"LET US PLAY SPACE STRANGER"
GREETINGS fellow Space Strangers! I've created this place in cyberspace to share some info on the ultra rare, Japanese bootleg arcade cab which went by the names "Space Stranger" (upright), "Super Space Stranger" (black and white cocktail), and "Mark Stranger II" (color cocktail). These games were produced in Japan by Yachiyo Electronics in '78 and '79. All three games were the same -- but each of the three cabs were quite different.
Long, long ago (45 years) in a galaxy far, far away (Japan), there existed arcades that were completely dedicated to one game and one game only (well mostly one game ;) -- Space Invaders! The Space Invaders craze was an instant gold mine and anyone with a machine could make a ton of fast money. The Space Invaders craze was so intense that Japan actually went through a shortage of Yen coins (the equivalent of an American quarter)and had to mint more. Manufactures couldn't make enough Space invaders machines to fill the orders for people who were willing to buy them. So... to fill the demand, a few "unauthorized" companies quickly went to work building as many "bootleg" cabs as they could so they could get in on the action.
Although these machines made lots of quick cash for the arcades in a short amount of time, they were also given zero respect over the years. It really is a shame too because believe it or not, these are actually UNIQUE games and the game play is slightly different (dare I say BETTER) than the original Space Invaders...
Unlike the original Space Invaders cabinet which was Black and white with a 3 color plastic overlay, the Space Stranger 2 cocktail had a true color display. Space Stranger also featured a few other subtle changes from the original such as:
the UFO will randomly change directions from left to right in mid flight.
A free ship can be awarded at 3500 points.
The aliens look completely different.
I actually owned a Space Invaders Deluxe (SI2) cabinet for a time and honestly feel like Space Stranger was closer to (ie BETTER than) a true sequel to Space Invaders. It added a few subtle changes to the original without changing too much... IMO.
Anyway... after the craze died down and the birth and golden age of video games came along, the bootleg games were usually the first to get converted into something else, cannibalized, parted out, or just abandoned... :_(. These days, finding one is pretty rare. Finding parts or info on how to fix one can be next to impossible. So, I put this stuff here in hopes that it may help rescue one of these fun old cabs some day...
Below is a link to some Space Stranger schematics that I found and also a Super Space Stranger Service manual donated by a fellow owner (THANKS D ALE!). There's also a flyer and some pics of each of the different cabs as well as some more info about ROMs and other stuff in the link section.
If you're looking for parts, help or would like to share any other info about the Space Stranger cabs, feel free to post a comment.
Or you can drop me a line here: E-Mail
Another great place for info is:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/
Lastly, if you want to play a FREE M.A.M.E. version of Space Stranger RIGHT NOW, there's one available from Archive.org!:
SPACE STRANGER GAME AT ARCHIVE.ORG
Lastly, if you want to play a FREE M.A.M.E. version of Space Stranger RIGHT NOW, there's one available from Archive.org!:
SPACE STRANGER GAME AT ARCHIVE.ORG
