The massive arcade in Brookfield, Illinois has given life to an arcade game that officially was never born. The Galloping Ghost Arcade, after cannibalizing the corpse of a 3DO video game console, has revived a prototype of a Beavis and Butt-Head arcade game, which was based on the animated sitcom of the same title.
The Galloping Ghost Arcade has made a name for itself by becoming one of the world's largest arcades and by adding rare prototypes of arcade games to its collection. The Beavis and Butt-Head prototype that now lives within its walls is one of just 12 that were built before Atari abandoned the game.
The game, procured by Prince Arcades, wasn't close to plug-and-play condition when the Galloping Ghost Arcade received the relic that dates way back to the mid-1990s.
"When we received the cabinet, its proprietary CD drive was not working and the game was completely dead," the arcade stated in a Facebook post. "The drive had an odd ribbon cable we'd not seen before."
Its printed circuit board looked to be in good shape, the cabinet was clean and it included its original documentation. Its documentation told the tale of a 1999 MTV auction and even revealed the arcade machine's serial number: Proto #9, as in nine of 12 prototypes made.
However, there was the hurdle of the unfamiliar ribbon cable and the proprietary CD drive. But a 3DO logo, which appeared when the machine was reset, gave the arcade's staff the critical hint needed to Frankenstein the prototype back to life.
The crew went out and picked up a 3DO console, which probably belongs in a museum, and they harvested the drive and cable needed to get the Beavis and Butt-Head game running again.
After some trial and error in putting the components together, they were finally able to come up with a configuration that worked. With the drive back in the 3DO and the power running from the 3DO to the drive, the arcade team connected the data cable to the Beavis and Butt-Head PCB. Soon, they heard the "incredibly recognizable" theme song of the sitcom.
"Now it is available for all to play!" the arcade team announced.
Check out a rare gameplay footage of a Beavis and Butt-Head arcade game:
