Sega's Best Seller Was Made To Be Thrown Away

The strange story of arcade test boards, games made to be thrown away without being played. Sega, Taito Konami and Namco all made arcade games with one thing in common, they were made purely to get around an obscure Japanese law. Probably the best known of these is Dottori Kun, which was supplied with every one of Sega successful line of JAMMA arcade cabinets in the 90s, making it their best seller.
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[@TrimeshSZ]

There is nothing mysterious about this - JAMMA had successfully lobbied to get "Coin operated entertainment machines" into a zero sales tax category, but the definition of "Coin operated video game machine" in the law required that it was actually capable of playing a game. It was perfectly legal to ship a cabinet with no game in it, but if you did that then it no longer met the legal requirements of being a game machine and instead only qualified for the (much more highly taxed) "General audio video equipment" category.

[@mkwong98]

This reminds me of the Japanese toys are packed with a throw away candy to avoid tax

[@Diwasho]

@@mkwong98 More specifically, this only applies to grocery stores and supermarkets where selling regular toys is a subject to heavy taxation but an exception is made for toys that come with food products. Naturally this loophole ended up being abused by toy makers like Bandai, the single piece of candy that they include with their "candy toys" is laughable while the toys themselves are often fairly large and impressive. The Pokémon Scale World toyline is a good example, the packaging doesn't even show or mention the candy at all.

[@johnsimon8457]

This is something that's on par with manufacturers skirting tariff rules: "it's not a plush toy, it's a pillow - totally different rules!"

[@medes5597]

I don't think there was any implication it was mysterious. Just interesting and not incredibly well known.

[@TrimeshSZ]

I don't think sales tax is exactly an "obscure law" - and the whole tone of the video is implying the reason for these things is somehow unclear when it absolutely isn't. The sales tax situation in Japan is also why the original PC engine CD was sold in two pieces, one being the (highly taxed as an AV component) CD player and the other the (low taxed as a computer component) interface unit. @@medes5597

[@Larry]

I'm quite surprised they went for original games and not just supply one of their much older games on a single chip Etc.

[@3rdalbum]

Yeah, I would have thought they'd use buggy recalled boards, or production overruns of actual games, but maybe that's too much work and risks cannibalising sales of older games. But... 'ELLO YOU!

[@donpalmera]

Because that would mean building a dedicated chip. They built something using off the shelf parts so they don't get into the situation where they have hundreds of cabs they can't ship because they can't produce the widget they need to ship it to customers.

[@heroinmom153]

​@@donpalmera That entirely makes sense, but I think Guru Larry meant use up old unsalable stock before creating new prints.

[@Wykesidefruitmachine]

Perhaps a better game would provide less incentive to quickly purchase another board.

[@donpalmera]

@@heroinmom153 If the board they ship with the cabs is for electrical safety approval you can't just whack any old PCB in there as you would be changing the finished product and would need to redo the approval process. Hence you have a simple board made out of the most generic parts you can get so you get it approved once and never need to do it again because there was some part that went out of stock and now the board needs respinning.

[@surrealchemist]

This reminds me. I used to have a Sega Master System. There was some really basic maze game built in if you hold down a button while starting the console. I wouldn’t be surprised that might be there for the same reason.

[@Wykesidefruitmachine]

Where you played as a snail!

[@brianhebert6152]

Snail Maze! Some later models had an Alex Kidd game or the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog built in.

[@merman1974]

That's interesting, I had heard of Dottori Kun but not the others. And it reminds me of the Snail Maze game embedded in the original Master System.

[@avegee24tv]

first thing i thought was snail maze

[@Xoferif]

It'd make a cool contest to see who can make the best game for the Dottori Kun hardware.

[@SeanOfEarth]

It's very similar hardware to a ZX Spectrum

[@csolisr]

​@@SeanOfEarthA JAMMA-compatible Speccy is its own brand of awesome retro tech if you ask me

[@MarkTheMorose]

At last: Cassette 50's time has come!

