Fantastic video. I stumbled across your Firefox video by accident, but that was enough for me to sub! I loved Firefox in the arcade, it was a rare find back in the day here in the UK, but I am lucky enough to have memories of having played both the stand up and sit down cockpit back in the day. Sad fact, Atari planned on an updated "Firefox 2" release, but after the failure of the market, scrapped it. Sigh...as with so many things "Atari" , it is another case of "what could have been". Keep up the fantastic work.
I adore the Firefox arcade machine. I really hope you can get it working again. Even if it’s with the dexter. Please make a new video if you have any updates. Thank you so much. 👍🏻
I vividly remember playing this game in multiple arcades growing up as a kid in California in the mid '80s - specifically the sit down version. Seems like they were always next to the skeet shooting game (Namco "Shootaway"). Every decent arcade seemed to have one around '84-'85 & then they all suddenly vanished. Good to see you keeping at least one original around.
This games was amazing! I loved playing it but after sometime it was always out of service and then got converted into a some crappy other game. You have an exceptionally amazing game.
I remember one of these when they were new at the Showbiz Pizza Place in my hometown, and I also remember being disappointed that it always seemed to be out of order not long after. So glad you found this one in good shape!
That is a great find for that price. I have an original Firefox. I bought it over 20 years ago. The monitor I have is not the Amplifone raster. The guy I bought it from replaced it with a monitor out of a Gorf, which he said had very few plays. The Phillips player had the magnets glued back to the mirrors and still plays great. The game stopped working a few years ago. It showed static when it booted up. Rebuilt the ARII’s, replaced the 2 big blue’s, ran a +5 to just the graphic pcb, and replaced the main pcb. The speakers still do not have any sound, the video plays all the way through, the service switch does not work, and the yoke does not respond and only fires at random. I am in the process of replacing the wiring harness. I hope to get it running again. It is closer than it was. It is a fun game. You can get it off of free play by using the service switch and navigating to the right menu. The nvram settings that are set from the service switch override the dip switches on the main board. Good luck! You can also listen to the game from the headset jack on the front of the game.
Firefox the film is basically my spirit animal, seen it so many times, read the book, watched the VHS and the different cuts on DVD and ironically own the movie on laserdisc. That story you said about the fella who brought the machine in the 80’s was so heart warming I would love to have met him; wherever you are I salute you. So glad you are trying to restore it and if you ever get sick of it I’ll gladly buy it from you to save it going in the bin. All the best from the UK.
That's awesome! We actually bought a laserdisc of Firefox the movie to help us debug the Laserdisc players for this game because we didn't want to chance the precious game disc. Hopefully we'll get around to posting that soon... Firefox is definitely going to stay with us. After so much time spent working on it thus far, we're quite attached to it and its story.
Whoooo man good luck with that Phillip's player. Just take your time. I know that there are some people with dead players in the community and you would definitely be in demand lol. If you get a backup player out of it you would definitely have a great peice of arcade history on your hands. Great progress so far. Looks like you've got one of the players working for the most part. That's 90% of the battle won. Everything else is adjustments and maintenance belts, greasing the rails, etc. Keep us all posted!! Great find man 👏👏👏
I remember seeing Firefox in Cinema, aged 8 (15 film?)... Back then if you paid full ticket you'd get in. Went with my dad and remember gaming on the arcade cabinet too.... and making out I was an expert because I'd seen the movie. 😎🤣 Fast forward very many years and its great to still see some of these old cabinets are still around.
There was a Firefox at my local mall arcade in Twin Falls Idaho in the early 80s. I remember loving it at the time. But looking at video of it reminds me of a Sega CD game. Wow. What a find.
This was supposed to be the first in a series. Atari had a Battlestar Galactica game on the drawing board, but with Firefox failing the Battlestar project was scrapped. Maybe if another system turns up…
Holy cow that would have been amazing! I (Sam) love BSG! Funny enough I joked with Liam when I first got to play our Firefox that it would be even cooler if it was BSG themed because the Vipers would fit so well. Thanks for bringing this up, we just looked at a video on youtube of the unreleased laserdisc footage for the BSG game and now we want to find some way to get the disc and the ROMs if they exist anywhere so we could make some sort of switcher to play both.
Actually... I (Liam) just did some more digging, looks like Atari never even finished the prototype. Unfortunate. That would be the coolest laserdisc game!
@@retrobotics Maybe you could try to create the ROMs and the disk from scratch using the laser disk footage? Granted this would likely fit into the homebrew category, but then people probably thought there wouldn’t be a homebrew market at all at one point. And while it is probably something that can’t be sold it would be something cool to take to conventions and offer plays to. I heard someone acquired the props and console to the Paul McGann Doctor Who movie and does some presentations at conventions. I like to think, as Spock once said, there are always possibilities. Some however can be more of a challenge.
@@retrobotics Or maybe the Firefox ROM could be used for a BSG mod. If the RUclips video could be used to create a new disk somehow. Sorry, my mind has been thinking of ideas that may not come to be. But I know game developers have often recycled ideas in the past. Maybe the Battlestar game would have been a recycled Firefox with different laserdisc footage. Nintendo often recycled ideas, and game cabinets, for new releases.
