Who knows if this is official/unofficial?

[finisher]

http://www.buy.com/prod/big-electron...203252253.html

Features 12 games (including Contra). However, I can't be sure if it's an official product or not. It is made by this company called "Big Electronic Games" in Hong Kong.

[Daria]

in Hong Kong.

My guess would be "no."

[GnawRadar]

I second that no.

[porkchop_pt]

No it is not.
The arcade machine and cabinet itself is manufactured by Big Electronic Games, but the games themselves on the machine are real Konami licensed games.... but it is not an "official" Konami machine.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I own one, so I'll get in with my two cents before the requisite negativity.

I got mine about two years ago, brand new and on sale at a local Sports authority for around $299.99.

The machine stands at about 5 feet high, it's very similar to the small cabaret arcade cabinets of the 80's / Japan, etc.

When deconstructed, it consists of 1-inch thick laminated MDF (which a lot of MAME'ers are using to build their own cabs these days) with all of those labels pre-affixed.

It runs off of a mini MAME multicade style PCB which has it's own AC and a 17 inch PC Monitor, on it's side - set to a vertical position.

The bottom three buttons each controller are non-functional, but the sticks and the buttons, while small, are not IMO flimsy as some reports would lead one to believe.

The bottom half of the cabinet opens up for storage, which it has a lot of! (I keep lots of electronic stuff in there).

Now, the game quality.

All the roms run well, and it's a decent selction of Konami arcade roms. Gyruss, Green Beret, Contra, Hyper Sports, and Blades of Steel are the arcade roms, while Castlevania is the NES Play Choice ROM.

Contra is the only rom that suffers some MINISCULE audio variation from it's arcade counterpart, but the gameplay is solid on that (and everything else), even with 2 player mode in full effect.

Interestingly enough, under all the MDF, the monitor is pretty much a straight up monitor with it's input cable in tact, so if one wanted to, this could be gutted (nothing to gut really ... so I suppose it could be FILLED) with a CPU, and the arcade sticks & buttons could easily be replaced with some wired to an iPac board or the like and this could be converted to a MAME machine for very little cost and effort.

Is this thing "worth" it? For most, probably not, though I've seen MAME kits go for MUCH MUCH more than what you could probably find this for.

I've never regretted my purchase, as it fits nicely in the corner of my bedroom and allows me a quick game of Gyruss or Hyper Sports before bed if I'm so inclined.

[finisher]

Ah, yes. Thanks for the info, Frankie. I appreciate the responses, guys

[Pantechnicon]

As far as legality is concerned, I'm certain that whatever games are on the thing are legitimately licensed. JC Penney was selling a similar device a couple of years ago, running a bunch of Williams ROMs including Robotron and Joust. As far as this one is concerned, I've seen it in big chains like Target or Linens-N-Things and so I assume it has a higher profile than the guy selling famiclones at the flea market.

Essentially I look at these things as MAME cabinets for people who are either unable to build their own, or can't afford the higher end ones from Sharper Image and the like. Even that's not entirely accurate since there's no PC hardware inside. I'm betting everything runs off of a NOAC.

Anyway, there' s nothing wrong with owning one if you can't make your own. Frankie's assessment of his own machine is an honest-sounding one. I would just add that if you've got the skill set to modify one of these then you've got the skills to build a real MAME cab from the ground up.

[guitargary75]

I wouldn't mind having one. However, it seems very expensive to me.

[Garry Shandling]

http://www.buy.com/prod/big-electron...203252253.html

Features 12 games (including Contra). However, I can't be sure if it's an official product or not. It is made by this company called "Big Electronic Games" in Hong Kong.

Gary Shandling