1987's Action Max: 35th Anniversary project concept

[seastalker]

Hello world,

 

The much overlooked 1987 Action Max VHS console has had it's share of critique and even ridicule over the years. Around the time, I bought one for $20 on clearance as a gift for my brother, and we had great fun with it, despite its shortcomings. I have a vision now and hope others join me to preserve its history for what would be its 35th anniversary in 2022. Personal opinions of the quality of games need not apply here, nor the ultimately and obvious failure of the platform. 

 

Currently, Singe is a great option for emulation. There are also new light gun options like Sinden. With the MiSTer project as well, I think in some form, we can create an updated Action Max that worked better than the erratic light gun/console original. The games are already out there for download, but of uncertain transfer quality. I sold my original titles, but in recent years collected NEW and SEALED copies of the main 4 games of 5 total (the rare 'Blue Thunder' not included).

 

THE SIMPLE PROJECT:

I would like to loan my sealed copies to be opened and digitized as virgin transfers in the highest quality. Consider them as the best 'REDUMP' equivalent for worldwide archives for all future generations. Though I am hunting for a sealed copy of Blue Thunder to donate to this, I may have at least one contact that might consider lending their sealed copy to complete the games library backup.

 

WHAT I NEED: a verifiable and trustworthy collaborator with professional grade high end VHS/digitizing gear to make the best available digital transfers of the game titles. Being sealed copies, ideally, there would be only one shot at this. I know a professional company that can do it, but I don't want to spend any more than what I did to collect the game VHS tapes to donate to the world.  If there is a reputable youtube channel (like RetroRGB team, Game Sack, My Life In Gaming, etc) that has such high-end capture gear, I am open to discussion with them or others. I just want to do this correctly and give back to the community.

 

FUTURE/BONUS:  I'd like the video files to be master copies to transfer to VHS or DVD for real hardware, or to work with any (better) lightguns in emulators, or with MiSTer one day using the blasters for the NES, SMS, Atari XEGS, or whatever is possible.  Also I have seen 'Action Max Homebrew' on youtube that would be great to include with the official releases. I even thought about a big project of editing a version of the film 'Fright Night' to create what might have been- had this originally intended title come to fruition instead of being an ever-elusive bit of game history.      

 

I welcome all here and in PM.

[+thanatos]

Interesting idea, but there's no guarantee that your sealed VHS copies are any better than anything that's already been ripped.  They could be just as degraded as any other 35 year old VHS tape.

There was a DVD compilation that someone made a few years ago, not sure of the quality those had.

 

 

[+atari2600land]

I'm not so sure a company would let you convert copyrighted material from VHS to DVD.

 

I created two Action Max homebrews: Bubba's Buck Blastin' and Snowman's Land. Are these on YouTube? I didn't know they were.

[seastalker]

@thanatos, 

 

True, and no guarantee we will never know unless trying it to compare.  I would want the transfer to be done on a recently cleaned and maintenance ready VHS system to avoid signal problems, VHS artifacts, etc.  I've cleaned my VCRs but they are consumer grade. I know of that DVD mentioned, and used to have it but lost it.  It would be a great measure to see how mine or anyone's of shrink-wrapped new condition would fair against the current transfers.  

 

Worlds of Wonder formed in 1985 and have been defunct since 1991. I am certain these transfers could be done by even professional companies that would look the other way, but private methods are welcomed. 

 

@atari2600land, let's pm about your two titles. I'd like to collect and know all homebrew titles for the platform.

 

So anyone with something close to a 'Sony BVM' equivalent of professional VHS and capture gear, please do contact me. Thank you.

[Shawn]

The DVD released a few years ago had top (for VHS) quality rips. Heck, there was even a DVD retail version of the pack in in some regions so a DVD quality copy of that is out and about as well. So long story short, neat idea but it's already been done and no reinvention of the wheel is required in this situation. If you want to do this for yourself and release them just buy a composite to USB connector off Amazon and do it yourself. It's not hard. I've converted many old VHS home movies to digital this way.

[seastalker]

To all VHS experts: at what point is this plan just diminishing returns?  Can I truly just do this myself with consumer grade VCRs that are cleaned and get a generic transfer device to a PC?  Do I not need a Techmoan level of gear?

[Japhy Riddle]

Hi. I think that’s a great idea (I have no idea about the legality). Certainly niche, but I support it. I’ve got a couple things that might be of interest to you.
 

