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Author Topic: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)  (Read 11066 times)

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Capthowdy

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Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« on: June 12, 2006, 04:12:03 am »
So...I got the cab from Kaz and I have a few questions for whoever can answer them.

1.  Is there a Japanese version of the game?  Apparently this was a Japanese cabinet so if there was a different version of it...I'd like to hunt that one down. 

2. The monitor has some pretty decent burn.  Is it worth replacing?  What type of monitor would I replace it with?

3.  Does anyone sell 2 way joysticks?  or should I just try to find an original working control panel?

Never having restored a dedicated arcade machine...(only MAME so far)...how hard is this going to be?  What are the main parts of an SI setup?  (power supply...etc...)

RayB

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2006, 02:18:50 pm »
Who is Kaz? Should I know him/her/it?

Is this an upright or cocktail table? The upright didn't use a joystick.

Post photos. Otherwise we're just shooting in the dark.
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Grasshopper

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2006, 02:28:42 pm »
Who is Kaz? Should I know him/her/it?
The upright didn't use a joystick.

Actually a lot of the uprights sold in Europe were fitted with joysticks. Not sure about the Japanese ones though.
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Capthowdy

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2006, 02:32:22 pm »
umm...ok..  Kaz1961 was selling a cabinet on Long Island.  I bought it.


anyway...The Taito version of the upright DID use a 2-way joystick of some sorts.  The Midway version used the buttons...at least from what I've read.

Some of my questions were kind of irrelevant to the style of the game...the monitor burn....the Japanese version of the game...etc.

Sorry...I don't mean to be rude or anything...but you make it seem like I didn't provide any information.  I didnt take any pictures of it yet...but I will do so this weekend.

I'm not planning on working on this anytime soon...but I am trying to get an idea of what's going to be involved.

Tiger-Heli

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2006, 02:41:04 pm »
>1.  Is there a Japanese version of the game?  Apparently this was a Japanese cabinet so if there was a >different version of it...I'd like to hunt that one down. 

Errrm - Taito IS the japanese version of the game.  The U.S. was licensed to Midway.

And yes, it does use a two-way joystick, not sure if it should be black or white - see http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/museum/Space_Invaders_(Taito).htm#cabinet


It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you, it's what you leave behind you when you go. - R. Travis.
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Capthowdy

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2006, 02:47:20 pm »
Errrm - Taito IS the japanese version of the game.  The U.S. was licensed to Midway.

And yes, it does use a two-way joystick, not sure if it should be black or white - see http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/museum/Space_Invaders_(Taito).htm#cabinet




Yep!  That's exactly the one I have.  Right down to the single coin slot configuration.  It kind of difficult to find the CPO for this model.  And again...does anyone sell these joysticks?

Grasshopper

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2006, 02:54:49 pm »
Hey Capthowdy please could you take some dimensions for us. What I really dig about the SI cabinets is the way you actually look at a mirror image of the monitor. It's a shame they stopped making that style of cab.

AFAIK the joysticks are the same as the ones that were fitted to Galaga, Defender and a multitude of other games. I believe repros are still made but they're generally pretty expensive. Have you tried Bob Roberts?
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RayB

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2006, 08:48:34 pm »
Sorry...I don't mean to be rude or anything...but you make it seem like I didn't provide any information.  I didnt take any pictures of it yet...but I will do so this weekend.

You're not rude. I just was fishing for more info which someone else would ask for eventually anyways. ;-)  I'm mostly familiar with the Midway upright.
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Kevin Mullins

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2006, 08:55:37 pm »
May be of some interest if you haven't already found this one:
http://www.spaceinvaders.de/

I know the joysticks were tiny....but don't know where to get "new" replacements.
The Taito cocktails used the same ones.
Not a technician . . . . just a DIY'er.

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2006, 09:10:50 pm »
And again...does anyone sell these joysticks?

Someone (other than Kaz when he parted it) had some recently, but I can't for the life of me remember who ... was either on RGVAM or ePay.

Cheers.

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Kevin Mullins

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2006, 09:19:12 pm »


Sorry..... just kidding....wish I really knew.
The two I have for my cocktail are trashed.
Not a technician . . . . just a DIY'er.

Capthowdy

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2006, 10:43:16 pm »


Sorry..... just kidding....wish I really knew.
The two I have for my cocktail are trashed.

HA!!  That's going to look good!  ;)

Grasshopper

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #12 on: June 13, 2006, 02:27:46 pm »
Heh, you can laugh, but the joysticks fitted to those Radica plug & play games are surprisingly good. Probably not as durable as an arcade stick, but certainly not a bad feel.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." - Samuel Johnson

grantspain

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #13 on: June 13, 2006, 05:06:11 pm »
my dad had the first space invaders cabs in the u.k,they were taito-i don't remember any joysticks on those,i think the last line of space invaders(the one's with the colour membrane on the screen) had them-all i remember was white leaf switch type buttons,but there again it was a very long time agooooooooooooooo

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #14 on: June 13, 2006, 06:17:54 pm »
What do these small joysticks look like? I have a 2-way (though I think it's meant for Galaxian)
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Capthowdy

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #15 on: June 16, 2006, 03:31:41 am »
so nobody knows anything about the monitor or what to replace it with?

CheffoJeffo

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #16 on: June 16, 2006, 07:36:22 am »
so nobody knows anything about the monitor or what to replace it with?

Um, an SI monitor ?

That wasn't meant to be smart@$$, but will certainly sound like it. It's a B&W monitor and I am not aware of drop-in replacements available off-the-shelf.

If you have a monitor, but are missing other parts to make it work .. worry about the other parts first.

I added some links to the Wiki for restoration info a while back - you may want to sort through those and see if there is anything interesing (I particularly recommend ionpool and arcarc).