[@fuzzywzhe]

I doubt you'd be able to find many programmers interested in going back to the bad old days. In 1990, this was state of the art, and I'd jump to develop on it. Today, it's an antique, and I would never want to go back to those bad old days.

[@codahighland]

​@@fuzzywzheIn 1990 this was already crap.

[@UltimatePerfection]

I wonder if there are some game centers or arcades that have operational Dottori Kun games, basically installing the cabinet "as is".

[@fuzzywzhe]

The ROM is available. This game was a common game back in the 1970's in the early days of arcades

[@JosiahGould]

Just a thought about that law... Perhaps there was a scheme to pull the boards out of the cabinets to resell, and also resell the cabinets as working games. Or resell cabinets with broken boards. I can see reasons for a law like that but like you said it's very difficult to figure out the actual why behind some laws.

[@UltimatePerfection]

Possibly, but it may also been the case of the lawmakers wanting to make sure people were selling working cabinets, and what's the better way to ensure that cabinet is working than to require it to have a game inside purchaser can test with the courier being present and if it doesn't work, do an instant return?

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

It's also worth bearing in mind that a lot of the people owning and operating these businesses in the 80s and 90s on average probably weren't all that knowledgeable about the products they were purchasing, at least compared to now. There would have been a generational gap between the customers and the staff/owners so they may have had a harder time distinguishing between products, especially before the boards were standardised and you didn't need to worry about proprietary connectors and such. I'm imagining a middle aged guy who owns and runs the arcade as a side gig because they could see the industry booming and the low staffing requirements made it look like easy money that wouldn't conflict with his main line of work operating nightclubs whilst also securing a low cost piece of real estate in a good location that he can sit on for a bit and watch the value appreciate, netting him a tidy profit in case the new venture doesn't really pan out. Overly detailed explanation over, he's looking through a catalogue and thinks he's found a bargain, only to discover later that the cabinets he bought are empty and don't work with any of the games he has spare because they're made by other companies. Also, imagine if he was to get the cabinet all hooked up and it completely fries the new board due to a manufacturing defect. I'm sure that he could get a new cabinet but is the game covered by its manufacturer's warranty after pairing it with something other than the specified cabinet recommended by the manual and licensing agreement? The time getting this resolved is also time that the machine isn't earning money, so even a placeholder game is better than nothing.

[@mercster]

If I had to take a wild ass guess, there were two different categories of product for tax/distribution/something else purposes: hardware, and hardware/software packages. I have no idea though.

[@atomicskull6405]

@@casanovafunkenstein5090 IDK how arcades worked in Japan but in the US most arcades either had someone who could fix the PCBs on staff (usually the owner) or someone they would pay to do that work. That's why arcade PCBs always came with a schematic diagram when it stopped working they'd break out the soldering station and fix it. Being able to fix the games was pretty much a requirement to be in the arcade business. Especially since the PCBs tended to be poorly designed and operators would often have to make aftermarket mods to them to improve reliability. (power supply circuits were especially prone to this)

[@grimTales1]

I admit I immediately thought of Pac-Man, didn't realise Head On was released the previous year (1979)

[@CH32mix]

This is so cool, kinda reminds me of Rondo of Blood Peque: if you use the wrong expansion card on your pc engine and try to boot the cd game, it loads a very different version of the game, super basic not really much playable

[@Sharopolis]

Oh that's interesting, I didn't know that

[@Amia_the_Smol]

Amusingly enough, basically every rerelease of Rondo has some way of accessing Peke. DXC: Clear Boss Rush Normal between 11 and 15 minutes. Wii VC: Hold up, left, 1 and 2 while resetting via the Home menu Requiem: Enter the Konami Code on the main menu (substituting O and X for B and A, and Option for Start). TG16 Mini: Hold SELECT while loading Rondo.

[@johnsimon8457]

I knew about his, but I'd assumed it was just a rom chip on a board that an operator would pull and replace with the roms of an actual game ... NOT a whole functioning computer with CPU, RAM, ROM and video hardware. Cost of that, even in simplified form, is not insignificant.

