Super Operator Raid II’ Turbo Edition

jase38

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An open road, blue
skies and sandy beaches. Although in
this case it was more stony than sandy.
It was a lovely day for a Raid in sunny Weymouth.









Weymouth is a fair old trek from home and so it
became part Raid and part caravan holiday.
It all started a couple of months ago when I saw an advert for some
Electrocoin Duet cabinets.









This piqued my
interest and I enquired whether they had any more PCB’s or arcade gear for sale. It turns out the seller was an Arcade Operator
working for Bristol Coin Equipment. The
company had operated arcades since 1972, and at one point they had fourteen
arcades. They even had a custom built
Jamma test rig and a full electronics workshop for repairing boards. Unfortunately loads of parts had been binned
a couple of years ago. Last year the
decision was made to close their last site in Weymouth, Harry’s Amusements.














The Op mentioned
that they had twenty BAS Jamma cabs in the basement, and had sold them all to a
collector. I wonder there they’ve ended
up? He also had three Ridge Racer sit
down cabinets which were sold to collectors.
Here are some pics of the arcade from 2016, when I was working in Portland.















After clearing out
the old office in Bristol,
the Op got back to me saying he had found some PCB’s. During our holiday, I visited the Op. Everything was sold as untested and
supposedly working until it was pulled from service. It amazes me what’s still out there in
storage, lock-ups and old buildings after all these years.






jase382018-09-04 22:05:32
 

lix

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I'de say. Any chance you want to sell that really large triple layer boardset in the left crate? The one with A96 roms on it? The Darius boardset? ;) I had my fingers on one of those at the arcade I used to work in, till some raider came and whipped it from under my nose. That's were I learnt the phrase 'You snooze, you lose!".
 

aeroflott

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Glad someone picked those up, I was offered them last year. His father owned Mad Harry's in Bristol, which was THE arcade of the city for many years.
 

jase38

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lix said:
I'de say. Any chance you want to sell that really large triple layer boardset in the left crate? The one with A96 roms on it? The Darius boardset? ;) I had my fingers on one of those at the arcade I used to work in, till some raider came and whipped it from under my nose. That's were I learnt the phrase 'You snooze, you lose!".

Well spotted that man! It's a three screen board I believe? No idea how I'm going to play it though. It's a shame the original cab was scrapped.
smiley19.gif
 

jase38

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aeroflott said:
Glad someone picked those up, I was offered them last year. His father owned Mad Harry's in Bristol, which was THE arcade of the city for many years.

Yep your right. Some of the boxed PCB'S are addressed to Mad Harry's.
smiley1.gif
 

Outrun2

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Blimey, I've been past that arcade many times over the last few years (well, ten looking at my old pics!). Always looked a great location for an arcade right on the esplanade and an intriguing frontage with the basement kind of on view from the bridge across to the entrance. I bet it was buzzing back in the day!

Did you check out the big arcade at Bowleaze Cove? Last time I was there it had a ton of more modern retro cabs (is that a term?), but I think within the last couple of years it has taken a hit.

Great work on this raid - if you don't ask questions, you don't get anywhere in raidland!
smiley32.gif


edit: just found my Weymouth arcade reports from a few years ago - seems I didn't take any photos of Harry's as it wasn't worth the trouble even then!
smiley3.gif


Outrun22018-05-08 18:40:53
 

jase38

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I checked out Bowleaze Cove back in 2016, unfortunately most of the good stuff had gone and they didn't have much of note except for Sega Rally 2 DLX and The House of the Dead 4.

We drove past at the weekend and were tempted to stop, but parking was a bit of an issue and we never made it in the end.
 

jase38

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I had a chance to look through the first crate of PCB's today. Most of these boards are in Namco kit boxes and have been sent from Brent Leisure. The boards are in like new condition, and the couple I tested were fully working. There is a definite running theme with these boards!

1. Street Fighter II' The World Warrior





2. Street Fighter II' Turbo-Hyper Fighting





3. Street Fighter II' Champion Edition

I was pleasantly surprised to find some arts when I opened up this box.



I removed the arts and was in for another surprise. Check out that gigantic spider!





It was dead and has probably been dead for a long time, but it didn't half make me jump. It would be more at home with an Aliens PCB!

Here are the arts. Unfortunately the Electrocoin marquee has yellowed quite badly.



4. Street Fighter II' Champion Edition

Yes, yet another one!





5. Street Fighter II: The New Challengers

This one looks like it's had a hard life.



However the board cleaned up well and is fully working.





6. Robocop

Now for something completely different! The board is very clean and fully working.






jase382018-06-12 13:21:30
 

virtvic

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Did you deal with Dave? I got a bunch of pcbs from him 10 years or more ago. I was the one who set up the Arcade Barn to get all the BAS cabs. He had the Ridge racers in the underground storage back then. he reckoned he had sold one and the buyer never came to pick it up.

He had some really good stories when I spoke to him.
 

jase38

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Yep, I was dealing with Dave, top bloke! He is still in the arcade industry, maintaining UFO catchers these days.

Ah I was wondering who picked up the BAS cabs. :)
 

strykr

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Shame the marquee is a bit knackered. I havent seen a pink one for sale since i joined this hobby. And only one or 2 blues. Remarkable considering how prominent sf2 was.
 

virtvic

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I had about a dozen pcbs (a fiver each!)
Had a few full cps2 games, an original Plus Alpha and the ACTUAL 3 Wonders game I used to play in that arcade as a teenager!
 

jase38

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strykr said:
Shame the marquee is a bit knackered. I havent seen a pink one for sale since i joined this hobby. And only one or 2 blues. Remarkable considering how prominent sf2 was.

Exactly this! I was hoping to display it, but this one isn't in great condition. They were everywhere back in the day, there must be a pile of NOS ones out there somewhere!
 

jase38

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virtvic said:
I had about a dozen pcbs (a fiver each!)
Had a few full cps2 games, an original Plus Alpha and the ACTUAL 3 Wonders game I used to play in that arcade as a teenager!

Nice one. It's cool you managed to get the actual pcb you played back in the day. 3 Wonders as well, awesome game. :)
 
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