Tokens Only » video game art

Willis Berzerk cpo

cnlmoore — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:00:56 +0000

This one is among my favorite Willis overlay’s and while I admit it’s not as amazing as the stainless steel original, at least there was an attempt to make it blend with the theme and artwork of the game.

Lots of robots pulled from the side art and colors from the bezel. Not a bad replacement and perhaps better than the dark factory replacement cpo that was offered direct from Stern. This Willis Berzerk control panel overlay is in great shape and produced with their typical quality production. I will happily add it to the archive.

Looking for a stainless steel reproduction for your Berzerk upright? Pre-order yours now! Likely the last time I will revisit this project, so if you need one, let me know.

Q*bert bootleg CPO

cnlmoore — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:33:11 +0000

When I think about Q*bert, I think distinctive yellow cabinet, hopping orange character and colorful bad guys that might cause the occasional @!#?@! to escape your lips while playing. I certainly don’t think drugged out green guys wearing shades, pink pigs or snakes. Someone did though, as can be seen in this bootleg version of a Q*bert control panel overlay.

While the artwork leaves something to be desired, at least the production quality of the overlay is good. 3M adhesive backed paper and clean die cuts for the buttons and joysticks. There are no markings anywhere on the overlay, so this gets filed under bootleg in the archive. If anyone has more information or has seen one in the wild, drop me a line! Happy gaming.

Spy Agent or Bootleg Elevator Action cpo

cnlmoore — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 05:12:44 +0000

I’ve always thought that this control panel overlay was the Willis version of Elevator Action. At least that’s what I had been told and never had any reason to doubt the claim. Until one day when the KLOV “machine of the day” was a Spy Agent. Whoa, that’s the Willis EA overlay, what gives?

After some more investigating, it appears as if the overlay is a bootleg for Elevator Action. The first picture is an overlay I found available at QuarterArcade and the second a copy I own. The QA copy has some text on the middle right that I can’t quite make out, unfortunately, as it might shed some light on the true manufacturer of the kit. The cabinet picture is from KLOV and shows the overlay installed on a Taito cabinet control panel. According to KLOV, Spy Agent made by Taito, is a bootleg of Elevator Action. Huh? Elevator Action was made by Taito. Why would you bootleg your own game? Since Spy Agent was a bootleg and seems to have been a conversion kit, I’m guessing Willis had nothing to do with it. The overlay is missing all the tell tale signs. If you have any more information, post a comment.

Tron cpo by Willis

cnlmoore — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:04:02 +0000

The Tron control panel overlay by Willis was a decent attempt at capturing the feel of the original cabinet design in an aftermarket product. A step up from some of the random artwork jumbles commonly seen in bootleg artwork, this cpo was produced by Willis in 1983 with quality materials and an attention to detail. While the artwork is vaguely similar to the original overlay, there are some notable differences. The original control panel overlay uses red, blue and green for color and carries a number of details not seen in the aftermarket Willis piece. Yellow is substituted for green and the cross hair and spinner details are missing.

My example of the Willis Tron cpo is missing the cut out where the spinner decal most likely resided. It was probably removed during the die cut process. I’m not 100 percent sure a spinner decal existed, but I’ve seen plenty of those red top spinners to lead me to believe that they did. I checked the Wico catalog on my resources page, but it didn’t have a picture of this particular overlay inside. If you happen to own the cpo and it still has the cutout in place, shoot me a picture, I’d like to see it!

Another more important difference between the Willis and original overlay is the type of ink used in printing. The original art glows under black light and gives the cabinet its famous look. The Willis artwork has none of these effects, which I discovered when I put it to the test under black light. It just looks black. The last picture in the series is of course what the original overlay and spinner insert looks like. This reproduction is produced by Phoenix Arcade as part of the full set of Tron artwork available at the site. The artwork recreates the original black light effects beautifully and my Tron will be getting this complete restoration treatment shortly. The Willis overlay will be put back in the archive.

Willis Vanguard cpo wanted

cnlmoore — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:00:25 +0000

I’m on the lookout for a Willis Vanguard cpo, at least I believe it to be a Willis piece. I saw this control panel on eBay, but didn’t bid since the overlay was already applied. As much as I like Willis artwork, trying to collect examples attached to games or game parts would become space consuming real quick. I need my space for actual games!

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