The Summer Slowdown has begun so there hasn’t been much to discuss this week – until now of course. If you own an arcade or want to promote one, don’t forget to sign-up to our Arcade of the Week feature. It is a paid post but very low cost for the type of marketing coverage you get (I’ve personally paid a lot more just to post flyers in the mall where I am at). Also for upcoming stories, I did do an interview with Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report and the DNA Association a short time ago but it is taking time to work on as the sound was not very good on my end and the video needs some work as well. Either way, that should be finished this coming week. In the mean time, a few items for this weekend:
“Starfighter” at the Southern Fried Gameroom Expo + Celebrity Play: The Southern Fried Gameroom Expo took place this week and with it came the arrival of a Starfighter arcade cabinet that is based on the arcade game seen in 1984’s The Last Starfighter. For the Ted Hooper, the gentleman that built this as a homebrew project (he is known as Seawolf on the KLOV Forums), he got a special bonus by having actor Lance Guest (who played Alex Rogan in the film) stop by, play the game and give it his signature. Now that’s how you do an expo!
Here is an interview by Arcade Repair Tips with Seawolf about the project:
More from the Expo, in case you want to watch – tons of pinball to play there:
Also hanging out at the Expo is our friends over at Griffin Aerotech (Skycurser):
Our mission is simple: Bring new generations to the #arcade pic.twitter.com/7rC59DzkGM
— SKYCURSER dev team (@skycurser) June 11, 2016
Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown & Gameroom Expo Currently Happening in Colorado – Speaking of arcade expos, If you are anywhere near Denver, CO this weekend then be sure to check out the Rocky Mountain Pinball + Gameroom Expo that is currently taking place there. I haven’t seen any media pop-up for this one yet so we’ll keep an eye out for them.
Pump It Up Tracks Added To NEON FM – Crossovers on music is always a nice thing, here is a video showcasing the Pump It Up songs that have been added to Unit-E’s NEON FM so far:
New EM Game In Japan With A Rope – I shared this on another website and someone mentioned how reminded them of the more intense experience of having a drill instructor yelling at you while having to tie your combat boots…which would be an interesting twist on this idea if you wanted to make a Western version 😉
Popeye Gets A Homebrew Port To the ZX Spectrum – I’ve never seen a ZX Spectrum in person as that was not a computer that has much of a reach in the US. It was quite popular in the UK however and recently there seems to have been an uptick in developments for the system from what I have noticed including this new port of Nintendo’s Popeye arcade game. You can read more details about it at World Of Spectrum.
Flyer of the Week – Starblade: Since we have a little focus on The Last Starfighter for this post, what better arcade game to mention for our Flyer of the Week than a game that came rather close to the concept, Namco’s Starblade (yes, I know about Atari’s unreleased The Last Starfighter arcade project but that never had a flyer made for it). While it did feel like an FMV game met a light-gun game, they arcade cabinet produced a cool effect that helped the play feel more like a simulator. As this flyer pointed out, Namco called the effect their “Infinite Distant Projection System”. This game almost got a sequel with Operation Blue Planet. Check out the full flyer at Flyer Fever.
Name That Game #86 – We’ll be moving on this week as to the guesses instead of re-hashing but here are you answers for NTG#85B:
#2 – Blazer by Namco
#3 – Lot Lot by Irem
This week’s guesses:
#2 is Street Smart
#1 is Mazan: Flash Of The Blade.