Restore Nintendo Film Reels

[SkylarTheNerd]

Firstly, let me just say I'm not sure if this is the right place for this specific post, and I went with my safest guess as to where to put it.

Now, many arcade games in the 1970s used 16mm projectors to display the game that is being played. Most of these film reels have gone missing, or have been destroyed. There is a small group of people trying to restore the existing film reels, and they are trying to find a way to make them playable.

People, this is our history. Video games mean a lot to me, and they mean a lot to many other people, too. The fact that these old arcade games (no matter how uninteresting and primitive they are) have been lost to time is almost saddening. So far, there hasn't been much success in making scans of the film projections public.

A YouTuber by the name of NintendoArcade has most of the Nintendo games that have been lost to history, including the reels. He hasn't made any scans, however. At least we know that they still exist, but it's a matter of collecting them.

If you guys have any information, or you think you can somehow help out, please do so. I'm trying to get the communities together.

I've been on this site for a little over a year and a half, and the commitment I've seen in you guys is commendable. I hope at least someone on here sees this and cares enough to help out.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

If he actually has functional film reels he definitely needs to either digitize them or loan them to someone who has the ability to. While the light gun arcades definitely aren't riveting by today's standards, they're definitely interesting equipment and need to be preserved if at all possible

Plus the idea of restoring or recreating one with a short-throw projector sounds kinda cool

 

[SkylarTheNerd]

If he actually has functional film reels he definitely needs to either digitize them or loan them to someone who has the ability to. While the light gun arcades definitely aren't riveting by today's standards, they're definitely interesting equipment and need to be preserved if at all possible

Plus the idea of restoring or recreating one with a short-throw projector sounds kinda cool

I totally agree with you. Besides, imagine if we are able to get these reels - we could digitally mod them and make all new games. If anything, it would at least be cool to have.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

I totally agree with you. Besides, imagine if we are able to get these reels - we could digitally mod them and make all new games. If anything, it would at least be cool to have.

Now hang on, unless you mean using them as backgrounds for fully digital games, the film reels are just that; film that's run on a mechanical projector that's synced to cues to activate an infrared target

 

[SkylarTheNerd]

Now hang on, unless you mean using them as backgrounds for fully digital games, the film reels are just that; film that's run on a mechanical projector that's synced to cues to activate an infrared target

Right, I'm just saying that if we had the scans, and could run them with a program that is (was?) being developed over on one of the MAME forums, then theoretically it could be possible to edit the reels digitally to create modified scenes. I'm just spit-balling, the goal is to get the reels and restore them, above all else.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I spoke with the user "gregf" from a MAME forum and he has uploaded some scans. He has a large collection, as well, but they are fragmented. If we could get those scans from him, that would help out a lot. If anyone is willing, we could as a team, contact "gregf" and see if he'd be willing to work with us. ("Us" being whoever is willing to go along with this, of course)

Here's a thread from emulab, with more information:
https://www.emulab.it/forum/index.php?topic=3966.0

 

[TotalInsanity4]

If you wanted you could contact NintendoArcade and see if he'd be willing to work with gregf

 

[SkylarTheNerd]

If you wanted you could contact NintendoArcade and see if he'd be willing to work with gregf

NintendoArcade is not very social. I was only able to contact him successfully once, but I'll try getting him and gregf together. I just don't know how to go about doing that...

 

[Larsenv]

Interesting, I never knew these existed!

How would these be emulated?

 

[SkylarTheNerd]

Interesting, I never knew these existed!

How would these be emulated?

There has been efforts to digitally replay film reels and use infrared technology to give feedback on shots. I'm not too sure how it's done, and it hasn't really come to fruition, but there are people working on it. Because the film reels are scarce, collecting them is my main goal, but if anyone has any ideas as to how emulation could be done, I encourage you to look at the various MAME forums. I'll try to collect as much information as possible and put it on this thread, and if other people could do the same, that would help a lot.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Interesting, I never knew these existed!

How would these be emulated?

They wouldn't, other than maybe replacing the IR targets with a sensor bar-based aim control. Again, these things were basically just interactive movies

 

[SkylarTheNerd]

They wouldn't, other than maybe replacing the IR targets with a sensor bar-based aim control. Again, these things were basically just interactive movies

That's essentially what others have been working on. I saw someone say it would be like the Mad Dog McCree game for the Wii

 

[Deleted User]

I hadn't really ever considered video games that went back to before the 80s, nor did I know that they used film reels to function at all.

Now, question: are these reels considered lost media at this point? I know of plenty old, obscure, and canceled video games and animations that share a similar story to that of these old arcade reels.

 

[SkylarTheNerd]

I hadn't really ever considered video games that went back to before the 80s, nor did I know that they used film reels to function at all.

Now, question: are these reels considered lost media at this point? I know of plenty old, obscure, and canceled video games and animations that share a similar story to that of these old arcade reels.

