Jonny

I'm happy to hear that it's been useful, thanks very much! 😁 I hope to make more stuff like this in the future.

Tomonobu Itagaki around the release of "Dead or Alive" (1996). From: Monthly Coin Journal, Vol. 21 No. 6 (June 1996), pg. 201

Satoshi Tajiri (right) standing next to a "Computer Space" (1971) cabinet for a video game history exhibit. From: Monthly Coin Journal, Vol. 21 No. 6 (June 1996), pg. 443

Leonardo DiCaprio riding "Rail Chase the Ride" at Tokyo Joypolis. From: Monthly Coin Journal Vol. 22 No. 12 (December 1997), pg. 405

Within the latest batch of Coin Journal scans by @thestacks.ca, there are images of famous people we probably should've had a long time ago. Can YOU guess who they are without looking at the alts? #coinophistory #coinjournal

By the way: We're still looking for more Origin of Game authors!

If you have a story about a game company's founding you want to tell, hit me up at the @gamingalexandria.bsky.social Discord. We want lots of varied views and unique research on the table!

Some upcoming will be really great too.

Thank you!! 😁

Much appreciated!

My first ever written piece...I had a blast putting this together, and I wanted to contextualize as much of the company's early history as possible. Shout out to @playhistory.bsky.social for allowing me to write this, and for guiding me through the editing process!!! #namco #arcadehistory

Very much possible, it's hard to track down portfolios/photos of devs so more digging would have to be done

「ゼビウス」がなければ「ポケモン」は生まれなかった！？———遠藤雅伸、田尻智、杉森建がその魅力を鼎談。ゲームの歴史を紐解く連載シリーズ「ゲームの企画書」第一回 不朽の名作『ゼビウス』はどのように企画されたのか!?　当時、”異質”といえるクオリティの『ゼビウス』にゲーマーたちは熱狂した。『ゼビウス』を愛し、ゲームクリエイターとなった株式会社ゲームフリークの田尻智氏と杉森建氏を迎え、制作者の遠藤雅伸氏と当時の熱狂や「ゼビウス星」の真相について語って頂いた。

The most recent interview I can think of is from 2016 where he joined Masanobu Endo and Ken Sugimori on the history of Xevious. It's possible that he keeps a relatively low profile these days.

news.denfaminicogamer.jp/projectbook/...

Spent about the last 50 mins trying to ID as many of the devs as possible.

Front Row (L-R): Junichi Masuda, Satoshi Tajiri, Takenori Ota, Shigeki Morimoto

Back Row: ?, ?, Atsuko Nishida, Koji Nishino, Michiharu Nishihashi, Ken Sugimori, ? Motofumi Fujiwara, ?, ?

#vghistory #pokemon #gamefreak

From: Amusement Industry [アミューズメント産業] Vol. 21 No. 7 (July 1992), pg. 79

If I'm not mistaken, one of the last known installations was in 1992 within a Sega World in Adachi Ward. We didn't know about this one until @detchibe.bsky.social scanned one of the issues of Amusement Industry from that year.

YouTube video by 電撃オンライン 『オペ―レーション・ナイトストライカーズ』タイトーの大型筐体の傑作アーケードゲームが今、家庭用でよみがえる！【MC：長月あおい、湊みや】

M2's recent cabinet recreation can be found in the upcoming Operation Night Strikers collection, where Night Striker had it's kaleidoscope light effect digitally recreated. (5)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYRX...

YouTube video by gmmmcm 3DS「3D ギャラクシーフォース２」　Galaxy Force 2

Then there's Galaxy Force II's deluxe cabinet that rotated 335 degrees left and right, and moved forward and backwards by 15 degrees. (4)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtCJ...

YouTube video by beafcurry 【プレイ動画】 3DS版アウトラン

We can't forget about OutRun! As you navigate the sharp turns, the screen follows your movement by tilting left and right. (3)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_t_...

YouTube video by 3DS Burners 3DS 3D アフターバーナーII

After Burner probably has the most iconic deluxe cabinet of all time, and here it is recreated for the 3DS. As the screen turned left and right, the cabinet itself rolled up and down. (2)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Or...

3D After Burner II for the Nintendo 3DS (2013) had an option that allowed players to experience a recreation of the game's "Double Cradle" cabinet.

@gamesack.net's video on M2 reminded me of a form of preservation that I think goes overlooked: cabinet recreations. Many of SEGA's 3DS arcade ports have an option that recreates the experience of playing on their deluxe cabinets (and in 3D too). Here are a few examples in this thread (1)

The cover for Vol. 17 of Game Center Arashi (ゲームセンターあらし) by Mitsuru Sugaya, published in 1983. The protagonist, Arashi Ishino, wears a red cap, a red jacket with white sleeves and blue jeans.

Key art of "Red" from Pocket Monsters Red/Green (1996). He also wears a red cap, a red jacket with white sleeves and blue jeans.

