Front Line

Manufactured by Taito (c)1982

Front Line is a game I remember playing almost every time I visited the Family Fun Center in Upland, CA.  That was the only place I ever remember seeing the game in the wild and I rarely pumped more than a couple quarters in to it,  but for some odd reason,  along with a few other games (like Carnival,  for example) I just HAD to play a game or two every time I saw it.  Over the years I played it in the wild I don't think I EVER made it to the end of even level 1.  The game seemed so damn hard when I was a kid,  yet it still drew me in and took my quarter(s).

 I decided to pick up Front Line for a number of reasons.  First off,  it came up for sale in San Diego and I just happened to be driving to California to help my brother move back to Victorville,  and at the same time to drop my wife and son off at my in-laws house in Santee which is in Eastern San Diego county.  Second,  the game wa quite reasonably priced.  Third,  it is a game that can't be played in MAME properly being it uses a unique 8-way spinner button to "aim".  And finally,  it's a game from my childhood I remember playing quite a bit.  When all of these factors are added toghether,  it was a no-brainer to pick it up.

When I picked it up it was in solid shape overall.  The game played great… the price included a working Wild Western PCB (which I have since sold).  It also included a reproduction bezel and ink-jet reproduction CPO,  both of which had not been installed.  The original bezel on the cabinet was in decent shape (as you can see to the left),  but not perfect.  The CPO wasn't terrible but could use some help.  The marquee is in excellent shape and the cabinet itself is in good original shape.  There are some scratches and nicks here and there and (unfortunately) there is the typical Taito cabinet freying going on at the bottom edges.  There aen't any major gouges or chunks missing from the cabinet.  The conrols were solid though the 8-way "aiming" button seemed a little "sticky" when it was pressed.  The monitor is burn-free, bright and beautiful!

The first thing I did was replace the bezel with the spanky brand new PERFECT reproduction glass bezel that came with the cabinet.  I am told it's a Fizgig reproduction bezel… all I can say is that it's beautiful.  That took all of a couple of minutes total.  I admit didn't do much else with the game (other than test the Wild Western and realize just how crappy of a game it is (IMHO) then immediately sell it) for about 6 months.  Then it was time to replace the control panel overlay and clean up the controls.  Again,  I have no idea who did the reproduction overlay but it was certainly inkjet.  The colors aren't "perfect" but since I didn't have an original NOS overlay to compare them to,  they were certainly "close enough".  Removing the old overlay wasn't nearly as bad as I've experienced removing overlays before.  Sure,  it wasn't "fun",  but it was't the hell that it could have been. Next it was time to work on the 8-way aiming button.  As you can see in the picture,  it was pretty nasty coming off the panel.  That is what 30+ years of build up looks like I suppsoe.  It took a little elbow grease to clean that bad boy for sure.  I ended up using a paint-removing drill bit to clean the rust and other crud off…and a little silicone spray (from my recollection) to help with the stickiness when pushing.   I followed up with a clean up of the stick,  which was in equally dirty condition but fully functional.  I do believe I had to replace the centering grommet (it's been,  oh 5 months since I worked on this as of this writing).  Finally I replaced all the white buttons with brand new ones I have on hand.  The old ones were pretty beat up and certainly discolored. All in all I am quite pleased with how the control panel turned out.

The only other things I've done to the cabinet is to wipe it down and use a little Magic Eraser here and there.  I am not sure if I will ever re-paint and re-stencil the cabinet.  It's not really in bad enough condition to warrant doing so IMHO.  As it stands,  with a new bezel,  new CPO,  beautiful marquee,  awesome looking monitor and a cabinet in nice original shape,  it's a solid B game as it stands.  As for the game play,  I finally made it to the end of level 1 (only took me what,  a quarter of a century).  The game,  while still somewhat difficult,  isn't anywhere as hard to play for me now as it was when I was a kid,  but that goes for just about every classic arcade game I've owned and played that I used to play back in the day.  I still manage to put a up a game or two most of the times I go out to the gameroom to play… like I did at the Family Fun Center.  Now if only someone would come up with a HIGH SCORE SAVE KIT… 🙂

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