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A Ton of Work To Do and Robotron Dreams

Waterborn

Shared on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 07:11

Audio Interviews for International Classic Video Game Tournament

I was able to collect a ton of audio content during my three days spent at the tournament that was held at Funspot in Laconia, NH over this past weekend. I had a great time and had the opportunity to speak with and interview many of the top names in classic coin-op culture, including Todd Rogers, Walter Day and many past, current and I am sure future world record holders. Now I have the somewhat daunting task of compiling, editing and polishing all of the media so that I can post it for you all to enjoy. There is a lot of work to do, but I hope to get something up on the front page by the end of the week. Now if I can just find the time to get all of this stuff done.

Robotron Dreams

During my time at Funspot over this past week I became completely addicted to the quest for high scores, including some of my own personal best.  As I have mentioned before, my all-time favorite coin-op game is Robotron 2084. With the help of some of the competitors in the tournament I was able to increase my high score on this machine to just under 500,000, which would have put me at #21 in the world rankings had the score been confirmed by an official (just my luck, they had all left by the time I was able to log this score). However, I am certain that I could increase that score substantially and am now somewhat obsessed with acquiring a Robotron cab, practicing and seeing how far up the ladder I can get. To give some perspective on my quest, the current world record of 348,691, 680 was set by Brian King in 1983 and still stands to this day. To even break into the top 10 (all scores in this top 10 were set in the early 80's BTW) would require me to add a little over 100,000,000 points to my best effort to date. However, such is the nature of obession, it is not logical.

So as I contemplate this endeavor, I have been looking for a Robotron cab to purchase and practice on. And as luck would have it I have been able to find a very nice one for sale here in the Northeast. Of course, it costs more than I currently have to spend, given that I just bought my flight and reserved my hotel room for the Chi-LAN. However, also as luck would have it, I have someone who is interested in buying most of my home console collection as a lot. So now the question is this: Do I sell the bulk of my home console collection to pursue this ridiculous (and admittedly nigh unattainable) goal of mine, or do I just mark this urge down to contest hype and let it go? What do you guys think?

Behold the Holy Grail

Comments

H2Daddy's picture
Submitted by H2Daddy on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 07:32
Don't do it. I am afraid you will regret it. One will come along.
VenomRudman's picture
Submitted by VenomRudman on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 08:53
It would be cheaper to build your own cabinet and put a MAME PC in there.
falcor781's picture
Submitted by falcor781 on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 09:49
Never sell -- only add. I made the horrid mistake once of selling my SNES collection to upgrade to an N64 back in 1996. Big mistake. Btw - it was nice to have met you at FS this weekend! You're welcome to play some cocktail robotron sometime. We'll get you into the millions in no time :)
Waterborn's picture
Submitted by Waterborn on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 11:50
Wow, some strong input. Thanks for the input folks. I will definitely think hard on it before making any decisions about selling any part of my console collection to fund the purchase of a robotron cab. The one thing that was making me lean towards the sale is that most of the stuff in my vintage collection just sits around collecting dust. I know that I would get more active use out of a Robotron cab. Hmm, I will have to think this through a bit more I guess. Venom, though I could make a MAME cab, and even work on my scores with one, those scores would be recorded under the MAME category over at Twin Galaxies as that "format" is tracked separately from the coin-op versioin. Guess I am a bit of a "old school" minded guy and really want to work on scores for the original cab and not any variants. Falcor (Michael I preseume? :) )Good to see that you made it to our web site. Let me know what you think about the digs. I certainly hope to take you up on your offer and would love the see the cocktail version of the game as I have never come across one. Definitely keep an eye out for a Robotron cab for me. I have posted "wanted" threads on pretty much every coin-op message board that I know of.
falcor781's picture
Submitted by falcor781 on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 12:07
I'll keep my eye out. I'm thinking you can find one in decent shape for around $750.00. As for the MAME emulator + multicade machines -- I've yet to play one featuring Robotron that doesn't have some kind of 'lag' or jumpiness to it. The same is true for Centipede where the trackball movements are a bit clunkier than a real machine.
falcor781's picture
Submitted by falcor781 on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 21:12
If I may be so blunt, the world won't end if the interviewed aren't published ASAP. However, you could if you don't relax, enjoy yourself (playing video games etc of course). Reading your previous post, I think you've got a good sense of this. Hopefully you aren't totally overworking yourself.
mjhfire's picture
Submitted by mjhfire on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 08:31
Hey Hey there, this is Matt Hamill (fast talkin' guy from Burlington) It was a pleasure to meet ya over the weekend. I just wanted to say, it's not worth selling all your favorite stuff to get the cabinet! FunSpot and their cab is only a couple of hours away. If you go up there every few weeks to get some practice in, it'll be cheaper in the long run. You won't have it at your fingertips though, but you will have all your other stuff still! It was great meeting you, and I hope we can get together sometime, I'd love to check out your collection, and maybe add to my own (if the wife allows). I'll let you know if I head up to funspot in the next few weeks (maybe we can finish that pin-bot challenge). Brandon and I have a lot of projects to work on down the road, and we're definitely going to stay in contact with you. I think Brandon is going to send you some video (like the interview with Bob and Gary on the last day.)
Waterborn's picture
Submitted by Waterborn on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 13:52
Hey Matt, I have salsa for you as well. :) Definitely keep in touch and let me know if you need any help with the Funspot footage. You know I want to be in on that documentary that you and Brandon are going to do (and YES, you are going to do it). The more I look at that Robotron cab, the more difficult it is becoming to not succumb to the temptation. I sent the seller a lower offer, so hopefully he will either accept it or tell me to piss off, ending my dilema either way. Stay tuned.
falcor781's picture
Submitted by falcor781 on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 16:06
The gaming obsession continues :) All the talk of Robotron got me playing it this weekend a little bit. It's still one of the most punishing games I've ever played.. Have either of you tried the close relative Geometry Wars for Xbox / Wii?
Waterborn's picture
Submitted by Waterborn on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 18:13
Falcor, I downloaded the demo but never really got into the game that much. I can see the similarity, but I am not into the "on rails" movement of the game. I AM having withdrawels from Robotron though. Starting to twitch a bit without Brains and Tanks to destroy. :)
falcor781's picture
Submitted by falcor781 on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 23:18
I like Robo a bit more myself for the collecting people aspect. However, I do like how Geometry rewards you for staying alive. I'm in Worcester until the weekend so unfortunately I can't help satiate your Robo craving! Maybe some Mame would help ya :)
Waterborn's picture
Submitted by Waterborn on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 06:33
Hehe, I do have several emulated and older console versions. I was playing some on XBL a few days ago. Right now I need to concentrate on hammering out my interviews from the tourney, then I can play games. Until then "No Robotron for me!" (in soup Nazi voice)

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