Unbelievable insights in to... Pac-Man

AnonTet said:
One of the good things about pinball is that there wasn't much to worry about bootlegs or even piracy. At least I don't know of any case.
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Ah, I forgot to reply on this. My understanding is that arcade bootlegs were infinitely easier to produce than pinball bootlegs, hence why the latter weren't made, AFAIK. Also, the former would generally tend to need much less servicing, of course.

So with video bootlegs, you barely needed more than a couple people and modest space requirements to crank out some product for the right region, then disappear. With pinball, I think you need at least a small factory, an assembly line, and a lot more monetary outlay. And then, who would want to trust you in terms of product reliability and replacement of custom parts, even if legal? It's just a non-starter AFAIK.

That said, a fair number of pinball conversion kits were produced, which are perfectly legal in most jurisdictions AFAIK. Looks like 157 were produced in all!

The Internet Pinball Machine Database

www.ipdb.org www.ipdb.org
 
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Conversion kits are still made today. Starting with LEDs. JackBot is just a rom upgrate from pinbot AFAIK so obviously on more modern machines, today, one can probably flash a rom and do the same thing.

At the time though...

With the arcades, at least here, i'm pretty sure we played only bootlegs. It wouldn't surprise me if bootlegs were actually more common than original arcades and what we think we played wasn't.

We didn't know any better and to be honest, I just remember having a lot of fun :D
 
I recall pretty much the same thing with bootlegs in Peru, even though I only saw them when visiting. I would guess some regional guys found it easier to make the bootlegs than makers & distributors to cut the right deals to get content to South America.

You bet your bippy, conversion kits are still being made today! (did you see the Funhouse one?, because it looks pretty awesome to me)
 
Yeah, seen that one. Found the one for BoP at www.dutchpinball.com

Apparently there's a "The big Lebowski" coming too :)
 
I remember seeing a video of some guys playing BoP with that mod.

There's a Slamt1lt mod of strikes & spares with sounds / speech from the movie along with bowling pins on the playfield instead of the triggers.

Really nice mod, as you would expect.
 
Well I will admit I did play Jelly Monsters until I eventually mastered it.

 
You sir, are a true gamer :)
 
LAI was our local amusement machine producer here down under.

Cosmic Princess was perhaps the most unique because although licensed from Stern, it was the only machine Stern did not make themselves.

Internet Pinball Machine Database: LAI 'Cosmic Princess'

www.ipdb.org www.ipdb.org

Fun game used to play with her a lot!

Interesting that it used the same rom as Stern's Magic, also a great game, though had a completely different layout.
 
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Was going to mention Taito on the bootleg subject,
but aren't Taito tables from Brazil, licensed bootlegs of other tables?

Back to Pac-Man...
I enjoyed playing Munchman on a TI-99a computer.
Of course each level got harder as you progressed, but each level had different characters chasing you, and that was what motivated you to get to next level, to see what new characters showed up.
Instead of dots to eat, you left chain links, and tried to fill the whole maze with them.
 
Taito is a good example yes. But those are licensed right? Not sure how it goes. Roms sent to Taito Brasil and then cabinets and whatnot are made there? Of the software only was sent they add or take something, burn the roms and then use?

But I was mentioning bootlegs as in piracy :)

Leaks existed then as they exist today. I remember reading (or maybe hear in one of Haze's streams) a story of bootlegs coming to market before the actual manufacturer game because of leaks! OK maybe this was not that often but apparently happened!
 
xenonph said:
Was going to mention Taito on the bootleg subject,
but aren't Taito tables from Brazil, licensed bootlegs of other tables?
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Wow, Taito's Brasil subsidiary wasn't quite what I thought! Evidently they really did go on to rip off plenty of other games, pinball included. Well shut my mouth and spank my bottom.

Also, I recall that it's much harder to pursue IP theft in Brasil, so I guess that explains how they were able to pull it off without the big players coming after them. Then again, with arcade imports being shut down by their govt, maybe there wasn't much profit in going after Taito-Brasil.

