Best NES/Clone for an Arcade Setting?

[Nz17]

So I know two guys who have opened an arcade locally. Cool, right? Especially as the town was arcade-less... perhaps forever, now that I think about it: it might have never had an arcade before. But even the not-an-arcade-but-still-has-arcade-games places had gotten rid of almost all of the publicly accessible video arcade games in town, leaving behind just prize games like claw machines.

However that's changed, and we've got a cool little "game center" now. It's called Sneedle P's Arcade if you were wondering. And the guys there are pretty cool cats. Besides for the video arcade games, they've also got ticket redemption games, light gun games, kiddie rides, billiards, darts, skee ball, air hockey, foosball, snacks, and drinks. The games range in vintage from 1980 to about ten years ago with DDR Extreme 2.

The thing is, they also want to have some TV consoles for multiplayer. They "rent" them out to play at the arcade on their HDTV at the price of $3 for 30 minutes. Pretty good pricing if you ask me. Right now they have an XBOX 360 with Street Fighter IV and they'll be bringing in some more 360 games later. (By the way, any recommendations for 360 games that can be played offline with local multiplayer, split-screen or shared-screen, are appreciated.)

However they also have an NES and a load of former rental store cartridges that they want to also have available, assumedly at the same rental price of $3 for 30 minutes. I've volunteered to get these working for them. The console and games seem to just have a lot of grimy buildup from all the years that they were used and from not being cleaned.

Here's the thing though: I'm not sure if a toaster-style NES is the right hardware for an arcade setting. People tend to be rough on arcade hardware, especially out here in "cowboy country." NES-001's tend to be finicky at times, and I'm worried that people aren't going to be gentle and patient with the things. Plus, it is so easy for the connectors to get out of alignment or the games not to run if debris gets inside, and with food and drinks abound, there's all the more chance of it happening.

I'm going to make some recommendations to them, a PlayChoice-10 among them. But I got to thinking, surely there is a more durable, reliable option out there compared to an NES-001 that doesn't require the expensive and moving difficulties of a PlayChoice-10. But that's where my certainty ends. What to choose? The expensive NES 2? A Famiclone? Which one? Something from Hyperkin? I'm not sure. They don't need 100% compatibility with all carts, but it should be good enough where casuals will be satisfied with the experience. Durability and dependability are very important though.

Your recommendations are appreciated! Thanks.

[popye101]

Why not give a try to NES and see how it goes. Maybe it will exceed your expectations.

[Tanooki]

The NES-2 Top Loader isn't that expensive if you're just buying it alone without the controllers. The problem is the lack of shielding so you get the bars, but they can be mitigated various ways and the one I did with my original was to run its RF into an RCA proscan vCR and that via A/V cable to the TV and it was crystal clear. If you can get something as a buffer between it and the TV you'll get the clarity and the thing is a fricking tank, it won't die. The for the arcade experience, get a pair of NES Advantage joysticks and put one into each controller port and mount it to an arcade cabinet of some style you do (if you take it that far)...or go nuts and pull that apart and mount those guts to a real arcade cabinet for the stick and run wires to a pair of arcade buttons and you're really set. They could beat the hell out of that wood all day long on the cabinet and it would last, then just pop the back open and put a new cart in.