Star Castle Arcade Machine

Unedited VGA quality video taken from an actual Cinematronics machine, since YouTube seemed to be lacking one. There is definitely a difference with MAME in how the game plays and sounds.

I am pretty rusty here... my playing falls apart around 18K and again at 24K. Some dumb mistakes! I should really put some effort into it and try to master it, having it at home. I think my best score is around 35K. Not bad, but I remember kids playing Star Castle so long that the game pace would slow down again. They would then just walk away bored, so I could play it for free with all those extra ships. =)

UPDATE: It appears that the machine has the earlier and probably easier romset. I wonder how much I would suck at the newer version.


Props to Andy Hofle for the authentic 1981 "Arcade Ambiance" background track.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Star
• Castle
• Arcade
• 1980s

[christo930]

Awesome game. But how do you keep it in good repair? From what I have read, this game was co-designed electronically by jr technicians and really prone to failure. I tried getting one of these machines and was told they are next to impossible to find in working order and very difficult to repair and then fail again anyway. I was told this by a number of professional restorers.

[NardDogz]

@christo930 I've been lucky with mine in that it hasn't failed me yet. Good thing too, and my electronic skills are pretty basic. I can recap power supplies and monitors, measure voltages, try swapping out ICs and other parts, etc. but not go much too further than that. Often this works, but for other problems, I send stuff out for repair. Mark Shostak at cinelabs is the guy for these machines!

[northbreed1a]

Superb! The best arcade game ever. Thanks for taking the time to upload this video!

[NardDogz]

@northbreed1a Glad you enjoyed it. There are several more videos now to watch, including someone who has mastered it.

[Hot80s]

i recall alot of these ended up in bars, men enjoyed getting shit-faced and playing this & then drive home without a worry.

[NardDogz]

@Hot80s Heh I can believe that... most of them that I see have control panels pitted with cigarette burns

[verbusen]

Rip Off was a great game. I could play that one a long time for a quarter too!

[xmnemonic]

fascinating

[eater275]

Very cool, thank you so much. Brings back memories of best friends, bmx bikes, and no damn care in the world. Life was real good at 10.

[QUIZFILTER]

@xpez Yeah theres always been something so cool about that classic arcade display look, I agree... timeless... DAMN I miss those arcade & pizza parlor days & nights so much!!

[QUIZFILTER]

@MrDjh66 Hell yeah!! Video game arcades & pizza parlors!! Bring it all back!!

[MrDjh66]

I used to play this and tempest at eddies pizza in northport ny after roller skating great times!

[msegov]

I spent many quarters at the local 7-Eleven playing this game back in the 80's. Thanks for the memories...

[PaulbylPaulbyl]

Thanks for uploading this. This was one of my favorite video games at the arcade in 1980 or maybe 81, along with Asteroids. You are pretty good at this game too. Way to go!

[jcroach]

Did Atari base Yars Revenge on the 2600 on this game? Gameplay is somewhat similar.