Mini Arcade Alert!

[Skeeter]

No Cracker Barrel's by you? Plus as mentioned above, Amazon now carries them...

 

You can also try Walmart online. Some priced lower than $15 and these are the Tiny Arcades, not the Walmart/Basic Fun models.

[zenmechanic]

I'm not sure if anyone here is a member of the Bridge Direct/My Arcade group on facebook but I had a few posts regarding the Data East 10" multicab and how to mod it. The unit itself is running Android 4.4.2 on a stripped down tablet PCB originally manufactured by Denver Electronics. You can review the base unit here. That particular link was set as the default home page in the android browser on the unit. Hilarious.

 

The mod isn't really difficult. Inside the case the mainboard has an onboard micro USB header. If you connect a usb cable from the board to your PC it will recognize it as an android device and from there you can use ADB to get shell access to the unit. BTW shell access is pre-rooted. This unit has an Allwinner A23 with either 512MB or 1GB of internal storage. If you use an OTG cable + a usb hub you can use a keyboard/mouse and mount external storage. Networking support is baked into the rom but I haven't had the chance to test it.

 

From here you can push different launchers to the unit, kill processes, or install other emulators or applications. If you just want to fix that horrible aspect ratio you can do the following: connect a OTG cable and an external mouse. Right-click and go into settings and you can change the landscape aspect ratio. No more stretched games! From this point you'll notice that the backend emulator is really just a hacked MAME4Droid with a custom front end. Here's where it gets good.

 

Since you have root access you can hit /data/apps and pull some of the .apks that were deployed to the unit. One of them is called DataEast_preload.apk. If you push this to a different android device you'll find a few interesting things. One: It'll extract the MAME4Droid app, plus all the ROMS(and system bioses) and will set itself as the default launcher for your device. I found that out the fun way by loading the apk on my old Nexus 6p.

 

If you want to go the dangerous route like I did you can push a different launcher to the device. I was able to install and launch Nova Launcher with no issues. Once installed I uninstalled the DataEast hacked MAME4Droid and installed the Play Store version. All the existing roms stayed intact and adding additional roms was easy via ADB push or you can copy paste them on the unit with the OTG cable and setup I mentioned above.

 

NOTE: Since this is a knock-off chinese tablet there is no easy recovery is you fuck it up. I've yet to find a decent way to backup the unit for easy restore or to pull a working image of the device. If you screw it up you might not be able to fix it.

 

Enjoy some pictures. If it's kosher to post the links to the facebook group there are a few videos there as well.

 

Edited May 8, 2018 by zenmechanic

[Tanooki]

I'm not sure if anyone here is a member of the Bridge Direct/My Arcade group on facebook but I had a few posts regarding the Data East 10" multicab and how to mod it. The unit itself is running Android 4.4.2 on a stripped down tablet PCB originally manufactured by Denver Electronics. You can review the base unit here. That particular link was set as the default home page in the android browser on the unit. Hilarious.

 

Impressive, but your link is dead. Also would help to get the facebook group linked if people want to know more or see more when those next mini cabs come out from MyArcade from Namco, or the TinyArcade trio too in summer.

[zenmechanic]

The link was alive when I posted to the various facebook groups. Oh well, that's life. It's still accessible via the Wayback Machine if someone reallllly wants to look at it.

 

Facebook groups:

1. My Arcade / Dreamgear Fan Page
2. Tiny Arcade Fan Group
3. Bridge Direct Arcade Classics Fan Club

[Flojomojo]

Looks like "Coleco" is back with the mini arcade idea. On Kickstarter.

 

 

All that sounds "fine," but what are they putting inside? Rainbow Brite and Robotech.

[JBerel]

Self written bio: "A man of many talents, Chris Cardillo is known for his work as co-owner of Coleco / ColecoVision and his movie appearances."

 

Can't even....

Just.....no

Edited May 8, 2018 by JBerel

[Tanooki]

Geez they want $70 for those Coleco tabletops if they go retail?? That's madness. Robotech (GBA ROM there), and Rainbow Bright (homebrew NES game they licensed) for that cost is stupid. I was interested, now I can't see it even at the $45 early backer discount tier.

[+thanatos]

Geez they want $70 for those Coleco tabletops if they go retail?? That's madness. Robotech (GBA ROM there), and Rainbow Bright (homebrew NES game they licensed) for that cost is stupid. I was interested, now I can't see it even at the $45 early backer discount tier.

 

And it's more than half funded already. What the....

[JBerel]

Invest in land and human intelligence, the only things they're not making any more of.

[simbalion]

I think there is a Cracker Barrel not overly far from where Toys R Us was at. I'll have to check it out.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I just noticed that the Cracker Barrel tiny arcades are now available on Amazon (and a few bucks cheaper too). Now I can complete my set, as the store nearby never had Galaga.

