Quoted from gdonovan:I have owned 17 Data East, the only cab repairs I had to do was minor on a "container game" from Spain that had impact damage.
That's it. Gottlieb is notorious for their particle board swelling monsters like Gold Wings and Hollywood Heat. The backside of Bally's and Williams also suffer the same way. I have a Mr & Mrs Pacman, Flash Gordon and Blackout with particle board backs that were just disintegrating.
Can you point out to me which model DE you noted this problem so I can compare to the ones I have on hand? CrazyLevi (whom I respect quite a bit) is always saying bad things about DE cabs but I have yet to find a single one that isn't stout and in good condition. So much so that Seawitch from Scratch was assembled from a spare Laser War cabinet.
Wow. That's a lot! I haven't had to do any cabinet repairs on any of my games or family members games that I service. I meant that the later DE/Sega games that I've played on location and in private collections just didn't feel as solidly built when I was playing them. It just felt like the cabinet wood was thinner and had more give to it. Perhaps some of that was how they were set up on location.
Quoted from gdonovan:
You can thank Williams for that, they sued Data East over mini-games on the DMD and they had to be removed at the last minute. There was a DMD speeder game that was suppose to be there where you navigated through the forest moon of Endor using the handle.
That's really interesting. I never knew that.
Quoted from gdonovan:
Unless I'm missing something Star Trek has no playfield toys at all and Jurassic Park is universally lauded for its ball eating dinosaur. People go nuts over that thing! The only beef I have with Star Wars is the optional topper looks like a cheap POS my game never came with and it has no shaker which is a crime in my opinion.
It still is the top selling Data East title in its history so perhaps from Gary Stern's point of view it was the right call to make. I'm going to wire one in and program it one of these days.
I thought Star Trek had some moving ship target in the middle. It's been years since I've played it, so I maybe remembering that incorrectly. It's not that I don't like the dinosaur (it's actually kind of hilarious), it's more that it felt like they used gimmicks like that to make up for lack of gameplay. Like that helicopter on Gottlieb's Rescue 911.
Quoted from gdonovan:
Now there is a title that people flog for being shallow, it is what it is. If you are a car guy, its a fun pin with well integrated shaker. I don't play mine all the time but it is more to my taste over several other DE titles which is why it is still here.. and they are not.
Checkpoint was the last pin to use a backglass, you give disservice to Batman, Phantom of the Opera and several other excellent backglasses DE had done. Once they moved totally into the translite era quality suffered, though Jurassic Park, Guns and Roses looks fine, even Hook is well done.
1) It spent most of that time on a shelf because at test locations it did poor and was canceled.
2) Gary Stern decided to jam it out because they wanted to beat Williams to market with the first DMD title and there was Checkpoint literally sitting on a pallet rack in dead storage.
No other reason.
I'm definitely not disagreeing that there's not much complexity to the rules on Checkpoint. It's a shoot the ramp over and over game. But I love the theme, it's fun and has that (for me at least) late 80s System 11 charm which makes it enjoyable.
I didn't know it was the last backglass game for DE. I just never really liked the art style on many of the other DE games. Robocop is one that is firmly cemented in my memory, particularly that playfield (which I think has horrible artwork). Simpsons works really well and looks great and some of the other earlier stuff like Time Machine looks alright, but isn't my favorite. I've never been super impressed with some of the later (post small DMD era) games artwork.
Interesting to know the backstory on it's release.
I don't dislike Data East and have enjoyed playing many of the earlier ones. The later ones just left me wanting something more and moving on to a different game.
