Factory dedicated original Mr. Do Run Run’s?

Posted September 4, 2009

That was the question posed in 2004 by a collector. He claimed to own a factory dedicated Mr. Do Run Run, up to that point everyone assumed that Run Run only came as a kit. Fast forward to today, and someone else is claiming they have a non conversion Mr. Do Run Run, and this time there are photos.

Universal’s CEO “SNK made dedicated Do! Run Run’s”

Both Mr. Do’s Wild Ride and Run Run were produced in a very limited number in factory original dedicated cabinets. This week I got to meet Jason S. (Shacklefurd – You know him as the guy who hauled two Computer Space’s out of a rather precarious barn last year) and we got to chatting a bit about these SNK cabinets.

I mentioned I had seen a thread on an alleged ‘factory original’ that popped up recently and he in turn pointed me back to an old thread that covered the subject in 2004. He had seen a dedicated Mr. Do! Run Run at the St. Louis auction, but didn’t bid thinking he may see one again. Five years later, here is the one that is claimed to be original;

Jason is passionate about research and arcade history like me, and there was a time when he was doing a lot of research about concerning Universal Games and tracked down the former Universal CEO. This is a snippet of one of the email responses;

Dear Jason,

I was the CEO at Universal USA from 1980 to 1983. The parent company, Universal Co., Ltd., no longer uses that name and is now known as Aruze Corp. It is still based…..

Recently, Aruze briefly purchased the assets and intellectual property rights of SNK Corp. However, Mr. Kawasaki of SNK managed to get the rights back and now operates under the name of Playmore Corp. in Japan. There is a U.S. office in California under the name SNK NEO GEO USA. By the way, I was also the president of SNK Corporation of America from 1986 to 1992.

I believe that Universal shut its Santa Clara office in the late eighties. I’m sure they sold off their game inventory to their distributors before closing. I suppose the only remaining Universal games…..

I question the authenticity

I think we both agree that the control panel in the photos isn’t original. Even the conversion kit has a Do Run Run overlay that has a purple / blue color palette (something like the photo below), so don’t for one minute try to pass off this ‘Fruit Stripe Gum‘ thing as authentic.

I question whether this is authentic or not, mostly because of that control panel, which could have been swapped, but also because of the instruction sticker placement. Granted the monitor probably needs to be mounted lower, but the extra space around the generic Universal bezel and then the sticker slapped on there? But Jason saw these photos and said that this looks just like the one he saw, only a different control panel. Peculiar.

Got any other Mr. Do Run Run! dedicated photos?

I’d like to see them / add them to this thread. If this cabinet is for real, it certainly leaves something to be desired. But then again, Universal games without illustration artwork were stupid simple.

I think that a full size 3D set of artwork in that blue and purple palette would look awesome, a little bit of a nod to Major Havoc. If I owned this cabinet, I would definitely add custom artwork, would you? Would a full purple cabinet be too much?

Update 9.5.09 I would appear as though the control panel used on this Mr. Do Run Run! is the same one used on the Marvin’s Maze conversion on KLOV. Until I hear differently, I am going to assume that the Marvin’s Maze was either bought as a complete conversion, or there was a rare conversion kit used.

Also…found a photo of an SNK cabinet that looks a lot like the Mr. Do Run Run! cabinet above, same front angle slant, same back angle, and same looking coin door – It was Vanguard II, check out the flyer;

Image via Arcadeflyers.com

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Classic Arcade Games, Mr. Do Run Run

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Comments

Rikitiki
September 5, 2009

my first clue on the bottom photo is it has a midway coin door
interresting read, I knew there was someone out there that must like the Dos
and we found him right here at the Rotheblog

rotheblog
September 5, 2009

The bottom photo is only there to show was the conversion kit control panel overlay artwork looked like for a Mr. Do Run Run kit….

rotheblog
September 5, 2009

Stephen B. has been an operator quite some time, and this is the comment he left on the sychronous feed post on Facebook;

That cabinet looks like a Mad Crasher or even a Marvin's Maze. A lot people do not realize that USA Universal office was made up of 3 people. The CEO, a secretary and the Shipping/receiving/warehouse guy. That's it!

I've been in the game biz for 26 years now and know for a fact that DRR (Do Run Run) was never produced in a dedicated game here in the States. Kits only.

The cabinet pictured is nothing short of a Craptacular conversion. Do, Do's Castle, Wild Ride and Run Run were all conversions kits here in the states. That's the marketing edge Universal USA had…..sell kits and use existing cabinets.

Some Jap dedicated Do's were imported here.

I absolutely believe Stephen and trust his insight. His comments don't disprove the original comments made about SNK producing dedicated Mr. Do Run Run cabinets. This one above is probably a conversion, but there is a possibility that SNK made a couple and there were imported here to the states. Both of the games he mentions, Marvin's Maze and Mad Crasher are SNK games as well….I just can't find any photos of them right now.

But the control panel used on this Mr. Do! Run Run is the same one used on the Marvin's Maze on KLOV, which the owns William S. points out on VAPS is a conversion, not factory original.

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