There’s a pretty decent selection of Retro Gaming events over here in the UK now. Play, NERG and Revival are the most popular during the calendar year. At each, there is a wide selection of things to see and do: guests, vendors, pinball, consoles, arcade machines, talks and interactive set ups.
This year saw the latest instalment of the Revival series of events in Walsall – a handy location for both north and south based retro fans. I went to last year’s event, and wasn’t that impressed. I felt like everything was shoehorned into a small space, and it was difficult to get onto machines – at times, it was literally shoulder to shoulder in there. This year was different, as things were rather more spread out, and the opening up of another room that wasn’t available last year, made all the difference.
And I’m pleased to report there was plenty to see from a classic arcade gaming perspective!
Early during the setup – the first gaggle of arcade cabinets arriveThings were spaced out better this year, which of course meant more machines available to play. Here’s the show in full swing on the SaturdayA great variety of machines from the 80s and 90s were on display and set to free play
Here’s a few highlights that I thought were worthy of mention:
A rare European Robotron uprightTeenage Mutant Hero Turtles – this is always a popular multiplayer title. Perfect for the eventHere’s a real gem. An Atari Time Pilot upright. Built at Tipperary and distributed around Europe. Not many of these around today.I’m always stumbling across this particular cabinet at events. Juno First is a great, but unappreciated classic shooterI don’t think I’ve seen one of these before. Sega’s Super Hang-On in upright format.Taito’s Ice Cold Beer.A lovely example of an Atari “Bronze Age” cabinet from the late 70s. Video Pinball. Great fun to play.The cabinet is not much to get excited about, but I love those rotary joysticks on this SNK Midnight ResistanceAnother Sega title you don’t see often. Enduro Racer, complete with seatOne of the last great arcade releases from Atari: 720
Of course being in Europe, you’d expect to see some of our native cabinets on show. This year, we were lucky enough to be treated to a clutch of Zaccaria machines. Check out the wild artwork on these cabinets:
Zaccaria’s ScrambleCrazy Kong. Some subtle differences here to the Nintendo cabinet and game released in the USAA generic Zaccaria jamma cabinet running Arkanoid
There was a small but solid lineup of pinball tables available to play. They were popular all day:
The highlight was this Game of Thrones table
My mate Alex from Nintendo Arcade was at the event. He pulled together several Nintendo cabinets in a dedicated area. This was a combination of pieces from his own collection and other collectors good enough to bring their cabinets along to the show:
The Nintendo Arcade area – easily the best part of this year’s Revival EventYou’ll recognise this cabinet if you’re a regular reader of the blog. Here’s Alex and his custom-designed Sky Skipper cabinetGreat to see a Red Tent over here on these shores. This got a lot of play over the weekendPopeye uprightCocktails don’t get enough love at any of these shows, so it was good to see some of these early Nintendo tables getting a public airing. I remember this one well from the 80’s. The very underrated HeliFireNintendo’s Space LauncherAn early Black & White Space Fever cocktail. I restored one of these hereFor me, this cabinet alone made the trip to Revival worth while. Alex’s wonderful Nintendo’s Sheriff upright cabinet. Known as Bandido over in the USA, this is a fantastic game in an even better looking cabinet. (I want one!)That bezel is full of detailSheriff’s control panel. Note the 8 way joystick and spinner to select the direction in which you point your gun. The player actually pushes down on the spinner to take a shot
Some more highlights from the show floor:
Namco’s Ridge Racer. Never gets oldWilliams Defender, Midway Burger Time & Williams Robotron. Quite the lineupThose Neo Geo cabs are growing on me. The ability to play multiple games on a single cabinet is great. To the right there is a Naomi Driver cabinet.Jon Stoodley was on hand as usual, demonstrating his grouping techniques on Pac-ManA cool-looking conversion here. Done by Vic from the Ten Pence Arcade podcast, this is an original early 80s Subelectro ISIS Jamma cabinet with a Q*Bert kit installed. I’m not usually a fan of multicoloured t-molding, but it’s used to good effect here
Another cool thing to see was a small selection of candy cabinets:
Sega’s Blast City, Taito Egret II and a Sega New Astro City were on hand loaded with shootersI am a fan. When I get space, I’d like a few of these cabinet stylesConverting these old Sega Dinosaur King cabinets has been a popular thing over the last few years. I did one a couple of years ago. They are nice little cabinets to work on and look great lined upHere’s a converted Dino King, made into an Asteroids. It’s running original hardware too!
So there you go. Revival turned things around this year in my estimation – the cabinet selection was much improved and space issues from last year were definitely addressed. I won’t go into detail on the other stuff at the show – but everything you’d expect was there, including a fully stocked bar, lots of vendors, plenty of consoles to get to grips with and some interesting guests hosting talks throughout the weekend.
Alex released a video recently where he reviewed the event – there’s some footage of the cabinets on show too. You can check that out below:
The Arcade Blogger 
Gutted that I couldn’t get to this, but at least your’s and other’s posts let me know just how much I missed…😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excuse my ignorance, what’s up with the coloured, numbered buttons on the Red Tent? What are they for and why do they look different?
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Maksim – Those are the start buttons. Depending on the game installed in the Red Tent, you can have up to 4 players playing at the same time.
LikeLike
What’s the name of the arcade machine to the left of the Robotron machine?
From this picture: https://missilecommand.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/42235771181_c695fe958f_z.jpg?w=1000
LikeLike
That’s a Burgertime upright cabinet.
LikeLiked by 1 person