How much does complete Data East's Darwin 4078 PCB kit go 4?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Just wondering how much does a complete Data East's shmup Darwin 4078 PCB kit go for? (Meaning comes complete with Darwin 4078 PCB, instruction manual and all original instruction card & intro story card as well.)

Is a Darwin 4078 PCB pretty common to find these days? I've never played it and it piques my interest in it.

Does anybody here on the Shmups.com forum have the rare Darwin 4078 PCB in their shmup PCB collection?

I've read that a Darwin 4078 PCB is a standard JAMMA compatible PCB and predates Sidearms by a single year (Sidearms came out in U.S. arcades in 1987 courtesy of Capcom/Romstar). I take it that the Japanese Data East company that produced Darwin 4078 PCB did not get a U.S. arcade release, right?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[system11]

It is a rare game, I think Malc has one from memory so maybe he can tell you more about it physically. The game itself is most bizarre, your ship mutates through several forms depending on powerups collected, and everything is very very abstract.

I used to do a LOT of PCB buying and selling and searching, I've never seen a complete Darwin kit. There are actually many JAMMA games that predate Sidearms by the way

As for regions - who knows...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I was just asking around here to see what the response would be regarding the going price for a rare Data East produced Darwin 4078 complete PCB kit.

Yes, I will admit that I just acquired a full complete Darwin 4078 PCB kit a few days ago and it comes with an original Japanese Bios region Darwin 4078 PCB, dual Japanese/English instruction manual, Darwin intro card (in Japanese kanji) and a Darwin instruction card (again with Japanese kanji). It is a two-layered PCB which is typical of the mid 1980's JAMMA PCBs from that era. I won't disclose how much I paid for it though. ^_~

I've noticed that there's no review for the rare shmup Darwin 4078 PCB here on the Shmups.com forum. I guess I could do it...shouldn't be too hard, huh?

Has the shmup, Darwin 4078, been emulated in Mame or other early/mid 1980's era arcade emulation programs?

There is a brief mention of the Darwin 4078 PCB game on KLOV -- Killer List of Video (Games) but not much else.

Didn't someone post something on this forum about a cool Japanese tribute webpage to Darwin 4078 game just a few weeks back?

What was the first arcade game PCB to use the standard JAMMA interface and what year did standard JAMMA make it's debut?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[chtimi-CLA]

rolling thunder is 86 and jamma, i can't think of an earlier one

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Here's the link to Tar-Palantir's earlier post mentioning a weblink to a Japanese tribute to the rare Darwin 4078 game (although the author uses MAME32 emulation program to play it rather than the actual Darwin 4078 PCB itself):

http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=766

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

According to KLOV, it lists that the Darwin 4078 PCB has a total of 16 stages. That's quite a bit for an 1986 released shmup (and I thought that the Capcom's CPS-1 shmup of Varth with it's 30 total stages was insane enough...had gotten to Stage 24 before giving up on it and running out of quarters as well).

Darwin 4078 does have support for two players but alternates between them...although simultaneous two-player game play would've been cool to implemented though.

There's no option to continue whatsoever...when it's truly game over, it's really "Game Over". And if you press the Start button trying to see if you can really continue, you'll start all over again at the 1st stage.

On the Darwin 4078 story intro card, there's a brief mention of a character called "Evol" and what it has to do with the Darwin 4078 storyline. Since it's all in Japanese, I've no idea what this "Evol" character is or does in the game since I can't read/write/speak Japanese anyways.

I have reason to suspect that the Darwin 4078 PCB kits that were sold in Japan back in 1986 were placed in the cool but funky Japanese cocktail-table styled cabinets because both the Darwin instruction card & story intro card are much bigger than say a modern day shmup's arcade supplemental paperwork. If that was the case, then an option for inverting the Darwin gamescreen should invert 180 degrees for the 2nd player. (But I'm not sure if the Darwin PCB even has the cocktail-table style 2nd player invert screen option mode.) I suppose I'd have to fiddle with the dipswitches and find out by trial & error.

I have reason to believe that not very many Darwin 4078 PCBs are in existence today even in as good condition that I recieved mine in. Sure would've been interesting to learn where this particular Darwin 4078 PCB has been doing all these years...traveling from Japanese arcades to finally second-hand arcade reseller to different arcade PCB collectors.

I'd have to admit that the Darwin 4078 PCB kit that I have now would truly belong at a arcade PCB museum. It would be cool to see the evolution of the arcade PCB go from huge & long PCBs to the modern-day tiny & compact PCBs of today with Ketsui and Mushihime Sama PCBs.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[system11]

Well, the board isn't -that- rare, what is rare is to find original instructions and flyers with it, if they're not copies (the Japanese are very fond of duplicating things for completeness).

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Well, the board isn't -that- rare, what is rare is to find original instructions and flyers with it, if they're not copies (the Japanese are very fond of duplicating things for completeness).

Yes, both my Darwin 4078 arcade instruction card & story intro card are indeed original Data East production arcade supplementals. Has a Data East Corporation official seal emblem with production number "B 150916" stamped on it (on the instruction card).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

What other arcade shmup PCBs did Data East Corporation (DECO) produce besides Darwin 4078 (1986) and Vapor Trail (1989)?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~