4K Vertical Overlay Community Contributions

[PapaShine]

Hey, glad you like the details @Dreamstate! pleased you’re keen to tweak it to your own liking! here’s a view with the full art, un-cropped from my version which you can download here:

Hey @HyperspaceMadness, thanks for the kind words! I think most of the cabs in shot in that sequence are multiple versions of the data east cabs that were out at the time, I recall there being a few others (maybe a Nintendo or two) in the background but they don’t get any real screen time, and I think when Duffy has his head bashed into the glass on a sly spy you can see the Karnov poster just as the glass cracks! he litterally gets everywhere.

[ArsInvictus]

R-Type 4K Vertical Overlay Update

Not sure exactly how many iterations on this game I’ve done, but as I’ve said before it’s a personal favorite so I’ve poured a lot into it.

This is the first version that attempts to recreate the original dedicated cabinet, which had a exceptionally novel, dark, even ominous appearance. The front panel was flat from the marquee down to the control panel and had a black bezel and plexi in front of the monitor that made it look almost like the screen was hovering in the inky darkness. This is probably just me, but I find it slightly reminiscent of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey

This overlay features some reflections on the glass, as it would be impossible to play on this cabinet in an arcade without having them present, and without them the overlay didn’t relay the proper impression of the glass. So, while we’ve collectively agreed not to include artificial reflections on our overlays, we felt this was a reasonable exception. Hopefully we’ve done a good job and the effect is appreciated. Open to constructive criticism as always!

Thanks again to @PapaShine for his 3d renders of the marquee frame/panels and the CPO with reflection. There’s a particularly nice touch on the CPO reflection in the glass, as it could only be done by doing a 3d render of the CP and then flipping it around so the reflection has the proper angle and perspective.

Here’s the overlay, out there now for both Retroarch and MAME:

vertical-overlays

[PapaShine]

Wow, this R-Type overlay just keeps getting better, final result looks amazing @ArsInvictus, really feels like the real deal!

[Dreamstate]

Decided to fill the bezel with more cab reflections. I think It works.

[ArsInvictus]

This looks good too @dreamstate! I didn’t include the screens because the fact they were static seemed odd to me, but that’s strictly a matter of personal taste. I like the coin doors there too

[Dreamstate]

Usually I would agree but when I reduced the game screen it seemed fitting to load it up with more reflections and there’s already the cpo being lit up by a mostly black game… so I went all out lol. Black bezels just don’t work unless there’s something there. I’m currently using some of MrRetrolusts generic black bezels with reflections on them for games without bezel art. I’m going to try using this bezel on several other cabs with horizontal screens like Gravitar, Crystal Castles, Black Widow, Space Duel etc.

[Thoggo]

BreakThru

RetroArch version

MAME version

As we’re adding more Data East games, I wanted to bring in one of my DE favorites from the 80s, BreakThru. This one features a CPO that I recreated from scratch and @PapaShine rendered. As far as I’ve been able to tell, the CPO had no labels and it came with stickers for the buttons, which I recreated here. Try not to think about the physics of why the car jumps the way it does, that’s part of its charm!

The MAME version includes my usual options (two screen sizes, curved/straight, light/dark), the RetroArch version includes both screen sizes but you’ll need to manually choose the larger one to use it.

[Thoggo]

I agree @Dreamstate, Mr. Retrolust’s reflection style is very cool! I would definitely like to bring in more of that kind of thing as we go forward, it’s mostly a question of how much is too much, especially for reflections that cover parts of the game itself (which may not be possible in RetroArch, not sure) – I personally like the reflections when they suggest a space but don’t necessarily show details, which is how he does them, as opposed to clear marquees, but your approach is nice also.

[Dreamstate]

I’ve faded out the parts that overlap the game screen to minimal levels on them and they work pretty well. The sharper and brighter you go with these the worse they look. Like photos slapped together. I could just as well turn the exposure way down and give them more blur but then that lovely reflection of the cpo wouldn’t match.

[benlogan]

Thoggo, fantastic work on BreakThru. Thanks for this gem.

