In an ideal world (by my standards at least) there would be a museum of every arcade game ever made (including conversion kits) and an unlimited supply of parts to keep them serviceable, but this is not even close to true. some people here think that these things will be around forever but I am of the impression that as much as possible should be saved now since having the one remaining cabinet of some original game (horrible to play, or not) die, or get flooded or something else terrible is a very real possibility in the future, oh sure maybe 4 people have NOS bezels, but since no one saved original side art it could never be fully reconstructed.
This may seem like an exaggeration but it broke my heart to see the master copy of "death race" get destroyed, and all that remains is the coin door. I disagree with some people that seem to think all that matters is the software, and that without the electronics and side art a cab is just a box, many of those "boxes" have serial numbers stamped into them, so when 472 is destroyed it does not exist anymore, and we are one step closer to them all being gone. I may be a purist but unlike animals with several hundred left arcade games cannot be bred to produce a healthy thriving population again, no matter how hard you try.
There were only so many circuit boards made, and only so many vector monitors, so why does it not hurt the community more to see these few remaining treasures dwindling. I prefer that cabinets like the "Smash TV" from Estonia and the like are preserved rather than parted out. I think that from seeing all the hellcade pictures, and stories about barns full of games that there are enough "project cabs" and parts to go around (I may be wrong, but I'm generalizing) that people wanting to do their first MAME can start with something in bad-to-somewhat salvageable condition and that "I am giving away the parts" is not an acceptable excuse to MAME a very good quality cab.
My standards for salvagability are lower than some but I don't whine about every mod. Even reversible mods to these games do same damage. I don't object to a lot of the stuff I see on here just because I wouldn't choose to MAME that particular quality cab, but I can see how mob mentality might become a problem. as I was reading these threads I found myself outraged more than once, but not all for the same side. Everyone has opinions and a select few on this board tend to express them in such a way, and in such passion that in a few hours I can see how much everyone here loves this hobby, but I can also see how all this passion can be directed in different directions.
There are some people here, I have observed that have such a passion for preserving this hobby for more people to enjoy; and others that have the same passion, but direct it at making what they have the best it can be. When I first started reading the Galaxian MAME post I was against him doing it, but as the discussion dragged on I changed sides quite a bit. Even so far as to feel that the sideart not sticking to the paint was him getting what he deserves for destroying such a classic cab. I have no problem with it now, but I am the kind of person to let these things go and just think that it's not TOO big of a deal.
I have very strong feelings about cabs like tron, galaga (there are a lot so it's hard to get worked up), star wars, Dragon's Lair (although daphne, the $20 usb Microsoft HD-DVD drive, and Dragon's Lair HD-DVD is tempting) and find some of the hellcade stuff revolting, these opinions are about a very few games. Some people say that since there are so many that we don't have to worry, but with arcade owners and other people not in our "group" destroying games without a second thought we should take it upon ourselves to save what we have, see the example of the passenger pidgeon, people thought there would always be some left; and for the record, if someone was going to destroy an arcade cab (working or not) I would save it whether or not I had even heard of it. Someone , somewhere would be able to use it, and if not I would trade/sell some of my better cabs so I could personally make something useful from whatever I was given (this assumes whole cabinet, gutted or not).
In general I don't think cabinets should be destroyed without a REALLY GOOD reason since they will be anyway by people less caring than us, and that it's our duty to try to preserve some history.
I missed a few things but I will supplement this when I remember them.
remember, they are not around forever
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Topic: Restoring vs. Maming a cabinet - The complete rule book (Read 50900 times)
