The TonTon Club - Amsterdam

During a recent stay in Amsterdam I checked out The TonTon Club, a new arcade located in the heart of the Red Light District, behind the Old Church. 

I went along on a Sunday afternoon, and it was nice to see the venue busy and people enjoying the games. 

 

Credit tokens can be bought at the counter, although some of the games are on free play, including Cruise ’n USA, Virtua Racing and Daytona USA.  I was especially pleased to see Virtua Racing, although it’s just as unforgiving as I remember!

It’s a nice venue to chill, play some games and enjoy a couple of beers!

Capcom vs. SNK

X-Men vs. Street Fighter – Capcom CP System II
I finally got hold of a nice clean XVS Euro board.  I’ve been on the lookout for one for ages.

 

 

Samurai Shodown V Special – Neo Geo MVS

I’ve bid on a few kits on Yahoo Japan over the last couple of months, but the auction has always ended way over my max bid.  I’m really happy to score a SSVS cart for a decent price.  I got the arts separately from YHJ.

New Arrival – Sega Aero Table

About The Cab

Here is my Sega Aero Table.  I have lusted after one of these for a long time.  When one finally came up for sale I couldn’t resist, despite space issues!  I set off to collect the cab and the hired van broke down after about 10 miles, not the best start.  The next day I tried again with a new van.  It was an epic nine hour round trip, but well worth it!

 

The cabinet has been totally refurbished by a previous owner and the shell powder coated. The cabinet is extremely solid and well built.

 

The monitor is a MS8-26SE with no noticeable burn.  Monitor adjustment is carried out on the chassis – no remote board here!  The monitor can be tated.  Interestingly the monitor frame is different to that of an Aero City, being more square shape.

To Do

1. The metal side art decals are in poor condition – fabricate a new set.

2. Find the elusive speaker pod and marquee holder.  For some reason quite a few of these cabinets are missing them.

3. Lightly clean monitor tube and chassis with an air duster and anti-static brush.

The Games

I’m planning on using this as a horizontal cab for my older classics and horizontal Cave shooters.

I currently have PVG Tech/Hanaho Taito Gameroom Classics multi-game PCB installed in the cab. The board came with a 20 game SD card, and includes some of my all time favourites including Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands and The Newzealand Story.  The small compact size of the board is perfect for this cab as PCB space is pretty tight.

Many thanks once again to AeroCityMayor / Ralph for the cab and for letting me have a few credits in his awesome games room.

Planet Harriers – Part 1

I had been desperate to play Planet Harriers ever since I saw the first screen shots in Edge magazine back in 2000.  Running on Sega’s Hikaru board, the game looked stunning and had that classic bright, happy Sega look.  I loved that it was an update and pseudo sequel to one of Sega’s greatest arcade games, Space Harrier.

 

I had never come across the game in any UK or Japanese arcade.  Almost all Sega dedicated cabs had a UK release, and whenever I visited a new seaside town I’d check out the arcades, hoping to find Planet Harriers.  The rumoured home release for the Dreamcast and then the Gamecube failed to materialise.  My desperation to play it, coupled with the game’s elusiveness gave it a near mythical status!

In 2009 I bought the arcade PCB along with the cabinet control panel and had it shipped from America.  The seller removed the Hikaru board from the metal cage and shipped the items separately. The board is extremely fragile and if left in the cage there is a high chance of damage in transit.  With the help of Giz10p, Arcade Otaku and Shmups forums, I pieced together the Hikaru board, control panel, I/O board and power supply and connected it up to an LCD television.

 

 

It was a massive relief to see the game up and running.  I was finally able to play Planet Harriers!

Jaleco Table Pony

This lovely Table Pony is currently on Yahoo Japan.  I’ve been regularly checking the arcade auction pages since 2009 and I can’t recall seeing another.  It appears there were different models produced: a 19” version, a 25”, and a 25” supporting tate mode.  An amazing looking cab which would definitely feature high on my list of unobtainable machines!

 

 

 

 

 

P&O Pride of Kent

The ferry arcade had a similar selection of games to the other P&O ferries I’ve been on, but it was nice to see these two:

Ferrari F355 Challenge

Sega’s awesome Ferrari simulator seems to be becoming increasingly scarce.

 

Shh…! Welcome to Frightfearland – Panic Museum 2

This surely deserves an award for longest title ever!  Known as Haunted Museum II in Japan, I had no idea this game was released in the West.  Think The House of the Dead, but in an abandoned amusement park with psychotic clowns.  Unfortunately the Player 1 gun sight was well off, but the Player 2 gun played ok.  Good fun, especially if like me you’ve never liked clowns!

Welcome to Astro City

I recently ventured down to Southend-on-Sea to check out a new arcade – Astro City!

The arcade is awesome, with a fantastic mix of titles on Japanese candy and Western cabinets, including some classic wooden dedicated cabinets.

 

 

 

Walking up the concrete stairway to the main arcade gaming floor and seeing all the classic titles reminded me of Akihabara’s Try Amusement Tower.  The arcade has a nice selection of Cave shooters including Ketsui, one of my all time favourites.  I also enjoyed a few credits on Ghosts’N Goblins, Street Fighter II’ Turbo-Hyper Fighting, Pac-Land, G-Darius, WWF WrestleFest and Pac-Mania.  The games are set to 50p a credit.

 

I remember playing Pac-Mania down the seafront when I was a kid and being impressed by the isometric graphics.  I love the art on this cabinet.  It was great to see it again after all these years.

I hope the arcade is a great success.  I really enjoyed it and can’t wait for my next visit!