Custom Arcade Artwork Done Right

When it comes to restoring an arcade game to it's former glory there are a few different avenues you can take to achieve your end goal. To do it properly you really want to try to mimic the way the artwork handled originally. Stenciled machines should be restored with stencils. Vinyl artwork should be (in a perfect world) silk-screened rather thank ink-jet printed, etc. Why? It's not necessarily because it was better looking, but rather because that is how the art was done on the original cabinet (this is my opinion … as I can imagine that some folks will disagree with me on this point.). However, when you're creating a custom project or the restoration you're working on doesn't have silk-screened art available for it, that is where ink-jet printed products step in as an excellent (and oftentimes only) option.

The key to an excellent ink-jet product is knowing which vendors to use and which to avoid. Ink-jet printed product has come a long way over the last 10 years since I've been in the hobby. Some vendors now can reverse print on to plexiglass for one thing. You no longer have to stick printed marquee translite between two pieces of plexiglass… which is a huge improvement in the look of the marquee in my opinion. Not only that, but now you can have bezels reverse printed and even control panel overlays reverse printed. Basically, at this point it's difficult to tell the different between an ink-jet printed piece of art and a silk-screened reproduction…IF you go with a professional who knows what they are doing. If you use a vendor whose either no paying attention… or doesn't care… or just isn't as skilled or have the proper tools, ink-jet reproductions can look very … home-made. A perfect example of a poor quality inkjet print-job can be seen to the right. While this vendor does have the ability to reverse print on to plexiglass, his printer's print head was likely out of alignment or it was clogging up or something similar. The end result looks like you would expect a print out in "fast/draft mode" to look. There was severe "banding" on the marquee and CPO.  The bezel also had banding (but it wasn't as apparent)… and that color on the CPO is suppose to be black… it's not quite there. Unfortunately, one thing you can't see in the images of his design he sends over before you purchase is the fact that the side art is comprised of both higher resolution (the barrels) and lower resolution (Mario, The Princess,  Donkey Kong himself) sources.  The result isn't all that pretty.  It,  in of itself,  wouldn't have been a deal breaker for me,  but in conjunction with the other issues listed,  it was a no brainer for me… I couldn't use this art… and the product was unacceptable for the amount of money paid. I did manage to get all my money back eventually,  but it did take some time. To the vendors credit, he did pay for return shipped as well and I've been told by more than one person that what I received was not the typical product the vendor sells. That said, I would recommend sticking with [vendor removed]*** (the subject of this post) or one of the other vendors I've posted in the LINKS section (In regards to the art vendors there, I've used them all and wouldn't put their link up unless I knew they were capable of quality work).

This post isn't about how it's done wrong however… it's about how it's done RIGHT!  After the ordeal listed above I was contacted by [removed],  owner of [vendor removed]***.  Dan told me he could reverse print the marquee,  reverse print and cut/drill the control panel, that he could provide the tinted plexiglass bezel and stick the bezel art on the outside… as well as the side art for a respectable price.  Having used Dan one time prior (I won a marquee when I donated to the March of Dimes drive that Hucklebuck on KLOV puts on) to do a Pac Man marquee… and seeing just how nice it came out… I figured it would be worth a try.  At this point some who know me may be asking why I didn't go with my usual artwork vendors for this project… the answer is the reverse printing and CNC cutting for the CPO.   They don't do it (yet?)… [vendor removed]*** does.  After a brief back and forth with Dan I determined that I was going to make an attempt to do my own artwork.

At this point there were only 3 options available as far as Donkey Kong Remix art and each design belonged to their own vendors.  Arcadeshop offers Remix art that is designed to blend in well with the typical blue Donkey Kong cabinet.  This Old Game offers a design that works well with a black cabinet (though could be fine for other colors as well).  Finally there was the design that I had already tried above… it too was designed with a black cabinet in mind but looked great (from a distance) with a yellow cabinet.  None of these designs were available to use freely.  I decided I wanted to use a different color than what is normal for this style Nintendo cabinets… but I didn't want to go with black.  Black just doesn't seem right (to me) on this style cabinet.  I 'decided on yellow.  Next I wanted artwork that looked similar to the original,  but wasn't the exact same.  Using the original Donkey Kong Flyer I set out to design the side art.  Afterward I used the artwork elements from the side art to modify the control panel overlay,  bezel and marquee.  I went with a red/yellow color combo versus the original red/orange with the cabinets eventual color in mind.  Overall I think the art set conveys what I intended.  It's familiar,  but different.  If [vendor removed]*** could reproduce the images properly… and line up the artwork for the different pieces,  especially the CPO… then I figured the end product would look great.

