1980s Video Game Companies Factory Footage

[vanrose72]

The other day I found this YouTube video from Patrick Scott Patterson which shows the assembly of arcade cabinets in several video game company factories.


It includes the following footage:

- Midway MFG Co. (1981) - Assembling Pac-Man arcade cabinets

- Atari (1981) - Putting together a variety of classics, including Centipede

- Taito (1982) - Putting together what appears to be Alpine Ski, as well as a bench test of Wild Western

- Bally Midway (1982) - Putting together Tron with a cameo by Galaga's assembly line

- Nintendo (1989) - Howard Phillips playing Donkey Kong at Nintendo HQ, then the Super Famicom at his desk. Also a short look at one of the old game counselors.

- Nintendo Japan (1988) - Assembly line and warehouse shots from Nintendo's facilities in Japan, packaging up Super Mario Bros. 2 and Zelda II cartridges to send over to the States.

[exph]

Hey vanrose72,
I haven't logged in, in years. However this video is so awesome I needed to give you props. Keep the arcade nostalgia coming. If you have netflix there is a pretty good pinball documentary and a Rock-A-Fire Explosion (Chuckee-Cheese audioanamatronic band) doc you may also like.

[SavannahLion]

That's kind of interesting.

[jimfath]

I totally forgot about Howard Philips. I think that was him at the end.

[Louis Tully]

v

[ark_ader]

Very interesting.

Thanks for sharing. 

[Howard_Casto]

I totally forgot about Howard Philips. I think that was him at the end.

Boy I haven't.  There weren't a lot of famous Howards in history.  I personally loved the guy, but imagine being a very little kid known to love nintendo and having a guy look like that working for them.  Needless to say it was ALMOST as bad as the whole Howard the Duck disaster. 

[vanrose72]

Hey vanrose72,
I haven't logged in, in years. However this video is so awesome I needed to give you props. Keep the arcade nostalgia coming. If you have netflix there is a pretty good pinball documentary and a Rock-A-Fire Explosion (Chuckee-Cheese audioanamatronic band) doc you may also like.

Thanks for the props, exph! I find it interesting that we view these old cabinets as sacred relics these days, but we see that back then they were treated like ordinary products in a factory.


I subscribe to Netflix and have watched "Special When Lit" and "The Rock-Afire Explosion" about five to ten times each (and "Chasing Ghosts" about 20 times).    Yeah, I'm as nostalgic as they come!

[Silas (son of Silas)]

I Love this.... Great find.

Thanks for posting this. 

[Gray_Area]

Game counselor?

...imagine being a very little kid known to love nintendo and having a guy look like that working for them.  Needless to say it was ALMOST as bad as the whole Howard the Duck disaster. 

Look like what?

[Player 3]

That's a lot more demand than I anticipated to produce hundreds of cabinets a day.