[@SianaGearz]

I estimate around $10. A z80, some 74 series making up the board logic and video hardware, a single 2K RAM chip and ROM. Nothing compared to the rest of the machine. Just one joystick cost more.

[@johnvicente3148]

Y'know, in a way this reminds me of the Vectrex which has a built-in Asteroids clone called "Minestorm" that boots up if you turn it on without a cartridge. It even came its own overlay.

[@thebluedino]

I bought a copy of this years ago when I heard the store. Cool novelty for my JAMMA collection

[@DE-GEN-ART]

so thats why its called "the one meant to bee thrwn away" in Japanese on the astro mini. i always thought it was an odd inclusion, but noow it makes since, thank you

[@linkthehero8431]

Tank Battalion looks sneakily like a ZX Spectrum game.

[@baronthorsteinn]

The screen resolution is 224 × 256 so it wouldn't fit on a Spectrum screen even if it was programmed to display with the TV turned on its side. Not to worry, though - this is one of those games for which a fair few Russians made their own version while the Spectrum was in its late-1990s exile way out East, so as long as you can deal with the captions in Russian and pick an emulator with TR-DOS support (which is post of them), you'll get to see and play the evidence. Most of them are called "Battle City" or some variant of that.

[@linkthehero8431]

@@baronthorsteinn Side note: Seeing the phrase "Battle City" at the end reminded me of an arc in the original Yu-Gi-Oh (during which Yugi figured out how to beat Exodia by using a card that destroys the pieces before they can be drawn).

[@dustux]

You seem to be the only one other than me who uses the "Summer Solstice on the June Planet" music. Good choice!

[@jeremybowers3181]

Wow man! Thanks for shedding a light this piece of obscure history.....NEVER would have found out otherwise.

[@CrazyHomelessWeirdo]

I really come to enjoy your channel But I really come to enjoy your channel in your content. You are rapidly becoming my favorite retro video game channel

[@ValentinesEve1996]

Fun Fact: Dottori Kun is one of the 37 games that was included on the Sega Astro City Mini.

[@bretflash]

Yeah, that's in the video

[@maxinsano7376]

Who in the world would've thought that by clicking on this video would end up seeing Radiant Silvergun in a Blast City Cab. INSANO !!!

[@PawwzieKitty]

Surprised to see a photo of my actual local arcade The Bright Spot at 1:47! Interesting video!

[@bluetheta]

It probably a anti-gambling measure since some "center" were "casino in disguise" as game of chance were frowned upon; mainly the pachinko palaces (it a crude form of pinball but with no flippers). There used to be a travelling museum exhibit that came to Chicago and one of the displayed pachinko machine indicated its relationship to illegal gambling in Japan.

[@ryuuguu01]

I worked in the pachinko manufacturing industry in the early 90s and "anti-gambling" measures were just laws put in place to protect the profits of manufacturers and the yakuza. Everyone knew it was gambling but the electronics industry was (and probably still is) a very powerful lobby owning many diet members. The "anti-gambling" laws also forced all pachinko parlors ( which were generally owned by Koreans) to make a deal with the local yakuza to exchange the non-cash prizes for cash about 10m away at a buy-back kiosk run by the yakuza. The laws protected the manufacturers since it was illegal to use second-hand pachinko machines or swap the parts in a pachinko machine used in a pachinko parlor.

[@AndrewFowlerManchester]

I love arcade cub Bury. I'm amazed it got a mention. I recognised it right away. Cracking place over 2 levels in well with a visit.

[@mercster]

Heh... when I first loaded up the video and you said the year, looking at the graphics I was like "That can't be right, he must have said 1980." 😏 Also, my favorite arcade system is PLAYZASS. Thanks for the video.

[@mercster]

If I had to take a wild ass guess, there were two different categories of product for tax/distribution/something else purposes: hardware, and hardware/software packages. I have no idea though.

[@wardrich]

10:02 Man, assuming its the same Chris Covell that's churned out some pretty cool TG16 homebrew like HuZero and Tongueman's Logic - dude seems like an unstoppable legend haha

[@arcademaster1]

I have a few of these little boards. Never knew the history of them. Cool!

