Konami's ping pong

[Andykara2003]

Hi all, I've always wanted to see and ideally buy one of these units, but have never seen one, only a photo of the board. I know these went in various different cabs.

It seems that no one seems to know a great deal about this one, which is odd as it's a really fantastic game with sublime playability - in fact my favourite 80's arcade game.

Does anyone know about this? I think it's a long shot, but I'd love to buy one of these in one of the original cab configurations..

[javeryh]

I've never even heard of this game but now I kind of want to try it out.  What are the controls?

[PL1]

I've never even heard of this game but now I kind of want to try it out.  What are the controls?

2-way stick (pg 2 of the manual here says that left is also topspin and right is also undercut) + 2 buttons (backhand and serve/smash) per player in MAME.

https://www.gamesdatabase.org/game/arcade/konamis-ping-pong


Scott

[KenToad]

I've never even heard of this game but now I kind of want to try it out.  What are the controls?

2-way stick (pg 2 of the manual here says that left is also topspin and right is also undercut) + 2 buttons (backhand and serve/smash) per player in MAME.

https://www.gamesdatabase.org/game/arcade/konamis-ping-pong


Scott

The manual shows 4 buttons and no joystick. It even refers to the serve left (topspin)/serve right (undercut) as buttons. The layout looks strange, with backhand by itself on the left and the serve/spike button in between the topspin and undercut buttons.

[PL1]

The manual shows 4 buttons and no joystick. It even refers to the serve left (topspin)/serve right (undercut) as buttons. The layout looks strange, with backhand by itself on the left and the serve/spike button in between the topspin and undercut buttons.

That's why I described the control setup in MAME and also linked to the manual.   
Haven't found any pictures of the cabinet or control panel to confirm if the original CP had that odd button spacing.   

The KLOV listing here shows that it's far from common.

This game ranks a 2 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

Scott

[Andykara2003]

It controls phenomenally. It's one of those games that are so fluid when you get good. You feel like a savant - the backhand/forehand switching is critical & the power/direction differential of timing the shot well feels sublime. The separate backhand button makes total sense when you play it - it seems simplistic at first but is actually very nuanced. It's worth spending some time on it in Mame.

I can't believe they nailed a ball game like this in 1985. It got ported to loads of home computers, the Spectrum version being hugely popular. I remember loving it on the Spectrum back in the day. But the original arcade plays the best.

Which makes the fact that this is impossible to find, even in PCB form, even more perplexing. No one seems to have it or know much about it. I think the cab it was used in was also used for other games so it didn't have a dedicated cab, which makes it more understandable. You'd just change the decals & connect the PCB. I can't even find a photo of the game anywhere.

Oh well, hopefully an owner or someone who knows more will see this thread & chime in.


Edit: These two guys own just the board:  https://www.arcade-museum.com/members/game_census.php?klov_id=8349. I'll message them.