It had been a long time...

[trm]

But it was warm today and I decided to see if my Star Wars had survived the winter.

Hell yes

So a couple of hours of Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back ensued.

I've got to finish the T-moulding replacement, fit the spare rebuilt yoke that centres properly, install the new CPO and yoke overlay and it's all done! Oh and refit the cockpit roof. I removed both perspexes and Novused out the swearing carved into them. They're mirror smooth now and safely wrapped.

 

[RaveN]

show off!!

 

[trm]

Hehehe. Those who have, take pix; those who have not, drool over the Internet

If its any consolation it'll have blown up by the morning. This is the first game I ever remember playing and I wanted one as soon as I saw the cab at Blackpool. I think I was about 7 years old and my right arm was in plaster from wrist to shoulder so my 50 pences didn't last long at all but I still banged away at it.

Vector games are absolutely beautiful, but this one is the prettiest cab of all

.

 

[RaveN]

hehe, to be completely honest, I've never actually played the game on a real cab!
I was only 3 when it came out, and my first memories of the arcade were the later 80's (double dragon, shinobi, g&g on).

However, I am jealous I wasn't around at the time, the game looks stunning with the vector monitor, and it was back when the cab gfx were a work of art all by themselves.

I can imagine how being immersed in the cockpit must make the overall experience much more impressive.

Andy

 

[Russ J]

mmm....cockpit Starwars, truly a cab of sheer beauty Tim

Now get some massive scores played on her dude

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Lovely man, don't see many around and fully working these days

 

[cosine]

I love Star Wars cockpits, shame I don't have room etc etc excuses excuses blah blah

The last time I saw one in the wild was converted to OutRun of all things, not really sure what flavour of crack the OP was smoking.

 

[simon_m74]

Last time I saw & played on one was at a Laser Quest game arena lobby, in Leicester.
About 20 years ago!

I have never seen one since!

Looks Great tho! :

 

[IDCHAPPY]

I love Star Wars cockpits, shame I don't have room etc etc excuses excuses blah blah

The last time I saw one in the wild was converted to OutRun of all things, not really sure what flavour of crack the OP was smoking.

, crazy flava crack for sure

 

[trm]

They are the best cabs ever.

I'm not a huge dude but inside it's close and cramped; you have the impression of space around due to the Perspex roof but it's still confined and isolating. The CP moulding and flight yoke prompt your brain a little more to almost believe you're in Space, flying the thing. Climbing out of the cockpit is almost as much fun as climbing in.

Second best is the smell of them. I've never figured out what chemical it is but maybe it's an aldehyde from the wood chip that's still outgassing, toxic but in low quantities. Combine that with the unbeatable smell of warm electronics, a slight hint of ozone from the HT and the other, indescribable and unidentifiable smell that says arcade. It smells of happy.

But primus inter pares, the vector display. The smoked glass isn't there to make the cab look cool, it's to stop your eyes exploding with the awesomeness of super saturated laser beams drawing TIE fighters and AT-ATs on your retinas. Nothing can create fireballs as beautifully as a well-converged XY tube, and nothing sounds so cool whilst doing it as vector chatter. The sound of a hundred staccato knives, dicing electrons, hurling them close to c so they pulverise into photons for my viewing pleasure[1]. Super illuminated streaks of pure awesomesauce.

Every time I blat the Death Star and it paints vectors on the tube walls I bathe in the glow but realise that's one less overdrive left in the screen; how many more before the colours fade and it stops glowing - ten, a thousand, a million?

I do love Star Wars

[1] Whilst all of this is subjective waffle, this is egregiously incorrect physics and electronics and needs disclaiming when posted on a top forum such as this

 

[RGP]

Much love for Star Wars in the RGP camp!

First experience was in a cockpit cab at an arcade called Playaways in Blackpool which was next to the legendary Slots O Fun. I was lucky to be a hyper aware 6 year old when all the arcade scene really started here in the UK in 1979 so at nearly 10 in 83 you can imagine how much memory I have for this lot.

Distinctly remember the arcade having green and yellow painted woodwork, beige floor and that "smell". You walked through a few furry toy crane machines and there she was, almost hidden, sideways so you'd just see the backglass and almost miss the machine as you'd see other games around the outside of the room.

It was set on 20p play and I can still hear Alec Guiness' booming voice in the attract sequence as I sat in the seat and my grandma inserted the coins and I looked about for the start button, having to be told to pull the triggers.

What happened from that point on can only be described by the sum of all the best feelings in your life. Enemies filled the screen and flew past me, I shot the tie fighters and stars moved at the touch of the controls, for that few minutes I was Luke Skywalker.

Memories are a big part of what we have and cling to, trying for a few moments each time we play our games to forget the man-made problems of society. We are the legacy now.