Some can be considered lost, but the thing is, there are pieces that are already either restored, or are owned. So it's likely to be found, and awareness can do a lot to make that happen.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Also, I feel like some people are lacking context, since these things can be rather hard to find with a simple Google search: (wrapping this in a quote tag for readability)

This is the "Laser Clay Shooting System"; it was unveiled in 1973 and used an overhead projector to show an image of a clay pigeon on the wall, with a series of reflective surfaces that, when paired with the timing on the projector, would determine whether a shot would have hit or missed. Variations on this image are virtually the only surviving media on its existence that I could ever find when I tried to do a project on Nintendo history, so I'd imagine they're INCREDIBLY rare

This is Wild Gunman, which released one year later. You might recognize the name from the NES game of the same title, but this is the original. Nintendo released it in this smaller form factor after they realized the "wall projection" clay pigeon game was stupid infeasible

Shooting Trainer, 1976. Same system, different reel

Battle Shark, which released in 1977. They figured out a way to project the image vertically using mirrors, which made for a much smaller cabinet. Supposedly there was also "Sky Shark" in 1976, but I can only find 8-bit versions of that one. Either that one's been lost, or miscategorized

New Shooting Trainer released in 1978, as far as I can tell it's basically the same as the original but with a better cabinet

And last but not least, Duck Hunt (no, not that one!), which released in 1976 for home use. I think this technically fits in this category, as even though it's not reel projected, it is based off a projected image

 

[Deleted User]

Some can be considered lost, but the thing is, there are pieces that are already either restored, or are owned. So it's likely to be found, and awareness can do a lot to make that happen.

So it's more a matter of making sure that footage of these restored reels is released to the general public than anything else.

Have you tried contacting NintendoArcade about this? The fact that you know he is in possession of some of the reels is already a huge step in the right direction. Maybe you could convince him to release some scans of the footage.

 

[SkylarTheNerd]

Also, I feel like some people are lacking context, since these things can be rather hard to find with a simple Google search:

This is the "Laser Clay Shooting System"; it was unveiled in 1973 and used an overhead projector to show an image of a clay pigeon on the wall, with a series of reflective surfaces that, when paired with the timing on the projector, would determine whether a shot would have hit or missed. Variations on this image are virtually the only surviving media on its existence that I could ever find when I tried to do a project on Nintendo history, so I'd imagine they're INCREDIBLY rare

This is Wild Gunman, which released one year later. You might recognize the name from the NES game of the same title, but this is the original. Nintendo released it in this smaller form factor after they realized the "wall projection" clay pigeon game was stupid infeasible

Shooting Trainer, 1976. Same system, different reel

Battle Shark, which released in 1977. They figured out a way to project the image vertically using mirrors, which made for a much smaller cabinet. Supposedly there was also "Sky Shark" in 1976, but I can only find 8-bit versions of that one. Either that one's been lost, or miscategorized

New Shooting Trainer released in 1978, as far as I can tell it's basically the same as the original but with a better cabinet

And last but not least, Duck Hunt (no, not that one!), which released in 1976 for home use. I think this technically fits in this category, as even though it's not reel projected, it is based off a projected image

Thank you for clearing that up. I was going to post something clarifying everything, but I wasn't able to, because I had to leave.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

So it's more a matter of making sure that footage of these restored reels is released to the general public than anything else.

Have you tried contacting NintendoArcade about this? The fact that you know he is in possession of some of the reels is already a huge step in the right direction. Maybe you could convince him to release some scans of the footage.

I have tried, but the only response I ever got from him was of him confirming that he sold his Wild Gunman reels. Other than that, I haven't heard a peep from him.

 

[SkylarTheNerd]

On Friday, I will be able to get things together, like contacting folks and research. Right now, I'm just really busy

 

[SkylarTheNerd]

On Friday, I will be able to get things together, like contacting folks and research. Right now, I'm just really busy

UPDATE: There is an arcade game Nintendo released that doesn't appear to use film, but it is interesting, nonetheless. It's called EVR Race

http://blog.beforemario.com/2012/06/nintendo-evr-race-evr-1975.html

Before Mario has these tapes, but he can't play them, and it appears that the game used actual parts, along with a screen (akin to the old fashioned arcade games that used models (see below picture)). Unfortunately, Before Mario has been "away from keyboard" for some time...

(Arcade game using models instead of video screens)

 

[TotalInsanity4]

UPDATE: There is an arcade game Nintendo released that doesn't appear to use film, but it is interesting, nonetheless. It's called EVR Race

http://blog.beforemario.com/2012/06/nintendo-evr-race-evr-1975.html

Before Mario has these tapes, but he can't play them, and it appears that the game used actual parts, along with a screen (akin to the old fashioned arcade games that used models (see below picture)). Unfortunately, Before Mario has been "away from keyboard" for some time...

(Arcade game using models instead of video screens)

Read the 2017 update; he found a guy with a player, but it turns out the reels he had were just screen calibration units

 

[SomeGamer]

Read the 2017 update; he found a guy with a player, but it turns out the reels he had were just screen calibration units

Aren't those even rarer?