Sailor Moon Arcade Machine

Sailor Moon Arcade Machine

Developed by: Gazelle (developer)

Published by: Sega

Date: 1995

On display: Yes

Object number: LX96

Credit line: On loan from a private collector

“In the name of the moon, I will punish you!”

It has been 30 years since Sailor Moon uttered her catchphrase on the TV screen for the first time. In 1992, the anime series adapted from creator Naoko Takeuchi’s original manga launched. Fans of the manga and the series adaptation will know that the main character Usagi Tsukino fights evil by moonlight and wins love by daylight.

But there’s something else the teenager turned superheroine Guardian Sailor Moon spends a lot of time doing. You guessed it: playing videogames! Whether at home or in arcades, playing games is a frequent downtime for the Sailor Guardians after saving the world from evil. Which is why it feels more than fitting for one of the videogame adaptations of the hit series to be a classic arcade side-scrolling beat ‘em up game!

Released in 1995, this two-player game follows the first season of the anime. Many elements set this apart from a range of other adaptations. For one, it had an international release beyond Japan. It corresponds to the type of games the Sailor Guardians would have played – in fact, a similar beat ‘em game features in the series itself. Takeuchi herself even supervised its production, and it benefited from having the same voice actors from the anime series! The game stood out for its twist on a classic genre, as well as its visual quality and the fact you could choose to play one (or two) of the four main characters.

It was still rare at the time to find many of these types of games directed at young girls. The game showed the power of heroines engaged in fighting while embracing their femininity. And in doing so, it reflected what was so appealing to fans of the magical girl genre Sailor Moon was part of.

The anime series, like the game, can show the arcade and its games in a nostalgic light for what is a dwindling reality as more arcades close every year. We won’t ever be able to recreate the experience of a 90s arcade. This being said, we can save and preserve arcade games for future generations. Which is why our team has been hard at work saving and restoring the arcade game of Sailor Moon in our care!

Arcade Restoration

We had a chat with our Gallery Technician Gordie, to discover how exactly he managed to restore the cabinet to its former glory:

“When we received this Sailor Moon cabinet it was really dusty and covered in a layer of grime. The buttons and joystick were also sticky and were not working properly. Even the screen was very distorted and blurry!”

“Our first job was to clean everything, and test the buttons and the micro switches on the joysticks. On powering up the cabinet, we could see the game screen and hear the audio even though it was badly distorted.”

“It’s very common on old arcade cabinets for the capacitors to fail on the monitor. So we just took the screen out, replaced most of the capacitors, and the next time we turned it on we only had to adjust the positioning of the screen!”

“After leaving the game on for a few hours to let things warm up we had a quick test of the gameplay and soon realised some of the buttons needed looking at again. Once all the buttons were cleaned and examined and put back it played beautifully.”

“Finally, we did some extra deep cleaning of the outside of the cabinet. We made sure everything – including the wires and circuitry – was safe and secure internally. I can’t wait to see this machine being played with in the gallery!”

Gordie’s work shows how museums often have to make difficult decisions. How to decide between preserving an object in an unplayable state or restoring it using current components to make it playable? Applying the utmost technical expertise and care, we’ve decided to make this game a playable exhibit in our gallery! Making this piece of history playable to the public is a form of active preservation. It can allow visitors to  relive what it would have been like to play this game at a late 90s arcade. To us, this experience is a core component of game history – ensuring videogames’ legacy well into the future.

Sailor Moon’s popularity shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, there is currently a campaign from fans demanding a new videogame. Just like Sailor Moon herself, fans of the series play games. Will a new contribution to Sailor Moon’s videogame adaptations make it to our consoles before the next 40 year anniversary? Either way, the National Videogame Museum will be fighting by daylight to make sure this game history gets preserved for years to come.