[PapaShine]

Just thought I’d share this as we’re talking about reflections, it shows a close up of the R-Type CPO (obviusly!) and the fine details/light grazes etc in the smaller elements (buttons, bolts etc) that are go largely un-seen in the overlays, though each CPO is 8k for future profing (if you see this on desktop, mobile often lowers the image resolution), it all adds up to the final look

[Thoggo]

Joust 2

Retroarch version

MAME version

Our Williams Classics series continues to move forward! We’re planning to release overlays for every major Williams game, you’ve seen several of them here in the past weeks, and here’s another classic for you – Joust 2. Like most of our Williams games, this one features a beautiful CPO render by @PapaShine, and it also was improved by some nice marquee lighting techniques from @ArsInvictus.

The MAME version includes a larger screen size as well as curved/straight and light/dark modes, and the Retroarch version includes both sizes (you will need to manually choose the large version to use it).

[PapaShine]

I’ve never actually played this one, I can’t remember even seeing it over here, so I’ve been saving it to play with this overlay - Thanks @Thoggo, very nice work! the new CP art on the front blends in really well too

[Dreamstate]

Yeah me neither. The attract mode looks interesting. Gonna give it a play right now. I went for a brighter look on my version and added a few things here and there. Couldn’t wait to get this into the photo editor because it looks so good. I’m super excited for what’s coming!

[Thoggo]

We have admittedly tended to go on the darker side on a lot of these lately, I’m open to including a brighter standard version for MAME since mine typically include a dark version as well.

[ArsInvictus]

Robotron: 2084 4K Vertical Overlay

I am happy to bring you another entry in our Williams Classics series, Robotron: 2084. I followed the same look that I used in the Joust and Sinistar overlays here, and implemented the cab version that had the additional lighting under the marquee, which illuminated both the top of the bezel as well as the control panel.

This game is really amazing. The gameplay holds up incredibly well, and while the difficulty is as infuriatingly challenging as other games of this era, it remains tremendous fun to play.

The Robotron marquee was restored by me from a scan provided by @MrDo. I wasn’t happy with the existing restorations as all of them either seemed to have some kind of vertical compression in the image or exaggerated colors, so I felt it was necessary to do my own.

The 3D render of the control panel is of course by @papashine.

I have two versions available, one with the US bezel design and the other with the UK bezel. On MAME you can simply switch between them in the menu video options. Unfortunately, switching versions on Retroarch will require some configuration file editing. I’ve put config files out for both the UK and US versions and you will have to copy the version you want into the main robotron.cfg file by hand in order to switch.

Here is the US version, which is the default:

And the UK version, one nice thing about the UK version is it offers a larger screen:

The retroarch files can be found here: Retroarch

While the MAME file can be found here: robotron.zip

I hope you enjoy!

[benlogan]

Awesome, guys. One of my favorites. Eugene Jarvis games never get old. Super challenging. Looks fantastic.

[Dreamstate]

This Is a fun one to experiment with. It took me a while working on this to even realize that the light on the cpo was supposed to be from the marquee? I don’t know why but this one looked to me like all the light was from a phantom crt alone. The rest of the light from the marquee usually continues past the bright white reflective part from the crt all the way to the left and right sides. I’m pretty sure that’s what it is that looks different abut this one.

Anywho, amazing cab presentation and one of my favorite games. I had a friend who’s parents owned a corner store back in the day and they had a Robotron in the store. Needless to say we played It ALL the time.

[ArsInvictus]

Yes @dreamstate, it does have a bit different look to it than the Sinistar and Joust panel lighting. @PapaShine is pretty busy with work for the next couple weeks so it might take some time, but we can discuss making the lighting more similar to those on this one too and update it then. But this is a fairly small thing, overall I think the overlay looks great

[PapaShine]

Absolute classic, one of my favourites and so much more enjoyable with this overlay-playing it with the two joysticks on my cab feels just as frantic and fun as it did on the original!

@ArsInvictus if you want to tweak the lighting at all (and I think this looks awesome as it is), I think the 4k CPO PSD I sent you should have a mask on the darker layer that you can tweak and just paint out the mask to reveal more of the brighter lit render underneath, that should do it!