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Any Irem fans? I know there are a few of you.


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Well, had an interesting meeting yesterday at work....

 

Turns out a PhD candidate in one of my classes (early 50s, but back at grad school for the aim of starting his own business) was an employee at Irem during Japan's game heyday!

 

I mentioned that there is a growing home arcade scene in Aus., and also that Barcades seem to be making a comeback with the old-school games being the focus. He was pretty interested to hear about that.

 

I will be meeting up with him again in the coming weeks, and I have already expressed an eagerness to speak with any of the guys from Irem involved in any of the big titles, to which he seemed keen to help with (could be just Japanese politeness though).

 

Man, did my jaw hit the ground when he said "have you ever heard of Irem - that's where I was working". Very cool stuff. :)

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:006: me :)

 

Love Irem games and their unique graphic style particularity in their Arcade days.

 

No secret that R-Type is one of my favorite games of all times and I want to own every console port ever made.

Only arcade pcb im missing is LEO but haven't been collecting boards in a long while now.

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I thought you might be the first to post when creating this thread AK. :D

 

I am hoping that I might have a good connection in to at the very least get some promo material with this guy. I did mention that friends of mine back home (and me) are very interesting in obtaining a few of the early item from Irem even now. I could see the pride and surprise in him.

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Looking forward how much memorabilia he has! and maybe squeeze some stories out of him? exciting stuff!

Dragon Breed is another pcb I have and love...wonder if it still works?? wish I still had a jamma cab to try it on but sadly in my stupidity I sold them all and only have dedicated stuff :(

I remember my first R-type pcb cost a pretty penny the second I got cheap faulty and fixed it then sold to a member on here a few years back.

I have Image Fight which is rare, Spewing I didn't collect more Irem games when I had the chance :( Some of those M72 board sets you just never see for sale like X-Multiply.

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No problems I will ask and see what he says.

 

I am really hoping that there are some spare boards laying around - a guy can dream right... :D

 

Yeah must be a stash of Leo boards somewhere :D it was only released in Japan

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Hey mate, I have a question i'd like to ask him if possible. :)

 

It refers to the relationship between Irem and Broderbund a US company.

 

Irem converted some of their games for arcade & console such as Lode Runner.

 

How did this relationship come about? and when they did the conversions - did they use the original code or did they reconstruct it?

 

Thanks mate. :)

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Hey SPL, I have been contacted by Mr Staypuft regarding his writing of an article based on interviews from the guy I know, plus others if I can source them - he has had interest from Retro-Gamer already I hear.

 

I am hoping to line-up a visit to Irem, but I am not sure of how possible this will be yet. The guy I am in contact with seems pretty keen though, so if that all goes ahead then hopefully many questions will be answered.

 

StayPuft will be getting the questions together, so hopefully he's keeping a close eye on this thread. ;)

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Spoke with my contact yesterday, and he mentioned that he plans to put me in touch with person who was head of development on a few titles - not sure which titles yet. This guy still works there by the sounds of it.

 

It's all happening! The only thing is that holidays are coming up next week, so there is no chance of me getting to see anyone for a few weeks or so. Looking good though. :D

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Yes, as Hollo mentioned, there is potentially (no guarantee) some interest from RG mag in this subject. Depends on many factors, of course. Either way, I'd be sharing the information with the AA members in some form.

 

But let's not rush... better to take this one step at a time and find some good information, rather than just rush. It's so very, very hard to talk to the old Japanese arcade devs, so let's make the most of it.

 

Thanks again to Hollo for opening up this wonderful opportunity for the Aussie Arcade community. Great stuff. :cool:

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  • 4 weeks later...

Short update....

 

Got a chance to speak to the guy in more detail today (first time in a fair while) and things are looking damn good. :cool:

 

Turns out a person I will be introduced to soon was a lead project director working in Irem - latest titles being R-Type Final (PS2) and R-Type Tactics (PSP), and this particular guy has left Irem to start his own production house. This guy is looking for some coverage and after he was told there might be a chance of an article he is keen to meet me.

 

Also we got on to the topic of how some of the big names in Japanese production have left - Capcom guys ring bells here. Turns out he has had contact with many of the industry leaders - including big names behind titles like Street Fighter II. :o

 

Anyway, I should be seeing him next Friday (schedule permitting this is) so hopefully I can get some things moving - just a pity I have real work to do as well...

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Short update....

 

Got a chance to speak to the guy in more detail today (first time in a fair while) and things are looking damn good. :cool:

 

Turns out a person I will be introduced to soon was a lead project director working in Irem - latest titles being R-Type Final (PS2) and R-Type Tactics (PSP), and this particular guy has left Irem to start his own production house. This guy is looking for some coverage and after he was told there might be a chance of an article he is keen to meet me.

 

Also we got on to the topic of how some of the big names in Japanese production have left - Capcom guys ring bells here. Turns out he has had contact with many of the industry leaders - including big names behind titles like Street Fighter II. :o

 

Anyway, I should be seeing him next Friday (schedule permitting this is) so hopefully I can get some things moving - just a pity I have real work to do as well...

 

Sounds darn exciting. Looking forward to whatever eventuates.

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hollo,

would u be interesting in fielding some questions from some of the klov collectors too ?

if you would, i can ask the question on klov.

bet there would be a few guys that would love the chance to ask a few qs!

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I don't see why not Andy. I am going to have to get a bunch of questions together at some point anyway.

 

If all questions could be posted in the thread here it will help. I will then ask Staypuft to put them all together in one file as he will be the guy writing the thing up. Hopefully this isn't getting bigger than you can handle though StayPuft - this guy I will be introduced to means business. I'd like to have something to show them that you've done, so could you send me something you've had published in the past.

 

I am getting pretty excited about meeting this guy I have to say. Also some of the people in his software house have some interesting backgrounds too apparently.

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Question from AVIDGEEK, KLOV

 

QN: I'd like to know a bit more history about MOON PATROL, specially the stories of the design, initial details about the game that may or may not have made it, the relationship between IREM and Williams. Were there other arcade games at IREM during the 80s in prototype or early design stage that never make it to full production? If so, what were the titles.... were any rom images, artwork, produced for these games?

 

QN: Since he's in Japan... I would be curious if the IREM guy would happen to know anyone that worked at Data East (DECO) back during that same time frame of the early-mid 80s.

 

QN: Was IREM ever interested in producing any laser game titles during the short-lived window of laser arcade games (1983-84)?

Edited by andykmv
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Question from on zfcamaro KLOV:

 

Please let me know if there is any information on Spelunker, I have been trying to build one for 7 years but have found nothing but the PCB board. I played the game growing up in Maine, USA and have not seen it since. I'm curious if it was a Japan only release.

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Hollo,

I've emailed you my articles.

 

Re: 'I hope this doesn't get too big'...

 

My only concern is.... if people start posting lots of questions, they need to be aware that the interviewees may not have worked on game X or game Y....

(Just don't want anyone disappointed if they really wanted an answer - that you can't get for them.)

 

Oh, and Hollo, I'm guessing your time with these gentlemen will be limited, so we'll all have to be a bit disciplined in the total *number* of questions! :)

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Yep, my time will be limited initially, but hopefully I can make enough of an impression that there will be some continued contact. Haven't made it public as to who these guys exactly are that I am potentially meeting (except an email to Staypuft), but let's just say I'm damn excited and I'm even thinking about getting stuff signed in true fanboi style! :cool:

 

I agree that there will be focus needed for the questions, and as I am sure these guys are going to want to speak about their new ventures that began in April there should be some focus on that as well.

 

It's all happening! :D

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