According to The Complete Pinball Book, the optional photo unit mounted on the top of the Cosmic Princess backbox would take instant pictures of players whenever the high score was beaten.
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Wow again! Maybe your photos are on file somewhere. :D

Hey btw, Steve-- I'm familiar with Jelly Monsters (by HAL, right?) from ~1980. I played it on my Commodore Vic-20, and it was an incredibly good early simulation, although sized differently. They even managed to animate on the borders, which was a pretty fantastic feat for the humble little Vic-20.
 
DAMN, no Cosmic Princess on FP at least :(
 
I was curious as to how "clone" games seemed to be allowed back in the day, like Cosmic Monsters by Universal and others that basically copied Space Invaders.

Bring on the clones..

www.retrogamedeconstructionzone.com

Shooter Gallery #1: The Space Invaders Clone Show

If you visited an arcade in the late '70s and early '80s, you were sure to come across a shooter or two (or ten). So massive was the i...
www.retrogamedeconstructionzone.com www.retrogamedeconstructionzone.com
 
Isaac Sauvage said:
Hey btw, Steve-- I'm familiar with Jelly Monsters (by HAL, right?) from ~1980.
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Um, dunno it was one of a few cartridges I had for my Vic20, also had omega race, it was also a rather good version.

Though by far my favourite was, drum roll. :drummer:

Spiders From Mars!

 
StevOz said:
Um, dunno it was one of a few cartridges I had for my Vic20, also had omega race, it was also a rather good version.
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Omega Race was amazingly good for V20. Someone did an awesome job there.

Yeah, I'm afraid I'm not really down with the colors & sounds of 'Spiders,' but the concept's good.

Oh hey, just found this quick 2:00 vid of 50 good games, and it's got a lot of classics, and even a couple good-looking games I never played:

 
VIC-20 yet another system I never even say live...

Omega race IS amazing still today too.

games like moon patrol, lode runner, jet-pac, ... all played on ZX Spectrum. I owned 3 my selft but my favourite was always the 48k with rubber keys. It is beautiful to this day in my eyes and no other computer ever had keys like those as far as I can remember.
 
AnonTet said:
VIC-20 yet another system I never even say live...
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I guess you didn't make the cut as a Commodore Kid...

Though surely you must know the Amiga...

So :drummer:


3D defender, guided missiles, instead of smart bombs and invading UFOs infecting the planet, next level!

Oh, BTW despite the ignorant comment about the mouse playability, it was actually the only way to play and beat this game.!

*edit

Have to change that video, those gummies have no skills! Watching it was painful!
 
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The amiga 500 yes, had a friend with one. Good thing I wasn't near a mirror when I saw it otherwise I would've seen my idiot face and that's an image I don't need :D
 
@StevOz,
Ooh, Virus / Zarch looks pretty neat, if slightly ponderous. The graphic experience also seems very appealing & relaxing.

Just now I looked at Defender's three official / semi-official sequels past Stargate, and thought that none of them really captured the magic. Kind of interesting, really-- that a 40-yr old game can become so perfected that no amount of extra processor speed, graphics, or new gameplay can make it any better than it already was. In fact, mostly what the sequels did despite their best efforts was to muddy up the concept, or outright worsen it.

So not just a videogame classic, but also Gandalf standing on top of it, exclaiming "THOU SHALL NOT PASS." :-D

Btw, with Cosmic Princess, is VPX itself producing the gloss on the PF, or is that a JP trick? Because I can't remember the last time I saw that level of polish on a VPX table.
 
About some games not needing anything else... quite a few classics. You can beautify all you want, it won't add anything to the original if you ask me.

Kids might have another say in this but... in my home, thankfully, it's not the most important think. I must've done something right :D

No clue about cosmic princess image trickery.

But hopefully, soon in FP:
Cosmic Princess v1.0 (AnonTet).png
 
Nice start @AnonTet, looking good, actually I think my very first original table may have been influenced by the Princess.

Pre FP, circa VP8, things were simpler back then.

Blazing Trail.
 

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I'm not sure I can do this alone. Let's see where this leads me. I have less time now but it's not like I have a deadline and I first have yet to learn how to do even the simplest of things in FP.

When I discovered virtual pinball was actually with FP. I think the first table I played was based on Metal Slug! I hated the way it played but it looked so good! And here I am :D
 
Metal Slug!!! I spent happy hours validating the inp on MAMEScore. Nice series.
In an other hand, AnonTet, if I can help you, no problem (if I have time, this rare ressource).
 
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