find.  If anyone has any leads please get in touch. 

Post LOCKDOWN Operator Raid!

As lockdown restrictions started to lift, we decided to go on another HoliRaid.  I was in talks with this particular Op before the lockdown, and it was great to finally pay him a visit.

Our base was Skipsea Sands Holiday Park in East Yorkshire.  My children had hardly left the house for weeks, so it was a nice change of scenery for them.  As we drove through the site to our caravan, I spied an old abandoned arcade by the cliff edge. 

Green Lane, a road which ran along the coast is no more due to erosion of the soft clay coast line.  We wondered if the arcade was hastily abandoned and if anything was left inside.  As much as I wanted to go and explore, I’d have to save that adventure for another day!

The site however did have an arcade.  It was the usual modern arcade, mostly redemption games, but there were a few modern games.  We enjoyed a couple of credits on Sega Rally 3 DLX.  Admittedly it’s not my favourite entry in the series, but I’ve warmed to it over the years.  It’s not one you see very often these days, and I like that the classic tracks are selectable.

The next day it was up bright and early for the Raid!

On the faded sign outside you can just make out ‘Suppliers of….. Video Games.’  We had arrived!

Upon entering the building, I spied Crazy Taxi, Virtua Cop 3 and some pinball tables.

The arcade machines looked in really good condition.  The Virtua Cop 3 Upright cab is not one you see very often.  The Op mentioned that he still uses these for events, weddings etc.

I then went up to the first floor.  There was quite a mixture of stuff here.  Pinball tables and play fields, pool table balls and spares, old juke boxes, records and CD’s.

However most exciting for me was the shelfs full of PCB’s!

The boards had sat on the shelf for twenty years, and sadly all the cabs they were pulled from were scrapped.  The cabs used to be sited in pubs.

The test rig.  Note the boards below. 

The Op pretty much left me to my own devices, and I started checking through and identifying the boards.  More on this later.

I then ventured into the basement. 

 

This was a bit of an Aladdin’s cave, featuring various arcade machines, juke boxes, pinball tables and quiz machines.

The Op told me that back in the day he was buying Space Invader cabs new for £995.  After one week they had paid for themselves, and it was clear profit.

Monitors stashed below the stairs.

I spent most of my time there sorting through the PCB’s, putting the ones I was interested in to one side, which was about ninety percent!  The games ranged from the early eighties to mid-nineties.  The quality ratio was very, very high, and it was pretty much just a few football and golf games I left behind.  Konami GX061 aka Golfing Greats I’m looking at you!  I’ve got nothing against Golfing Greats.  It’s not a bad game, and I’ve got one in my collection.  However it’s the one game you can guarantee to find multiples of on Raids.  I don’t recall seeing it that often back in the day, but this could just be because it didn’t interest me.  I imagine it may have appealed to older audiences in pubs. 

Amongst the pile I found a board labelled ‘Nemsis.’ Sounds like a dodgy bootleg!

Later that evening in the caravan, I unwrapped the board and was amazed to find the mintiest mint Nemesis board.  This is up there with my best Raid pick ups and is definitely a keeper.

A Data East board had me intrigued.  It was labelled ‘Strange Football,’ and I was on the fence about taking it.  I’m really glad I did as it turned out to be Nitro Ball, an amazing looking shooter, reminiscent of Smash TV, but in a vertical orientation.  I’d never heard of this game before. 

This version of Commando is another oddity I picked up.  The ROMs are labelled SP, and it turns out the game is Space Invasion.  This is a special version of the game made specifically for the West German market.  It’s based on the World version and replaces the human soldiers with aliens.  I never knew this existed.  Making new discoveries like this and finding new games is definitely one of the awesome aspects of Raids.

Other highlights include 1942, Circus Charlie, Ghosts’N Goblins, Shinobi. Slap Fight, Space Invaders DX, The Newzealand Story, Thunder Dragon and Trojan.

A lot of boards had dipswitch settings sheets attached to them.  During the rummage we came across bundles of board and monitor manuals as well as some art.

As I was sorting through the boards, I had some company.  It wasn’t the first time I’ve had some dog drama on a Raid!

The boards were sold as untested and prices reflected this.

I don’t think he was very happy with me taking the boards away!

The boot fully loaded, plus a few additions I’d picked up at the awesome Sore Thumbs video game shop in York.  The car passenger seat was stacked up with boards as well, and once again I had to make the journey home by train.  It definitely pays to have an understanding wife when going on Raids!

I said bye to the family and waited for the bus to Bridlington.  I had some time in hand and so ventured down to the abandoned arcade. 

On the side of the building facing the sea, boards had been placed against the window from inside.  I could just about see above the boards.  Also ‘Pizza coming soon’ had been inscribed onto the window from the inside, and I peered through the letters.

To my disappointment the building was pretty much empty, except for a Coca-Cola fridge and a Walls ice cream chest.  These places fascinate me.  I wondered what machines the arcade had and tried to imagine the cacophony of electronic beeps and the sounds of people having fun.  I had another look round the building, and as I took some pictures I saw large rain drops appear on my phone screen.  Moments in time and rain, reminds me of the ending of a certain sci-fi classic.  The rain became heavier, but fortunately I could see my bus pulling up at the stop.  It was time to say good bye to this old arcade and Skipsea Sands and head home.