retrorussell Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 You may recall sometime way back when where you were at some arcade where all the big-name machines were right up front; the Ms. Pac Mans, the Battlezones, the Donkey Kongs, the Dig Dugs, the Galagas, etc. But back in a corner, you saw some weird title that you tried out and maybe talked to your friends about, and NO ONE had ever heard of it before. It promptly disappeared from the planet and no one seems to know it existed. If you can remember the name (or if you can't maybe I can help you), what was it? Did it deserve to die a quick death? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 You may recall sometime way back when where you were at some arcade where all the big-name machines were right up front; the Ms. Pac Mans, the Battlezones, the Donkey Kongs, the Dig Dugs, the Galagas, etc. But back in a corner, you saw some weird title that you tried out and maybe talked to your friends about, and NO ONE had ever heard of it before. It promptly disappeared from the planet and no one seems to know it existed. If you can remember the name (or if you can't maybe I can help you), what was it? Did it deserve to die a quick death? I'll shout out a few to get things rolling. I used to play Sega's "005" a lot at an arcade in Tigard, OR called Astrocade. I don't know why, as it wasn't a very good game. I also recall seeing Rock-Ola's "Pioneer Balloon" and Sega's "Borderline" at Funland in Seaside, OR. Pioneer Balloon was a VERY stupid, repetitive game with a balloon dropping missiles(!) on Native Americans, covered wagons, and other enemies to the tune of "The Great Escape". The hell? Borderline was much better, involving jeep warfare. Anybody heard of these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogstar_robot Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I can recall a couple of games I've played that were at least uncommon: Tac-Scan - Sega That was a VERY nice vector shooter with a lot of originality. Quantum - Atari I only saw one example of both of those games. Tac-Scan was at a health club my family had a membership at in the early eighties. The Quantum was at a Gold Mine at the Huntington Mall in Barboursville WV. Interesting that both of mine were vectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 I can recall a couple of games I've played that were at least uncommon: Tac-Scan - Sega That was a VERY nice vector shooter with a lot of originality. Quantum - Atari I only saw one example of both of those games. Tac-Scan was at a health club my family had a membership at in the early eighties. The Quantum was at a Gold Mine at the Huntington Mall in Barboursville WV. Interesting that both of mine were vectors. I liked Tac/Scan quite a bit. Quantum wasn't that great; it was a vector version of Qix. Tac/Scan had more lasting power. But I definitely remember both of these. Another one I'll throw out there is Data East's "Astro Fantasia". Kind of weird shooter with a background that scrolled as you moved up or down. Made on the DECO cassette system, which took a long time to boot up and also had "Mission X", "Lock and Chase" and "Burgertime" on it. Not their worst, but not the best either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I remember Tac/Scan back in the day. More recently, back in college the rec area had fighting game Survival Arts, published by future Sega assimilator Sammy. Sort of a poor man's Mortal Kombat, the game had at least one unique feature going for it: weapons would be thrown into the arena during battle, making a certain victory sometimes not-so-certain. But that didn't rescue it from being complete crap otherwise. The game deserves its scarcity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I saw and fell in love with a Cloak & Dagger machine at a local putt putt golf place when I was a kid. The same place also had a Crazy Climber machine which while not the rarest machine on earth is still pretty uncommon. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slampam Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Does pinball count? Popular with collectors – Xenon sat untouched with the other high-tech pinball machines designed to compete with voice chip games like Berzerk. Though her blue tubes did beckon me. “Try tube Shot” Welcome to Xenon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heberts811 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I went to a convention in Seattle in 1985, and I saw Splat at the amusement park that was there. Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren Tyler Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Um, Clash-Road and Lode Runner? How about Turkey Shoot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonner242 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Major Havok...LOVED IT! I want someone to make a VECTREX homebrew of it...Id pay! Never saw it again once they pulled it out of my Mall back in the 80's Couple of pics http://homepage.mac.com/arekkusu/SW/mame/i/vector_mhavoc.png http://serialconsign.com/images/2008/01/ma...havoc-start.png Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telengard Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Some rare ones that managed to show up in the Dream Machine at our nearby mall which seem to be pretty rare Swimmer 005 Krull At Alladin's Castle I remember seeing an Cloak and Dagger and Major Havoc. ~telengard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonner242 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Krull & Cloak and Dagger are wicked games too....KRULL ohh....its like TRON to me... