Pirates of the English Channel

 

Another ferry, another arcade!  This time it’s the P&O Spirit of France.  I was quite impressed to see Dead Storm Pirates onboard.

 

 

 

WARNING!!  TAITO MT-8 CABS ARE APPROACHING FAST

A number of Taito MT-8 cabinets have recently been uncovered in Budapest.  Previously information on these cabs was very limited, with no photos online and a question mark on whether they actually made it into production.

The cab features a monitor rotation mechanism, fluorescent tubes on the sides of the hood and a headphone jack on the control panel complete with volume adjustment, very cool! 

Although sadly one of these won’t be heading my way, this is an awesome find and I’m very pleased they have been saved.

A massive thanks to Nik/Wurstkopp (Arcade Otaku) for allowing me to post these pictures.

Wyvern Wings Kit and MVS

I recently received a minty Wyvern Wings Kit, a nice vertical shooter by the Korean developer Semicom.

Also some more MVS.  Nightmare in the Dark has been on my list of wants for a good while.  It’s pretty good timing as well with Halloween coming up!

Bang Bead was a bit of an impulse buy, I got it along with NitD.  The low serial number was a nice surprise!

Luton Airport

I was recently at Luton Airport to get an early morning flight to Amsterdam.  Bleary eyed, I checked out the arcade expecting the usual array of fruit machines and a token Fast and Furious cabinet.  However I was in for some nice surprises, including the awesome modern classics OutRun2 and After Burner Climax, and Tekken 5.  

 

 

The machines were in nice condition and fully working.  But for me the biggest surprise was Chase H.Q. 2.

Chase H.Q. 2 was released in 2006, but I had never seen a cabinet before and I was really happy to play it.  I loved the original, and one of my earliest memories is playing the black Porsche sit down cabinet down Great Yarmouth seafront. 

I had heard negative reports about this Taito Type-X² powered sequel.  It’s no OutRun2, but I enjoyed my few credits.  You now have a choice of three cars with differing characteristics, although sadly the iconic black 944 isn’t one of them.  The visuals remind me of Ridge Racer with its bright primary colours.  Short cuts can be taken, similar to Konami’s GTI Club, to collect extra Nitros whilst in hot pursuit of the target vehicle.  And Nancy has aged very well it must be said!

Knights of the Round

Knights of the Round Japan CPS Kit, Matching Serial # 0258014.

 

    

 

I picked this up from Yahoo! Auctions Japan.  The Kit is the resale version.  It’s in mint condition and the PCB itself looks NOS.  

I haven’t played this game before and never saw it in the local arcades back in the day, but I remember seeing the Super Famicom conversion featured in Super Play magazine.  Being a massive fan of Capcom and scrolling fighters I’m really looking forward to playing this!

Welcome to Aero City

I recently collected a new cab from AeroCityMayor / Ralph.  Ralph was kind enough to show me around his awesome new games room.  Well I say games room, but really it’s a full blown Japanese arcade!  I enjoyed a few credits on Varth and Zero Gunner, two shooters I hadn’t played before.  Ralph’s arcade also has a dedicated mahjong cabinet and two Aeros’s featuring Super Street Fighter II X linked for VS play.  Very cool!

Ralph was kind enough to let me take some pictures of his awesome set up.  

 

MVS Recent Additions Part 2 – Neo DriftOut and Ironclad Brikin’ger

Neo DriftOut, Matching Serial # 000010
 

The Neo DriftOut Kit serial number is 10!  The seller informed me that that the first 15 Kits were sent to an arcade operator in Italy.

Ironclad Brikin’ger MVS Conversion

I’m really looking forward to playing this awesome looking horizontal shooter, developed by Saurus, the team behind Shock Troopers.  I generally avoid conversions, preferring to stick to the original hardware.  However this seemed like a cool addition to my MVS collection, having only been officially released on the Neo Geo CD system.

At the moment I have the following games in the Neo SC-19:

1. Ganryu
2. Ironclad Brikin’ger
3. Pulstar
4. Sengoku 3