Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-29980193-20200316015545/@comment-71.255.116.68-20200329012627

I'd like to point out Cabinet Man is a perfectly 100% sourcelist accurate fusion rip for Chiaki.

Chiaki is only allowed arcade games created in 1984 or earilier.

However due to the lyrics "now my days here are done, because there's a tiny little box they made in Japan" Cabinet Man died/was created prior to the release of the Famicom or NES which was in 1983 (Famicom) and 1985. (NES) The lyrics "I was happy for years and years" also cement that since he was popular in the arcade for years he's been around for quite a while before the release of the Famicom, firmly cementing him as being created in the 70s.

This actually matches up, as Neil has said that Polybius served as the inspiration for the song ("only driving a few kids to madness") and the song may ambigiously be his take on it's story, he's never clarified that. While Polybius has no actual release date due to not actually existing, it's very firmly an urban legend, the rumors surrounding it's existence began in 1971, thus giving that as it's irl """release date""" and assuming Cabinet Man and Polybius are one in the same (even if they aren't), Cabinet Man fits perfectly as if it was also released in 1971 then that explains the "years and years" line, and why the arcade became empty, as the line he states about "the box in Japan" dates 'the present day' to be either 1989 or the previous year since that is the release of the Game Boy referenced in the line "pretty soon it's gonna fit in your hand", meaning the arcade is empty right before the turn of the decade and entering the 90s. (The comment about the Game Boy, combined with "I think it's Christmas Eve" and the fact how would he know, he's locked inside unless the arcade is celebrating it, which is debatable, firmly dating it to December, meaning whoever broke in could have very well been taking advantage of New Year's festivities or drunk, since their age is never specified, we just assume it's teenagers via the "taking my quarters" line, which seems like a teenagery thing to do.)

But hey

That's just a theory.

A SONG theory! Thanks for reading! ;)