SWNZ Forums

watching Hads' most excellent build (http://swnz.dr-maul.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=970) got me thinking once again about the Atari arcade game from the 80's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_ ... ideo_game)

I've been digging around on the net looking for images and info about this magnificent machine and wondered if anyone knew much about the games brought into New Zealand? According to a couple of sites about 2500 cockpit versions were made and over 10,000 uprights and I'm assuming those numbers are for the whole world

My favourite, like most people who are ancient enough to remember, was definitely the cockpit version. I'd love to know how many made it here and how many are still around in New Zealand these days.

This used to be in my local takeaway back in Ellerslie. I would play it everyday as a kid and it really was state of the art back in the day with the first 3D flight simm.

[youtube]VJCqiJM9THo[/youtube]

I also remember Auckland International Airport having the Empire Strikes Back version which was just as good.

Ah awesome memories.

I've got a mate who knows a guy in AKL somewhere who buys and sells vintage arcade games I might have to chase him up try and get some answers! Presumably there'd be a single distributor for Atari in the 80s....

Don't know much about the number of physical machines in NZ now or at their heyday, but have seen them change hands a couple of times on TradeMe.

Love the game though. If I was to build a MAME cabinet, that vector version of the Death Star battle would be the main reason why. I play it both on MAME, and the home computer-ported versions (there are a couple) on my 8-bit Atari emulators and computers.

The arcade (and emulated) versions are a little higher-res than the 8-bit Atari versions, but I do like having this as a collectible.

nice collectible! I'd love to find an old beat-up cabinet in the back of someones shed and bring it back to life

oota goota wrote:nice collectible! I'd love to find an old beat-up cabinet in the back of someones shed and bring it back to life

My automated searches on eBay include "Star Wars + Atari", mainly as I keen an eye out for the 8-bit home computer-related collectibles. It does, however, also show up a reasonable supply of all the spare parts for these Star Wars arcade cabinets. There are also mod kits that allow a single machine to run both the Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back games (as they both use the same motherboard/engine, with a ?single chip replacement, so you can set up switch boxes to have both games available).

Would love to see a working machine in prime/restored condition.

Hi guys,

The sit down Star Wars / Empire Strikes Back is my holy grail Star Wars item and it was actually the first cabinet I wanted to build before my wallet and available space decided otherwise.

Funnily enough I know a guy who had one, had to sell his house and ended up THROWING IT OUT - and has regretted it every day since and rightfully so.

During my research I found this great build thread but the availability of parts and level of complexity put me off but Im still keen to build one eventually http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showt ... p?t=898081

Cheers
Hads

There's always this option

[youtube]VdaMG0Fh0bU[/youtube]

Wow, scratch-building from the ground up would be a huge job. It would be a nice, mint condition version when finished though, I guess.

fredstar wrote:There's always this option

Love that; very cool!

An ex-501st member (TK-102, who actually started the Outpost/Garrison in NZ) had one of the seated versions, but unfortunately had to sell it a few years back. It was a glorious collectible. There are a few photos of it (that I tweaked a bit in Photoshop for him) in his SWNZ Collector Spotlight.

thehiflyer wrote:Hi guys,

Funnily enough I know a guy who had one, had to sell his house and ended up THROWING IT OUT - and has regretted it every day since and rightfully so.

Cheers
Hads

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I guess building it might be the way to go. Do all the structure up as a digital file and then getting it everything cut out would be the way to go. Sticking a cabinet together would be easy enough. Finding and making that plastic shroud would be a pain in the butt....still I do have a vac former.......
I'd be tempted to go an LCD screen and more modern circuitry rather than making a true replica. I'd rather restore a vintage one if I went that way.