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: company-meiho

Monday, 18 December 2023

1977 Miracle Space - ミラクル・スペース by 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

Name: Miracle Space - ミラクル・スペース
Year: 1977
Company: 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

Game Machine 1977-08-15

This game appears to be the same game as ビクトリー (victory) but with a nice art package.

1976 ビクトリー (victory) by 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

A promotional letter from 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji) introducing Miracle Space. This letter identifies 3 previous games: ホッケーパンダ (Hockey Panda), ビクトリー (victory), and ドラゴンキック (dragon kick).

1973 ホッケーパンダ (Hockey Panda) by 新精電機 (Shinsei Denki) & 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji) & 日昌企業 (Nissho Enterprise)

Name: ホッケーパンダ (Hockey Panda)
Year: 1973
Company: 新精電機 (Shinsei Denki) & 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji) & 日昌企業 (Nissho Enterprise)

This game was also sold without the custom stand, but there is no difference otherwise.

look at those cute pandas playing hockey!

This game has 3 companies listed on its flyer:

新精電機 (Shinsei Denki) & 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji) & 日昌企業 (Nissho Enterprise)

The earliest I have seen this game is 1973.

Amusement Industry 1973-05

The game Miracle Space was released in 1977. In a letter promoting Miracle Space, Hockey Panda is mentioned as a past game by Meiho Shoji.

promotional letter for 1977 Miracle Space

The game's layout was modified slightly for the game Victory. I presume Victory came after Hockey Panda, as they introduced 7-segment score displays, and altered the ball path in a way that would be later replicated in Miracle Space.

1976 ビクトリー (victory) by 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

1977 Miracle Space - ミラクル・スペース by 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

1976 ビクトリー (victory) by 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

Name: ビクトリー (victory)

Year: 1976

Company: 名宝商事 (Meiho Shoji)

When I first found photos of this machine, the files were labeled "victory", but I initially thought they might have just read "ビクトリー" off the center rocket graphic. But now I do believe this machine is called ビクトリー (victory).

In promoting the game Miracle Space, Meiho Shoji sent this letter which identifies 3 of their prior games, one of which is ビクトリー (victory). I have to assume that this is the machine referred to, for reasons that will become apparent once you compare it to Miracle Space.

ドラゴンキック (dragon kick) is mentioned, but I have currently never seen this game.

The Hockey Panda game is nearly the same as Victory, but the ball is shot vertically on the right like the European vertical machines. On Victory, the ball is shot to the left and then up, which would be much more familiar to pachinko players.