Conversion kit
A conversion kit is a product sold by video game manufacturers which can convert an existing arcade game into a new one. Conversion kits typically contain all the hardware, software, cabinet art, and instructions necessary to transition one cabinet to another. In order to keep their cost low, conversion kits are designed to reuse as much hardware from the original cabinet as possible, but this also means the hardware of the existing game must be very similar to the hardware of the new game.
Conversion kits are often made by the same developers of the game meant to be converted as a way for arcade owners to replace games with declining sales with a new game at a much lower cost. Conversion kits were also made for internal use by video game manufacturers as a way to replace games which under-performed expectations. For example, when Nintendo's Radar Scope didn't meet their expected sales, they were stuck with thousands of unsold cabinets. The game Donkey Kong was designed to work using the bulk of Radar Scope's hardware, and the cabinets were converted internally by Nintendo.
Conversion kits are also made by competing companies looking to profit off the dwindling sales of their competitor's games. For example, Roxor sold conversion kits that replaced older Konami's Dance Dance Revolution cabinets with Roxor's own In the Groove games, while reusing much of the same hardware.
History
Conversion kits are almost as old as the arcade industry with many of the very first arcade cabinets like Pong being targeted by conversion kits not long after being released.
Media
Atari sold conversion kits that could convert five different games into Crystal Castles.
Data East conversion kit to the DECO Cassette System - page 1.
Data East conversion kit to the DECO Cassette System - page 2.
Data East conversion kit to the DECO Cassette System - page 3.
Data East conversion kit to the DECO Cassette System - page 4.
