Support this channel on Patreon: / 8bitguy1 Visit my website for cool merchandise! www.the8bitguy.com In this episode I take a look at 3 vintage Coleco mini tabletop arcades, and then compare them with some modern versions.
That Donkey Kong mini cabinet flooded me with a wave of nostalgia. My grand parents had one when I was a kid and I remember when we'd go visit them in Houston my brother and I would race each other to play that thing 😂 They didn't have many toys at their house so it was one of the most entertaining things we had to do during our visits, lol.
I loved the video, but I can never decide how I feel about this sort of restoration. Ultimately I guess the question is, do you want an original object in your collection or an object that looks substantially better, but which is part faithful reproduction? I don't know why I'm perfectly ok with replacing broken parts inside an old computer to make it work, but at the same time am conflicted about having visible parts replaced.
I totally concur. However, it's borderline OCD.. ah who are we kidding here.. it's FULL OCD ;) *Almost* as severe as that other guy who handpaints holiday lights bulbs.
Mr. Murray, I'd love to be your neighbor. I'd love to help you with all the stuff you do. Not so much the technical stuff, like repairs and things, although, I'd also love to learn that from you, but I could help with the easier stuff, like opening things up and maybe taking care of the retrobrite stuff, so you'd have time to get things done faster. Which translates to possibly MORE videos. I have learned so much from watching your channel. You, by far, are my most favorite "GEEK TECH" on here. That's saying a lot because there is a lot of other tm"teckies" on here, esoecially the ones that may have been on your "SHOW", or ones you have mentioned. I guess I can relate to things you do because, when I was younger, I had various games, not so much in the way of computers, but video games and any other simple electronics and I would at times disassemble them and attempt to repair them. It was fun. Anyway, out of all my most favorite people on here, you, Paul Short, and The Crazy Russian Hacker, are, by far, my most favorite youtube "STARS". Once I am able to, financially, I am going to help you out through Patreon. I feel your stuff is that important. For the most part, I believe if kids would learn stuff like this, it could potentially keep them at home more, and out of trouble, and learn a valuable trade, possibly, one day. You are truely the best. I hear that Louisville, KY and maybe Lexington, KY have some sort of gaming expos, I believe. It would be cool if one day you got to come to one of these. It would be possible to get to meet you in person and thank you personally for these great videos and for keeping me "sane" while I stay home and try to get better, after 2 surgeries and possibly more to come. GOD Bless, you sir.
When you cut out the labels, leave small handles that protrude from a few sides. You can use the handles to move the label into place after you spray adhesive on it. Then you just make a small incision with the razor blade to snip off the handle you left. If there is a printed border, extend the color of the border slightly into the handles to avoid any white flecks of paper left over if your incision isn't exactly precise.
Yes, and also a better razor blade will help prevent fuzzy edges. A good, fresh and sharp straight razor blade, or if you're feeling fancy go for a small Xacto. I like to do my cutting on cardboard rather than cutting board, and if I'm doing a curve or circle, turn the paper (and pad) and pull it through the knife rather than trying to draw a circle.
He got glue on his fingers and had to work with the back of his knuckle to avoid spreading it. His standard practice of spraying on the device itself is ok as long as he can mask the gaps fine. The hard one for this device would have been around the joysticks to make sure spray didn't get inside the holes nor on the joysticks.
Same. I think it's the perfect 'starter' episode for The 8-Bit Guy's channel because it's got a combination of the things he does a lot. Namely, restoring electronics, relabeling (that was only one time, but still) and comparing newer versions of older tech/games to their originals.
I swear to god that there is better programming on RU-vid than on cable TV. At least stuff like this could easily be a better tv show than a lot of documentary type stuff on cable today.
Yeah. there's less time and content constraints, so they can make the video they want however long they want, so their content is going to be better. I would much rather watch a good 10 minute video than a mediocre 20-25 minute one.
JASC PAINT SHOP PRO!!!!! YES! Finally someone else who uses this! I have been using that for nearly 20 years myself. I primarily use it for certain things these days but it still holds a special place in my toolset.