@@turret72 Yeah it would be so amazing if there was some way we could bring the game into the world. I (Sam) love the ideas, I also haven't been able to stop thinking about the possibility of making the BSG game work :) Liam and I would love the challenge if we could find the right materials to do so! If we couldn't get the laserdisc maybe we could run the video on Dexter but the code to test the game would really be the linchpin.
hey hows about no extremely loud AF SUPER hi pitched noises as part of the intro. legit about clicked off before video even started. other than that good content, i hope to see more
Yeah... The problem isn't so much the mic as that room. The workshop has a lot of loud whirring machinery, so when we try to edit out that sound, it has an adverse effect on the overall quality.
@@retrobotics I’m talking about one of those Mics you wear on your collar. Regardless, my best friend growing up in the 1980s had a full size Firefox at his house. We played it non stop. So many great memories. Don’t know how your video ended up on my feed but it was great to watch. I also subscribe to Joes Classic Video Games. I’m fascinated by your depth of knowledge and your enthusiasm for retro tech. Keep it up. Good job.
The laserdisc players inside Firefox never work😅 the players inside them are pretty much junk and I would go with the Dexter option as it is super reliable but that’s my opinion.
Check out our part 3 video! ruclips.net/video/y0WY2ndycQ4/видео.html We fixed the laserdisc player successfully (and we have a spare nearly working). Unfortunately, dexter is no longer in production either :(
Actually, we did fix the laser disc player. And we have a second one too! Our Firefox runs beautifully now. You can check it out here. ruclips.net/video/y0WY2ndycQ4/видео.html
@@retrobotics - you're one of the lucky few. I had a tech 25 years ago trying to fix one and almost lost body parts as the disc flew out of the player. Dangerous item, that player.
I remember playing this game in college. I can remember beating the game. I enjoyed the movie and I also enjoyed the game.
Congratulations!
Fantastic video. I stumbled across your Firefox video by accident, but that was enough for me to sub! I loved Firefox in the arcade, it was a rare find back in the day here in the UK, but I am lucky enough to have memories of having played both the stand up and sit down cockpit back in the day. Sad fact, Atari planned on an updated "Firefox 2" release, but after the failure of the market, scrapped it. Sigh...as with so many things "Atari" , it is another case of "what could have been". Keep up the fantastic work.
I adore the Firefox arcade machine. I really hope you can get it working again. Even if it’s with the dexter. Please make a new video if you have any updates. Thank you so much. 👍🏻
There will be updates! We've been working on this in the background and there's definitely exciting news to be had. Just got to make videos about it!
Glad to see another one saved. I was obsessed with this game, and in fact had two cabinets with one working LD player. I sold one and kept the other,
I vividly remember playing this game in multiple arcades growing up as a kid in California in the mid '80s - specifically the sit down version. Seems like they were always next to the skeet shooting game (Namco "Shootaway"). Every decent arcade seemed to have one around '84-'85 & then they all suddenly vanished. Good to see you keeping at least one original around.
Great collection of games Liam ! I appreciate your knowledge and Thanks for keeping the arcade spirit alive ! ✌️
This games was amazing! I loved playing it but after sometime it was always out of service and then got converted into a some crappy other game. You have an exceptionally amazing game.
I remember one of these when they were new at the Showbiz Pizza Place in my hometown, and I also remember being disappointed that it always seemed to be out of order not long after. So glad you found this one in good shape!
That is a great find for that price. I have an original Firefox. I bought it over 20 years ago. The monitor I have is not the Amplifone raster. The guy I bought it from replaced it with a monitor out of a Gorf, which he said had very few plays. The Phillips player had the magnets glued back to the mirrors and still plays great. The game stopped working a few years ago. It showed static when it booted up. Rebuilt the ARII’s, replaced the 2 big blue’s, ran a +5 to just the graphic pcb, and replaced the main pcb. The speakers still do not have any sound, the video plays all the way through, the service switch does not work, and the yoke does not respond and only fires at random. I am in the process of replacing the wiring harness. I hope to get it running again. It is closer than it was. It is a fun game. You can get it off of free play by using the service switch and navigating to the right menu. The nvram settings that are set from the service switch override the dip switches on the main board. Good luck! You can also listen to the game from the headset jack on the front of the game.
Firefox the film is basically my spirit animal, seen it so many times, read the book, watched the VHS and the different cuts on DVD and ironically own the movie on laserdisc.
That story you said about the fella who brought the machine in the 80’s was so heart warming I would love to have met him; wherever you are I salute you.
So glad you are trying to restore it and if you ever get sick of it I’ll gladly buy it from you to save it going in the bin.
All the best from the UK.
That's awesome! We actually bought a laserdisc of Firefox the movie to help us debug the Laserdisc players for this game because we didn't want to chance the precious game disc. Hopefully we'll get around to posting that soon...
Firefox is definitely going to stay with us. After so much time spent working on it thus far, we're quite attached to it and its story.
