Bandai 1981 prototypes

elepla · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 10:54 am Post subject: Bandai 1981 prototypes

Rescue Fire (1981) BANDAI - unreleased prototype

Warp UFO (1981) BANDAI - unreleased prototype

from the 1981 Bandai catalogue

...

Rik · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:27 pm Post subject:

Ooo, cool... Never seen anything about those before...

Now, are they unreleased, or just really damn rare? Cool

slydc · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:13 pm Post subject:

OOOohhhh....prototype LED games!!! Very Happy

Great scans and finds elepla! Cool

Is there a way to magnify "bandai_1981_p_8.jpg" ?? I never saw Missile Vader I and Champion Racer I before, are these also prototypes or a
pre mock-ups of the released versions ?

--- Sly DC ---

Eggie · Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 11:53 am Post subject:

Nice to see, but i think I saw these pictures years ago

Rik · Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:43 pm Post subject:

These are just pre-release mock-ups (of the games that were actually released). They are either detailed artwork, or they were just 'models' carved out of wood or something and painted to give people an idea of what they will look like. You see this a lot in the Toy Fair (or the Japanese equivalent) catalogs (Entex, Coleco, Mattel, they all did it), sometimes you can even make out the wood grain under the paint. Cool

I would _LOVE_ to know where these are though... Even if they are just solid display models, I'd kill to have them... Mr. Green

I hate to think they may have just been thrown away and have long since rotted to nothing... Hopefully hiding in someone's basement or company storage somewhere.

physics223 · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 2:47 am Post subject:

These look quite attractive! Smile

elepla · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:32 am Post subject:

here's the unedited version of pages 16-17 of the catalog:

elepla · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:36 am Post subject:

elepla · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:53 am Post subject:

I'm not sure on the status of these "NEW" games...

After examining the pictures I found some differences between the games on page 16 and on page 17.
Missile Vader II and Champion Racer II seem to be pictures of working prototypes. More compact versions of Missile Vader and Champion Racer, but with nicer sprites. In comparison, the pics of Warp UFO and Rescue Fire are missing essential details (sprites and score display) and are most likely just simple plastic mock-ups.

Most interesting I think is the joystick idea, instead of (4-directional) buttons.

slydc · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:25 pm Post subject: