Aha! You made an exclusive thread about this. Good. Very organized. I apologise I am not as proper myself. I will try to be though.
Well, my Starblade was taken from one of the Blackpool arcades, I am almost sure about this. Blackpool is a small town close to Liverpool where the complete coast line seems to be some kind of giant amusement park. I've been there once, long ago, only breifly with some friends. But this was some time before I even knew there was a Starblade game at all. Basically I think I was drunk most of that time so my memory of Blackpool isn't very vivid.
The first time I actually saw Starblade was in 1992, or 93. At the time I was working for a company in London so we went to Trocadero Funland a few times where they had two Starblades next to each other, the electrocoin built ones.
However, because I was getting regular stock-lists faxed from JNC, and other traders thanks to my frequent visits to the game shows, I was notified about Starblade. I think JNC had like 3 or more Starblades in stock then. Well, I bought one and when it arrived here I was a bit surprised that it wasn't like those Starblades I saw at Funland some time ago. So I asked them from what place mine was, and I think I got the reply it was out of Blackpool.
I also remember contacting namco about the plastic gun cover. Mine was a bit scratched, but a new mold would cost like SEK 7000, at that time about £500-600. Rediculous, I remember.
Anyway, I rented my Starblade to a swedish game operator over the summer season, to gain back what I've spent on it. Fortunately it survived and I got it back home for the fall to play, just like that guy in the clip playing outside his cabinet (the yoke leads must be flipped to invert the picture). I had the monitor on a bar stool in front of me, and I sat in the original seat 'shooting' at the monitor. This way Starblade is better viewed I think. The mirror keeps distorting the image slighty, which makes it appear like in a lens. I was never very comfortable with that mirror, not even at Funland. I thought: "... if I can just use a large monitor for it. The 'lens view' darkens the display". Also, by then I bought a Cyber Sled and Air Combat boards, to play on my 'System 21'. Namco had the boards as spares on their shelves. Try playing Air Combat with the Starblade gun, it's really super.