[@aloiivwizard]

What a weird story. Thanks for telling it!

[@galloe8933]

Not to go off topic for a video I’m currently watch, but I think my decades old question about why the big store where I grew up had an Altered Beast cabinet that stuttered “R Rise from your grave to s save my da daughter. I was 10 and never tried to figure it out, but it stuck with, the way it stuttered, however, as far as memory goes it didn’t run slow. Could have just been a really bad soda spill that screwed something up, I don’t know, and sure it doesn’t matter, but maybe it was hardware. There was a NES arcade machine at a restaurant that let you pick what game you wanted to play, so hearing that Sega also had cabinets that could also change games, maybe the machine I’m talking about was too slow to run Altered Beast? That was just a drone, this comment was made for me…

[@KKHell]

Might have just been the game being slightly glitched and getting past quality control.

[@daveloomis]

There was no game-running hardware inside the changeable cabinets, each game came with its own processor, so that was not likely to be the issue.

[@1988dgs]

I had the chance back in the 90’s got pick up a few boards and games cartridges from the local arcade when they upgraded to newer consoles. I have never stopped kicking myself for having the chance to have my own arcade level games but never saw myself being able to make a few games cabinets

[@troyh3628]

The Ti-99/4A had a version of this back in the early 80's called Car Wars.

[@adamcowood7553]

Those games are like RPG's compared to a Barcode Battler!

[@dacueba-games]

Never heard of "Dattoray Kon"...

[@donpalmera]

Well, the single Japanese page that you and probably everyone else used as their source says that the reason for shipping these boards with cabinets is because the cabinets had to be approved for sale, to be approved for sale the cabinet had to do something as shipped to be considered a finished product and hence they got a little board them that did just enough for the approval. That would have been a nice detail to put into the video instead the convoluted half explanation that was later walked back... But either way the single Japanese source doesn't actually state the laws or approvals needed so I would take that with a pinch of salt. It sounds nice but they might have also shipped these not to work around some weird legal thing but for the arcade ops to quickly verify the operation of the cabs on delivery before they jammed some random bootleg board in and blew it up.

[@donpalmera]

Replying to myself: Japanese wikipedia page for ヘッドオン has a section for ドットリ君 which actually links the law/act (basically product conformance for electrical goods, think CE or UKCA) that was apparently applicable at the time and it seems logical.

[@kins749]

If you could do better than the convoluted half explanation that was later walked back then why don't you make your own videos and stop criticizing others

[@CrazyHomelessWeirdo]

What i'd like to about you is I'm getting information about video game history. I've never even heard of before, and I'm pretty savvy. When it comes to video game history? And I didn't know they made throwaway games for arcade boards in Japan that's awesome.

[@hai1touch]

5:23 - It’s literally just a flashing rectangle that says “ouch” in mouse-drawn Japanese text LOL

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

I wonder if any game in this micro category were developed by an intern as some sort of basic programmer aptitude test.

[@kenwheeler3637]

Very cool info. I never knew about these.

[@SweetStevieAaron]

Recognised Arcade Club in Bury straight away 😂. Good video.

[@FatNorthernBigot]

I know it's the "old git" in me talking, here, but most 80's arcade games were sorely missing a nice, seated version (like the "Candy Cabinets" mentioned here). The thought of standing-up for hours-on-end fills me with dread, these days.

[@fattomandeibu]

The only sit down cab I can remember up here(Northumberland) was the original SF2. Felt like proper luxury, worth the extra 10 pence a go. It was massive, too. Must've had at least a 32" CRT in that thing, it was definitely the biggest screen I'd seen on anything until the late '90s, not counting projectors.

[@3rdalbum]

I guess the arcade owners were hoping each game would last a few minutes, tops; eat a few dollars of quarters and then you'd move on to something else. Sitting down just to get up again in a minute would be a waste.

[@ristopoho824]

Dang the playz ass cabinet looks futuristic i want one. Well i would want one if i had space for even basic furniture but you get the point..

