A few small Easter Raids in Wales - Part 3: PCB Pick Ups and an Afternoon in Barry Island

After leaving Electrocoin, we ventured down to Barry to visit Leisure Solutions UK Ltd.  

The company manufactures fruit machines, some of which are made for Electrocoin.  They also make replica arcade machines for the home market. Chris gave me the grand tour.

A familiar cab shape, albeit scaled down!

A Nintendo PlayChoice-10 in need of some love.

The area has a lot of arcade history.  Chris explained that back in the day, there used to be factories building BAS, Electrocoin and Silverline cabs nearby on Barry Docks, Cardiff and Bridgend.   “Did you see Neil, the old man with grey hair when you came in?” Chris asked.  “Well his claim to fame is designing the Electrocoin Duet cab.”  It seems there is so much UK arcade history undocumented, which is a real shame. 

There was a box of PCB’s from arcades on Barry Island.

Here is a list of titles.

1. Blockout – Technos Japan / PZKaren Co. Development Group - 1989

2. LiberoGrande – Namco - 1997

3. Mr. Do! – Universal - 1982

4. New Fantasia – Comrad - 1995

5. Street Fighter II

6. Street Fighter II’ Hyper Bootleg

7. Tecmo World Cup ’90 – Tecmo - 1989

It took me a little while to identify LiberoGrande, a football game running on Namco System 12 hardware.  It had been stored in a Street Fighter III kit box. The harness and manual were still present, but sadly there was no sign of the game.

Starting to fill up.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on Barry Island seafront.  It was nice to see that they still had some video games in the arcades, including games from the noughties as well as the new Halo: Fireteam Raven.

Released in 2008, Sega Race TV was the last game developed by Yu Suzuki during his time at Sega.  I’ve never come across one before, and I was a bit gutted to find both sides of the cab not working.

A few small Easter Raids in Wales - Part 2: The Last Joystick

Back in the eighties and nineties, Electrocoin made some of the most iconic arcade machines in the UK.  I vividly remember rows of Electrocoin jamma cabs in the arcades down the seafront.  They also made some of the most memorable dedicated cabs, including Chase H.Q., Darius, Operation Wolf, Street Fighter and Neo Geo MVS multi-slot machines.   Today I’m the proud owner of some of their machines, including Chase H.Q. and Chase H.Q.2, a Midi and a licensed Rampage cab.

Street Fighter II’ Championship Edition on test in Casino arcade, Tottenham Court Road, London.

I got in touch with Electrocoin After Sales and Service Ltd.  By the sound of it, I was about five years too late, and I was told all they had left were two eight way joysticks!  I was hoping to find some NOS marquees and the elusive English Chase H.Q.2 topper I’ve seen pictures of at trade shows, but it wasn’t to be.  Undeterred, we ventured down to their warehouse in Cardiff to collect them.

We had no trouble finding the premises.  The fruit machine graveyard outside was a giveaway sign!

Inside it became immediately apparent what Electrocoin have been up to since they stopped making video games – building an army of fruit machines intent on world domination.  Possibly.

Fresh off the production line.

It was cool seeing some new models which haven’t yet been released.

The testing rig.

I enjoyed having a look round the factory floor, taking in the arcade history and thinking to myself how awesome the place must have been when they still made video games.  One of the employees mentioned that it’s been about ten years since they stopped making games.  Chase H.Q.2 was Electrocoin’s last video game, released in 2009, so that would be about right.

I was in for a nice surprise.  As well as the joysticks, they had also found two brand new gear shifters.  It’s incredible to think that these are Electrocoin’s last NOS video game parts, especially given their massive presence in the arcades back in the day.

A few small Easter Raids in Wales - Part 1

During the Easter holiday, we travelled down to South Wales.

Our base for the week was the picturesque seaside town of Tenby.

I didn’t expect to overtake a Space Invader on the motorway!  ‘Don’t be a Space Invader’ is a safety campaign launched to alert drivers to the risks of tailgating.  I think they’ve missed a trick by not using Nancy of Chase H.Q. fame!

I was looking forward to visiting Caldey Island, located less than a mile off Tenby coast.  The island is home to a group of Cistercian monks who farm the land and make cheese, chocolate and perfume.  Unfortunately the island is only accessible by boat, and the boat trips didn’t start until the day after our holiday ended.

The caravan park we stayed at had a modern arcade.  I always enjoy a few credits on Deadstorm Pirates and Jurassic Park Arcade with the kids, as well as Pac-Man Smash air hockey.

During our stay, this Gamestec playnation virtual reality machine was installed. 

VR has been getting a larger presence at EAG over the last couple of years, and I was curious to give this a try.  However I wasn’t very impressed.

1. It was three pounds per credit, so six pounds for me and my daughter to have a go, which lasted a few minutes.

2. I was expecting a game, but in fact it’s just a ride.  The player selects a theme and you just move your head and look round and that’s it! 