I have a full arcade (about 20 little arcades). Love those things! Sometimes I'll start them all and run them at the same time to make it sound like the arcade used to. Glad I found your channel! Good stuff.
You just blew my mind when you turned off the light and the flicker went away..... WOW!! Another great episode, and very well made. You and TechMoan have SERIOUSLY raised the bar for not only Tech videos on RU-vid, but any information based video production across the internet as a whole.
I'm a graphic designer for my day job, and you did a great job with your labels. Don't feel any shame for using an older program... use what you're comfortable with. Keep up the great work.
Wow, what a great presentation! Not many RU-vid presenters or even professional tv presenters grab my attention and get me enthralled as you have! You sir are a wizard in both slick presentation and the environment you use for your program! Love your discovery at 23:40 of 2 games on the same PCB! Congratulations, I will be watching your whole series.
About that black gunk: Probably way after the fact, but mine also had that when I originally got it as a kid. Years later after seeing yours, I believe some black pellets or residual black plastic from a previous use was in the mold used at the factory. No idea how many it affected, but I thought you'd like to know.
Looks like burnt melted plastic. If they're ABS shells, and it fused, it's basically a part of the case now, hence why even scrapping it didn't remove it fully.
Wow...that’s really interesting. I was wondering why the discoloration actually penetrated so deep into the plastic. Your explanation makes sense...also because if you noticed...once he got the label off on that part of the unit...there was more black discoloration beneath the label- and the label had no damage.
Also, WD40 is a poor cleaner/solvent and was not its intended use. It gives me cringe to see him use it. There are half a dozen better solutions. "Goo gone" is much better. If the black was an inherent manufacturing artifact as you suggest then an alternative would be to match the color of cabinet and paint it. Or possibly use colored tape - if color was close enough.
Those mystery melt marks are caused by a certain type of rubber resting on the plastic for long, dormant periods of time. An example is the type of rubber cheap balloons are made of, resting on hard brittle type plastics toys are made of. GI Joe toys from the 1970's are notorious for that condition. For shallow melts, I use 00 grade steel wool and car polish. And to remove labels, heat them up with a hair dryer, they peel right off.
WHOA! Flashback! My brother got the Pac-man game for Christmas many many years ago. I remember being a little kid and watching him play over his shoulder for hours on end. Sometimes he even let me play it! Man did that thing chew through batteries. And that music/sound effects... true nostalgia! Thank you for making this video.
Could really be anything. There's a lot of things that eat away/react to plastic. Like, don't ever leave an eraser on things. Always make sure it's the protective case and not the eraser itself touching whatever it is on top of, because they can melt onto some plastics and stick to varnish on wooden tables (leaving a mark), etc. I've also had the soles of a pair of shoes start to melt basically on their own in storage and make a mess. One shoe being on top of the other and both of them on top of some basic, laminated cardboard box, both soles happily starting to melt into rubber sludge and sticking to whatever they were touching. So, the game may have simply been lying in a toy box with some other item on top of it. The thing is that it can be two seemingly inert substances reacting to each other, so the stuff may not be just some crud you can easily clean off. Get the right combination and they can melt on and bond and penetrate into each other. I suppose you might be able to find some solvent to remove most of it, but it might involve solvents that soften the plastic itself and for some of the plastics it means some vicious substances releasing toxic vapours, etc.
The solder pads marked 'T'are for testing purposes. It seems like an SPI bus actually, the column of 2x3 at the left of the PCB. That means it is programmed after it has been put together and thus one could indeed hack another ROM in it.
