The Willis Berzerk replacement control panel overlay is an interesting piece of arcade history. Typically Willis put identifying information on their overlays to let everyone know it was made by Willis Ind. Inc., but in this case they omitted that information. For awhile I thought this was a bootleg piece of artwork, but then I found mention of the overlay in a catalog, which correctly identified it as a Willis piece. So what happened? I could hypothesize that because it was an early game, coming out in 1980, that Willis hadn’t started putting identification on their overlays. I might also say that because of the similarities in the characters, they were just being sneaky! This overlay has an interesting design with the wall like shapes mimicking the maze in the game, the samurai armor enemies prominently displayed, and bright vibrant colors to draw your attention. It’s the samurai armor guys, which are so similar to the original side art, which lead me to believe they wanted to keep their name off the product, and avoid any potential legal hassle. If you know anything about Berzerk, the original panel was made of screen printed stainless steel. A great looking control panel, but the mix of materials heated up and cooled down at different rates, causing the clear coat to crack and split, which looked terrible. Stern offered a replacement overlay, but it was probably more costly than the Willis version and certainly not as colorful.
From the original Tokens Only post dated 12-28-2010
Willis Berzerk cpo
This one is among my favorite Willis overlay’s and while I admit it’s not as amazing as the stainless steel original, at least there was an attempt to make it blend with the theme and artwork of the game.
Lots of robots pulled from the side art and colors from the bezel. Not a bad replacement and perhaps better than the dark factory replacement cpo that was offered direct from Stern. This Willis Berzerk control panel overlay is in great shape and produced with their typical quality production. I will happily add it to the archive.
Looking for a stainless steel reproduction for your Berzerk upright? Pre-order yours now! Likely the last time I will revisit this project, so if you need one, let me know.
The Willis Berzerk replacement control panel overlay is a fantastic example of Willis quality. Sporting 8 colors in the screen print, die-cuts and 3M quality paper, they set the standard for screen printed art back in the golden age of arcades. I will re-affirm that this overlay would be much better than the dark Stern replacement, but not as nice as the original stainless steel panels. Sadly I ran out of the reproductions long ago.
