Hi all, here's to introduce myself:
I'm 37 and I work as a graphic designer for a record label. I'd like to start a classic games cabinet collection because I regard them as true pieces of art and because theses games always bring back such good memories...
The only times I could play a lot of arcades as a kid was when we were going on vacation at the belgian sea shore so thoses cabs for me convey the feeling of (randomly): sand scratching in my plastic shoes, loud laugh of the last boss in kung-fu master, teenagers practising their "I'm bored to death and I don't even have to watch the screen" look while playing, having to get back on time for diner (even if I was at the very last fight in double dragons), +++...
When I was home I played a lot of C64 (pretending not to notice the difference between the arcade version and the C64 version of course), videopac, vectrex, various handheld games and much later snes.
A billion years after that, in the early 90s, I was no longer wearing plastic shoes at the beach, and I discovered mame by accident (on the very first week I had internet while looking for a C64 emulator).
THEY were all there waiting for me, even the ones I didn't even remember the names correctly (quartet, black tiger, the ninja warriors...).
Wow, it was a blast from the past! The crazy idea of owning my own cabinet slowly but surely grew in me years after years. Of course I had thought about that as a kid many times but to me it was something that could only happen in sitcoms (remember "silver spoons"
)...
But first thing first, right now, I really NEED to play, a lot, and no longer via a computer screen, I need the real feeling of facing that big ass heavy chunk of wood right in front of me, I want to press a real "player one" button ! So my very first toy will be a Mame (in a space chaser cabinet because it has such a gorgeous artwork) just to quench my thirst... it's still under constuction but I'm very excited as you can read.
Sadly I don't know anything yet about electronics and stuff but there's a lot to learn from this forum so I'll do my homeworks but might sometimes still ask some silly newbie questions... and as graphic designer I can't wait to start some sideart and control panel art restorations on dedicated cabs (by the way, let me know if I can be of any help on vectorisations and graphic stuff)...
Additionally as a typography + arcade lover, I also started a small marquee collection, it's an "easy to store" way of having something from the original beast and it displays so much nicer on your wall than a strand of hair from Bill Mitchell's mullet.
I've a great time reading your posts on this forum, guys, keep up the good work!