[@Bobo-ox7fj]

Now I know where that bizarre Jak 3 minigame came from.

[@TRDiscordian]

Do you have any idea what those generic cabinets are worth? I know someone with a couple in the basement of their bowling alley, and I want to offer them a price for one. It has 2 spinners for Arkanoid and some buttons, but it's definitely not the original shell (not sure if the PCB is legit). When I tried to Google it, maybe I just don't know what to lookup, but I can't find anything about them. Are they virtually worthless if old and unmaintained? Anyways, great video, really appreciated it.

[@goranisacson2502]

I had no idea this ever existed, eithet the games or the law, but I am very amused to have learned all this.

[@jayceegenocide4402]

Looks like if Pac-Man was made in 1966

[@-Steven-]

There was a zx spectrum version of the this game given away on shakin stevens album if you brought it on cassette also, there was a Thompson Twins Adventure game given for free on a magazine, it came on one of those thin flimsy 7 inch records starring the group Thompson Twins obviously.

[@Headroom23]

@Sharopolis : Where could I find these games? I would love to have them.

[@michaelallen1432]

Im suprised they were that complex. Even the z80 board. If you asked me to make the simplest game, id be inclined to start with a microcontroller that had built in rom. Just bit bang a video signal and make tic tac toe or something.

[@Halbared]

The eternal Jaffa cake question.

[@mdrussellmash]

“Dottori Kun?” I think you mean “Minecart Mayhem.”

[@rrsidentfrickhoe]

The jak 3 daxter minigame!

[@sonicrashyugioh]

Oh yes.

[@MyPhobo]

8:15 Damn, that's one Assy cabinet!

[@goldenheartOh]

0:55 description of arcade cabinets reminded me of my idea to use an Arcade 1up cabinet as my next pc case. I find modern pc cases so boring. The fronts have no need for any drives, so its just flat. No character. I realized any box would do, & theres room at the bottom of arcade cabinets, so why not use one of those? Multi-purpose arcade machine. 😊 (Yes, I'd add some ventilation of course.)

[@syntaxerror9994]

Missed opportunity... Johnny's adventures in cabinet testing.

[@aaaaaaaaooooooo]

What's that game near the camera at 2:26 that has the snake-like dragon?

[@ChicagoMel23]

Now I know why the arcade cabinets in Animal Crossing look so strange.

[@ZerqTM]

the buy back program seams sensible just ship it with what ever you got in over supply if the sale sticks then fine you got rid of surplus inventory if you have to buy it back then fine you got a cabinet sale... win win... i dont see much of a point in actually making a crap game board specifically and not one at all for making unnessesary ones... and really they should have scrapped that law just to avoid the e-waste but i guess they did in the end... silly law

[@NamedKid10]

Wasnt this game called slot cars on the atari 2600? Or something similar..?

[@user-zo7zq2ul6x]

The schematics of one of these boards would be interesting.

[@MrMegaManFan]

I never knew about this game until they made the Astro City mini cab.

[@stevesrover]

Fascinating!

[@jamesbrice3267]

This explains one of Jak 3's mini-games.

[@3vi1J]

Most likely cabinets had to be sold with a working game in order to make it harder for pirates to enter the market by just churning out clone boards to go in empty cabinets. Apparently the cabinet-making divisions didn't care, so long as they made their profit on the cabinet.

[@jaysmith2858]

I played a fair bit of Dodge 'Em for the Atari 2600 back in the day.

[@christophermorin9036]

I swear, there was a racing game for Atari that was nearly identical to this.

[@reillywalker195]

You might be thinking of _Gran Trak 10_ or one of Atari's Sprint series games.

[@SandmanDP]

Anyone know what the game featured at 9:50 is?

[@Sharopolis]

It's A.B. Cop, released by Sega in 1990, which seemed appropriate

[@PlasticCogLiquid]

If you could trade voices with the Retro Recipe guy you'd be my favorite channel

[@sonicrashyugioh]

That is the base for Jak 3: Daxter mini game Eco Grid

[@TheNightquaker]

It's basically 1-2 Switch from the 90s, lol

[@PikaPhantomVG]

Why do you say that?