I was actually surprised that not all of the modern, more expensive ones had dot matrix displays. As a matter of fact, it's almost a little too expensive to have anything cheaper than a dot matrix display, at least IMO. It does go to show once again how advanced, and affordable, technology has gotten over the years.
mmh. It raises a lot of questions huh. In bulk, a small RGB LCD display can be as little as $5, and a moderately powerful ARM controller of some description (by which I mean something on par with a PC processor from somewhere between 1990 and 1995 ) costs all of about $2. Making a full reproduction in the vein of the actual arcade game would cost maybe $10-20 in parts for moderate volumes, and considerably less for very large volume production. Making an older style segmented LCD or whatever game is not substantially cheaper at this point, so it's all quite strange.
If I did it, I'd use the matrix display, but program it's graphics to SIMULATE the look of segmented displays. New(er) tech but retro at the same time. Awesome! Or... not... (Crickets chirping)
+Kuralthys, Yeah, if I were the manufacturer, I'd definitely try and aim for an ARM based system, maybe even going for emulating the actual arcade machines. But I guess that would be more painful to get a good license for, and I can see why they went for modded NES roms (at least Q*Bert is, other than a few removed copyright messages it is exactly the same) given the system's screen isn't in the arcade machine orientation. Still, the NES-on-a-Chip solution isn't all that bad in my opinion.
Daniël's Tech & Music Channel So you can avoid copyright by replicating the old systems? No idea it used a reduced NES chip, now the jumper on the inside to set the games makes much more sense.
Man, I am thoroughly impressed with your range of skills and things you do. I've caught a handful of your videos so far and just want you to know I appreciate all of your effort!
Funny that i realize now i missed this the first time i watched this video. My mom taught me a nice technique for cleaning up all those nasty dots without the painstaking work of doing it manually and risking altering the thickness of the lines. Once you have removed the color you can convert the image to 2bit (black and white) and then back to full color this will perfectly flatten all the lines then you can fill the lines with any other color this will leave only the messy black dots unconnected to the main mass as black, then you can fill all the white spaces with black and then white again to clean up the dots. My mom taught me this around 15 years ago actually on paint shop pro kek.
Kinda seems unfair that the new Pac-Man game had a primitive segmented display, while the others had a proper dot matrix LCD with much, much more rich gameplay. Do they all cost the same?
I own that Pac-Man mini arcade with the screen like Q-bert and Centipede and is just like the actual arcade. He just grabbed the cheaper version of Pac-Man.🤷♂️
@@chucknorriss5452 no, he grabbed an earlier version of Pac-man. Basic Fun (the company releasing the modern arcade cabinets you see in the video) released the monochrome LCD version, then they introduced the color LCD version, then they made another version with the same cabinet as the color LCD version, but with no mode button, and a dot matrix display with a custom ROM inside, then they made a color LCD version with the same cabinet as the monochrome LCD version, then they released a new Pac-man with the dot matrix display and custom ROM with the original cabinet design. And finally, they released a color LCD cabinet with the slimmer cabinet shape of the monochrome LCD cabinet, but with the original cabinet design on it. He didn't buy a cheaper version, he bought an earlier, more primitive version.
9:25 About cleaning the image, you can always use a morphology open operation (for example OpenCV could do that just fine) to "erode" the image first, then "dilate" back. It'll clean most of those scattered pixels.
I would imagine that's because different developers made them and they are just distributed by the same company. I am not quite sure if it's the case, but this is common with the video game industry. For example the Call of Duty franchise is developed by 3 different game companies.
They were released at different times, but the fact they all sell for the same price was surprising. Also surprising the centipede/Qbert board was labelled in plain English and don't know why he didn't then open the frogger machine out of curiosity. Those machines seem like a good deal as a base for a diy pi zero build.
Awesome review video my friend! I had the Coleco PAC-Man in 82 and was obsessed with it but the sound drove me nuts!!! It was awesome to see you clean it and restore it! Man that brought back memories thanks
8:59 Paint Shop Pro was great! THE best "Photoshop wannabe" and it was my go-to program for scanning, inking and coloring my pencil sketches. Best $79 I ever spent (in 1999).
The solder pads on the board are what's called "test points". They're used during manufacturing to test the circuit to be sure it's working properly. It's also useful for repairs, if you have a service manual detailing what each testpoint should have in it (voltage, signal shape, signal frequency, etc).
