Step 1 – get yourself a Jedi
A couple of years ago I picked up an Atari Return of the Jedi in need of loving care and attention.
ROTJ generally gets a bad press in my opinion. I think this is mostly down to people’s expectation that Atari would have released a Star Wars clone. But look at the game on its own merits and there is a really good shooter here. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I actually prefer it to Star Wars!
Cosmetically the edges and corners were pretty beat up, much of the t-molding was missing, the control panel had been damaged by cigarette burns, the yoke was very worn, the coin doors were damaged and rusted, the side art was missing, the control panel decals were missing and the yoke had the Star Wars decal instead of the ROTJ.
On the plus side, it powered up and played! But the control was very erratic and not all of the fire buttons worked. The screen was fairly badly burnt and the marquee light didn’t work.
I’ve tidied up a few machines but have never embarked on a full restoration and originally thought this one might take a couple of months. Well, two years later (!) it is virtually finished... I just need one final decal from across the pond, so hope to have it completed within the next couple of weeks.
So far, I am pretty pleased with the result…. I stopped counting the hours and pounds that went in this a long time ago…. I had a few major setbacks and at times became so disillusioned that I had to park it for months before I could muster the enthusiasm to continue.
Over the next week or so, I will be posting details of the steps that I went through for the restoration. Hopefully you will find the journey interesting and maybe some of the lessons that I’ve learnt will be invaluable for anyone embarking on a similar project.
So to kick things off, some pictures of what I started with….
iamjimmi2015-12-03 22:03:51
A couple of years ago I picked up an Atari Return of the Jedi in need of loving care and attention.
ROTJ generally gets a bad press in my opinion. I think this is mostly down to people’s expectation that Atari would have released a Star Wars clone. But look at the game on its own merits and there is a really good shooter here. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I actually prefer it to Star Wars!
Cosmetically the edges and corners were pretty beat up, much of the t-molding was missing, the control panel had been damaged by cigarette burns, the yoke was very worn, the coin doors were damaged and rusted, the side art was missing, the control panel decals were missing and the yoke had the Star Wars decal instead of the ROTJ.
On the plus side, it powered up and played! But the control was very erratic and not all of the fire buttons worked. The screen was fairly badly burnt and the marquee light didn’t work.
I’ve tidied up a few machines but have never embarked on a full restoration and originally thought this one might take a couple of months. Well, two years later (!) it is virtually finished... I just need one final decal from across the pond, so hope to have it completed within the next couple of weeks.
So far, I am pretty pleased with the result…. I stopped counting the hours and pounds that went in this a long time ago…. I had a few major setbacks and at times became so disillusioned that I had to park it for months before I could muster the enthusiasm to continue.
Over the next week or so, I will be posting details of the steps that I went through for the restoration. Hopefully you will find the journey interesting and maybe some of the lessons that I’ve learnt will be invaluable for anyone embarking on a similar project.
So to kick things off, some pictures of what I started with….
