(Insert stupid Blog name here)

I'm going to wait until Brave comes out to watch the trailer, but it's good to know the reaction has been positive.

Somebody at Disney likes video games...

 

Indeed.

Disney put Fix-It Felix Jr. online as a flash game on the Wreck-It Ralph movie's site:

 

http://disney.go.com...content=2006061

It's okay. Kind of a so-so mix of Donkey Kong, Crazy Climber and Rampage. Admittedly, it does say "beta" on it, so maybe they aren't quite finished with it yet.

 

Still, it's nice to see that they put the effort into making an homage to the classic era of arcade games.

"My Q*Bertese is a little rusty."

 

Love it.

My buddy Kevin was at E3 and they had a "vintage" Fix It Felix Jr. cabinet! The photo's from his blog entry, ES3: Day Two.

 

Looks like a barn find.

Based on the sign in front of the screen, the cabinet doesn't look playable. I wonder if there are any plans to set up a working cabinet at Disneyland's arcade? Or maybe

in Disney California Adventure Park?

 

EDIT: Probably not at Flynn's Arcade which according to this source closed in April of this year.

Buncha jerks. I went to Disneyland in late March, but they close California Adventure early (9 PM), so I missed going to the arcade. Now it looks like I've completely missed it.

 

The Disneyland arcade (Starcade) is a completely anemic shadow of its former self. Just a couple of games, and mostly gift-shop stuff now. I have a couple of pics I'll post up later.

The sign is not really readable in the photo, but this is my guess of what it says.

 

ATTENTION GAMERS & COLLECTORS

 

This is 1 of only 100 Fix-It Felix Jr. cabinets manufactured in 1983.

 

We are looking for information as to the location of any remaining cabinets in any condition.

 

Please email us at FelixSearch@disneyinteractive.com with any information or pictures of their whereabouts.

Hmm, if that sign is saying what I think it says, does that mean Disney is going to plant some cabinets across the country as part of their marketing campaign? Just some wild speculation.

Probably. They had a similar thing with Tron: Legacy.

This is all that's left of Starcade. A handful of video games...

 

 

Some crane games, and some weird new Seawolf game:

 

 

The rest of it is a gift shop. You can still see the floor outlets where games used to be plugged in:

 

 

The only other even remotely arcade thing left in Disneyland is in the Indiana Jones gift shop:

 

 

And now, a couple of asides from my trip to D-land...

 

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. Must be trying to appeal to the Disney/Star Wars/furry/weirdo fan-boy set:

 

 

Then, there are some rather odd choices for merchandise. Oven mitts where you can stick your hand down Mickey's pants...

 

 

Or...

 

 

Uh... no thanks.

Now, onto another matter.

 

Why would they name the arcade shown in the trailer this?

 

 

Well, here's a theory. Back in my CalArts days (as a student), we had an entertainment lawyer by the name of Mark Litwak come in and give a guest lecture.

 

Now generally, I'm terrible at remembering names, but not his. I never forgot it, because it sounded like a sound effect. Specifically, a fly landing, and then getting swatted by a newspaper: "Lit... WHACK!" Great mnemonic device. That, and it also kind-of sounded like an insult. "You litwak!" (Sort of like an anagram for lack-wit.)

 

Hmmm... probably not the best thing to write where a lawyer's concerned.

 

I even still have my original lecture notes from back then...

 

 

Must have been a pretty good lecture. I've got ten pages of notes from it.

 

Anyway, I suspect somebody involved with the film ran across his name at some point, remembered it for similar reasons, and adopted it for the film. I have yet to find out whether or not it was intentionally named after him.

 

I wonder if he'll sue for royalties?

Anyway, I suspect somebody involved with the film ran across his name at some point, remembered it for similar reasons, and adopted it for the film. I have yet to find out whether or not it was intentionally named after him.

Interesting theory. Maybe we'll get an explanation in the DVD/Blu-Ray commentary.

The sign is not really readable in the photo, but this is my guess of what it says.

 

I've dropped Kevin a note to see if he has a bigger photo than what he posted in his blog.

Fix it Felix Jr. appears to be an early 80s Nintendo cabinet; a Donkey Kong if the blue paint is original. (Although the Nintendo control panel has two player start buttons in the middle, I wonder why the change.)

A better question is... if it is a Donkey Kong cabinet, can you still use the drinking straw trick to get free credits?

Kevin took 4 photos of the cabinet, one of which is a closeup of the sign.

 

When viewing the photos, click on the photo itself to toggle between the 1024x768 resized image and the 2048x1536 full size image as the gallery defaults to the smaller image.

 

I'm impressed with Zach's deciphering abilities:

ATTENTION GAMERS & COLLECTORS

 

This is 1 of only 105 Fix-It Felix Jr. cabinets manufactured in 1982.

 

We are looking for information on the location of any remaining cabinets in any condition.

 

Please email us at FelixArcade@disneyanimation.com with any information or photos of their whereabouts.

Wow... only 105. Must've been a pretty bad game.

 

Probably just another bootleg running on Galaxian hardware (MAME joke).

Fix it Felix Jr. appears to be an early 80s Nintendo cabinet; a Donkey Kong if the blue paint is original. (Although the Nintendo control panel has two player start buttons in the middle, I wonder why the change.)

 

This post from Reddit is consistent with Eric's observation.

 

Someone from So Cal posted in the KLOV forums that Disney contacted them and bought 3 gutted Nintendo cabinets 2 weeks before G3 (a Popeye, a DK3, and a DK I think).

 

So, if Disney is planning to plant cabinets, it looks like there will only be a few, and will probably be limited to Southern California. (I'd love to be proven wrong.)

They'd probably just move them around as needed. Cheaper than building new ones for every location.

A working cabinet has been spotted at Comic-Con, and "word on the street" is that cabinets will appear nationwide, mostly in movie theaters.

 

http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disney-sdcc-wreckit-ralph-arcade-game-experience-brings-fix-felix-jr-life-21467/

Way cool. The Houston Arcade Expo is the same weekend that Wreck It Ralph opens. I dropped an email to the address in that article, and CCed the guy running HAE, to see if they could get a unit here for that weekend.

That version of the game looks much better than what they have online. The online one seems very unfinished.