New subscriber here, I am 47 years old. Those tabletop games take me back to a time when nothing mattered. You woke up, plan fun for the day, no stress. "I don't want to grow up, I'm a toys r us kid, there's a million things at toys r us that I can play with!"
Awesome Video brotha !! Appreciate the play by play behind the scenes as well as the tips you shared for making new decals, your passion really shines through your videos ✊️
Hi there 8-bit guy,this was great to watch. I never knew about these mini tabletop games either until now. Well done with the restorations,good to see someone enjoy what they do.
why am i so into watching your videos is still completely beyond me months later. I'm so pro technology and even get angry sometimes when people try to make old things sound so amazing just because of nostalgia. However, you somehow keep me incredibly interested and have taught me SO much about older hardware. I am 23 and also Romanian (we got stuff much later than the rest of the world) so I wouldn't know about all this stuff otherwise. Thanks for the great channel!
I started off in Paintshop in the 90s too. However I learned Photoshop on about 12 years ago to an expert level. Erasing those stray pixels in Photoshop now takes a couple seconds if you know what your doing, it is just a time saver. To tell the truth, I sometimes use MS paint just because it loads so much faster than PS if I need to do a quick edit.
These early portable games are really interesting from a technical standpoint. They use 4 bit microcontrollers usually running at 20-50Khz and have built in ROM, RAM, and drivers for segmented LCDs/VFDs. The MB Microvision and the Game and Watch uses them as well.
You can get a rubber roller to press the label evenly, after it's set in place. If you're going to relable machines with controlers, a hole punch set may also be a good idea.
Great video! Love your attention to even the smallest details like saying why you used the back of your finger to rub the decal. You put a lot of time into videos and it shows. Keep up the good work!
This is the video that got me into watching David ever since I've watched him and enjoyed all his videos nice to go back and rewatch what started it for me
OMG I'm not the only one who still uses Paint Shop Pro 7 for image manipulation! It was the last version of that software that was still fast and nimble, before its creators decided they needed to go after Photoshop and made version 8 slow as molasses. I'm not doing any kind of serious graphic design, so PSP7 does most everything I need it to, I'm proficient with it, and so I have no incentive to learn something like Photoshop either.
It's stopped working for me - some recentish Windows 10 update (pre Creator's) has killed it. No amount of tweaking and compatibility settings will fix it :(
I still have and use an old copy of JASC paintshop pro 9 that still seems to work just fine. However, I do use the newer versions on my home PC. I use the older one at work.
PSP versions from 8 onwards are completely different to the preceding versions, and (I think) developed by a different team after JASC was bought by Corel. I'm not surprised the more modern versions still work. PSP7 worked on every subsequent version of Windows until an update in 10 borked it.
Lucky you, it happened on my desktop when some update came either late last year or early this one, when the same update came to my laptop it happened again. Months later, I format and reinstall on my desktop. Yay, PSP7 is working. Updates are forced on me, because Microsoft are assholes. Bang, PSP7 not working again.
"A lot of people had an aneurism when they saw that I recreated my labels for my cartridges" I just know one of the people that was aimed at was Pat the NES punk XD
What amazing work you do. I recently discovered your channel and really enjoying your videos. We are of similar age and that’s why I enjoy the work and projects you do. Thanks again for great videos, I am really learning a lot.
Sorry if this has been asked before but two things sorta bugged me: 1) I know the razor knife you're using is "good enough" but why not go out and get an x-acto knife that might let you cut those sorts of things easier. They're only about $5-$8. 2) Does the version of PaintShopPro come with a color picker tool? Instead of guessing what colors are which if you had that sorta tool you could just write down the hex of each color used and match it more exactly that way. Surprised the Centipede game came with Q*bert but I guess in retrospect it makes sense. Why spend and make two different models when you can just make one with both on there? Anyway, thanks for the videos!
