Arcade Operator Raid in the Back of Beyond

[jase38]

This was a pretty unexpected Raid as the Op phoned me out of the blue. He gave me a vague description of what he had and a date was made for a visit.









An open road, blue skies and helicopters!? This journey was more Cruis ‘n Blast than OutRun!





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
The destination was a remote location off the beaten track, west of the M25. We drove through woodland and saw birds of prey circling overhead as we approached.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
We arrived early. Picture the Evil Dead cabin, but with some dilapidated fruit and casino machines outside and you won’t be too far off.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
I had a quick scan of the skip, but there didn’t appear to be anything video game related.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
We had a bit of time to wait and so we ventured to a nearby garden centre for a bite to eat.
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
The parsnip and carrot soup was excellent.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
They also had a nice range of cakes, chutneys, beers and wines.










[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
Cactus. Or should it be cacti?





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
However there was no time to hang around looking at cactus (or cacti?), we had a Raid to go on! We made our way back to the Evil Dead cabin.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
The workshop was mostly filled with fruit machines. The Op had taken over the business from his father. He said that they used to supply a lot of video games to neighbouring pubs, universities and colleges.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
I climbed over the fruit machines at the back of the cabin to find a Nintendo PlayChoice-10. It had obviously been sat there for a long time.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
There was also a generic cocktail cab.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
Checking the shelves for video game parts.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
At the back there were a couple of boxes of boards and random parts, which included various buttons, joysticks and guns.










[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
I also picked up some monitor chassis and a Sega driver dashboard.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
They also had a couple of old jukeboxes.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
Today’s pick ups.










[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
The boot loaded up.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
Raid Highlights
[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
These Capcom CP System II titles all came complete with motherboards, which was a nice bonus. It was also the first time I’ve come across the grey Asian type.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
As I was carrying Marvel Super Heroes I heard something rattling round inside the case. Further investigation revealed that the battery had disintegrated, spewing corrosive fluid across the board.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
Unfortunately the PCB’s had been stored badly and there were a lot of sports titles, including six Tecmo World Cup ’90 boards no less! However there were a couple of interesting games, including Sega’s obscure Dark Edge and the Konami classic Juno First.










[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
Dark Edge is a game I hadn’t come across before.





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]

[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][/font]
Released in 1993 on System 32 hardware, Dark Edge is Sega’s first attempt at a 3D fighter, using sprite scaling to simulate a 3D playfield. Unusually for this type of game, it has a sc-fi setting. It’s definitely one I’m looking forward to playing.

jase382019-03-14 19:57:20

 

[penrhos]

If its suicided I think it can be converted to black adder.

 

[Ace`]

Nice haul, you didn't take the PC10? hopefully someone saves it if not.

 

[griffo83x]

Look at them chemtrails in the first pic

 

[jase38]

Nice haul, you didn't take the PC10? hopefully someone saves it if not.

Yes I did take the PC10. The Op wanted to sell all the video game bits as a job lot. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, whether I'll restore it or sell it on as is.jase382019-03-14 20:11:48

 

[stevebm1]

If its suicided I think it can be converted to black adder.

don't you mean "death adder"?,yes it can be converted to golden axe 2,if you burn the correct eproms

 

[penrhos]

Sorry death adder - was on phone....

Conversion ROMS are over on AP.

And it has the 3-4 player adapter pcb attached.penrhos2019-03-14 21:16:43

 

[Mark H]

Looks good. Those Neo-Geo MVS carts are worth circa £40 each with the Windjammers being worth around £100...

 

[Jon-A-Tron]

Look at them chemtrails in the first pic

Contrails...

Puma Helicopter. Worked on them for a few years.

Nice pickups there. Looks like it was in my backyard also if I've picked up the breadcrumbs of info correctly.

I would love to get some of these out of the blue Phone calls.

 

[Alpha1]

Love the work you have been doing recently - you are proof cabs and pcbs can still be picked up cheap in 2019!

 

[griffo83x]

Look at them chemtrails in the first pic

Contrails...

Hahaha yeh of course they are how silly of me

 

[MDK]

That battery certainly left it's mark, shame about that as MSH is a sweet game.

 

[Steveylou]

Juno First

Awesome raid and a great write up (+ pics) Jase. I don't know how you manage to keep getting these raids over the line but I'm sure glad you do

 

[Nes4life]

Be interested to know what PC10 games were in the Playchoice!

 

[clarkey]

Another nice raid Jase, congrats. You must quiet the PCB collection now!

 

[channel27]

Nice one Jase

 

[K1ngarth3r]

You seem to have some great contacts to keep getting invited for these raids.

 

[mysticmonk]

Very cool, especially the playchoice.

I'd love a go of that blackadder game