Aliens (Konami - 1990)
This is an update to add a control panel version for Aliens. The CPO art is impossible to find but I did dig up an old, low resolution photo of a NOS copy of this that I upscaled and applied some effects to enhance it as well as I could. I think it came out passably well. The stickers are recreated from photos, and reflect what was included with the original game.
Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara (Capcom - 1996)
We already have a non-cpo set of overlays available on the web site that @thoggo put together early last year but I wanted to create a set with control panels. I recreated the cpo decal stickers in vector format and was able to find a low resolution shot of the dedicated control panel art Capcom produced for this title (and I think for Tower of Doom as well). I upscaled and cleaned that up and it came out very nice for the overlay.
Thoggo will be merging these into his original set for publication on the site, but I wanted to share these out here for now.
RetroArch - Shadow over Mystara
I created a Dynamo cabinet version with the large marquee, as well as a standard cabinet format with the smaller marquee but instruction strips:
Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
I was able to recreate the yellow instruction cards on the control panel for this one and have posted those to the mameworld forums for anyone who wants them for their own project.
There was a large format marquee released for this game too, but I’ve been unable to track down a copy, so there’s just one version for this overlay with the standard marquee format.
Love the Dungeon’s and Dragons! I was hoping Tower of Doom was next!!!
I was wondering are these guys on your list?
It’s funny I never played Choplifter in the arcade but got it as my first game with the Sega Master system. The funny thing about Choplifter was it started as a Apple II game, but the arcade version looks Sooo much better.
@briball is already working on Tempest, and it’s funny you asked for it as @NeoKarnage just requested that one the other day 
Choplifter, all the art is available and I can work on that soon.
Arkanoid also has the art available but would be a bit more work due to the spinner, which I don’t have a model of from @papashine, so would have to come from a photo or I’d have to create something myself.
Yeah just finishing off the button switching and a few tweeks to the marquee and then tempest should be posted soon, also galaxian is on my plate and ready to serve.
Here’s an odd one that has been the subject of controversy, intrigue and lots of chatter over the past couple of years… and one of the more complex overlay undertakings I’ve done, not to mention one of the weirdest to actually use. It was only brought to MAME in 2019, and as far as I know this is the first time anyone has given it the vertical overlay treatment.
I give you…
Akka Arrh (Atari – 1982)
If you haven’t been following the story: Akka Arrh is an unreleased Atari prototype from 1982, which combines Missile Command-like gameplay with a novel two-view playfield. It was designed by Atari’s Mike Hally and Dave Ralston, and the title “Akka Arrh” is supposedly an acronym of sorts for “Also Known As Another Ralston Hally production.” (It was variously known as Sentinel and Target Outpost in testing, which were perhaps better names.) Like many Atari prototypes, it was tested and didn’t perform well enough to merit release, and the few existing cabinets (reportedly between 2 and 4 machines exist) found their way into the hands of various collectors, who have jealously guarded the game for years.
It was there that it sat, until it mysteriously appeared as a MAME ROM file in 2019, accompanied by a bizarre story (link to Ars Technica article): that a rogue technician had hijacked the ROM code from one of the collectors’ machines without permission and released it to the world. Many question the veracity of the claim, and instead suspect it was either a cover story for one of the collectors decision to release the ROMs, or perhaps the work of a hacker pilfering dumped ROMs that were stored. At any rate, Akka Arrh is now playable on MAME, and both the story and the cabinet art were just too good for us not to recreate it to play in its original glory.
The cabinet, shown here titled Sentinel and featuring prototype side art, looks amazing, and that doesn’t even show it’s most unusual feature: the game’s bezel is embedded with blinking lights, which are fully emulated in MAME. Naturally, we had to recreate them! Peep this short video of our overlay to see it in all its blinky glory: https://vimeo.com/505065262/331a03a096
Images of this cabinet are scarce and generally not great quality, and high-quality scans are non-existent, but we were able to find good images of the bezel that @ArsInvictus and I were able to work with, and I recreated the marquee and CPO from scratch based on grainy photos. The appearance and placement of the lights is based primarily on one fleeing video snippet from 2012. All of which is to say that this overlay is an interpretation, not a literal representation of the original artwork, but we got it as close as we could. I consider this a bit of a beta release – I will update this overlay if we find better information about any aspects of its presentation, though I think it’s pretty darn close.