ItinerantSoldier, TBF the picker tool is not ideal when used with a scanned document, it can pick a lot of different values for a same area, especially when the original print is old, and it looks like he was trying to match the original color, and maybe make some adjustments compared to the faded one.
If they make one with both games, people would only buy one machine and get two games for the price of one. They want to capitalize as much as they can, while making the manufacturing process as easy as switching a label and soldering a connection ;-)
Yes, but unless his monitor covers most of the color gamut and his eyes are near superhuman sharp at discerning hues, it won't be more efficient than using the hex code from a color pick on the most consistent areas of the image if you're worried about accuracy.
Highly recommend using some kind of non-yellowing acrylic fixative spray on both sides of the label after printing. It will protect the ink from UV fading issues and probably keep adhesive from seeping through from the back. The lamination is essential for physical protection, but will not protect the ink underneath from any kind of humidity or moisture seeping in from behind or around the edges of the paper. Any art supply store will carry a good archival-quality fixative spray in gloss or satin. Get yourself a set of proper precision X-Acto knives while you're at it. Utility knives just aren't made for that kind of work.
i don't have a dog in this fight, but from what i recall about the anger over the original label replacement video it wasn't that HE is doing it for HIS stuff, it's that he's unintentionally making a how-to video for scammers to try to trick would-be collectors. from my point of view, his technique results in something way too glossy to be confused with the originals.
Honestly.. what's wrong with RESTORING something to a near original condition? From what I remember he has always been as faithful as possible to the original sticker, which I have no problem with. It would be different if he was replacing the stick with something entirely different. And, on top of that, the stickers he replaces are usually in pretty bad shape. Like, when a building needs repair do you just let it fall down to 'preserve' its original condition? No! Why not treat our electronics the same?
gravecactus I suppose too that future owners/dealers, long after The 8 Bit Guy's CMOS battery dies and 20th c objets tech are coveted like Bester's Flowered Thundermug, may not be so scrupulous or diligent in pointing these things out.
Norah Jones Facing a similar dilemma here with a 1920s portable gramophone that needs new leather cloth on the case. Purists would say to leave it alone, but so long as you do it well and carefully, using the right material, where's the harm? I'd much rather see it look factory new than like junk in the interests of collectors who would never pay top price anyway, despite going on and on about it...
I'm all for restoring something to its original condition. Why not? Why let it deteriorate when it can be preserved?People just like to complain about things. Restoration happens all the time An example would be the Sistine Chapel: tinyurl.com/y7gl847g
@@robcohen7678 I honestly wonder how you could see MS Paint on screen somewhere in the footage. I mean, every person who ever used a computer, used or just know Paint as well, especially it didn't change at all for decades (well, almost). It's like Tetris, Pampers, Cola etc.
I had the classic frogger tabletop exactly like the one in this video @ 17:55. I spent so many hours playing that thing. It eventually broke and my mom tossed it out when I went to college. If only it was still kicking around my attic I'd fix it up in a heartbeat just as a conversational piece in the living room~
Thank you for the video, brought back a lot of memories for me..... My grandmother used to work at midway making the boards for Pac-Man, so she had one of these mini games. IDK if she bought it or the employees were given one or what not, but I do remember sitting at hear house on the holidays with my family and everyone took turns playing it. Never did find out what happened too it, but liked seeing it and hearing the sounds again :)
I cheered when you paused to mention Paint Shop Pro. I was a PSP adherent, first with shareware and later supporting retail releases. I miss using it, having moved on to Gimp years ago. If I find myself digging through old boxes, I'll be sure to see if I still have it because you've enticed me to go back.
