The artist that worked on this one made an effort to do some color and design matching for the layout so the cpo wouldn’t look out of place on the game. He(?) even worked up a cool looking Centipede to add to the CPO, an element that was missing from the original design. Good color, cool Centipede, mushrooms and horizontal stripes. What else could you possibly need? I’ve only been able to find a couple of hacked up versions of this overlay and I’m on the lookout for a nice example. Check out my Willis artwork page for more information about Willis and their history.

I would like to add one of these overlays to the Willis artwork archive. If you have a nice example of this control panel overlay for sale or trade, drop me a line!

Operators were notorious tight wads and didn’t like to spend money on OEM parts, often turning to Willis for their more cost effective products. While not always the best looking, they were better than a worn or ratty original (in the ops eyes at least). So here we have the Willis Asteroids cpo, released in 1981, and measuring in at a whopping 26-1/4″ x 23-1/3″. This thing will completely cover the original metal control panel.

Now with every Willis overlay the production quality is excellent, and this overlay is no exception. 3M backer paper and adhesive, artwork screen printed on lexan, and die cut button holes. This particular example still has the majority of the die cut outs in place. My favorite little Willis men adorn the p1 and p2 buttons, but there isn’t much more to say about this one. Very simplistic, kinda boring, and lacking in color variety. I’ll add it to the archive anyway.

This particular Willis replacement overlay does a good job at trying to keep the original feel of the game. With bright colors, fun character’s from the game, and the brick motif, it could actually be used as it was intended – to replace your worn out original overlay. NOS overlays are tough to find and reproduction cpo’s have long been sold out, so this replacement might be your only choice.

As a stand alone piece of arcade art the Willis Zoo Keeper is one of their better attempts. The eyes on the moose make the character look a little nutty, but perhaps the placement of the joystick has something to do with that. A little Disney-esque humor at Willis perhaps? Now when I see the Willis overlay applied to a control panel and put back on the game, I’m not so sure that I like it. I expect to see the original dark color scheme that worked so well, much better than the brightly contrasting light blue and yellow on the reproduction. I wonder if the artists working on these overlays were ever given a chance to look at an actual cabinet? I’m guessing no. While the Willis Zoo Keeper cpo isn’t perfect, when you have a torn up original, it just might have to do.

Now with every Willis overlay the production quality is excellent, and this overlay is no exception. 3M backer paper and adhesive, artwork screen printed on lexan, and die cut joystick and button holes. The replacement overlay was produced in 1983 by Willis and instead of a part number we get, Willis Replacement Overlay Zookeeper. This particular example still has all the die cut holes intact, which gives a better look at the complete artwork. A good one for the archive.

Besides lacking all of the usual clues that identify a Willis overlay (can you name them all yet?), it is one flimsy piece of art. Cheaply made and probably one of the thinnest overlays I have in the archive. It is really just a stiff piece of paper with adhesive on the back. This overlay is also excessively large and while I’m OK with the simple geometric pattern, something more creative than a mirror image could have been done. Doing a quick test fit on the control panel of a similar Atari cabinet reveals that much of the artwork would be lost under the bottom of the panel, or trimmed away for proper fit. Perhaps it was made this large to accommodate a variety of cabinets. Regardless, it’s a bootleg whose origins will probably never be known. If you have any pictures of this installed on a cabinet or if you know any additional history, drop me a line!

I’m not sure why so much effort was put into this bootleg, perhaps it was for one of the foreign made knock-off pcb kits that were so popular with some operators. Maybe it was just for a local group of operators that had a half dozen or more Williams Moon Patrols needing fresh overlays. Whatever the reason, it is no excuse for such shoddy art work. Lots of color is nice and the font is pretty good, but that’s about it. I would like to see a picture of this overlay on a cab in your collection or in the wild. Drop me a line if you have any pictures or more information about this particular overlay.

How do I know? There are lots of reasons, the first one is that Willis never copied existing work. I can only assume that because of licensing agreements they were forced to create new art for each piece they reproduced. Take a look at my artwork page if you want more proof. Similarities exist in some cases, but not direct copies. Another reason is the quality. This cpo is printed on some cheaply backed material, not the industry standard 3M stuff. It is also missing the manufacturers text, copyright info and die cuts which were standard on Willis reproductions.

While I was disappointed that this wasn’t a Willis overlay, it is still a unique piece. The one thing that struck me in particular are the odd, ragged black borders. Now the original Elevator Action cpo had rough borders, as you can see in the last image, however they weren’t as bad as this. It almost looks as if an original cpo was pulled from a control panel, ripping it on the edges. Then a photo was taken with one of those giant bellow cameras. Cutting edge back in the 80′s, this piece of equipment would allow a silk screen company to make screens directly from a giant photograph. A little touch up and removal of the Taito logo and bingo, you’ve got an unauthorized copy! Seems like a lot of work just to make an overlay. This one gets added to the archive. (Taito control panel image courtesy of KLOV)

This one is a standard space theme overlay, meant to be used with any number of space conversion kits or simply as a cheaper alternative to the pricey OEM* replacement parts. Operators were always looking for ways to save money and cheap, generic overlays were just one of those ways. Why spend $60 plus on a new overlay when you could by something generic for half the price. Even with declining profits, the games still required maintenance and cheap was the way to go.

Luckily this overlay was not used to convert a classic into some jamma abomination or other un-classic concoction. It has been made with quality materials, but with just two colors and no die cuts. Button hole locations would have been cut after application. I’ll archive this one before it tries to attach itself to some classic cp. Happy gaming.

*original equipment manufacturer

If you happen to have or come across an NOS Vanguard overlay, or any NOS Willis artwork, drop me a line.

While the Donkey Kong Jr. cpo has cleaner hole punches and lacks the waste plastic on the mounting holes, it is still a bootleg. The lack of any Willis Company text is one reason, but the primary reason is that Willis did a replacement cpo for DK Jr that is well documented. Its a decal and not reverse printed on lexan like this one. You can check out the Willis DK Jr. cpo on my artwork page.

Bootleg or not, I will add it to the growing archive of underappreciated arcade artwork. Enjoy!

EDIT: Big thanks to Ethan (Hyde) for correctly identifying this control panel overlay as an NOS Gremlin FROGS and not a bootleg. I’ve moved this to the NOS section of my artwork page and added the flyer here. Thanks to TAFA for the flyer images. Looks like my overlay must have been part of a conversion kit as the dedicated cab appears to have a smaller control panel.