Intruder in sector 1 -player 1 to battle stations

[vector.spectre]

Hi everyone... My names Tony and I'm from Brighton...

Almost level 44 now so... getting on, but I've still got the horn for arcade games...

I can remember all my gaming 'firsts' ... my first illuminated Atari volcano button joy moment, my first hmmm the bass on that Atari Star Wars score entry music bit... the twinge i got when i first saw 'Star Fire' by Exidy... Tail-Gunner jesus H... my child like mind was frazzled...

First time i went to Blackpool with my parents (they are from there) i saw my very first arcade game ever... Atari Biplane... my little brain said... it's a TV in a box and it's got a humming black & white thing buzzing around it... I LOVE IT!... then Atari-Night Driver... amazing!

But those Blackpool arcades in the mid-late 1970's saw the birth of another geek-child... ME! - Because my parents were from Blackpool (but we lived down south near London) we used to always go to Blackpool for our holidays and so i would get to visit the Pleasure-Beach and the arcades... just amazing, i don't need to tell you what effect they had on me....

The first vector game i saw was Tail-Gunner then Lunar-Lander... i loved the games the cabinets the Classic analog Atari sound effects, the rush when you walked into an arcade...

Then as i grew up a bit i saw them in my home town a bit more... my very first Tempest... i think i almost sh*t myself with glee... but when i saw Atari Star Wars in a Soho London arcade (Las-Vegas) that was it... i was obsessed... i hassled my father to buy me one for years.... years

You know a friend of mine and i saw a cockpit Atari Star Wars outside the 'penny arcade' in Paighton Devon ( i used to live in Torquay) just outside in the rain... wasting away... broken, my friend had an UP Star Wars... but i never knew what became of it... anyhew...

I became a sort of arcade engineer in later life just because of my love of the games that inspired us, i worked for a chain of Arcade & Bingo Halls, doing the 'machines' mostly fruities... but i had my time with the Jamma cabs and the dedicated... my last game while i was engineer was Sega Rally i think.... sadly no longer in the game so to speak.

But I'm here because I've always loved arcade games... had a few in my time, not many... my first was a Defender i think, but i got into computing and gaming at home... and then with my first PC in 96 i got into MAME a year later and i was just reborn - I left Torquay and moved to London leaving behind a few boards and a nice Jamma-Cab which i couldn't take with me... and all i have today is an aborted MAME build using a 1979 Universal Cosmic-Guerrilla Cocktail... which is a nice little thing... but I'm after getting me a nice dedicated game as i saw an Atari Star Wars for sale and i was thinking this game alone defined so much for me, it was a like a magic mid-point in my gaming history and without it things just wouldn't be the same... there was a technological emergency during the 1980s what with electro music and break (robot) dancing and the arcade games of the day just said... enjoy the technology... now look at us... watching Jeff Minter playing 2600-esque games on an I-pad

I love it though... love it all... so give me a few months to settle in, I've got a few little stories to tell, I'm friendly and may have a few arcade bits & bobs to sell, share... but I'm looking to buy my chunk of a mid-life-crysis in the form of a vector game maybe...

Oh favorite classic arcade games... if your interested...

Tempest
Star Wars
Firefox
Star Blade
Robotron
Battlezone
Astro Blaster

and it go's on...

bye for now...
vector.spectre2012-06-23 05:14:41

 

[forcefulfil]

Hi Tony!
Welcome to UKVAC!

what a good read of arcade history there,im sure you will find many many like wise stories from members too.

i think all of us were bitten during our younger years too.

hence why my collection consists of many already you have listed

phil

 

[Alpha1]

Welcome mate, there's a fair few of us here with vector games.

I think there's a SW cockpit in Brighton currently that's in the for sale section here?

 

[virtvic]

Where in London are you?

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Excellent intro buddy and welcome to the site

 

[Muerto]

Great introduction! You fit right in!!! Welcome!

 

[vector.spectre]

Welcome mate, there's a fair few of us here with vector games.

I think there's a SW cockpit in Brighton currently that's in the for sale section here?

Yes i think that's the one, i saw it recently and i said to myself... damn if i didn't save, so i rededicated myself and thus I'm here after many hours looking around the web at Atari Star Wars cab videos and the like... you know how it is, i think within a few months I'll have enough to get my very first Star Wars i hope so anyway....

Thanks to the rest of you for the welcome... cheers

 

[DanP]

Hi Tony and welcome along. Looks like we have similar tastes in games

I did have an Astro Blaster for sale but it didn't sell at the SCS recently so I kinda found some more room for it

Dan

 

[Alpha1]

Dan - some dude on the other side looking for an AB.

 

[DanP]

Dan - some dude on the other side looking for an AB.

Really? UR or Cabaret?