It's well known that Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri and artist Ken Sugimori collaborated on "Game Freak", the doujin gaming magazine from the 80s. After reflecting upon their love for video games, I now wonder if Red's design was inspired by the M.C. of Game Center Arashi? #vghistory #pokemon

There's def enough interest in retro stuff from folks around my age and younger, so it's important to keep those flames going. At the same time, I believe there's room for proper documentation and broader conversations to start taking charge of things.

Totally agree here (though personally I feel like I'm a Zillennial lol). I'd love to see more contextual pieces or resourceful tools that supplement nostalgia, which hopefully should give everyone (fans and learners) something new to look at.

The logo for Nakamura Seisakusho (aka Nakamura Manufacturing). The horse is symbolic of the company's first endeavor in 1955 where they installed 2 rocking horses on the roof of the Matsuya department store in Yokohama.

Nostalgic bonus points for using the horse from the old Nakamura Seisakusho logo. N.S. was Namco's original name from 1955-mid 70s.

Wireframe and complete models for the helicopter and an unused truck. More textures appear on the bottom left corner of the second page.

A photo of a prototype deluxe cabinet and PCBs taken by Sasaki during development.

Screenshots of SimDrive: the first System 22 game that was demonstrated at the 1992 Amusement Machine Show. These photos come from a Namco company newsletter circa 1992.

A profile on Ayako Saso from Namco's company newsletter.

Some examples of historical documents that were shown off include models (such as the helicopter and an unused truck), a photo of a prototype deluxe cabinet, and photos of SimDrive and Ayako Saso from a company newsletter. (3)

Concept art that resembles the streets and skyscrapers seen at the beginning of the game.

Concept art showcasing the start of the tunnel sequence.

The end of the tunnel sequence and the beginning of the beach area.

A Hawaiian calendar that Sasaki owned featuring a beach town that strongly resembles the one seen in the game.

Artist Kenji Sasaki showed off his portfolio featuring some familiar landscapes. Also, a photo of a beach town seen in a 1993 Hawaiian calendar served as the inspiration for the game's beach area. (2)

Concept art of the deluxe cabinet featuring the name "Winding Road", designed by Naotaka Yoshimatsu (吉松尚孝).

Concept art of the Full Scale cabinet featuring the name "SimDrive", also by Yoshimatsu.

Concept art featuring some unused scenes and an early course layout.

Early logo designs, also by Yoshimatsu.

During the developer Q&A stream for Ridge Racer's Arcade Archives release, a treasure trove of development materials and historical documents were shown off! It's truly wonderful to see all of these items well preserved after all these years. (1) #arcadehistory #coinophistory #namco

Laserdisc specifications worth noting from the official R360 flyer: Screen: VIDEO input (Laser Disk connection possible), equipped with VIDEO SELECTOR. Sound: Audio input x 2 (Laser Disk connection possible). Image from: Sega Retro

The official flyer for Taito's D3bos: a 360° motion simulator where players ride within an enclosed sphere. This machine played video content. Riders could experience the heights of acrobatic skiing, tilting within a roller coaster, traveling in a dune buggy, and flying through space. Image from: The Arcade Flyer Archive

Within the flyer for the SEGA R360, there are specs which suggest that the machine is compatible with a Laserdisc player. I wonder if SEGA planned on releasing pure motion simulator content similarly to the offerings of Taito's D3bos? #arcadehistory #coinophistory #sega #taito

While I've yet to find the actual source of Clip #2, I realized that the existing footage was screen recorded from a post by Sakutosero on Twitter (this clip was provided to them by a mutual.) It was originally encoded in 60fps! (4)

The second part features coverage from Sega's April '88 "New Product Launch" event featuring Galaxy Force 1! This is a rare version of the game that was quickly replaced by the update "Galaxy Force 2" a few months later. Interviewed here is legendary Sega employee Hisashi Sizuki (鈴木 久司).

Clip #1 comes from the May 1, 1988 broadcast of Pasokon Sunday (パソコンサンデー). The first part of the report is about Sega's taikan games, and it showcases the reporters playing Super Hang-On, Thunder Blade, Space Harrier, and After Burner. (2)

I'm happy to report that I've partially solved the mystery behind the two clips that features Hi-Tech Land Sega Shibuya! I've managed to locate the source of one clip, while the second one was originally shared on Twitter. The latter's source is still unknown. (1) #arcadehistory #sega #segahistory

Thank you Jonny. I have extract what Ono Hiroshi said about that footage in Zekû's book, and MT it in English (to work faster). Then corrected the translation a bit to be closer to the Japanese meaning. But keep in mind that English is not my native language ;)

FTR @ohfivepro.bsky.social filled me in on this one! This comes from the program "Atsuo Nakamura's Earth Report at 10 PM" (中村敦夫の地球発22時). According to @michelentongs.bsky.social, this footage was staged for TV post-development. Nonetheless, I hope a high-resolution version of this exists somewhere!

Wow, it's always awesome to see footage from inside dev facilities! Pretty sure this inside the old headquarters in Ota, Tokyo. Thanks for this! 😁