Thankfully,  they did exactly that. As you can see from the photo to the left,  the product delivered is fantastic pretty much all around.  The prints themselves are vibrant. Blacks are black and there isn't a sign of banding/striping.  I am very impressed with the overall quality of the printing on all 4 pieces of art that [vendor removed]*** delivered which included side art, reverse printed plexiglass marquee,  tinted plexiglass bezel with artwork applied to the outside of the bezel, and reverse printed drilled/cut plexiglass CPO.  The side art is printed on 3M adhesive backed vinyl.  The quality is on par with or better than other inkjet side art pieces I've gotten over the years from a couple of other reputable arcade artwork vendors.  As of this writing I still have to Bondo, sand,  prime and paint my cabinet,  so I have not installed the side art yet,  but I anticipate no issues.  The marquee is reverse printed and evidently uses a different type of ink or a different process it's end result.  When I first saw the art all together I was a tiny bit disappointed that the colors ont he marquee didn't quite match the colors on the rest of the pieces.  I checked with my files and yes,  the colors were the same on the source files.  When I inquired I was told that different backing material causes different colors among other things and essentially wait until I saw the end result in person.   When I got the package and opened it up,  yes,  the color difference I noted from the photo was apparent,  but it wasn't a huge deal… but then I installed the marquee and powered up the machine.  I am not sure if it was dumb luck or if it was on purpose but the colors of the marquee when lit are damn near perfect when compared to the colors of the other pieces of art.  It's as if the marquee color was compensated to account for the back lighting.  Again,  I am not sure if it was intentional or by design,  but whatever it was,  I'm thrilled.  The bezel is a nicely tinted piece of plexiglass.  It's almost as dark as the original Donkey Kong bezel,  but not quite.  The artwork is printed on adhesive vinyl and adhered to the outside of the bezel.  Once again,  the artwork was beautifully printed, skillfully installed,  and looks awesome. Finally we come to the control panel overlay.  Donkey Kong doesn't use a typical pliable arcade overlay like many (dare I say most) of the games of the era.  Oh no,  Donkey Kong uses a plexiglass overlay with the artwork originally silk screened to the underside.  This is probably the single most impressive piece of work Dan did.  He had a plexiglass CPO CNC machined…. all with proper locations for all button holes… plus joystick holes… AND the 8 (or is it 10?) tiny CPO mounting bolts and he beautifully and accurately reverse printed and applied the artwork to this machined plexiglass CPO.  The end result is a custom inkjet CPO that looks damn near factory.  One difference I can tell is that Dan used plexiglass that is a hair thicker than the original.  I'm not sure if the thinner plexiglass is available or if,  perhaps,  it's a metric thing and that size thickness isn't available.  It's not really a big deal and only those of us very familiar with the "feel" of a Donkey Kong control panel would even notice. Aside from that minor difference I'm hard pressed to find others.  The holes are all drilled perfectly.  The overlay fit my control panel like a glove with all button holes, the joystick hole,  and bolt holes lining up perfectly.  Dan even added the thin white "bleed" around the control panel artwork (the art supplied was all red at the border) to make it look as similar to the original as possible.  Awesome!

That is not to say I didn't find some issues with the art.  I did….and every one of them was due to my own design issues rather than the print work done by [vendor removed]***.  When creating custom stuff,  it's difficult to get it completely right the first time through… though each issue is very small and was just "missed" when I was putting the art together.  Some examples are that there is a tiny "dot" of black missing from the Nintendo logo on the side art.  The bottom right circle on the bezel has a very small little wave in it that I missed.  I would move the Donkey Kong logo on the control panel overlay down about 1/16" to avoid the head of the bolt right above it… and I definitely would adjust the marquee to have a little bleed at top and bottom to account for the marquee brackets (which I somehow managed to NOT account for first time through).   Tiny issues aside,  I am thrilled with how the art turned out.  Considering the side art came from a source the size of a flyer,   I think the overall quality of the finished product (at 19.5" wide x about 2 feet) is excellent.

The bottom line is that I am extremely happy with the product that I purchased from [vendor removed]***… Dan was extremely communicative throughout the whole process.  The work was done FAST… it took only about a week from the day I sent him the artwork to the day the artwork arrived at my door. The price (for what you get),  while not "cheap",  is doable… and that age ole adage "You get what you pay for!" most certainly applies.  If you're interested in running off custom artwork I can not recommend [vendor removed]*** enough,  especially if you need a marquee reverse printed or a plexi bezel or CPO.  If you're putting together a Donkey Kong Remix cabinet and would like to use my custom art, you can purchase it through [vendor removed]***  The package you see featured in this review (side art, plexi marquee, plexi bezel, and plexi CPO) comes to about $280.00 shipped.  He does offer cheaper options,  but for a Donkey Kong Remix project I recommend going with the full plexiglass package,  it's well worth it to maintain the look of the cabinet IMHO.  You can visit the [vendor removed]*** website at [vendor’s website removed]***  You can drop directly in to the Donkey Kong Remix page by clicking [link removed… I will be adding a direct link to my artwork that you can download then use the vendor of your choice SOON.]  Thanks for reading!

*** UPDATE 02/25/18: There have been a number situations involving the vendor that I wrote about in this blog post that have recently become aware of including some actions and reactions that I simply can not bide by.  As such,  I've decided to NOT promote this vendor any longer.  The information posted here is accurate… and my opinions expressed were accurate at the time,  however,  due to circumstances,  I no longer can recommend using the vendor in question.  I plan on releasing my artwork for you to download and use wherever you like shortly.  Thank you.

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