Documentary

WHY A DOCUMENTARY?

For more than five years now, the arcade movement brought together the passion for the culture of the first video game and the interest in recovering, in the best conditions, the technology that supported this phenomenon between the 70s and the 90s. In Spain, numerous events and platforms are added every year, to the restoration and dissemination of the classic video game. The consolidation of festivals dedicated to the "retro" arcade such as RetroBarcelona (Catalonia), RetroSevilla (Andalusia), RetroEuskal (Basque Country) or ArcadeCon (Valencia), reflects in parallel, the rise of associations such as A.R.C.A.D.E. (Barcelona), Retroacción (Bilbao), ARPA (Zaragoza), or the creation of dissemination platforms such as Recreativas.org, RetroGamer or RetroManiac, interested in promoting the relevance of the arcade by our geography.

The province of Alicante has, among all these initiatives, one of the pioneering platforms in the conservation and dissemination of digital recreation: the Arcade Vintage Association. Theirs is a work of leisure and nostalgia, arranged in a place full of arcade machines, restored for the enjoyment of members and general public who wish to revive the atmosphere of the arcades of 30 years ago. But it is also a defense of industrial archaeology which, with the same enthusiasm as the game, tries to recover the arcade machines in their original format. That is, using the same hardware and software components (chips, controllers, marquees, game furniture, etc.) with which they were initially built, to try to recover the "perfect game" that these machines once provided.

One of its tasks is the constant search by its partners in many websites, contact agendas and suppliers around the world, to negotiate the rescue of parts and machines, mainly from Europe, the United States and Japan. Also the implementation of a series of restoration tasks that involve, from the simplicity of a cable replacement, to complex reverse engineering operations or emulation (with expert collaborators such as Eduardo Cruz, Ricardo Fernandez or Miguel Ángel Horna "Elsemi"), where the original chips and boards are intervened to access the recovery protocols and operation of the games.

The documentary Arcadeology reviews the history of the arcade in Spain, starting from the work of conservation of arcade machines made by Arcade Vintage, to the rest of initiatives and professionals who, for more than 40 years, have participated in the phenomenon. A journey that analyses the past and present of the arcade movement, through the creators of arcade video games such as Locomalito and Gryzor87 (Verminest, Maldita Castilla); graphic artists such as Xavier Aberrola (Gaelco); specialised journalists such as David Martínez (Hobby Consolas) and Toni Piedrabuena (3D Juegos); experts in emulation (Miguel Ángel Horna "Elsemi") or reverse engineering (Eduardo Cruz); music composers (Vicent Tobar, Games&Symphonies); event directors (Carles García, RetroBarcelona, Eduardo Álvarez, Retrosevilla) and preservation platforms (David Torres, Recreativas.org); proponents and mentors in videogame projects (Lara I. Rodríguez, Isabel Cano); directors of associations of the arcade industry (Óscar Nájera, A.R.C.A.D.E, ARPA); entrepreneurs and managers of the sector (Julian Goicoa, Gaelco); manufacturers of arcade machines (Bricoarcade) or renowned players such as Salvador Espín (Marvel cartoonist: Deadpool, Hulk, Spider-Man, etc.) and María Jesús Morillo (National Library of Spain) among other participants.

PRODUCTION AND SHOOTING

The documentary travels to various locations in the Valencian Community and the rest of Spain, such as Alicante, Valencia, Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Murcia, Malaga and Cadiz, among others, to record a series of important events in the field of arcade (Barcelona Games World, ArcadeCon, Games&Symphonies, ExpoArcade/GamerMaker 48h, etc.), and features the participation of a number of relevant figures in the classic arcade sector.

Interviewees and participants (in order of appearance)

Vicente Zaragoza (President of the “Asociación de Coleccionistas de Pinballs y Máquinas Recreativas” of Valencia)

Rafael Diéguez (Organizer of RetroAlba, Albacete)

Carles García (Director of RetroBarcelona)

Carlos (Member of NavArcade and Mikado Game Center Europe)

Eduardo Álvarez (President of RetroSevilla and Organizer of Arcade Planet)

Eduardo Cruz (Expert in hardware and reverse engineering)

Toni Piedrabuena (Journalist in 3D juegos.com)

David Torres (Founder of the documentation fund Recreativas.org)

Óscar Nájera (Director of the association A.R.C.A.D.E. and member of Recreativas.org)

Miguel Ángel Horna “Elsemi” (Member of the MAME Team and expert in emulation, creator of the Nebula emulator and co-founder of BlitWorks)

Óscar Marín (Member of ARPA, "Asociación de Recreativas y Pinballs de Aragón")

Ginés Vivanco (Member of Undergamers)

Juan Jesús Quesada (Member of Undergamers)

Tomás García-Merás (Member of Recreativas.org. Video game preservation specialist)

Roberto Fresca (Member of MAME and Recreativas.org. Emulation Specialist)

Salvador Espín (Marvel cartoonist -Deadpool, Hulk, Spider-Man, etc.- and organizer of ExpoArcade)

José Gallego (Manufacturer of furniture for arcade machines in BricoArcade)

Fernando Rodríguez (Computer Systems Engineer at BricoArcade)

David Martínez (Editor-in-chief of Hobby Consolas and publisher of "100 arcade games that made history")

Lara Isabel Rodríguez (Video game content editor and social media strategist)

Antonio Runa (Member of the podcast "La Órbita de Endor")

Rafa Martínez (Member of the podcast "La Órbita de Endor")

Jaime Angulo (Member of the podcast "La Órbita de Endor")

Ricardo García (Member of the podcast "La Órbita de Endor")

Isabel Cano (Mentor at Talentum Schools Telefónica, organizer of Girls Make Games and Retro)

Vicent Tobar (Composer and arranger of Games&Symphonies)

Adrián Ronda (Music Director of Games&Symphonies)

Gryzor87 (Arcade game soundtrack composer)

Locomalito (Independent arcade game designer)

Julián Goicoa (International Manager of Bandai Namco; former manager of Gaelco 1987-2005)

Xavier AG Arrebola (Video game designer and graphic artist at Gaelco 1989-2004)

Juan Peralta (CEO at Flynn's Arcade Games)

Ferrán Montesinos (Creator of the retro game Eternum at Radin Retro Games)

María Jesús Morillo (Deputy Director of the Technical Directorate of the National Library of Spain)

Participating members of Arcade Vintage:

José María Litarte
Octavio Martínez
Luis Alberto Gimeno
Eduardo Augusto Arancibia
Jorge López / Arcadio
José María Peinado
Joaquín Litarte
Alberto Rodríguez
Iñaki Diego Armesto
Diego Vicente Cano

Specific locations:

ArcadeCon (Alicante)
Barcelona Games World / RetroBarcelona (Barcelona)
Brico Arcade (Madrid)
La Lleialtat Santsenca, Civic Centre (Barcelona)
ExpoArcade/GamerMaker 48h (Murcia)
Games&Symphonies (Javea/Barcelona)
Arcade Vintage Museum (Ibi, Alicante)
MediaLab Prado (Madrid)
RetroAlba (Albacete)
IED Innovation Lab / Instituto Europeo de Diseño (Madrid)
Hobby Consolas/Axel Springer editorial office (Madrid)
Arcade Vintage Association (Petrer, Alicante)

Association of Pinballs and Recreational Machines (Silla,Valencia)

Florida Universitaria (Catarroja, Valencia)

ARCADE Association (Hospitalet, Barcelona)

Centro Cultural La Térmica (Málaga)

National Library of Spain (Madrid)