ultracade - what is it?

[googlefest1]

At the local arcade store i saw a few ultracade machines - which had 100 clasic games on them - i picked up the flier and checked out thier web site.

ive also searched other websites aswell

what i couldnt find was - what the freck is the ultracade - is it a mame thing
the games are loaded from CDs and USB sticks

the module is a box that plugs into the jamma conector

is it an actual arcade product?

- or a peice of junk PC-104 format PC with an embeded OS running a emulator like MAME

i can not find any hardware info on this thing - does anyone here know what this is?

[Lady Jaye]

http://www.ultracade.com/flashsite.html

Ultracade is a company that manufactures retrogaming arcade cabinets. Different licensed games are available, but each cabinet ships with a pre-installed set of 86 classics - mostly Capcom games.

Their products are mostly geared at arcade operators, but they also sell consumer products (including a consumer arcade 25" dedicated cabinet called Arcade Legends).

There's one Ultracade cabinet at one bar I hang out (one section of the bar is actually an arcade with a separate door, accessible only through the bar). That one only has the basic Capcom set (still great stuff!). In another arcade, I saw another Ultracade cabinet, this one with the usual Capcom games, plus some Midway classics like Robotron (that was the first time I ever played Robotron on an actual arcade cabinet!!!).

[Stingray]

The prevelent opinion on the BYOAC board is that it runs a hacked version of MAME. I've never seen one in person myself.

-S

[googlefest1]

i found the manual for the ultracade conversion kit

it looks just like PC parts jammed into a metal frame

so I gues its not a real arcade just an emulator product

[Lady Jaye]

...but sold to arcade operators, contrarily to most emulation projects.

[googlefest1]

yea - but still not a "real" arcade by the way i look at it

- no diference between the ultracade and a mame cabinet - except for the licenced roms

so does anyone know what kind of hardware it has?

[Peale]

The prevelent opinion on the BYOAC board is that it runs a hacked version of MAME. I've never seen one in person myself.


The UltraCade machines use a custom emulator and frontend. The files used are encrpyted so you can't copy them between machines.

[Stingray]

The prevelent opinion on the BYOAC board is that it runs a hacked version of MAME. I've never seen one in person myself.


The UltraCade machines use a custom emulator and frontend. The files used are encrpyted so you can't copy them between machines.

I stand corrected. Thanks for clearing that up, Peale I'm certainly willing to take your word for it. So am I thinking one of the other commercially available multi game systems or did I just dream that hacked version of MAME thing?

-S

[Lady Jaye]

Or maybe it's just a misconception that people have of the Ultracade when they learn that it's emulation-based?

[Captain Wrong]

All I know is the sticks are too far apart to play Robotron really well. Or maybe the Newcastles were kicking in. LOL

[FooFighter]

They run about $3500-$5500 for the stand-up model depending on which game package you get. I looked them up a couple of years ago after playing on one at an arcade in Thermopolis, Wy. The front end has a scroll down list on one side and a gamescreen pic on the other. It reminds me a little of MameWah, just more fancy. They are fun, but more than I would be willing to spend, I'll stick to mame.

Here's a good link for pricing and features:
http://www.bmigaming.com/ultracadefaq.htm