I remember playing this. It was a graphics plane flying over real footage and sort of merged with that. Nice one
I loved this game as a kid. Great score
Whoooo man good luck with that Phillip's player. Just take your time. I know that there are some people with dead players in the community and you would definitely be in demand lol. If you get a backup player out of it you would definitely have a great peice of arcade history on your hands. Great progress so far. Looks like you've got one of the players working for the most part. That's 90% of the battle won. Everything else is adjustments and maintenance belts, greasing the rails, etc. Keep us all posted!! Great find man 👏👏👏
Second video is out! We focused on the monitor first.
It was fun!! Super cool. Thanks
Awesome pickup! And great progress already on bringing it back to life! You’ll be a hero if you get that raster Amp working! 😅
I remember seeing Firefox in Cinema, aged 8 (15 film?)... Back then if you paid full ticket you'd get in. Went with my dad and remember gaming on the arcade cabinet too.... and making out I was an expert because I'd seen the movie. 😎🤣 Fast forward very many years and its great to still see some of these old cabinets are still around.
There was a Firefox at my local mall arcade in Twin Falls Idaho in the early 80s. I remember loving it at the time. But looking at video of it reminds me of a Sega CD game. Wow. What a find.
magnificent experience at the time. my parents money flew out of my pockets
Awesome find ... 😊
I remember that a long time ago in Great America..Wow now that's a fine..how much
mint condition, rare find indeed...
This was supposed to be the first in a series. Atari had a Battlestar Galactica game on the drawing board, but with Firefox failing the Battlestar project was scrapped.
Maybe if another system turns up…
Holy cow that would have been amazing! I (Sam) love BSG! Funny enough I joked with Liam when I first got to play our Firefox that it would be even cooler if it was BSG themed because the Vipers would fit so well. Thanks for bringing this up, we just looked at a video on youtube of the unreleased laserdisc footage for the BSG game and now we want to find some way to get the disc and the ROMs if they exist anywhere so we could make some sort of switcher to play both.
Actually... I (Liam) just did some more digging, looks like Atari never even finished the prototype. Unfortunate. That would be the coolest laserdisc game!
@@retrobotics Maybe you could try to create the ROMs and the disk from scratch using the laser disk footage? Granted this would likely fit into the homebrew category, but then people probably thought there wouldn’t be a homebrew market at all at one point.
And while it is probably something that can’t be sold it would be something cool to take to conventions and offer plays to. I heard someone acquired the props and console to the Paul McGann Doctor Who movie and does some presentations at conventions.
I like to think, as Spock once said, there are always possibilities. Some however can be more of a challenge.
@@retrobotics Or maybe the Firefox ROM could be used for a BSG mod. If the RUclips video could be used to create a new disk somehow.
Sorry, my mind has been thinking of ideas that may not come to be. But I know game developers have often recycled ideas in the past. Maybe the Battlestar game would have been a recycled Firefox with different laserdisc footage. Nintendo often recycled ideas, and game cabinets, for new releases.
@@turret72 Yeah it would be so amazing if there was some way we could bring the game into the world. I (Sam) love the ideas, I also haven't been able to stop thinking about the possibility of making the BSG game work :) Liam and I would love the challenge if we could find the right materials to do so! If we couldn't get the laserdisc maybe we could run the video on Dexter but the code to test the game would really be the linchpin.
hey hows about no extremely loud AF SUPER hi pitched noises as part of the intro. legit about clicked off before video even started.
other than that good content, i hope to see more
Thanks for the comment we just cut it out for this video and will tone it down for future videos.
Great content. Would be even greater if you could get a better mic.
Yeah... The problem isn't so much the mic as that room. The workshop has a lot of loud whirring machinery, so when we try to edit out that sound, it has an adverse effect on the overall quality.
@@retrobotics I’m talking about one of those Mics you wear on your collar. Regardless, my best friend growing up in the 1980s had a full size Firefox at his house. We played it non stop. So many great memories. Don’t know how your video ended up on my feed but it was great to watch. I also subscribe to Joes Classic Video Games. I’m fascinated by your depth of knowledge and your enthusiasm for retro tech. Keep it up. Good job.
The laserdisc players inside Firefox never work😅 the players inside them are pretty much junk and I would go with the Dexter option as it is super reliable but that’s my opinion.
Check out our part 3 video! ruclips.net/video/y0WY2ndycQ4/видео.html We fixed the laserdisc player successfully (and we have a spare nearly working).
Unfortunately, dexter is no longer in production either :(
And - never try to fix a Philips LDP. You won't win.
Actually, we did fix the laser disc player. And we have a second one too! Our Firefox runs beautifully now. You can check it out here.
ruclips.net/video/y0WY2ndycQ4/видео.html
@@retrobotics I bet you it stops working again sometime this century! Never argue with Bob! Never prove Bob wrong!
@@retrobotics - you're one of the lucky few. I had a tech 25 years ago trying to fix one and almost lost body parts as the disc flew out of the player. Dangerous item, that player.