Aero Fighters

[gdonovan]

Anyone lay eyes on this one before?

Picked it up this morning, was in some church youth group center and not being used any longer. Company produced 2 games and moved on from what I was reading on the internet.

I suspect it is a conversion but there is at least one other out there with a similar looking cabinet doing an image search. Clearly been repainted once and had some poorly done ding repair.

Had to drill the locks and do some minor wiring repair. Runs like a champ! My son really enjoyed trying it out, might stay for while for the reason alone or I might drop my Japanese Physic Force 2012 in it.

Gary

[thewisteron]

I'm so jealous. One of my favorite shmups ever.

[paigeoliver]

Not only is that a conversion, the entire kit isn't even there. There should be some instruction cards around that bootleg/generic cabinet bezel.

Video Systems did dozens of games, but they were basically just a software company, SNK, Taito and others actually produced their games.

[gdonovan]

Not only is that a conversion, the entire kit isn't even there. There should be some instruction cards around that bootleg/generic cabinet bezel.

Video Systems did dozens of games, but they were basically just a software company, SNK, Taito and others actually produced their games.

It actually states Mc O'River, Inc. on the marquee and manual. I understand that was the name of the American division of Video Systems Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Fighters

[paigeoliver]

Not only is that a conversion, the entire kit isn't even there. There should be some instruction cards around that bootleg/generic cabinet bezel.

Video Systems did dozens of games, but they were basically just a software company, SNK, Taito and others actually produced their games.

It actually states Mc O'River, Inc. on the marquee and manual. I understand that was the name of the American division of Video Systems Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Fighters

Yes, and such divisions often consisted of a single office with 2 guys, and that is assuming that Mc O'River was even their actual subsidiary, even the google article is confusing on that since it says that they got the rights to it, which says to me "license". There were dozens of these companies that handled the US end of Japanese companies and their actual relationships with the parent companies were all over the place.

In any case that same Wiki article clearly shows that they are a software company and thus they likely produced none of the actual arcade hardware in house.

In related news, my most recent arcade score was an Aero Fighters 2 Neo Geo cartridge.

[gdonovan]

Yes, and such divisions often consisted of a single office with 2 guys, and that is assuming that Mc O'River was even their actual subsidiary, even the google article is confusing on that since it says that they got the rights to it, which says to me "license". There were dozens of these companies that handled the US end of Japanese companies and their actual relationships with the parent companies were all over the place.

Interesting. Who would have thought?

So did "Mc O'River" handle the sales and drop ship the kits from the CA address?

[gdonovan]

I think my son and I are going to fix this one up- Replace the front coin panel (cracked), redo the control panel, putty up the cabinet proper and repaint. Even found instruction cards over Mr.Do's! Will be a fun little project.

[gdonovan]

Can anyone chime in if the machines that they saw had side art on them or not?

So far in my searches I have found no cabinets with side art but the museum site claims there was a picture of a fighter on each side and one company sells the attached side art.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Hey Gary, I missed this one!  https://newlondon.craigslist.org/for/6010600395.html

Just e-mailed the guy and then saw this post.  Nice find.  I love that game.  Let me know if you ever want to trade.  I've been looking for a SHMUP cab.

DeL

[paigeoliver]

Can anyone chime in if the machines that they saw had side art on them or not?

So far in my searches I have found no cabinets with side art but the museum site claims there was a picture of a fighter on each side and one company sells the attached side art.

Nearly every conversion kit came with sideart, however I doubt what is available there is correct, it is pretty rare for the sideart and Snes box cover to have the exact same artwork.

[paigeoliver]

I found a 7 year old usenet post of NOS artwork that had one side of Aero Fighters available. Which makes me think that it does indeed exist.

[gdonovan]

I found a 7 year old usenet post of NOS artwork that had one side of Aero Fighters available. Which makes me think that it does indeed exist.

No image I take it? There is a CPO that matches what I have on Ebay.

I'm wondering if this was a "low buck" operation and had no side art, I know the NEO-GEO? Version did not seem to have any but that was common for that platform it looks.

[paigeoliver]

I found a 7 year old usenet post of NOS artwork that had one side of Aero Fighters available. Which makes me think that it does indeed exist.

No image I take it? There is a CPO that matches what I have on Ebay.

I'm wondering if this was a "low buck" operation and had no side art, I know the NEO-GEO? Version did not seem to have any but that was common for that platform it looks.

Yes, only a few Neo Geo games were available with game specific art. Even low dollar kits usually had full art, the circuit boards always accounted for the lion share of the kit production costs.

[ark_ader]

Nice find. 

[gdonovan]

Nice find. 

Thanks!

For the moment I have halted work on it as I have been contacted about a possible trade. Aside from repairing some joystick wiring, cleaning up the marquee and drilling the locks its a working unit. If nothing comes of it I want to strip down the cabinet, fix some dings and replace the broken wood around the coin door, repaint, side art (if I can get some sort of picture of the original stuff, I don't like slapping stuff on for the sake of it)  and do a general spiff up.

Played it last night for a half hour or so, it is a fun crazy game. Reminds me a lot of the 1943 game I once owned.

Gary

[ark_ader]

Nice find. 

Thanks!

For the moment I have halted work on it as I have been contacted about a possible trade. Aside from repairing some joystick wiring, cleaning up the marquee and drilling the locks its a working unit. If nothing comes of it I want to strip down the cabinet, fix some dings and replace the broken wood around the coin door, repaint, side art (if I can get some sort of picture of the original stuff, I don't like slapping stuff on for the sake of it)  and do a general spiff up.

Played it last night for a half hour or so, it is a fun crazy game. Reminds me a lot of the 1943 game I once owned.

Gary

It was one of my favorite games.  The local 7-11 had one and I spent a bunch of quarters on that game.  Glad you are going to restore it, and hopefully share with us, your progress.

[gdonovan]

It was one of my favorite games.  The local 7-11 had one and I spent a bunch of quarters on that game.  Glad you are going to restore it, and hopefully share with us, your progress.

Do you recall the side art if any?

[ark_ader]

I will look to see if it is still there.  I had an OP tell me he changed the coin slots to accept nickles, and still made money, by placing the games in laundry mats. Most of his games are neogeo, so i will go and have a look, you never know.