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cougar302b Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 A few that I saw at one place and nowhere else. Thayers Quest - Wunderland in Beaverton. Probably the best game ever Sea Wolf - Pizza Caboose in Tigard. Steamboat - Chuck E. Cheese in Beaverton. Their are many more, but I can't remember the names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yuppicide Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Hmmm... Maybe these aren't super rare, but Super Don Quixote was a great game. I used to play a lot of Circus Charlie, although my friends hated it. There is one game I don't know how rare it is, but nobody seems to know what I'm talking about. I've asked here before. It's a shoot em up game.. you fly a space ship to the right and shoot things. You can fly through hoops for extra points if I remember correct. The deli that had it near me in a generic cabinet I think. Far as I can recall it said Omni on it, but can't find any info. They used to switch their games often. Years later I bought three cabinets for $50 bucks each.. one had Time Pilot, one had Kangaroo (not working), and one had something else. They had more boards upstairs in storage, but I never talked to the old guy who owns the place. I do remember Eggsplode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Wow.. good picks folks! Got some more for you.. A nickel arcade in NE Portland had an old Sega Gremlin game called "Tranquilizer Gun" with a safari hunter shooting and collecting animals. Pretty crappy. A fairly rare game that I liked a lot: Exerion by Jaleco/Taito. Nice parallax scrolling background. I liked the option to hold the button down and shoot a steady stream but that depleted your shot supply faster than shooting one blast at a time. One more before I hit the hay: Jaleco/Cinematronics' "Naughty Boy". Weird but very easy game where you're a kid that throws rocks at monsters. Your goal is to destroy all the flags on the fort at the top of the screen, burning it down. Thanks for the replies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schuwalker Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I had a friend who had a arcade back in the day; so I saw quite of bit of games...... Cosmic Chasm 3 stooges duramold Blaster Tin star Judge Dredd--prototype sit down Star Rider Interstellar Major Havoc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorf Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I have an Amstar Laser Base. I refurbed it to make it look pretty. The game sucks. It s a really bad version of a Missile command type game. It's the only time I ever saw the machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 I just remembered some more: Krull (local swimming pool, wasn't there long) Major Havoc (Pinball Pete's, no longer there) Discs of Tron - Evironmental (local mall, long gone) Rally Bike (MSU student union, played it all the time) Alcon (MSU student union, almost beat it) Red Baron (3 of them at Cedar Point in the 90's) Star Castle (Cedar Point as well) I, Robot (can't recall the arcade now, but it was cool at the time) The rarest game I ever saw though was probably Star Wars Arcade. This is not the Atari game, and it's not the Star Wars Trilogy that you still see in some arcades, but it was the game they ported to the 32X (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9775). I saw this in an airport in England in the late 90's. The game was fun, but very hard and cost a Pound to play IIRC. I never saw one of these ever again. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassidy Nolen Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Very cool topic Back in the day.... Reactor (played it all the time at Chuck E Cheeses) Discs of Tron (environmental) at Six Flags over Texas Speed Freak (Six Flags also). Man did I LOVE that game. Can't be a vector cow... Dragons Lair II, was only at the arcade one time I went and then it was gone. Smokey Joe (mind you, not rare in the 70's, but RARE by 86 to see on location!) Modern/Last 10 years... Videotopia has just about everything you could imagine.... Major Havoc Computer Space (had that one in the basement for MANY years...) Subs ESB cockpit Lunar Lander Indy 8 tons more I cannot think of. Ones I have owned: Computer Space (one and two player) Trak 10 (the smaller cabaret sized Gran Trak 10). Pong cocktail table (serial number was crazy low, like 80 or something) Drag Race Sprint 2 Night Driver cockpit (owned 2 of them) Worst conversion I have seen: Qix converted to a Street Fighter (or some such nonsense...it killed me a little to leave that arcade) CN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogstar_robot Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Krull & Cloak and Dagger are wicked games too....KRULL ohh....its like TRON to me... I didn't think of those as rare. I've played those too. Krull I could take or leave but I believe it was Gottlieb who made that as well as a game called Mad Planets which was at a recording studio of all places. Cloak and Dagger was seriously fun though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Well.. maybe they weren't rare in my part of the world, but growing up I always played the Taito version of Defender (it had the reverse button on top of the joystick). Also of course my favorite Taito Space Invaders part 2 in which the cabinet, backgrounds and artwork differed quite a bit from the u.s.-made Midway Space Invader Deluxe And I often played Puckman and thought it was a bootleg of Pacman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinball22 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 There's this game that used to be at a roller rink here when I was a kid, probably around 1982, that I don't remember the name of and haven't been able to figure out. It's a Pac-Man-like game with slightly worse graphics... you're this sort of long narrow spaceship thing that goes around picking up dots. Can anyone identify it from this terribly vague description? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 There's this game that used to be at a roller rink here when I was a kid, probably around 1982, that I don't remember the name of and haven't been able to figure out. It's a Pac-Man-like game with slightly worse graphics... you're this sort of long narrow spaceship thing that goes around picking up dots. Can anyone identify it from this terribly vague description? Sort of sounds like Solar Fox: http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9610 Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinball22 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 No, not Solar Fox... it had a maze with the dots in it. I think the maze was sort of light blue and the dots yellow, but I'm not positive. The place where it was is now a large thrift store, but it still has the wood floor from the skating rink. Is a little weird to go in there... makes me want it to be like it was. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 No, not Solar Fox... it had a maze with the dots in it. I think the maze was sort of light blue and the dots yellow, but I'm not positive. Unless you have more to go on, that will be tough. There were literally hundreds of Pac-Man clones back in the day. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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