Sunday, March 26, 2023

the mysterious オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)

オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo) is a company that baffles me.

They have seemingly taken machines from other companies and change the name and sometimes some of the art and then resell them.  Some times they take a machine and keep the original name and improve it for the Japan market.  Some times it seems they have made their own machines.

(I am going to be linking to a few machines on my other project, a foreigners' guide to eremeka arcades - 外国人のためのエレメカアーケードゲームガイド.  Be sure to check that link out for vastly more information that you need about eremeka arcade machines.  Click the linked names of machines in this article for a more thorough look at them.)



It's gonna get weird.


Identifying machines

They do not have a logo, but Oriental Kogyo often brand with their name, ORIENTAL, somewhere on the machine.

That lion is the Löwen-Automaten logo that appears on some version of Super Match.

 On the original machines, it appears like this:

German Super Match

There is a rotary merchandiser from オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo) which came out around 1977 called Super-Scope.  It also has a logo that appears to be heavily influenced by the lion graphic.  I wonder if they were inspired to use that logo because of the logo on Super Match?  All of these lions are slightly different in design, so more of a mascot than a pure corporate logo that follows tighter design specifications.


Super-Scope also has the word Oriental on it.
Super-Scope detail


The game Phantom-F-108 [Phantom II-108] has the word "Oriental" on the marquee, and I suspect that might be by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo).


The machine Magic Hat appears in the 1974 Machine Directory.  This is labeled as being by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo) and even with this poor reproduction you can clearly see the ORIENTAL on the cabinet.

1974 Magic Hat - マジックハット by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)


Machine List

I have notes for about 15 different machine by Oriental Kogyo.  Start in this page of machines made before 1970, and you'll find 3 entries that are from 1969 or earlier:
  • ~1969 オリエンタル・ジャンマー (oriental jammer): an electromechanical gambling machine, like a slot machine
  • ~1969 オリエンタルクレーン (oriental crane): a crane game that is similar to Sega's Skill Diga machines, but does not seem to be a copy, and also many companies produced similar cranes in the 1960s.  They all took their inspiration from USA's Hollycrane of the 1950s.
  • ~1969 ルーレットマシーン (roulette machine): I have a nagging suspicion that this 4-player 8-sided gambling machine is an import but I have not been able to solve this mystery as of writing.
オリエンタル・ジャンマー (oriental jammer)

オリエンタルクレーン (oriental crane)

ルーレットマシーン (roulette machine)



Things start getting weird in 1970.  We start with an entry I feel is mundane, because it looks like an original arcade machine:
1970 Invasion - インベーション by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)
Might this have been an original machine idea?  

EDIT 2023-07-20:  The Oriental Kogyo machine is a copy of Invasion by Rollite 

A collector shared this video of their restored Invasion, and say it might be the only surviving copy.  

Note how the original cabinet has fantastic stenciling, but the Oriental Kogyo version does not.  But Oriental Kogyo did copy the style of the internal explosion artwork.



Things quickly go off the rails.
1970 Monte Carlo - モンテ カルロラリー (Monte Carlo Rally) by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)
the original:  Indy 500 [W-type] - インディ500 [W型] by 関西精機製作所 (Kansai Seiki Seisakusho)





Sky Fighter?  It appears to be an entirely fresh build where every detail is a throwback to Battle King - バトルキング by 児童遊園設備 (Children's Amusement Park Facilities), which was from 1969 or earlier.
Sky Fighter by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)

the original:  Battle King - バトルキング by 児童遊園設備 (Children's Amusement Park Facilities)
1969 or earlier



Wild Cycle?  It appears to be a  remake of the Allied Leisure Wild Cycle.
The original:  1970 Wild Cycle by Allied Leisure


I do not even know if this machine can even count as an import!  Check the article for more details.

What blows me away is that Wild Cycle came out in 1970.  The Oriental Kogyo remake came out the exact same year, a continent away.
The Indy 500 W-Type also came out that year, and the Oriental Kogyo version called Monte Carlo was released the same year.
This shows a company with lightning reflexes, springing into action purely in reaction to other companies.  At first I had assumed that maybe they were buying old parts and cabinets and refashioning them into a slightly different title, but the timeline is far more compressed than I ever could have imagined.
Could there have possibly been licensing deals?  It does not make any sense.


