Play Midway Arcade at Target.

[GrandAmChandler]

...if they put this thing in the bathroom, I would put a quarter in the urinal and piss in the cabinet.

He's not kidding. It's that bad. The quality is laughable, and offensive to retro gamers everywhere.

[davidbrit2]

The local Target got one of these in, so I got to give it a few test runs. I wouldn't say it's total rubbish, but it's certainly not worth $500 by any stretch of the imagination. My primary complaint is that the picture quality on that TV is such crap. The image was too bright, causing the colors to be washed out pretty bad. If they had used a 17" TV with s-video, it probably would have looked a lot nicer. And the sticks and buttons just don't feel as sturdy as they ought to be.

[Arkaign]

Man I can't believe no one commenting on teh Neo Geo thing didn't say anything about the ONE FREAKING CONTROLLER

What's the point of SNK fighters if you can't have 1v1s?

[InsaneDavid]

Man I can't believe no one commenting on the Neo Geo thing didn't say anything about the ONE FREAKING CONTROLLER

What's the point of SNK fighters if you can't have 1v1s?

That cabinet (which is a rip off of the tabletop MAME cabinet that Lunacade sells - which is terribly overpriced there as well since it's about $15 worth of lumber - the base package is about $700) is a smaller unit designed for the single player, sometimes referred to as a "bartop" cabinet.

If people want home arcades without the home authentic arcade maintenance I suggest heading over to http://www.MAMEworld.net and picking up some knowledge. Do Google searches for MAME cabinets and see what others have built. Most MAME cab builders that have sites will gladly help and give advice. Yeah, not everyone can do it, but as most MAME builders will say on their sites "I had no woodworking experence" or "I didn't own a soldering iron" but with some time and determination you can have a custom cabinet for way less than that Target arcade crap. I've said it many times, when it's said and done my MAME cocktail is going to run me about $350 total and the bulk of that comes from buying an I-PAC convertor and a display.

[InsaneDavid]

Oh, almost forgot.

For those of you who said that ALL the cabinets that Target is selling are total crap even though all you've played have been the "play Midway" or whatever junk cab, here's some information on the "Arcade Legends" standup...

http://www.hammacher.com/publish/10648.asp

It's all real arcade parts, arcade monitor, and even if it is using a solidstate board inside to play the games, all that stuff can be converted over to MAME for a few bucks. The coin door on those does not work but it CAN be wired to the credit leads on an I-PAC as long as it has the mechs inside. Most of the games listed fall under StarROMs. It's what we call a "home use MAME cabinet."

I'd wait for an apology but it'll never come.

[ClubNinja]

I'd wait for an apology but it'll never come.

Right. That's because the thing is still playing ROMs. The biggest selling point is that it could be converted to MAME with little effort. MAME is still ROMs and ROMs are still no fun. So, I still think it's total crap, just maybe in a decent cabinet. Convert that sucker to a real JAMMA cabinet, buy some boards, and THEN you'll be cooking.

[Arcade Antics]

I'd wait for an apology but it'll never come.

Why would you even want an apology in the first place?

People are discussing their opinions of various "arcade" games in the thread. Nobody hurled insults at you, and you didn't design any of these machines (and if you did, most of us would be waiting for an apology ), so... why wait for an apology?

Your opinion is pretty useless if that they're not even in stores yet to try.

Memo to Leo: they ARE in stores to try. We've tried them. They're crap.

Lighten up, folks.

[Arcade Antics]

No surprise that someone who write his name in gay-pink thinks it crap.

It's surprising that you feel the need to insult someone here. If you can't post without insulting other forum members, please don't post at all.

[swlovinist]

I specialize in collecting crappy video games, and I am not going to consider it. At first, I thought everyone was bagging on the arcade because it was not tall enough, THEN I PLAYED IT. Try thinking of the first Atari Flashback doing an emulator of midway games. The Graphics are not even close, let alone gameplay. Robotron plays well with the double joystick, but Tapper looks like pure horsecrap. I agree with others, Save your money and go buy Midway Arcade Treasures for any system, along with an X-Arcade Joystick. Hell, build a MAME Cab and do it some justice. The arcade cab is the cheapest piece of crap I have ever seen someone trying to sell. I cannot even believe what they were thinking, other than cashing in. If I was one of the original programmers of these games, I would be offended. Seriously, Stay away at all costs.

[InsaneDavid]

Why would you even want an apology in the first place?

Because my VirtualOn Twinstick ate my soul and I have nothing else to hope for.

[Arcade Antics]

Why would you even want an apology in the first place?

Because my VirtualOn Twinstick ate my soul and I have nothing else to hope for.

I'll gladly trade you Milhouse's soul for that twinstick.

[Captain Wrong]

Alright. I went to Target this afternoon specifically in search of this Midway cab. (Ended up finding Darkstalkers for a PSP I don't own for $7.50. Heh.)

Plain and simple...

Shit sandwich.

Really, whoever said this was like a Jakks plug and play stick was giving this waaaay too much credit. This is more like one of those funky NES clones with all the poorly coded games that look similar to games you know but aren't. These games aren't emulated, they're some really poorly done ports.

And talk about flimsy! Oh man. I think the "Pac Man" cabinet I made from an old refrigerator box when I was 8 was sturdier than this pressboard monstrosity.

Wow. Just depressing. Avoid avoid avoid!

Edit: just noticed the pic everyone linked to upthread now shows the correct Taito game rather than the Neo Geo one. Heh. I'd like to see one of eithe of those in action though after having hands on time with the Midway one, I fear the worst. And, as someone else noted, a NeoGeo with one controller is about as useful as tits on a nun.