Cheers.
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Capthowdy

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #17 on: June 16, 2006, 03:51:14 pm »
so nobody knows anything about the monitor or what to replace it with?
If you have a monitor, but are missing other parts to make it work .. worry about the other parts first.

good point.  as far as I know...the monitor works...it just has some burn and is "in need of a cap kit."  I'll worry about that when I get to it.

thanks for the link.

Capthowdy

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #18 on: June 16, 2006, 09:31:57 pm »
here are some more examples of the cabinet....

This one has SOME kind of joystick...but I couldn't possibly figure out what it is.
http://www.arcadeclassics.co.uk/images/space%20invaders%20ur.jpg

and this one has on with a white ball on it:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060205135657/http://thelittons.net/homearcade/SpaceInvaders/
« Last Edit: April 14, 2015, 09:59:35 am by saint »

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #19 on: June 17, 2006, 08:50:12 am »
If I had to guess, I would say white ball is probably authentic - goes with white fire button assuming that is authentic as well  ??? and Midway also used white buttons.

No ideas where you would find a replacement, though!
It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you, it's what you leave behind you when you go. - R. Travis.
When all is said and done, generally much more is SAID than DONE.

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #20 on: June 17, 2006, 01:24:38 pm »
"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." - Samuel Johnson

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #21 on: June 24, 2006, 06:33:33 pm »
May be of some interest if you haven't already found this one:
http://www.spaceinvaders.de/

I know the joysticks were tiny....but don't know where to get "new" replacements.
The Taito cocktails used the same ones.

One on ePay ....

http://cgi.ebay.com/TAITO-SPACE-INVADERS-COCKTAIL-TABLE-CONTROL-PANEL-PART_W0QQitemZ102251041772QQihZ010QQcategoryZ13718QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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Capthowdy

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #22 on: June 28, 2006, 03:10:17 am »

One on ePay ....

http://cgi.ebay.com/TAITO-SPACE-INVADERS-COCKTAIL-TABLE-CONTROL-PANEL-PART_W0QQitemZ102251041772QQihZ010QQcategoryZ13718QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Cheers.

Thanks!!  I won it!   :)

When I get it I'm just going to grab the button and joystick off of it and resell the Cocktail CP for someone else to worry about.

ok...so...I got:

joystick
bezel (from classicarcadegrafix.com)


what I need:

a few leaf buttons
a JAPANESE cpo
and a SI PCB  (this is probably important)
2 feet of Space Invaders T-molding...*which I'm sure I won't find so I'll probably just end up using plain black and adding my own orange strips.)

any suggestions?

Capthowdy

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #23 on: April 13, 2015, 01:04:42 pm »
wow.... so....

it's 9 years later and I just pulled this cabinet out of the back of my garage.  let's get it going!!  lol

still need the same parts.  Taito Space Invaders game board??  anyone have one for sale?

control panel with Japanese overlay (preferably)?

is this the longest running project in arcade history?? lol

lilshawn

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #24 on: April 13, 2015, 02:33:55 pm »
ZOMBIE THREAD NEEDS BRAIIIINSSS!

 :lol

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #25 on: April 16, 2015, 05:52:45 am »
Regarding the monitor, I assumed it was a black & white unit that would be easily replaced with anything with a composite video input.
But according to the manual it is indeed a color monitor. I believed all SI games had colored overlays on a black & white picture.
Or is it that there is a color monitor just showing a white picture?  :dizzy:
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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #26 on: April 16, 2015, 10:28:12 am »
the original setup was a black and white monitor simply because they were cheap and plentiful at the time and the hardware they used to make the game with was limited. The success of the game caused surge in production with a few revisions of the board being made with better hardware and color monitors. so depending on when your particular machine was made, it could have one or the other, or even a mishmash or parts (as ofter route operators hack stuff together to get things working again)

copypaste history from random website:

Quote
Confusion starts early with Space Invaders. Even the first game in the series came in a variety of versions – the version most Retro Gamer readers will be familiar with is the ‘reflector’ version produced by Midway for the Western market, where the graphics were reflected through a mirror onto a painted backdrop of a lunar surface, making them appear semi-transparent.

The monitor also had strips of coloured cellophane overlaid on it to make the graphics appear green toward the bottom of the screen, white in the middle and orange at the top. The original Japanese sit-down cocktail-table version, however, had a purely black-and-white display with no backdrop (because you were looking directly at the monitor instead of a reflection), and most Japanese versions of the ‘reflector’ model lacked the green and orange cellophane strips, presenting the graphics all in white.

Later revisions in Japan added rainbow-coloured cellophane strips in a variety of reds and blues and purples, and an even later revision displayed the game in full colour. (You can identify this one over the cellophane-colour edition by the way the entire screen washes red when your Laser Base is destroyed.)

matsadona

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #27 on: April 17, 2015, 02:16:32 am »
So, back to my assumption then - since I haven't found a good schematic/pinout this is pure speculation - if there is only a single video output (not separate RGB lines) it should be possible to use any standard TV with composite video input?
I'm about to do exactly that with an old Atari Breakout game...
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lilshawn

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Re: Space Invaders restoration questions... (Taito)
« Reply #28 on: April 17, 2015, 12:20:19 pm »
pinouts for both the taito and midway versions of the boards are available here:

https://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/spies.cgi


EDIT:

sorry, I realized I hadn't answered your question. yes, composite on a TV will work. Ideally a monitor should be used since you would have controls over the horizontal and vertical sizes and what not. TV's often chop the picture around the outsides to crop out video signal and TV station timing signals on the feed.

« Last Edit: April 17, 2015, 01:32:34 pm by lilshawn »