Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder (Sega - 1992)
Updated this overlay for packaging, latest aesthetics and control panel. Sources for this include @mrdo as well as various photographs used for the marquee and to recreate the control panel labels.
Golden Axe (Sega - 1989)
Added a control panel view to the options available, including large screen and coin door.
Gemini Wing (Tecmo - 1987)
This is a CPO update to one of my personal favorites, in part because I spent a full weekend restoring this bezel and marquee. I also thought it was cool to see the bezel used by Josh of guscade.com in a recreation of this arcade cabinet, he’d been waiting 10 years for the restoration of this artwork (and now you can buy the real thing from him if you want):
Both CPO and coin door versions are in the packages:
Happy New Year gang! To welcome 2021 and help us pretend 2020 never existed (except for all these wonderful overlays), I’ve just launched a Vertical Arcade YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3csKwFr4hxRMHxoeSPQ68g
It’s primarily going to exist as a way of showing off the vertical overlays by our team, but will also include feature videos (the lead video right now is an explainer about what the hell a “MAME cabinet” is, for all your friends and relatives that don’t understand your obsession), tutorials, product reviews and lots more content. I will admit that a lot of it so far is aimed at introducing people to the hobby rather than at people who already know it well, but there will be plenty for everyone soon. Please check it out and subscribe, and let me know if there are particular things you’d like to see us cover.
Thoughtful storytelling. Great video, Thoggo. Beautifully produced.
Halley’s Comet (Taito - 1986)
This is an update to this overlay for proper packaging, as well as a new CPO view and updates to the coin door lighting effects.
I recreated the control panel design and sticker decals in vectors based on some reference photos. It’s not 100% accurate but works well enough for the overlay, I’ve uploaded those to the MameWorld art forums. I also updated the marquee lighting for both with the latest effects. The CPO view is most accurate to how the original cabinet looked, while the coin door uses a custom bezel I designed based on the original side art.
This is a pretty fun shooter, it was designed by the creator of Bubble Bobble. It isn’t that well known now but in 1986 it was the second most popular game in Japan and eighth most popular in NA. I only discovered it when I stumbled on an original marquee on eBay, which I picked up and restored for this overlay. The game had a unique gameplay mechanic where the enemies you don’t destroy gradually damage the planet and the game is over when the planet gets to 100% damage, even if your own ship is fine.
“Defend the Earth from comets!”
@ArsInvictus Halley’s Comet retroarch link goes to a whole collection “retroarch.zip” 1.3GB 
just so you know…
Thanks DK
whoops! Sorry about that, should be fixed now. Thanks for the heads up!
Dig Dug 2 (Namco – 1985)
I had fun with this one. Dig Dug 2 was only released in Japan, and isn’t as well-known as the original – it mixes up the formula in interesting ways, but it was more complicated and not nearly as popular. The game is playable on MAME, but there really is no actual cabinet art out there – so I decided to design a completely original overlay for the game, inspired by some of the few materials that do exist around the game, and using the same basic layout as the original Atari Dig Dug bezel and CPO but adapted to the sequel (I even wrote instructions).
I included versions for two screen sizes in MAME (the RetroArch version has just the large size).
I also created three marquee styles for the game – a default “daytime” version (seen above) that best matches the overall color scheme, a “sunset” version (lower left) that’s a bit more tropical-looking, and a “realistic” marquee (lower right) that uses some cool art from a Namco flyer. (You’ll need to rename the overlay file to use one of the other marquee styles in RA.)
If you haven’t tried Dug Dug 2, give it a shot! The key difference is that you’re running around on a series of islands, and in addition to a pump, you have a drill/jackhammer you can use to cause parts of the island to fall into the sea (and take monsters with it). The additional mechanic of knocking off pieces of the islands adds another layer of tactical depth, though it takes some practice to get used to the difference.
Splat! (Williams – 1982)
Another weird Williams game that has been on our list for a while, Splat! is similar in many ways to Atari’s Food Fight, albeit as a two-player, two-joystick setup akin to Robotron: 2084. Where Food Fight goes cute, however, Splat! goes a bit dark — being hit by flying food causes your head to pop off and roll around the playfield, requiring you to retrieve it to continue fighting (how you find your head without a head is never really revealed). Another odd aspect is the game’s “Nerd Hunt” levels, which have you pelting hapless dorks with food (as a lot of the people hanging out in arcades in the 80s were nerds, myself included, it’s not clear who exactly this game was aimed at).
Splat! was never widely released, so you may have missed it in arcades, but it’s actually a pretty fun game – it has a faster pace than Food Fight and its controls are much easier to use on MAME, so if you’re in the mood to make a mess (and you have enough joysticks), download away.
Paperboy (1984) (ATARI)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Jke1pFcYZfOCJFr4DgYkVNpm9g7Px9C/view?usp=sharing
I love that design, really fits with the look of the original Dig Dug.
Stratovox (Taito - 1980)
I only found out about this game yesterday when jibmums on the MameWorld forum posted a restoration of the marquee seen here. I fell in love with the art for this game and couldn’t resist creating an overlay. The CPO is something I recreated in vector format from photographs found online.
Apparently this is the first game to feature emulated voices and I have to say it’s barely discernible as to what they are saying. The gameplay is very simple and is a variant on the space invaders/galaga style of space shooter, and frustratingly difficult to play. So, I think this game is largely most interesting from a historical perspective and as an amazing example of classic arcade art design, but not so great as a game itself. Still, give it a shot and see if you like it.
I created both CPO and coin door variations.
Thanks @John.Merrit, I’m glad you like it! I’m a big fan of your work so that means a lot. I hope it inspires a few people to enjoy the game who might have overlooked it, as I think having realistic art (even if it’s non-canon) makes the games feel a lot more real.
Man you said it! Thanks for bringing some light to another game I didn’t even know existed! 
@thoggo those dig dug 2 graphics are awesome
Would you consider uploading that bezel, sometime ?
Would love to, with your permission, to use it on one of my own presets.
Subscribe!
Great to see all these overlays in action.
Snacks’n Jaxson (1984)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v4stsibSnG_kIx3bxcUeO55BT3Ud8BD-/view?usp=sharing
Varth (Capcom - 1992)
Ladies and gentleman, I present to you the overlay for Varth: Operation Thunderstorm. The only artwork available for this title when I began work on it many months ago was the marquee. I restored that marquee scan as provided by @mrdo. I was able to find a NOS copy of the CPO on ebay, purchased that and scanned and restored it. The CPO stickers were something I recreated in vector format from photographs I found online. And finally I tracked the bezel down in the Museum of the Game forums, where Jon Exidy (owner of the 1Up arcades in Denver) mentioned that he had a copy in storage. Jon was willing to sell that to me and I just received it, scanned and restored it this week.
So… hopefully there are some Varth fans out there! But either way, I’m happy I was able to restore and make this artwork available for the community for future projects or arcade cabinet recreations 