I have just finished watching your latest travelogue and for a change ,instead of squinting at the iPad, I have viewed on my new all singing and dancing 55inch LG tv, and what a joy, in fact absolutely bloody marvellous, the camera picture quality is spot on as is your laid back , down to earth presentations , I’m looking forward to the next episode, good work Ian, keep it up and don’t change a thing. Kind regards. Richard Halliday Yorkshire
I still use an old Paint Shop Pro too! I previously used Photoshop back in the day, when I worked in a tech job, but it contains far too many features that I need. As a tattooist creating new designs it has all I need. Great video by the way, I'm a retro enthusiast, and am enthralled with all things pi at the moment. Maybe one day I'll start a channel documenting my many builds with my raspberry and orange pi boards. :)
He did a great job restoring those old mini tabletop arcades..he can always resell them in better conditions than they were before..easier for him to resell
I didn't see this till now but my favorite thing about it is that he uses an old version of Paint Shop Pro. I've been using 6.02 for as long as its been out... so 19 years now.
It is refering to the demo mode that is deactivated once you pull out the tabs in the back, notice the box says TRY ME! on it. Also you can see that the wires sodered onto it go to the small device the tabs would have been slotted into on the back of the machine.
Man, I wouldn't worry about what people say -- your reproduction labels look amazing, and it's not like you're *ever* going to sell these items, right? You're not sticking them on eBay, telling folks "hey, look at these awesome all-original games with perfect labels." I wouldn't bother with that "reproduction" text on your new labels. You're not out there trying to rip people off by selling this stuff as if it were new and in perfect condition.
I'm assuming the 8-Bit Guy is going to be honest when he sells the stuff. But, if he does does sell it and the person that buys it decides to resell it, they might not be as honest or might forget that it's a reproduction
Timur Tripp Labeling reproduction labels is a good thing just in case the buyer or the buyer's grandchildren decide to sell it later on and don't disclose that information for whatever reason. It's a good way to protect the potential future consumer.
I had the Casio keyboard with the drum pads! I received it for Christmas in the late 80’s!! The 4 or 5 slides on the left would add different beats to sound. The rubber drum pads almost had to be hit in the center to register. That is amazing you have it on the wall and I recognize it so well. I’m pretty sure it came with a booklet and a cassette on how to play. Maybe some sheet music as well.
Label copying: 1. scan in GIF or other losles format 2. To delete 1 pixel sized black frickles: - select white area globaly - expand selection by 1 pixel - contract selection by 1 pixel
You're right. Colour wise, the original shot has the slightly 'green' look caused by low CRI lighting whereas the second is much more vibrant and natural.
Das Ganon sand paper is much more efficient than baking soda. Baking soda is goog for cleaning, but when you need to remove scratches or thun layer of material sand paper is a must.
Das Ganon i am not saying that you are saying it's better. ;-) Just saying that sand paper would be better for hard scrubbing. Soda is good for polishing after sand paper does its job.
Hey, David, if you ever need to do something like this again, where you need to reproduce labels that have cut-outs, specifically circular ones, try getting a bit of pipe with a similar inner-diameter (you could theoretically use a pipe with with a similar outer diameter, but it might be a bit more difficult unless you have something with a small sanding tool), sharpen it to where the inner wall is the top of a very sharp die, and whack the other end of the pipe with a hammer or dead blow mallet to cut it out. I'm sure I could have explained this better, so, I do apologize for that.
I use this technique all the time The largest one I needed was about an inch and 1/8 wide so I used a piece of 1" conduit and filed it until it was sharp (it took forever)
I was at Target today and found an Oregon Trail mini game with what looks like the MS DOS version of the game housed in a chunky IBM computer look a like case . You should check it out.
Wow, I thought I was the oonly one who still uses Paint Shop Pro... It looks like you're using PSP7, which is the same version I use... Here's a pro tip for recoloring it: to turn it back into line art, increase the image size to 200-400% of original, then go to Colors, Adjust, Threshold, and adjust that until all you have left are the lines. Recolor it with flood fill, then shrink it back down to the original size The reason for increasing the resolution is that threshold introduces jaggies. By working in a higher resolution, and then shrinking it back down to anti-alias the jaggies out.
Same! That was the best Christmas morning ever, except for fighting with my cousins, there being 4 of us and only 3 games. Well, 4 games but nobody wanted to play that stupid knock-off Coleco football game that our Drunkle bought.