Red Baron

Manufacturer: Atari
Year: 1980
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Shooter
Type: Videogame

Monitor:

Orientation: Horizontal
Type: Vector
CRT: Black and White with a Color Overlay
19-inch Electrohome G05-802

Conversion Class: unique
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1
Maximum number of Players: 1
Gameplay: Single
Control Panel Layout: Single Player
Controls:

Joystick: 8-way with button [Fire]

Sound: Amplified Mono (one channel)

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Red Baron Description

A black and white vector game. First-person perspective flight simulator. Single, analog "gimble-type" joystick with fire button. Engage enemy biplanes during a WWI dogfight. Long range kills score big, accompanied by "Charge" tune.

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Cabinet Information

Cool marquee and great cabinet artwork with German, WWI era Iron Cross motif. Mainly red and white side panels with yellow, grey, pink and black accents. Three dimensional monitor bezel simulates machine guns.

Game Play

(From the original manual), "Atari's Red Baron (TM) game is a one-player game with an X-Y or vector-generator monitor. The game depicts a first-person's view from a World War I biplane cockpit. The player's goal is to destroy as many biplanes, blimps, tanks, pillboxes, pyramids and buildings as possible." "Players can maneuver their airplanes with the joystick control. Moving the joystick in its four directions creates a sensation of diving, climbing, or banking to the left or right."

Miscellaneous

Self adjusting game difficulty strives to maintain a consistent average game time from the last 32 games played. NVRAM stores top three scores as well as average game times.

VAPS Arcade Census

GAMES OWNED, WANTED, or FOR SALE BY MEMBERS OF THE VIDEO ARCADE PRESERVATION SOCIETY

Common - There are 47 known instances of Red Baron owned by one of our 900 members. Of these, 39 of them are original dedicated machines, 4 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet, and 4 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

Of the 57,098 video games (3,420 unique) tracked by the Video Game Preservation Society, this game ranks a 23 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on ownership records.

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 13 VAPS members currently looking for Red Baron.

For Sale - There are 3 VAPS members with Red Baron machines for sale. VAPS members are totally independent of VAPS and the International Arcade Museum, and we are unable to recommend, endorce, or guarantee any person or company selling games or game parts.

Rarity is NOT necessarily an indication of value. Some common games show up as very rare here because collectors don't want them (they are common because arcade operators might be sitting on tons of them in warehouses), while some fairly scarce games are grabbed by collectors every time they show up. Additionally, some games made in the last 5 years are still making money for operators and are thus not yet affordable to the typical collector. For a clue to value, compare how many people have this game vs. how many people want this game and then click on the eBay links to help determine an accurate price range.

Technical

Except for the controller inputs, the wiring harness is nearly pin-for-pin compatible with Battlezone. Red Baron requires just two additional wires: Aux. PCB pin W to Vec/Gen PCB pin W (-22VDC) and Vec/Gen PCB pin L to Vec/Gen PCB pin P (Ties X-invert to GND). It is possible to power up a Red Baron board in a Battlezone and vice versa, but playing the game is nearly impossible without proper controls.

There are several differences in the boardsets, particularly the auxiliary board. Converting a Battlezone vector-generator board for use with Red Baron, is accomplished by lifting pin 18 of IC H1 (ROM 037587-01) and pin 13 of IC M2 (74LS139N). Connect a wire between the two. Next, swap out the Battlezone ROM's for Red Baron and you are set.

Converting a Battlezone auxiliary board for use with Red Baron is a different matter since the two boards are quite different. The first thing you will notice is that the Red Baron auxiliary board is nearly two inches longer than the Battlezone. Simplified, the Red Baron auxiliary board is more or less populated with one extra column and one extra row of IC's; whereas the Battlezone auxiliary board leaves many of the IC pads blank.

A Wells-Gardner 19V2000 monitor may be used in place of the Electrohome G05-802.

Trivia

If you look at the side panel closely, you might see a familiar pattern beneath the Red Baron artwork. Peel it back and you may discover a Battlezone cabinet in disguise. Most, if not all, Red Baron machines appear to be factory conversions of Battlezone. A number of Red Baron cockpits were also manufactured.

Fixes

The rubber centering bellows used on the joystick has most likely cracked with age and will need to be replaced. These are the same bellows used on Battlezone joysticks. Replacements may cost up to $30 if you can find them. The B&W vector monitor may be bad. This can usually be repaired with a Zanen "Get-Well Kit", new deflection transistors and maybe a high voltage diode. Less than $25 in parts total.

As an alternative to replacing the rubber ring, a person could buy one Ultimate Joystick and one Ultimate Pushbutton from Happ Controls (http://www.happcontrols.com/).

eBay Listings

Click here to automatically search eBay's Arcade, Jukebox, and Pinball categories for the Red Baron Videogame machine and items related to it.

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TODAY'S PICKS FOR:
Red Baron

1. Atari Red Baron Analog Joystick Working 100% Vector
Auction ends in: 6 days, 3 hours
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$125.00

2. Red Baron 1975 Chicago Coin Pinball Manual + Schem
Auction ends in: 13 hours, 12 minutes
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3. CHICAGO COIN RED BARON PINBALL MACHINE RUBBER RING KIT
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4. Red Baron Pinball Machine Flyer / Original Brochure
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5. Red Baron Pinball Rubber Ring Kit - Chicago Coin
Auction ends in: 6 days, 16 hours
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$17.76

6. 1975 Chicago Coin Red Baron Pinball Rubber Ring Set
Auction ends in: 2 weeks, 6 days
eBay Stores (Fixed Price):
$19.99

7. Red Baron Arcade Video Game Coin-op Atari Machine Used
Auction ends in: 3 weeks, 6 days
eBay Stores (Fixed Price):
$3,500.00

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Foto-Finder™

The Encyclpedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 101; Color photo;

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