Jonny

This company profile highlights the end of Sega's tenure under Gulf+Western. Their arcade hardware was becoming more complex, Gremlin Industries was renamed to "Sega Electronics", and there's some talk about game consoles in the works.

Much thanks to @sudden-desu.net for grabbing this!

An illustration of Sega's corporate headquarters in Haneda, Ota Ward, Tokyo (pg. 2).

Sega's "amusement line" for manufacturing coin-op games in one of their factories (pg. 3).

Sega's showroom (circa late 60s) featuring various electromechanical games, pinball tables, and jukeboxes (pg. 4)

Singer Mieko Hirota standing in front of "Grand Prix", an electromechanical driving game (pg. 13)

1971 - It's been 6 years since Nihon Goraku Bussan and Rosen Enterprises merged. And this then-new amusement company called "Sega Enterprises" would later become one of the largest arcade companies in the world.

From the May 1, 1971 Sega Price List scanned by @thestacks.ca

#sega #arcadehistory

Besides the articles, I absolutely love seeing these rare photographs of game centers in their heyday. As this is a special issue, there's a reprinted 1977 article about...the then-rising trend of tabletop cabinets in cafes and coffee shops? Now why does that sound familiar? 👾 #coinophistory

One of these days...

The cabinet is a neat concept, but it does seem a bit hard to pop those wheelies hahaha

And that does it for my report! I had a blast here, and I will definitely be returning to get better at pinball and Prop Cycle....

Computer Space by Nutting Associates (1971)

Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator by Sega (1982)

Enduro Racer by Sega (1986)

TsuMo Multi-Game Motion System by Tsunami (approx. 2001)

Lastly, I wanted to share some rare arcade games that unfortunately were powered off/had some issues during my visit. Just from seeing the staff here, I can tell they work hard to try to keep everything up to par. I hope these machines return to their full glory soon. (6)

Daytona USA 2 by Sega (1998)

Prop Cycle by Namco (1996)

Downhill Bikers by Namco (1997)

Star Wars Arcade Trilogy by Sega (1998)

For video games: I beelined to the deluxe Daytona USA 2 setup and Prop Cycle (s/o to @supcat.bsky.social). I can definitely see why P.C has as much hype as it does, but I have to get good at it (I couldn't clear Cliff Rock)! Downhill Bikers and Star Wars Arcade definitely wore me out...

Basketball by Sega (1966)

Wani Wani Panic/Gator Panic by Namco/Data East (1989/1990)

Mini Baseball by Chicago Coin (1972)

Magic Baseball by Shelden, Dickson, Steven Mfg. Co. (1966)

Onto the electro-mechanical games: I was super excited to try out Sega's Basketball and Namco's Wani Wani Panic/Gator Panic for the first time. Mini Baseball and Magic Baseball (no pun intended) were more fun than I expected. (4)

Lazy-Q by Williams (1953)

Palace Guard by Gottlieb (1968)

Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World by Gottlieb (1992)

Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure by Williams (1993)

I will admit that I'm not the best at pinball...but I tried my best at the following tables seen here...(3)

Bally and Williams tables towards the back of the venue (from right to left): Circus (1957), Space Mission (1976), Strato-Flite (1974), ect.

Bally and Williams tables that were closer to the entrance: Judge Dredd (1993), Tales of the Arabian Nights (1996), Fire! (1987), ect.

A whole row of Gottlieb tables towards the back of the venue: PlayMates (1968), Sky Jump (1974), Aquarius (1970), ect.

Various wood rail machines that were more towards the center of the venue: Lazy-Q (1953), Thing (1951), Lady Robin Hood (1948), ect.

For pinball tables: there were machines from Bally, Williams, and Chicago Coin. But there were tons of Gottlieb machines, and seeing them lined up was a sight to behold. I also got to try out woodrails for the first time, and it was satisfying to load up the ball into the plunger. (2)

The exterior of Pinball Hall of Fame (aka Pinball Museum) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The word pinball is printed on a bold, red font and it's size overshadows the entrance.

I've been considering a ton of projects for the future...but for now, here's a report of my first visit to Pinball Hall of Fame (aka Pinball Museum) in Las Vegas, Nevada. I've known about this place for a while, but I finally got to visit and bask in all of the coin-op history. (1) #coinophistory

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.