Super Match is at least a legitimate-looking conversion.  It is a German machine that was imported, but the cabinet reworked to include a prize dispenser.  Please read the article for more photos of the modification.
Super Match [Super.Match] by NSM-Löwen & オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)

The original from NSM-Löwen 1967


This is weird, and I've mostly just discussed machines that showed up the Amusement Machine show in November 1970.

Things got weird again.
Phantom-F-108 [Phantom II-108] by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo) [presumed] 

The original: 1970 Air Fighter - エアーファイター by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki  —  Kasco)

I suspect the photo these machines are from is around 1971, but I have no way to be sure.  It is a remarkable photo that makes me suspect if it was test location for Oriental Kogyo.  One machine is Oriental Kogyo, and the other machine certainly fits the description of what was done to all of the prior machines from this company.  Who else would take a new Taito game and repaint it?

Another instance where a famous game in Japan, released very recently, had its entire art package reworked.  I have not seen evidence of this Phantom-F-108 outside of the arcade photo it is from, but then in that same photo we also have a mysterious Cycle Rider clone!
unknown game [same cabinet design as Cycle Rider - サイクルライダー by 太東 (Taito)] by unknown [probably オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)]

The original: 1970 Cycle Rider - サイクルライダー by 太東 (Taito)




Let's move on to the next machines, and encounter a slightly different mystery...

We know that in 1972 Oriental Kogyo sold a game called ミラクルハット (Miracle Hat).  We don't have a great picture of it, but it looks like an imported multiplayer gambling machine from the UK.

1972 ミラクルハット (Miracle Hat) by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)
[probably an import]
Of note is the black sign hanging from the top marquee


We then have a similar machine (perhaps the next generation design,) which I think is called Magic Hat.  We know Magic Hat was in Japan by 1973.  There is no evidence that this is by Oriental Kogyo, but the connection of the sign to Miracle Hat is hard to ignore.

Magic Hat by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo) [presumed]

Magic Hat by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo) [presumed]

I have not been able to find an image that would let us read the sign.  I want to know what it says!
The games are similar to the Crompton game series called Magic Toppers.

But then in 1974, there's a drastically different machine being sold by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo) and this one has that "ORIENTAL" branding on it.

1974 Magic Hat - マジックハット by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)

It seems like Oriental Kogyo imported 2 different hat games, and then maybe produced their own?  This all probably happened in a span of 2 years, or shorter.


With their history of copying and modifying games, it seems Oriental Kogyo found some strong legitimacy in the 2nd half of the 1970s, as a few of their machines were prominently sold by Sega.

These are machines that featured in Sega catalogues:

オリエンタルクレーン (oriental crane) by オリエンタル興業 (Oriental Kogyo)
We say this machine at the start of the list, but it was still being sold by Sega into the 70s.
While it is similar to Sega's Super Skill Diga, it does not appear to be an exact copy.

Super Crane - スーパー・クレーン
By 1977, Sega was selling this machine instead of the Oriental Crane


1978 オリエンタル・ジャンボ・フォー (Oriental Jumbo Four)

1977 Super-Scope - スーパースコープ

The Oriental Jumbo Four is a 4-player rotary merchandiser, a mechanism for prize games that probably goes back to around 1920.  There are many models of rotary merchandisers out there, but I have not matched this particular design to any pre-existing machine.

While writing this article I had a moment where I realized Super-Scope might be their most well-known original machine, but then suddenly had the question: how do I know Super-Scope is original?  I went back to my notes and realized I had placed Super-Scope in 1974 because of this photograph:

Game Machine 1974-09-30
リバーストン商会は (Riverstone Company) organized a sales exhibition of machines 
Let's zoom in!

That is not the Oriental Kogyo Super-Scope!  The marquee font has a different curve, and the cabinet does not have a ledge facing the player.  The hunt was on!


I contacted supershotrollerrob and he recognized it immediately, saying it was in a video that he uploaded, of a UK arcade in 1994.

You can see it here!

There was not a good shot of the machine itself, but supershotrollerrob went back to the source and was able to get us the shot!



It appears that Super-Scope was a variant of this British machine.  I do not currently know who made the original.  Read more about Super-Scope here.




Other than all that, the only other electromechanical machines by Oriental Kogyo are these two from a 1975 Amusement machine exhibition
オリエンタルエアプレーン (Oriental air plane) [prototype] can be seen.
Also mentions ダービーウィナー (Derby winner) but I have never seen this machine, or heard of it again.
from Game Machine 1975-11-01


What a weird company.
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