Am I the only fan of these things on here?
Am I the only fan of these things on here?
Nz17 (03-08-2019)
Had to look up what this even was but then when I saw a pic I was like "OOOH THOSE THINGS!"
A store in a neighboring county had two... one with some old Namco games and another with three versions of Street Fighter II, including Super Turbo (which never had a *good* home port). I was legitimately interested in the SFII one, but I didn't have the money or means of transport at the time.
Thanks for reminding me of these. Now I know what to save for.
Looking into what others these guys did.
Actually... one question I had when I first saw these is how do they work? Surely they're some sort of emulation, right?
If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, you should check out the subreddit @ https://www.reddit.com/r/Arcade1Up/
Right, don't direct me at a specific topic or something, just a reddit where I can be lost for hours and forget what the question even was.
Well, I at least know these aren't just Rasperry Pi's running MAME now, but I'm curious as to the quality of the emulation.
I'm also curious about two other things: One is the screen--what kind of screen it is (I assume it has to be a flatscreen of some variety).
The other is modability. Like basically would it be possible to use this thing as a Supergun (basically take out the built-in game's boards and hook up some other arcade PCBs?) This question though seems like a definite "yes and there's probably somebody who has already done it."
Well, we did just discuss them in this thread...
https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/s...ance-at-Target
My only impression of them came from the Walmart display models which seemed to be falling apart and had the control panel graphics rubbing right off.
"Game programmers are generally lazy individuals. That's right. It's true. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Since the dawn of computer games, game programmers have looked for shortcuts to coolness." Kurt Arnlund - Game programmer for Activision, Accolade...
the time you spend asking the question then waiting for somebody to respond, you can spend on the link I provided and find pretty much every answer to every question you've had so far.
I will answer your one question though. Yes, they are a cheap LCD flatscreen. Pretty much everything in these are cheap to keep the cost down. If you aren't that concerned about high quality, then these are nice to have. If you buy one to just replace every single component (i.e. buttons, monitor, pcb, etc.) then you're better off just building from scratch.
Last edited by fluid_matrix; 03-09-2019 at 02:04 AM.
I definitely noticed the rubbed off graphics on the display model I saw at my local Walmart... and this was in January so it hadn't been there but a couple months (remnants of a holiday display, I think.) Literally stark white wherever a hand might fall.
I'm still tempted though, for the upcoming bartop edition of Centipede, or the wall-hang one.. if they can improve the quality just a bit.
I should note I don't have constant internet access, so often asking and hoping for a response really is the only thing I can do.
A local retro toy store has a bunch assembled for sale and play. The screens has some "light bleed" around the edges but the clarity and speed was good. My daughters and step-daughters played a couple machines and they had a good time . I played on the Asteroids machine and other than the height (a little low even with the stand) and the lack of true vector, it was still fun.
As for quality- well, is one of those things going to get the same abuse as display models at a retail store? Unless you like to beat the crap out of the machine, I'd say they should be fine. As I said in the B&S thread on this, if I had the space and the money, I'd get one.
I saw one of these machines at a walmart. It had the same graphic wear near the controls, and the controls were actually toast. Granted all it takes is probably one person abusing the store display to mess them up, but the store unit is no longer functioning. It has been there a little over a year.
I found these on Clearance for 175 via Brickseek. Wave 2 is about to come out now so the wave 1 machines are going on clearance at lots of Wal Marts. I bought 5 of them for 175 a piece. Now I have a mini arcade in my garage and it is amazing.
Here is some responses to some of your thoughts and questions:
Yes the graphics rub off. The company sells a protective cover you can put over the graphics to prevent that and all the wave 2 machines ship with the protector included.
As for the size of the machines they sell an add on riser that brings up to standing level.
The roms they are running are the original arcade Roms.
Wave 1 is not without it's issues. I bought my 1st one at retail price and I have to admit at that price I was a little iffy on it. Retail is 299 plus another 50 if you want a riser. After tax you are pushing 400 dollars. Still WAY cheaper than an actual arcade machine. But yeah these things are not built out of top grade materials. Find them marked down to 200 and below then buy them up because they are definitely worth that. The controls are solid but not quite arcade quality. There are several web sites that sell plug and play SANWA joystick and button kits for not much coin. Even places that make light up marquees and new graphics if you are into that.
My verdict is these are slightly over priced at retail but fortunately go on sale often. Totally worth the money when discounted. I thoroughly enjoy having a garage arcade and spend a LOT of time out there playing Galaga, Pac Man, Street Fighter, Joust, Centipede. IT IS FUN!
I guess the main reason that I'd find it hard to spend so much on one of these is because I bought my Ninja Gaiden cabinet for $50. After beating it a dozen or so times I converted it into a MAME machine. Even with the i-Pac, custom artwork, etc it cost me less than one of the Arcade1up machines.
"Game programmers are generally lazy individuals. That's right. It's true. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Since the dawn of computer games, game programmers have looked for shortcuts to coolness." Kurt Arnlund - Game programmer for Activision, Accolade...
thought about it lots of folks adding games to them and small footprint to-wife said no