Photos From The March 2011 Southern California Classic Collectors Arcade Party!
by: Roger Barr

I've been attending the SC3 (Southern California Classic Collectors) arcade parties since I moved out to California some years ago. It's a gathering of classic gaming enthusiasts who bring in truckloads of arcade cabinets, consoles and other rarities from yesteryear and set it all on free-play for one awesome night. Whether you're looking to test your skills in a frantic four-player game of Warlords or try out some homebrew games on a Vectrex, SC3 always has you covered.

This year, the SC3 arcade party went through a major change. The party was removed from a private backyard and placed inside a popular local art gallery (Gallery Nucleus) to make room for more people, more games and even some live musical chiptune performances. Another change was that we actually brought the custom arcade cabinet for our upcoming Flash game, Abobo's Big Adventure. Myself and Nick (programmer of our game) were there from noon 'til midnight and captured some photos of all the arcade action, so without further day, here be the pics:

Assembling the Abobo's Big Adventure arcade cabinet, one screw at a time.

Unfortunately, the cabinet doesn't come with any easy Ikea-like assembly instructions, so it has
to be pieced back together from memory. At the very least, we didn't install the marquee upside-down.

Some of the other retro cabinets including Swimmer, Zaxxon and Tron have been cleaned off and are ready to go.

So many awesome classic arcade games just waiting to be brought back to life.

As you can see, Abobo's Big Advent're was in good company next to Turkey Shoot and the Journey arcade game.

Yes, the band JOURNEY. For those who haven't played it, the game is simultaneously awful and awesome.

The screen and controller are installed as Nick prepares to boot up the latest demo of the game.

Abobo's Big Adventure lives once again!

What strange adventures is Abobo getting himself into now?

Looks like one hell of a battle is in Abobo's future.

Upstairs, the game trading & selling tables start to fill up.
These were all completely covered by the time SC3 started.

Your official trading area pixelated banner.

Early in the day, the doors to SC3 open and people start to trickle in for 12 hours of nonstop gaming.

I was super excited to see a working Chiller arcade cabinet. It was in perfect shape and chock full o' retro gory glory.

Getting to play one of my all-time favorite classic arcade games, Quantum, is always a rare treat.
Re loved it too.

Another fantastic treat is getting to play Warlords. Such a fun 4-player game... I could play it for hours.

Always love seeing this collection of old tabletop games, all strung together and powered by a single source.

Abobo taking some damage and dishing some out on level 1.

More 'n more gamers start to fill in throughout the day.

Sinistar! Ok, this was the only disappointment at SC3 for me. I absolutely love this game, but something
happened to the internal components during transport and it wasn't working at all. I just wanted to hear him speak...
RUN COWARD! I HUNGER!

I also relished the opportunity to try out Sundance, a rare game from 1979 where you open up holes on a grid to catch suns.
Very cool concept I'm and glad I had a chance to play this vector classic.

Nintendo's R.O.B. isn't the only robot who enjoys video games. Robie Junior had fun at SC3.

Chatbot did too!

Obey Kool-Aid Man's rules or he'll destroy some walls in your home.

Wizwars rocks out with a live chiptunes performance. Check out his music if you get a chance... great stuff!

One of our many heated Warlords battles. That game is too addictive.

In addition to all the classic arcade cabinets, there's always a load of classic consoles
set up on old CRT screens for a truly authentic retro gaming experience.

SC3 filling up more and more.

ComputeHer doing a fantastic live chiptunes set with her Commodore piano keyboard overlay 'n all.
Be sure to check out her music as well if you're a fan of things that make your ears happy.

No quarters needed here... just hand-eye coordination.

Time to get my Light Cycle race on.

I was never a big fan of the N64 Mario Kart, but that's the nice thing about SC3... they have something for all tastes.

Dragon's Lair laser disc game animations being projected on a wall? Yeah, they had that too.

Abobo floats through the deadly skies with his balloons.

When it started getting darker, the animated laser light displays were turned on too.
Either that, or we were all being attacked by mutant red laser bees.

Dragon's Lair animations AND Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher" music video projected on a wall? Yes please.

YES.

Here I am showing some Abobo fans how to rock the newest level.

Our good pals Rob Welkner and Hailey Bright of Coin-Op TV stop by the Abobo's Big Adventure cabinet to strike a pose.

A well-deserved congrats go out to the one guy who managed to beat the
entire demo from start to finish that day without using any continues.

Abobo's Big Adventure makes you a badass like Re.

She wants YOU to play Abobo's Big Adventure when it comes out!

Last but not least, a kick ass live chiptunes performance by 8 Bit Weapon to conclude a fantastic day.

And that pretty much wraps it up for my pics of the March 2011 SC3 party. The new venue was a big success, and while I'll always miss the personal touch of the old backyard parties where we'd all pitch in and order a bunch of pizzas before playing games all night, it's hardly a bad trade-off when you consider we got to have more games, more time to play them and some awesome live chiptune performances. Can't wait for the next SC3 arcade party and I hope you enjoyed all the photos!

Also, be sure to check out our newly launched AbobosBigAdventure.com site for all the latest news on this upcoming game!

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