1. I’ve been slowly working on a homebrew. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it mentioned online, but there’s a flashing pattern that deducts points if you don’t hit a target within a set amount of time. This has been useful for having objects come towards the player which need to be shot before inflicting damage. I plan on releasing the game on DVD with some special chaptering allowing for the journey to be slightly non-linear. I’ll probably release it on VHS as well with FF/REW instructions. Check out the work in progress: https://youtu.be/y5-6C2qKYjo

At some point I’d also love to do a live action game using my Ikegami HL-79E (one of those shoulder-held tube-based news cameras from the early 80s). 

2. In regards to VHS transfers. In this day and age, I don’t think you’d get much better results going through expensive hardware, or using a professional transfer service, than doing them yourself provided you use decent equipment. VHS has very low horizontal luminance resolution. And extremely low chrominance resolution. Meaning, I don’t think you’d gain anything by going any higher than 4:2:2 when digitizing. I digitized 4 of the 5 tapes some years ago. No Blue Thunder, alas. They were digitized only at 4:1:1, and honestly, to me they look about as good (bad) as the original VHSs. The files average about 4.5GB per tape. I did some test transfers using both a rather pro VCR and a consumer-grade one and didn’t find them to be noticeably different. I don’t have the tapes anymore, sadly. But I still have my transfers which I play from my computer into my PVM. If you do it yourself, please make sure not to de-interlace. Having both fields is a must. If the goal is to release them on a DVD, they’ll be downgraded to 4:2:0 (and constricted to a low overall data rate).

What would be amazing would be to somehow track down the master tapes. They're probably in U-matic format, which is much better than VHS. There’s a slight chance they’re on Beta SP. If so, I have a deck and a way to do 4:2:2 digitizations now. 

[Japhy Riddle]

Hi. I think that’s a great idea. Certainly very niche, but I support it (I have no idea about the legality). I’ve got a couple things that might be of interest to you.

1. I’ve been slowly working on a homebrew with a very Star Fox aesthetic. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it mentioned online, but there’s a flashing pattern that deducts points if you don’t hit a target within a set amount of time. This has been useful for having objects come towards the player which need to be shot before inflicting damage. I plan on releasing the game on DVD with some special chaptering allowing for the journey to be slightly non-linear. I’ll probably release it on VHS as well with FF/REW instructions. Check out the work in progress: https://youtu.be/y5-6C2qKYjo

At some point I’d also love to do a live action game using my Ikegami HL-79E (one of those shoulder-held Saticon tube-based news cameras from the early 80s). 

2. In regards to VHS digitization. I think it’s admirable to try and get the absolute best quality from the tapes. Keep in mind that if you release anything on DVD, you’re constricting the video to 4:2:0 with a not-stellar data rate, so you’d lose the benefits of a high-end VHS digitization. What would be really amazing would be to somehow track down the master tapes. They're probably in U-matic format, which is much sharper than VHS. There’s a slight chance they’re on Beta SP. If so, I have a deck and a way to do high bitrate 4:2:2 digitizations.  
 

P.S. I have a kinda prosumer VCR (although, I don’t know how much wear and tear it’s had so who knows how it would compare to the best of the best), and I digitized 4 of the 5 Action Max tapes (no Blue Thunder) so I could sell them, and just play the files from my computer into my PVM. I only used a Canopus ADVC 110 (which is 4:1:1) and the transfers look about as good (bad) as the original tapes I had. I'm sure if I looked solely at the blue channel, it'd look worse. Point being, even with decent consumer gear, you can get pretty close to the original quality of a VHS tape. Just make sure you don’t de-interlace the footage. Some capture hardware/software does that automatically and that’ll cut your vertical resolution and frame rate in half. 

[Japhy Riddle]

Oops. Sorry for the double post. Just read the second one.

[seastalker]

@Japhy Riddle

 

I really dig your WIP on the Action Max game! Have you thought of a title? Feel free to PM me on any progress, testing, etc. you may want in the future.  That would be great to make a homebrew using older cameras of the era to match the look and feel of the original titles.  Blue Thunder is the only one I have yet to find a sealed copy for.  Agreed that the master tapes would be ideal. I wonder if viewing the end credits on the games might create a lead or contact that could have more info?

 

I especially would love to find out any tidbits on the unreleased 'Fright Night', if even a footnote [nothing seems to have ever surfaced].  For years, I've considered making my own 'fan concept' edit for what such a game MIGHT have looked like if using footage from the film. I'd re-watch Blue Thunder (both film and game) prior, to try to get into the mindset of the editors on their team at the time. I don't think Fright Night had a lot of scenes where shooting at fast-moving monsters would work as in a 'Pops Ghostly' way, so such a title might have the pace of .38 Ambush Alley.

 

The Action Max to me is a wonderful curiosity, and something I had and enjoyed, if not briefly in '87.