[@6581punk]

That's a bit like the Shakin Stevens game that was on one of his albums.

[@meetoo594]

I remember that one, it was on his `the bob wont stop` album and was for the zx spectrun only iirc. Its very very similar to the sega throw away one but only has 1 enemy (I think, it might have had none and killed you by hitting walls), 1 level and no dots to collect as well as the (badly) rendered face of old shakey himself. All you had to do was make it to his `ole house` in the middle to win, I beat it on my second try and never played it again.

[@TrimutiusToo]

Why it was repealed is fairly obvious... Japan back then started to try and reduce amount of stuff that goes into landfill, so they of course would repeal the law that increases it instead...

[@PokeNebula]

What’s the game at 9:01 ?

[@CrazyHomelessWeirdo]

Freaking love your channel You deserve more subscribers and a bigger audience.

[@holdingpattern245]

That Dottori Kun game seems like a copy of Taito's Space Chaser.

[@Halbared]

Loved G-Loc, never knew it was Sega.

[@cubeflinger]

Arcade club bury is my favourite place on earth.

[@errollleggo447]

Never seen this one. I have played the car one that is similar.

[@trublgrl]

Well, I made it through the whole video without ever understanding what the actual name of the game in question was. Great job, weird accent man.

[@Sharopolis]

It's Dottori Kun or ドットリ君. Unless you speak Japanese it's hard to say it correctly. Guilty as charged on the weird accent though.

[@tycoinreno]

3:36 Head on: Apply directly to forehead

[@triangleofdeath6246]

It reminds me of "Dodgem " (Atari , 1977) .

[@d0dg3st4r]

It's like the flappy birds of 1990

[@nigelwallen5802]

The Konami wack a mole game looks like the mini game in sunset riders.

[@robertgaines-tulsa]

Let me get this straight. There are arcade machines in Japan where you sit to play the game, but there are still squat toilets as well?

[@thecunninlynguist]

sneaky best seller

[@legendsflashback]

Interesting video

[@viscountalpha]

I missed out on buying one of these. I regretted it.

[@UltimatePerfection]

That's some good sales for a primitive Pac-Man clone.

[@aminakhan703]

9:49 whats this game

[@Sharopolis]

It's called AB Cop

[@kneel1]

Car Wars for TI994a was a knockoff of this but we loved it

[@fuzzywzhe]

You know, I'm pretty certain I've actually played this game. I must have played it on MAME.

[@AppliedCryogenics]

I'm speculating here, but that funny law seems like the work of corporate lobbyists.

[@TheGreatAtario]

I wonder why they even went that far. No one just bodged together Tic-Tac-Toe and called it a day?

[@aretnap3653]

Looks Like a Knock-Off of ATARI's "Dodge'Em"!🤔

[@Salnax]

The Z80 was in everything, wasn’t it?

[@reillywalker195]

The Z80 was in a lot of game consoles, arcade cabinets, and home computers, although many consoles and computers instead used the 6502 or a clone of it. Atari favoured the 6502 and its derivatives, as did Commodore. Nintendo used the Z80 in arcade cabinets but a Ricoh-developed 6502 clone in the NES and Famicom.

[@voltare2amstereo]

R/maliciouscompliance vibes

[@fargeeks]

Nah this is something compared to crazy bus and I don't mean it in a good way, as in crazy bus should fit this title

[@rudya.hernandez7238]

What was this game on Atari, it was my favorite... edit: found it, 'Dodge 'Em'

[@ninjazhu]

Its pacar from sega! Like on sega sc3000

[@AGwolf2097]

til what JAMMA actually is/means

[@ShinjiGetsGrounded]

gammers are spoiled these days. when I was a kid we would be forced to play these gams for hours on end and we didn't mind at all!

[@scottl.1568]

Whut

[@themeangene]

So for the first time in history government regulation actually did produce a useful product by complete accident lmfao