Arcade hardware?

[Tellah]

Is there scope for a regular arcade hardware focused feature?

Even if they were rarely exported, Sega, Taito, Capcom, Irem, Namco etc. all produced incredibly well engineered arcade cabinets... http://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/List_of_Candy_Cabinets.
... and game hardware, such as the IREM M92, which powered games such as R-Type Leo, or the Capcom CPS... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP_System

To me, these boards and machines are the ultimate in retro gaming... but maybe it's too far away from the home computer / console users the mag is targeting?
Personally, I find it fascinating... and it's within anyone's reach to physically own these machines and boards these days.

[NickThorpe]

We actually ran a series of Arcade Inspection features in the earlier days of the magazine, focusing on game hardware - the Sega Model 2, Capcom CPS-2, Taito F-series and SNK Neo Geo MVS. Although they're from before my time, I believe they weren't tremendously popular, hence their discontinuation.

[Tellah]

Thanks for the reply. That's a shame. I wonder if the renewed popularity in arcade history (unless I'm imagining it) could prompt a fresh look at the hardware in a new way? I'd love a magazine that covers retro arcade hardware.

[oldtimer]

I would also like to see that,.

[Sokurah]

... and so would I.

[driver695]

... and so would I.

Ditto

[Antiriad2097]

I believe they weren't tremendously popular, hence their discontinuation.

Where has this popularity info come from?

The forum is hardly representative of the readership as a whole.

Were there complaints about those articles not being interesting? Were there polls in the mag or here?

Given the right writer, they could be good. Doesn't need to focus on the hardware explicitly, some detail on the top and/or obscure games for the systems would round things out nicely to appeal to a more general audience beyond the hardware fans.

Personally, some nice pictures of the cabs from a few angles, some closeups of particular details like control layouts, some screen grabs from games, those would be appealing to me at the very least on a nostalgia level. Nothing quite like seeing a cab to ignite my interest in trying an old game.

There must be someone on Jamma+ who'd be up for it.

[Tellah]

Just a quick bump to see if opinion has changed on this. With the dwindling well of home systems to retroinspect, going back over arcade hardware could be large source of fascinating untapped content to focus on... This is just the Sega systems... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S ... tem_boards. Each has their own best / worst games, some with dedicated cabinets too. I'd buy a magazine that looked at each arcade system in turn... I can't see how it would be less popular than a retroinspection on Oric / Dragon 32 etc... Surely more people had more exposure + memories attached to... just for example... Sega System 16 games.