3. There is the hygiene issue.  I didn’t mind playing it as it was brand new, having just been installed, but there really should be provisions to give the headset a clean before use.

4. I don’t tend to get motion sickness from games, but I felt a little disorientated at the end of this.  Admittedly the numerous pints of Carling I’d had during the evening probably didn’t help!

I’d contacted a few Ops before the holiday and managed to get a couple of promising leads, but nothing was set in stone.  It was very much a case of ‘give us a ring when you get here.’  They didn’t all come through, but I did manage to squeeze in a few small Raids.

The first Op visit was in a small village near the town of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, West Wales.

Nowadays the Op mostly deals with fruit machines and pool tables.

He also had jukeboxes and some very old one arm bandits.

Unfortunately he’d got rid of his PCB’s and most of his video game items a couple of years ago.  However he did have a nice bundle of MVS carts and motherboards, with just a single fighter and one I haven’t already got!

I’m a big Neo Geo and SNK fan and I love the reliability of these carts.  I’m by no means going for a full set, but I tend to hold on to carts I haven’t got and sell the rest on.

The boxed cart had a King Of The Monsters label under the brown tape, and there were several game titles hand written on the box, including Samurai Shodown, Super Sidekicks 2 and Top Player Golf.  The game turned out to be none of those and was in fact another Windjammers.  It looks like it had been sited at Llanishen Rugby Football Club.

He also had this generic cab with Hyper Sports inside, which I left behind. 

Apparently the cab had been sat in the corner of his unit for years, and he didn’t know if it worked.  The cab looked solid, nice and compact, and he didn’t want much for it.  I would have bought it if I lived closer. 

The Op was extremely friendly and pleasant to deal with.  He done me a cracking deal on the MVS carts, and when we were chatting outside he put his hand in his pocket, took out a bundle of notes and gave my children five pounds each to spend at the seaside.  We thanked him, said goodbye and headed for Cardiff.

Arcade Operator Retirement Raid - Part 2

“You’re welcome to come down,” the Op told me over the phone.  “I’ve found a couple more bits.”  That’s all the information I was given, and I had no idea what these bits were.  Given the success of my last visit, having finally tracked down my most wanted PCB, I was excited about making another trip.  I wasn’t disappointed!

As with most Raids, you never really know what there is until you get there. 

On arrival I saw a stack of PCB’s and spare monitors in the workshop. 

These boards and parts are from his old business partner and ones he had stored in the garage.

Another box of MVS, including one of my favourite games ever, the awesome Viewpoint!  There were more titles under these carts as well!

Here is a list of titles.

PCB
1. Ashura Blaster – Taito / Visco Corporation - 1990
2. Badlands – Atari Games - 1989
3. Final Fight – Capcom - 1989
4. Football Champ – Taito / Team Dogyan - 1990
5. Gals Panic – Taito / Kaneko – 1990
6. Golden Tee Golf – Strata Group, Inc. / Incredible Technologies - 1990
7. Golden Tee Golf II – Strata Group, Inc. / Incredible Technologies - 1991
8. Golfing Greats – Konami - 1990
9. Jackal – Konami - 1986
10. RoboCop – Data East - 1988
11. Section Z – Capcom - 1985
12. Spider-Man: The Video Game – Sega - 1991
13. Tetris – Atari Games - 1988
14. The Newzealand Story – Taito - 1988
15. The Simpsons – Konami - 1991
16. Ultimate Tennis – Art & Magic - 1993
17. Zing Zing Zip –  Tecmo / Allumer, Ltd. - 1992

Neo Geo MVS
1. Baseball Stars Professional x2
2. Breakers
3. Magician Lord
4. Mutation Nation
5. Riding Hero
6. The King of Fighters ‘94
7. The King of Fighters ‘98
8. Viewpoint
9. Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer

A nice, varied selection of games I thought.  Spider-man: The Video Game on the Sega System 32 was an especially awesome surprise!  I played this at Leisureland, Great Yarmouth many years ago on an Electrocoin Duet cab.  The game is great mix of scrolling beat-em-up and platform action game.  It features impressive scaling, with sprites and backgrounds zooming in and out to mark the shift in gameplay. 

Other PCB highlights include Final Fight, The Newzealand Story and two obscure vertical shooters which I haven’t played before, Ashura Blaster and Zing Zing Zip.

Regarding the MVS, I’ve picked up a lot of the usual suspects from Ops over the last few months, such as Puzzle Bobble and Super Sidekicks, and it was great to see some more uncommon titles.  I sell my duplicates and was pleased to see quite a few titles I don’t already own.  Also quite often the labels are worn and the serials cut, but these carts look in great condition.

I also picked up another Mirage cab, my fifth one!  The Op told me he had two hundred machines on site back in the day, mostly in pubs.

There were also some MVS motherboards and Continental Circus parts.

No Fear and Who Dunnit.  The Op mentioned that he will be selling these when he retires this year.

The “couple more bits” loaded up in the boot!