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VxD

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May 18, 2019
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Hi everyone!

You may have already seen my nickname in the system11 forums, where I have been mostly lurking for the past 12 years or so...
The STG virus bit me back in France ~15 years ago, and it's been a wild ride since, full of wonder and regrets, including:
  • building a Cave PCB collection then selling it all back in 2008 to finance a move to Tokyo,
  • buying all limited-edition XBOX360 Cave games then selling them all to finance a candy cabinet in 2016 (notice a pattern here?),
  • getting talked out of buying a CRT cabinet by the Mak Japan owner and wimping out at the last minute, then losing motivation and going on a 3-year hiatus since.
I have since moved to Sapporo, northern Japan...
Getting back into the hobby had always been in the back of my mind and when the last Game Center providing access to Cave games closed shop a few weeks ago, I finally went through and ordered a brand new Vewlix Diamond Black from Taito.
Isn't it beautiful?
IMG_0278.jpeg


While the golden age of CRT monitors and Cave PCBs is behind me, there is still a lot to look forward to: first of all, I need to wire the coin mech correctly to the PS4 that drives the cabinet. Then throw a PC inside it with MAME. And who knows, maybe buy an ExA setup with Aka&Blue...

Thanks in advance for coping with my newbie questions, and for providing such a great trove of information!

- VxD
 
Welcome! What is the status of arcade shops now? Are arcade shops dying fast like what happened in a the USA? Nice cab:)
 
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Thanks for the warm welcome!

Game Centers as they used to exist 10 years ago with their rows of generic cabinets are a dying breed and have become a niche, restricted to a few locations in the biggest cities.
Smaller locations with specialized cabinets are still popular with kids and families.

Due to space restrictions and because of their relative abundance until recently, owning an arcade cabinet at home was never that big of a thing with Japanese players. I can see the trend reversing with locations closing but it may be a bit late now, as used cabinets are reaching their end of life.

All the major arcade parts and PCB shops I can think of (Mak Japan, GFront, Tops, Try) are still around, with even a new contender (BEEP) opening recently. The golden age of arcade may be over, but they still probably have a few good years in front of them.
 
I finally went through and ordered a brand new Vewlix Diamond Black from Taito.
I'd like to know more about this. I just talked to them last week, and they wouldn't sell any unless I bought 10.


Taito said:
We may sell brand new VEWLIX DIA BLACK cabinet if you can order around 10pcs, checking stock now. If no, we will introduce a reseller but we are not sure whether the reseller have the cabinet at the moment.
We regret to say that we cannot sell the new cabinet directly.
As for reseller, it is difficult to sell only 1 pc.
Very sorry that we cannot meet your request about VEWLIX cabinet.
 
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Oh hey rancor, thanks again for your help on system11!

“Directly from TAITO” was maybe a bit of a stretch; I actually bought the Vewlix through ist! (http://www.ist-ax.jp/, highly recommended.)
Sato from their team was very helpful over email, and their prices, reasonable. He ordered the cabinet on my behalf and arranged for the shipment from Tokyo to Hokkaido.
 
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Oh hey rancor, thanks again for your help on system11!

“Directly from TAITO” was maybe a bit of a stretch; I actually bought the Vewlix through ist! (http://www.ist-ax.jp/, highly recommended.)
Sato from their team was very helpful over email, and their prices, reasonable. He ordered the cabinet on my behalf and arranged for the shipment from Tokyo to Hokkaido.
Now lets get them to start shipping stuff overseas :)
 
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