Sega's classic '80s arcade machines are works of art; they were designed to attract your attention and tempt you to part with your spare change, and as a result were brightly-coloured, exotic creations that even today possess an undeniable aesthetic charm.
Sadly, unless you're like Nintendo Life contributor Jonathan Town and have a large garage and understanding wife, there's little chance of owning a selection of these amazing machines today. Thankfully, British publisher Read-Only Memory - which gave the world the stunning Mega Drive / Genesis: The Complete Works - has come up with the next best thing, which is a pop-up book packed with intricate cardboard recreations of these iconic coin-ops.
SEGA Arcade: Pop-Up History has just launched on Kickstarter and offers "five of the most iconic 'body sensation' cabinets – Hang-On, Space Harrier, OutRun, After Burner and Thunder Blade – in a suitably innovative form: as dazzling pop-up paper sculptures."
Each model will be accompanied by schematics, cabinet artwork and meaningful historical context by none other than Guardian games writer and novelist Keith Stuart. Read-Only Memory is seeking £40,000 to make this unique coffee-table talking point a reality and has raised just under £10,000 of that total so far.
If you like the look of this - and let's be honest, anyone with functioning eyes should do - then make sure you pledge your support and tell us about it in the comments section below.
[source kickstarter.com]
Comments 18
Sega Labo?
Very cool book. Do I need it in my life? No but I would like a read of it.
Even Sega's cardboard does what Nintendon't.
This is right up my street and I can't resist. This is the Sega I remember so fondly and I wish they made better use of this legacy.
Well, since their first full-color glossy book was released only to a small community of blind folk, I don't think they should release this to the general population because it won't sell well. There's just not an audience for books among those who like to read.
/snark
Thing is they only show two of the five, so are tehy having problems with the others?
I'm always dubious of Kickstarter projects.
I mainly remember Afterburner from Terminator 2 (Have you seen this Kid?)
@Bunkerneath Read Only Memory have a great history with these projects. I've backed a couple of their projects now and never been disappointed with the results. The reason they don't show them all is because they haven't got the finished product yet - that's what Kickstarter is for.
I think they should also include sound chips that play sound bites of the cabinets, so when you open the page, you see the cabinet, and hear how it sounded back then, that would truly make the experience complete.
Forget the popup book. I want the Space Harrier cabinet.
That book is so cool....we need more popup books in our lives.
This is kind of neat, but after they kept teasing something to follow up the Mega Drive and Dreamcast books I was reeeeally hoping for a Sega Saturn book. If this included a pop-up of Galaxy Force II, though, I would probably buy like twelve copies.
I really love it, but I wonder how much content there actually is. 5 Cabinets seems a bit light, unless they go really deep in terms of content.
Their Mega Drive book is m very favorite coffee table book, so I'm super tempted.
@chiptoon The guys behind it are addressing this in the comments of the KS page already, for example:
"the models will be accompanied by specially written history texts from Keith Stuart, screens, diagrams, stats etc. Also, there will be a lead in essay from Keith, setting the scene on the era too. To be honest, if we keep funding like this, we might extend things too. I'm looking into making this as rich and definitive as possible. I should have more detailed news in the next 48 hours..."
These guys know they have to pack stuff in, so I'm pretty sure it'll have plenty to get in to. It'll be interesting to see what the stretch goals are.
Amazing!
@nessisonett
Best reply of the day.
Pretty cool, but I think it would need like 50 of these popups in one book to really feel meaty, and like a proper collectors type of book worth putting on your table, rather than ultimately a bit of a throwaway novelty.
Cool but big corporations should not be on Kickstarter.
I backed it! I remember those arcade cabinets so well...they were truly a treat. Man, do I miss those days.
@SegaBlueSky hey thanks for pointing this out, I missed that
I think I'll go for it, I'm a Sega kid and I've loved Read Only Memories books before.
Tap here to load 18 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...