Archer was an absolute legend deserving of having his legacy permanently displayed in a museum (or two, as doubtless the Cave also has many examples of his work). Great job.
Great to see this stuff in the right hands. Pity there wasn't a games room tour with the great man himself. I'd love to play on that dropzone cab, knowing who created it. Thanks for taking the time to make this video.
Played so many of archers games over the years, was so sad to hear of his passing. Brilliant to see some of his amazing collection being distributed within the community.
What an incredible legacy, pleased to see the cabs and serviceable parts going where they'll be most appreciated. Finishing the Dropzone cab would be a fitting tribute. RIP Archer McLean. Your memory lives on.
The creator of one of the most inspiring games that came out for the 8-bit machines, I first played it on the Atari 8-bits and loved it. Wow, that side art for the DropZone cab looks fantastic! Looks like he was a proper arcade enthusiast, so many items there, and good to hear they will continue to benefit the community.
Thank you so much for sharing this. Arch and I were great friends for many years, he's truly missed by so many of us including his old team from Awesome - we had an unofficial memorial for him in their local earlier this year. I remember playing Pacman at his old house, and the time he realised he had the biggest collection in Europe. He would be absolutely thrilled if you restored the Dropzone cabinet. An Archer Room would be amazing. I'll bring the Kleenex this made me cry all over again.
Archer was an exceptionally talented programmer, someone who could create arcade quality games on hardware far inferior to what was available in the arcade. From the interviews I have seen he was also a lovely chap, super friendly, super modest, and great fun. I have always been a fan of his work and as a programmer now, and someone who coded on the Atari 8-bits in assembly language back in the day, I used to look at his games and wonder how did he manage that! Seeing part of his arcade collection here, it is plain to see his real passion and love for arcade and video games. An absolute perfectionist. That is why his games were so perfect. Just take a look at the original version of Dropzone for the Atari 8-bits. The attract sequence alone is superb, the way the Dropzone title breaks into multiple scanlines, one by one, and drops down the screen, reassembling at the bottom, as the high scores, etc fade in. That is arcade quality and there weren't many home titles like that. The C64 version didn't have that. Knowing the complexities of assembler coding and the Atari 8-bits capabilities, you can see the work he put into the attract sequence alone is unbelievable and it shows his desire to create an arcade quality game for home. That Dropzone cabinet looks fantastic so seeing that up and running in the arcade, running the various Dropzone version would be a perfect tribute to a smashing fella.
Wonderful stuff!! I saw the thread on UKVAC, and was a little concerned that a lot of stuff would get scooped up too cheap and flipped. Great to see it went to the right folk, and that they’re either on loan or fetching fair prices for Archer’s son. I’ll have a game of IK+ soon in honour of Archer. Really enjoyed this
Rest in peace, Archer. Your passion and dedication to the community have been beyond words. Although I didn't know much about him, I knew that he was one of the greats, and he had done a service keeping those great games alive. He seemed to be an awesome person to hang out with and a great friend to all with the community.
What an incredible collection. I've only ever heard of Archer through the various forum posts on UKVAC, the chap seemed like an absolute pillar of the community. Though I am glad that his collection will live on through your museum. Thanks for showcasing this, Alex, it's been a joy to watch.
Great piece on Archer, I have played some of his games on the amiga, dropzone too is one I've played but quite late in the day, snes and PlayStation, really enjoyed that game. Looks like some very unusual pcbs in that bundle, hope someone's can make use of them as they sound very niche and rare. I love that artwork on the dropzone cab he was making, would be great if you could complete the project in his memory and have it setup for people to enjoy. Great video Alex, hope all is going well for you down there, top work 👍
A treasure trove of goodies there Alex, so nice to hear it's all going to good homes. Great to get some supplies for the museum and the Pacman will be a great addition That Drop zone project would be amazing to finish off for him, totally agree, that side art is epic 👍✌️
A fantastic video - was fortunate to meet Archer back in the day as a games journo, really nice guy who was up for a good chinwag about coin-ops. Glad to see you've finally landed a Pac-Man as well, Alex. 👍
Nice job. Would love to see some photos of Archer's arcade. I seem to recall a black arched area into the arcade, from some old magazine, but little more. On those obscure PCBs, we definitely had Atari Super Bug's in the UK, as it was one of the first machines I gravitated to in Southend (Mr B's I think). Also remember the fire engine game that was just like Super Bug in an arcade at the start of the pier in the early/mid 1980s.
Aw wow, Archer was a legend so you've got to have a Mister Atari 8-bit version of Dropzone running in that cab (apparently he thought the C64 version was inferior lol, he wrote both versions ofcourse). I'm a big fan of IK, then he turned his attention to the 16-systems to release more great games there too, RIP...Now I know what you mean about the news on Pacman haha. Great news!
Hello, so sorry to hear about Archers passing. In the early 2000s I listed a mint condition Atari space Duel on EBay and was contacted by Archer. He wanted the game for his personal collection. We spoke on the phone to discuss the price and if I would be willing to crate the game so it could be shipped from Ohio to him in the UK.Archer was very kind and it was obvious he was very passionate about video games and preserving their existence. RIP Archer🙏
