Description of game:

Kicker is also known as Shao Lin’s Road. It’s a kung fu themed game that’s not a fighting style game that ended up being popular in the ’90s. Not really a big favorite of mine, but the cabinet is able to play some of my favorite PCB’s that I’ve had lying around with no cabinet to play them in. Judging from the marquee on the top, this cabinet originally was a Mappy. Wish it still was! This conversion was done cleanly and looks much better than many I’ve seen in the past.

How I got it:

Got a phone call one afternoon from a guy who had an arcade game in the basement of one of the office buildings he maintained here in town. He got my number from a local operator (great guys) and let me know I could come get it cheap. Got there and it was down a very long flight of stairs. It is a conversion of a Mappy cabinet, and very heavy. It was in great shape, and there was absolutely no burn-in on the monitor tube. Kicker wasn’t the greatest game in the world, but for the price I couldn’t pass it up. Turns out it is a Konami Classic harness game, which is shared by many other games.

Recent repairs:

Rewired the harness because the one that came in it was badly hacked up. I also made it so I could easily swap PCB’s to play other games in this cabinet with now setup time.

What it still needs:

Need to get a new set of ROMs for the Frogger PCB that I have installed in this cabinet. Currently it is a Video Hustler, which is a ROM change to the Frogger PCB. Why anyone would change such a great game for such a dumb pool game is beyond me. I need to add a power switch inside the coin door (see next section). Would love to repaint the game a get artwork for a better game than Kicker, but it’s in nice shape so I don’t think I’ll bother with it.

Games that this cabinet plays in my collection:

This cabinet has been wired with a classic Konami harness, which plays many games. I installed a new handmade harness with extra long wiring so I could easily swap the harness between five PCB’s loaded in the cabinet from the coin door. Also made a small rack from scrap wood in the front to hold the PCB’s upright without touching each other. I still have to wire in a power switch to the front so I can do this without unplugging the machine. The PCB’s that I have installed in this cabinet are (all vertical monitor games):

• KLOV Kicker Page
• KLOV Tutankham Page
• KLOV Time Pilot Page
• KLOV Super Cobra Page
• KLOV Amidar Page
• KLOV Video Hustler Page

Final Thoughts:

Not a bad cabinet, with great games in it. Finally got a good cab for my Tutankham PCB that I’ve wanted to play for years!

Personal High Scores:

Once again I spend more time working on games than playing them. Here are some of the pathetic scores I have:

• Tutankham – 47,800 -> Not yet through all levels
• Super Cobra – 9,570 -> Barely played it so far
• Time Pilot – 129,400 -> Not yet through all levels

Links:

Kicker
Super Cobra
Time Pilot
Tutankham
Amidar
Video Hustler

Screen Shots: