Stratovox

Manufacturer: Taito
Year: 1980
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Space
Type: Videogame

Monitor:

Orientation: Vertical
Type: Raster: Standard Resolution
CRT: Color

Conversion Class: unique
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Alternating
Control Panel Layout: Single Player
Controls:

Joystick: 2-way (left, right)
Buttons: 1 [Fire]

Sound: Amplified Mono (one channel)

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Stratovox Description

Men are lined up the right side of the screen and alien ships fly out, swirl around the screen and eventually try to grab the men. This was one of the first all color graphics games and might be the first one that used speech. Some of the phrases are "Help Me! Help Me!", "Very Good", "We'll be back" and "Lucky!"

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Cabinet Information

The game is housed in a cabinet that basically looks like most of the other Taito enclosures of that era. The cabinet has chrome T-molding, is red on the lower half, tan/beige up the upper half and has the word TAITO labeled diagonally across each side. The coin door is an early style and is gray in color.

The marquee shows an spaceman firing a gun who says "This is unreal!" on the right side. The left side shows a green spaceship capturing a man who is saying "They got me!".

The frontglass shows an alien ship and several men in spacesuits. One astronaut is saying "Another wave destroyed!"

Game Introduction

The lower half of the screen looks like the blue surface of a moon or planet. There are men lined up the right side of the screen and alien ships fly out, swirl around the screen and eventually try to grab the men. The ships fly up the side and then across the top where you have a chance to shoot them and reclaim your man. At the end of the level the men from the side of the screen are counted and you are given bonus points for each one remaining.

This was one of the first color games and might be the first with voice. When the men are grabbed from the side they say "Help Me! Help Me!" and if you save them from the alien ships it says "Very Good". The aliens also taunt you with "We'll be back" -- all of this being in a monotone and cheap sounding voice. It also says "Lucky!" for each man that the aliens did not grab.

VAPS Arcade Census

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

Common - There are 24 known instances of Stratovox owned by one of our 900 members. Of these, 16 of them are original dedicated machines, and 8 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 13 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most commonly seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on ownership records.

Wanted - We currently do not know of any VAPS members that have gotten around to adding this game to their wish list. The wish-list system is fairly new (not all VAPS members have filled one out) and there are probably a number of collectors who might purchase this game if offered one at the right price. There is one VAPS member looking for a Stratovox circuit board set.

For Sale - There is one VAPS member with a Stratovox machine for sale. There is one VAPS member with an extra Stratovox circuit board 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.

eBay Listings

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TODAY'S PICKS FOR:
Stratovox

1. Stratovox - first talking arcade game -looks/works nice
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Foto-Finder™

The Encyclpedia of Arcade Video Games, Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256): Page: 93; Color photo;

Stratovox - Title screen image

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