Anyway, enough ramblings of a 40 year old trying to relive childhood......

 

[Russ J]

They are the best cabs ever.

I'm not a huge dude but inside it's close and cramped; you have the impression of space around due to the Perspex roof but it's still confined and isolating. The CP moulding and flight yoke prompt your brain a little more to almost believe you're in Space, flying the thing. Climbing out of the cockpit is almost as much fun as climbing in.

Second best is the smell of them. I've never figured out what chemical it is but maybe it's an aldehyde from the wood chip that's still outgassing, toxic but in low quantities. Combine that with the unbeatable smell of warm electronics, a slight hint of ozone from the HT and the other, indescribable and unidentifiable smell that says arcade. It smells of happy.

But primus inter pares, the vector display. The smoked glass isn't there to make the cab look cool, it's to stop your eyes exploding with the awesomeness of super saturated laser beams drawing TIE fighters and AT-ATs on your retinas. Nothing can create fireballs as beautifully as a well-converged XY tube, and nothing sounds so cool whilst doing it as vector chatter. The sound of a hundred staccato knives, dicing electrons, hurling them close to c so they pulverise into photons for my viewing pleasure[1]. Super illuminated streaks of pure awesomesauce.

Every time I blat the Death Star and it paints vectors on the tube walls I bathe in the glow but realise that's one less overdrive left in the screen; how many more before the colours fade and it stops glowing - ten, a thousand, a million?

I do love Star Wars

Dude I feel your love for this cab so much it actually brought a tear to my eye

 

[trm]

Cheers dude It is a beauty and I've just polished it!

I also just got 959,082 on Star Wars!!!! I know that's rather tame - to put it mildly - but I suck at games and my previous best was just under 600k.

Going to break a million today, definitely! I've been watching your vids you see

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Cheers dude It is a beauty and I've just polished it!

I also just got 959,082 on Star Wars!!!! I know that's rather tame - to put it mildly - but I suck at games and my previous best was just under 600k.

Going to break a million today, definitely! I've been watching your vids you see

Go for it dude

 

[Alpha1]

Cheers dude It is a beauty and I've just polished it!

I also just got 959,082 on Star Wars!!!! I know that's rather tame - to put it mildly - but I suck at games and my previous best was just under 600k.

Going to break a million today, definitely! I've been watching your vids you see

Start on hard and don't shoot in the trench and you'll break 1 million on your first loop...

 

[trm]

Cheers chaps. Dan has given me some tips too and the clear theme is go big or go home, so I'm sticking on hard.

The problem I have getting the Force bonus in hard trench onwards is knowing quite how wide the collision detection zone is. I believe the trench is three lanes high and three wide but if I have a fireball in the bottom left and bottom right 'tunnels' it seems being in the bottom middle tunnel is a collision. I don't know if my path is just a little too far to one side or the other and I think I must be otherwise you'd get knacked later on when you get half width walkways.

Onwards and upwards!

 

[trm]

I got 1,072,something!

Hard, all laser towers, Force in the trench and half of wave 6. A few games later and I almost reached wave 7 but I missed the tower bonus by 1.

Going to treat it to some new double-wide t-moulding now whilst I wait for callouses to build up on my trigger finger. It's a bloody uncomfortable seat too, just like real space ships

 

[Russ J]

I usually try and draw the fireballs away from any opening I need to go through,what I mean is the fireballs if they get fired from the 'bottom' of the trench and you pull upwards the fireballs will be drawn to you 'upwards' so to speak and at the last possible second fly under them and avoid them (hope this makes sense Tim) also a red turret will not fire unless you are on the same 'level' as it,they will only fire if you are level even only for a split second,als there can only be 4 fireballs on the screen (in the trench) at any one time,try and remember that and use that to your advantage,sometimes it makes sense to not shoot the fireballs if you can easily just avoid them but 'looking beyond' the fireballs at any on coming walls or red turrets that could fire at you and lose you a shield if you are using the force...

I would be easier to show you 'in the flesh' at some point Tim

 

[trm]

1,076,483 I can now generally do wave 6 until the trench without losing a shield! It's not much but it's a lot more than before.

The red turret tip is extremely useful thanks, and I understand what you mean about pulling the fireballs. I'm not particularly good at doing it yet, but I've got the tactic and I'm improving!

Thanks very much

 

[grobda]

nice thread

My SW memories were at the swimming baths in Westhoughton. After swimming club each week id buy a wham bar from the vending machine and have a go on the upright they had there.

Sadly someone broke the yoke, and the swimming instructor was badly injured in a car crash, it was never the same after that and I stopped going.

The swimming instructor did make a full recovery.