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Astron Belt Astron Belt - Japanese Logo - Katakana / Kanji

Astron Belt - Cabinet - Video Game Marquee

Description

Interactive laser disc space battle game with computer generated overlaid graphics. Control a space craft to defend against attacking enemy waves then destroy the enemy command ship. Huge explosions. Video from a Toei Film.

Astron Belt was produced by Sega in 1983.

Sega released 593 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1960. Sega was based in United States.

Other machines made by Sega during the time period Astron Belt was produced include: Character Cabinets, Oh Shou Serizawa 8dan no Tsume-Shougi, Zoom 909, Zektor, Tac/Scan, Champion Baseball, Champion Baseball 2, Champion Boxing, Commando (Sega), and Congo Bongo

Specs

Name Astron Belt
Developer Sega (United States)
Year 1983
Type Videogame
KLOV/MOG # 6951
Class Wide Release
Genre Shooter
Monitor
Conversion Class unique
External Device LDP - Pioneer LDV-1001
# Simultaneous Players 1
# Maximum Players 1
Game Play Single
Control Panel Layout Single Player
Controls
  • Joystick: 8-way with button - Fire
Sound Amplified Stereo (two channel)
Cabinet Styles
  • Upright/Standard

Game Introduction

The upright is approximately 75 inches tall. The sides of the cabinet are fully covered by a picture of a large space ship flying through a rocky canyon. The single-trigger joystick control panel has interesting futuristic designs on it.

The sit-down version has a vibraseat and uses illuminated buttons on the control panel. This machine uses a 25" monitor along with the LDV1001 laser disc player and logic boards.

Game Play

Move your fighter craft around the screen to avoid enemy fire, colliding with the enemy fighters, mines, and other objects. Basically shoot anything that moves.

The game is divided into different waves. At the end of a wave there is a command ship which must be destroyed. Some waves required the player to maneuver their fighter through a trench while trying to destroy enemy fighters. With each successive wave the enemy fighters became more aggressive and accurate with their shots.

The first 60 seconds of game play are penalty free, meaning that your fighter can be repeatedly destroyed without the game ending. After 60 seconds, if the player is destroyed, the game is over unless an extra ship was earned.

The enemy fighters are all laser disc generated along with the backgrounds, except for the mines. Enemy fighters shots are computer generated and come from the fighters as they move around the screen. This results in a greater interactivity with the laser disc video and makes the game play seem less linear.

Astron Belt KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 2.83 (2 votes)

Fun Factor: 1.75

Overall Like 2.00
Fun (Social) 0.00
Fun (Solo) 2.00
Collector Desire 1.00

Technical Rating: 3.00

Gameplay 2.50
Graphics 3.50
Originality 3.00
Sound/Music 3.00

Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, Like carries a little more weight than the other factors.

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Images

Trivia

Some of the video came from a 1979 Toei SciFi space film, while some came from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and the 1980 film "Battle Beyond the Stars." The rest was made specially for the game.

Miscellaneous

The game was made by Sega and licensed to Bally Midway for manufacture and sale in the U.S.A. The game displays Bally Midway presents, copyright by Sega.

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Astron Belt Census

There are 15,218 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,647 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 166,597 machines (6,982 unique titles).

Common - There are 46 known instances of this machine owned by Astron Belt collectors who are active members. Of these, 39 of them are original dedicated machines. 7 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 5 active VAPS members with a Astron Belt machines for sale. There is one active VAPS member with an extra Astron Belt circuit board for sale.

Wanted - There is one active VAPS member currently looking for Astron Belt.

This game ranks a 13 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 2 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are not necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Flyers

Technical

Astron Belt can be converted to either Star Blazer or Galaxy Ranger by swapping the game ROMs from another game using the same board model. For example, the LDV1001 version of Star Blazer ROMs can be used in the LDV1001 version of Astron Belt and the corresponding disc would also be required.

There were two versions of the Astron Belt laser disc. One was a Pioneer pressed single sided (metal backed) disc, LD No. A55, used in the LDV1001 version of the game (game PCB board model 834-5194-06, 834-5174-03, rev "P"). The other disc a Sega labeled disc with the Sega part number 200-5019, used in the Hitachi VIP9500SG version (game PCB model 834-5270 rev "A" to "C"). Both disc versions had the same information and could be used in place of each other.

Monitors used in the game were Wells Gardner, Electrohome and Nanao. The Nanao monitors were only used in the Japanese made sit-down and upright games.

Manuals

Foto-Finder® (Books)

  1. The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 161; Color photo Price guide: No

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

  1. Enthusiast Page: Astron Belt (Dragon's Lair Project) (http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/ab.asp)

eBay Listings

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