Akka Arrh is actually a pretty cool game, though you can sort of see why it was deemed too complicated for early 80s audiences. You, an agent of the peace-bringing Atarian Foundation (I’m guessing the developers wrote this), are charged with protecting against an incursion of the forces of the evil Jorzon, using an ancient cannon known as Akka Arrh to hold them at bay. The cannon in question sits in the center of a multi-segmented playfield, as aliens move in from the corners of the screen – however, in the primary view you don’t have to target them directly, but rather shoot the sector they are in, which will destroy any aliens in that area. However, if any reach the center area near your cannon, you must zoom in to a different view which is much more chaotic and requires more careful aim. It uses a trackball and three buttons, which also added to its complexity.
The MAME version includes the aforementioned blinky bezel lights, as well as a non-blinky version (please note – I don’t know if this is an issue, but while I tried to keep the lights as non-annoying as possible, they are still pretty blinky, in case that causes any issues with anyone who might be sensitive to flashing lights). The RetroArch version contains only the non-blinky version. Please let me know if you run into any issues, as this is somewhat experimental – but I encourage you to give it a shot, as it’s a weird and rare piece of arcade history that was almost mythical until very recently. Enjoy!
I have to say you absolutely knocked this one out of the park @thoggo! Considering the quality of the source materials, it came out beautifully and the blinky light effects are spot on!
Violent Storm (Konami - 1993)
I was inspired to put this overlay together by the recent addition of this game to the Galloping Ghost arcade floor by Doc Mack. It’s not a title I was familiar with, and while it’s an obscure game now, it seems to be generally recognized as one of the best beat 'em up’s ever released and possibly the best in the genre to be published by Konami. There’s an excellent write up on the game here: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/violent-storm/
I restored the marquee as supplied by @mrdo, but also recreated the CPO from a copy of the flyer. The CPO stickers were recreated in vector format from a photo I found. And finally the instruction strip is from a photo that I upscaled and corrected some warping.
Definitely give this game a shot if you haven’t already.
OK so here by request and one of my favorites
Tempest (Atari 1981)
Mame version has the 1P/2P select buttons lights working. And you’ll need to find a good vector shader for Retroarch.
And well you can’t go into an arcade without hearing this and putting in at least one coin.i might be wrong but the first colour game. And the marquee was handpainted, or so i read on the internets 
Galaxian (1979 Midway)
also any feedback or request to overlays always welcome. PM me.
Both overlays look amazing. I especially like the control panel reflection on Tempest. Great work. I look forward to every new release.
Wow, that Tempest is really awesome, I really like the cp reflection as well!
Now I need a good vector shader. I had something sort of ok with the Mega Bezel, but I need to do some work to get something really nice. One of the things I want to get is how the lines and intersection points are brighter.
Choplifter (Sega - 1985)
This was a request from @HyperspaceMadness. I know I played the HELL out of this game on the Apple II a friend of mine had, but I don’t think I ever played it at the arcade back in the day. I’d always thought of it as a home computer game. But, I still remember how thrilling it was to play this thing with those green monochrome graphics and tinny sounds, I guess my imagination filled the rest in back then.
Anyway, all artwork here supplied from @MrDo. I vectorized the CPO and have posted it to MameWorld for anyone interested in using it for their own projects.
This looks really great! 
The cp adds such a nice element to this!
In the arcade version of this game the parallax effect is really nice for the time period, although Google also tells me Space Harrier was from 1985 sooo 
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Arkanoid (Taito - 1986)
Another request from @hyperspacemadness here. This was actually the first game I owned when I got an Amiga 500 back in the 80’s and I played it quite a lot but it’s so difficult I can’t say I ever got very far in it. Lots of nostalgia for this one though! I’m happy I found a really nice high res photo of the original Arkanoid spinner at an appropriate angle for the CPO and I think it came out really well here.
Another great looking overlay. Are the assets available for Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh as well?
Yeah I agree, it turned out really nice, the spinner looks great! And the marquee is has a nice warm Glow to it.
I played this one a lot in the arcade good memories
Partial art is available, but it’s a mixed bag generally. There is a badly chopped off marquee and the only bezels available are recreations. @MrRetroLust did a great job with that for his own overlay and I’ve reached out to him for a copy. The CPO isn’t available, but someone on the Museum of the Game forums had a copy a while back and I will see if they still have it. Otherwise I could probably recreate it by hand fairly well in vectors.
In any event, this is one that will take a fair amount of time to put together, but I’ll keep it in my queue.
Glad you like it @HyperspaceMadness! Yeah that warm light effect works great on light colored marquees like this one, it’s a technique that @briball introduced me to recently and it’s quite nice!
