Traded empty Jamma cabinet for a complete Atari Xevious
Just before we left for the Pinball Expo 2009 in Chicago, I had seen a post on RGVAC for a guy in Lafayette Indiana who was wanting to trade a complete Xevious for a different empty cabinet. Three weeks later and some leg work, we finally made the trade.
Xevious – Awesome cabinet artwork, questionable gameplay
When I first got into collecting, most of my friends started to recollect the games they loved growing up. One of my high school buddies really loved Xevious, which was originally why I picked up an empty cabinet from Tim back in 2007. Soon after, I realized that an Xevious would bring $300 max to the right buyer, probably $200 for a fair one any other day. Piecing one together would cost at least 75% of that amount, so I gave up and sold the cabinet.
But when I saw another Xevious, come up for sale in Lafayette that compulsive reaction kicked in and I knew this was a deal I had to at least attempt. I have not seen an Xevious come up in Indianapolis since 2006, and the only other one I know of is in great shape owned by Ted D. out on the west side. Here’s a photo of his, the glass is flaking….
The owner didn’t want to part out and Mame a classic game, so they offered to trade the Xevious as is (with a ROM error) for a Jamma style cabinet with a large control panel to accommodate a bunch of different games.
Trying to source a Jamma cabinet around Indianapolis
I looked for three weeks, and had a hard time finding a larger Jamma cabinet, with coin door, for a cheap price. Finding an empty arcade cabinet when you really need one can be truly challenging. Not to mention, I wanted it cheap, because this wasn’t a ‘must have’. But at the same time I discovered the Tron south of Indianapolis in Bloomington, I was also able to pick up a Pit Fighter cabinet and distribute transportation costs. Cabinet was perfect for Mame, with a slide out drawer already built in and the large metal frame for mounting is always a plus.
Today I went and picked up the Xevious. I think on paper this was a good deal, but certainly after I saw the game in person…I don’t know what will be its fate. The cabinet has absorbed some moisture all around the borders on at least one side. I knew there were a couple of corners with missing chunks but the edges are really ratty. I made some image adjustments to the second photo to show some of the swelling.
The original idea was to keep Xevious in the garage permanently, get it running, see what it was like to play in person (try to ignore the annoying music), and entice my friend for a visit to see if some of his enthusiasm for the game would rub off. It is truly a beautiful cabinet, so much artwork, similar in that respect to Tron. I thought maybe I’d missed something in the gameplay on a multigame setup or on my Jakks stick.
I suppose if someone came along and needed all of the guts for an Xevious for a fair price I probably would have to snatch that up.
Xevious lovers – Why?
For those of you who love the game, can you articulate why beyond nostalgia? The scrolling background in the game never changes, does it? Do the enemies ever change, and their attack formation?
Here are some similar arcade posts
- Sold my Xevious Cabinet
- Tempest Arcade Cabinet
- A new, refreshed Stern Frenzy
- A Road Blasters cabinet that doubled as a shop sponge
- Anyone looking for a Taito Operation Wolf?
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Comments
Am I missing something? Does the gameplay ever change for Xevious?
I'll hang onto it in its current state until you're here next I'm sure. If I get a confirmation from a man who's smashed a few cabinets that this Xevious deserves the same treatment, we'll have some Pino at the bonfire.
The pattern of the landscape is exactly the same every time. What I find fun about the game is that focus must be divided between the ground targets and the flying opponents – it's a difficult task (for me, anyway), and feels like an achievement to do it well. The interest of wanting to see what comes next also keeps me coming back – though this would diminish if I ever get to the end of it. Gameplay isn't tops, but I consider it solid.
Of course the cab and artwork are awesome. A tip for Ted and others who have flaky bezels – we repainted ours with these steps:
1. outline the black on the inside with painter's tape, and tape in some newspaper into the middle – prep for spray painting. Use an X-acto knife to make accurate circles on the corners.
2. Scrape off the existing paint with a razor blade.
3. Repaint with Rustoleum (don't remember if we used flat or satin).
I'll have to get a pic, but it looks flawless to me. I plan on doing the same to my flaked out Pooyan bezel as well.
Hmmm…well, nothing new you've said here, I guess maybe I need more marathon playing periods, maybe with a drink in hand or something.
Did you have any issues with the painters tape and the edges? Were they completely smooth all the way around? Have your tried this Frog Tape? I am using it on the Ms. Pac-man stencil #2 and it has worked well for me…in the few instances were I've had some bleed under with the blue painters tape. It is obviously more expensive though, so you have to pick the right usage.
Dude. This game is bad. One of my two all-time favorites. It’s the first real vert shooter, and my favorite, with only 1943 coming close. (1943 is a ‘better’ game only because it’s more complex – but it’s five years later!)
At the time, it was one of the new and few full-screen graphics games. The color scheme was rich. Never thought it till now, but I bet the Capcom kids got some pointers from this one in both graphic style and color palette.
The game play is perfect. Hard but not too hard…until you break a hundred thousand and then it gets hard to damn hard. I played it for several months to a year in ’83 and didn’t see it again till I found MAME in ’04. Max back then was 73k, but I’ve broken 500k since.
The baddies change at specific points, and if you’re not seeing a change it’s probably because you’re not even getting to the first mother ship.
The music…is incidental because of its repetitive appegiated chord ….but it’s typical Namco major-seventh seventh chord. Progressive.
Or, you could read this. No wonder, I first thought of ‘devious’ when I saw the title…..
“In addition to this realistic Artificial Intelligence, the game itself also ran on a kind of A.I. that adapted the challenges of the game to your performance. If you were clearing enemies rather quickly, Xevious ramped up the challenge by throwing a different type of enemy at you. If you played aggressively, Xevious responded more aggressively as well.”
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November 10, 2009
I agree that the cabinet is fantastic, can't get into the game play for long though. Fun to play briefly, but not "spot" worthy in the arcade. Hopefully you can find a good home for it.