John's Arcade Forum - Classic Arcade and Pinball Collecting and Restoring Discussion Forum - RETRO MAME - Nintendo Vs Forum

Hi guys,

Curious what your thoughts are on Nintendo Playchoice 10. Particularly for those who were around in the late 80s when they were new. I always felt like, "Why the fuck would I play this when I have Nintendo at home? I come to the arcade to play cool games that I can't at home."

Who did this appeal to? Poor kids who didn't have Nintendos?

Please someone enlighten me.

It allowed you to try games before you bought them, kind of a marketing ploy by Nintendo.

I remember my local Denny's restaurant having one of these when they first came out. back then it was kind of cool to play on it because
1. my family ate there all the time
2. it was set up for long playtime and
3. I had the Sega Master System at home, not an NES so it gave me an opportunity to try games like Super Mario Bros 3.

These days, I think you really need to have nostalgia for the PC10 because, in a home arcade setting, they just don't hold up as well as other Nintendo made arcade games, as it's really just a NES in a box.
Most Nintendo guys have a good sized selection of real NES games, and it's probably better to play them from the couch.

All the same, if you love the PC10, then you love it, and while it won't likely find a home in my arcade I certainly wouldn't turn one down, and they need to be preserved for future generations

That's interesting a Denny's had a Nintendo Playchoice 10.

I can see how that would be cool. I guess now that you mention it, the other reason it didn't appeal to me at the time, was that there were time restraints. It was probably the only arcade game I remember that you put a quarter in, and have only a certain amount of time, regardless of whether you accomplish your objectives. (Sans racing games, but even those, if you hit your goals you get more time.)

Anyone else have any experiences with Playchoice 10? That's cool that at least one person has fond memories of it.

Were converting our PC-10 to a PC-40

I had a nice dedicated single monitor PC-10. It was pretty boring. The Nintendo Vs. stuff is far more interesting and the games are not 100% ports of the NES games.

I actually would love to play a Nintendo Red Tent. I was watching some of your old vids and it seems that was one of the first things you put in your basement. Then the other vid where your friends were playing 1 on 1 tennis was cool. I'd like to see a 2 on 2 game. You'd probably need bench seats on either side. It looks like close quarters. I'd love to see more videos of those Nintendo VS either way.

I wouldn't mind having a playchoice single or countertop. With the NES adapter boards it would make it interesting but it would be one of the first things to go when I run out of room.

I agree. That is one of the systems I am looking for as well.

How did you do that? I would love to see pix on the wireing and a how to would be a good read or watch.

Yeah the PC 10 is great with the NES adapter.

It looks a hell of a lot better then plugging a NES in a HD TV.

But back in the day I thought they stupid. I had a NES.

But I did love playing vs Castlevania at the video store during study hall.

My school didn't care if you left the audio l school if you didn't have classes.

I'd say out here Southern California, Orange County to be more exact, you didn't see any of these PC-10 units or Red Tents...

I can only recalling seen the Red Tents at Disneyland... and vaguely the PC-10 at Golfland... short lived...

the Nintendo of choice in OC was those large corner group grey vs. units... like this... they were common in the larger arcades...

hardware wise I imagine they are all the same in slightly different wrappers right?

(http://davesgameroom.com/Images/Nintendo_VS.jpg)

We purchased vector labs pc10 switching kit. 4 pcb' and will install 40 carts. I have the pcb holder built and all the parts are there, just need time and the room to assemble everything. I'll shoot a video of the cab and it running when we're done.     

Looking forward to seeing this. Keep us posted.

alright i'm glad you asked this and made a post.

in 2014 there is a special place for the Nintendo Arcade Cabinets

i love it and it was executed so well.

yes, i agree it was weird! i got to play them as a kid and the memory that sticks out to me was at Chuck E Cheese. they had one and it was such a novelty to play super mario bros, at the time it was an instant classic but you didn't pick it up and play it 'cause you were always on the hunt for the newer, bigger, better games. especially in the arcade. but i can say that it was cool to play it with an arcade stick instead of the controller, and the one there was the dual screen which was a novelty that was just so cool. plus being able to play new NES games made it so worth it just to try. i was lucky to have a healthy NES library but realistically it was only a fraction of the entire collection of games.

think of it like pacman. pacman appealed to everybody. so did nintendo. parents understood nintendo just as well as kids so it was mass appeal. enough to warrant that 25 cents coin drop and that's what arcade operators cared about!

peace!

I have a dual.  Thought it was kinda stupid in the 80s but now it's a good multigame machine.  I don't have to keep turning it off to change a single cart over and over

The pc10 can be awesome and not so awesome. In my arcade, it is played very often. There are some good titles, like excitebike, and there are some where the graphics just 'look' bad. Super Mario is a blast to play on a full size arcade and I like being able to switch through 10 different titles without having to swap carts. It is not a Tron, DK or a Pac but it certainly is unique and worthy of a place in the home arcade. It is somewhat strange to see in in public arcades like Logan's Hardware (see johns episode of the tour, awesome place!) but I like mine and it will be there for a while. That is, unless I need room for an EDOT.