 

Also checked the Super Impulse website, looks like they will have three more this summer: http://superimpulse.com/our-brands/tiny-arcade-2/

I personally love Galaga. One of my all time favorite classic era space shooters!

[retrocore9]

I own all the original coleco tabletop games and I don't understand this kickstarter. The whole point of those tabletops was an arcade game in your home in a cool tabletop. They finally resurrect this after fans have been begging and they come up with two non arcade games. A GBA rom Robotech game? What happened here? I'm guessing they were too cheap to do any actual licenses for actual arcade games?

 

My Arcade has been doing an amazing job with their recent mini arcade line. Beautiful cabinets and actual arcade games (even if they are nes roms).

[Tanooki]

I agree with you and the price they're asking per unit, particularly at retail after this may be funded is entirely unreasonable. It wants to look like the early 80s original Coleco stuff, but fails to capture it beyond the shape of the shell. Given their burned reputation in the circles they'd want to sell this to over the Chameleon I think they're going to have a hard time doing much with this outside of them getting funded for the two. But if they projected maybe that's about all they could reliably expect then I guess it would be a shallow win for them.

 

I look at what they're doing there, then what MyArcade and Bridge Direct pulled off using NOAC level stuff or ARM based stuff and I question things. I hope it works, love Robotech, but I can play that just fine on my GBA with a $5-10 game purchase on existing stuff. There's no benefit there blowing $70 on a thing like that, and the other was at least a legit licensed game Coleco themselves developed in the style of the NES limitations they announced back about a year ago now.

[JBerel]

Weren't the screens bigger on the actual Coleco company units also?

 

Looks like one of them $20 shovelware 250 in one game systems in a bigger plastic box and one marginal title at best. If they just offered it in black with custom labels, decent internals, and an SD slot or USB port, they might have something.

Edited May 11, 2018 by JBerel

[Noah98]

Don't buy from Toys R' Us!

 

Since all sales are final, that includes exchanges. I bought a My Arcade Burgertime unit from them and the screen is defective. See my attached pictures. Unfortunately, I have to go through the warranty process now. They were nice on the phone, but we'll see how this is resolved. Hopefully, they won't expect me to pay shipping! That would be ridiculous, given the cost of the unit.

 

I attached a picture. You can see the annoying lines on the left side of the screen. Not sure if those are dead pixels, or what.

Edited May 11, 2018 by Noah98

[King_Salamon]

Don't buy from Toys R' Us!

 

Since all sales are final, that includes exchanges. I bought a My Arcade Burgertime unit from them and the screen is defective. See my attached pictures. Unfortunately, I have to go through the warranty process now. They were nice on the phone, but we'll see how this is resolved. Hopefully, they won't expect me to pay shipping! That would be ridiculous, given the cost of the unit.

 

I attached a picture. You can see the annoying lines on the left side of the screen. Not sure if those are dead pixels, or what.

 

Don't deal with Toys R Us... contact My Arcade directly and they will help you out and get you a replacement. This problem has occurred in the past and replacements have been sent out so please don't feel ripped off... get in contact with myarcadegaming.com and they will get you fixed up. That Burgertime game is fun and I enjoy mine a lot!

[Noah98]

 

Don't deal with Toys R Us... contact My Arcade directly and they will help you out and get you a replacement. This problem has occurred in the past and replacements have been sent out so please don't feel ripped off... get in contact with myarcadegaming.com and they will get you fixed up. That Burgertime game is fun and I enjoy mine a lot!

Thanks! I called them and they sent me an email requesting a picture of the unit, my receipt, and contact info. I sent the email yesterday, and Im waiting to see how they respond. The unit does seem pretty cool otherwise...

[King_Salamon]

They will fix it for you.

 

As for the unit itself... I agree. Burgertime was the first one I picked up on Boxing Day. I enjoyed it so much I grabbed Bad Dudes and surprised myself that I enjoyed it as much as I did! When I was looking into these units I discovered Karate Champ and got that one as well. Currently, I am waiting for WalMart Canada to carry the Caveman Ninja and Heavy Barrel units. They are a lot of fun... even if they are the NES versions.

 

Anyway... enjoy the Burgertime!

[+thanatos]

What version of Burgertime is that, NES? It is certainly not arcade.

[Tanooki]

What version of Burgertime is that, NES? It is certainly not arcade.

Yes it's NES. Their stand alone smaller mini-cabs run NES games like their pixelboy data east handhelds. Only that 10" cab they did with over 20 games uses the arcade games with a tweaked version of mame4droid to run it booting a v4 release of Android as it's OS.

[NE146]

Yeah.. I'm getting pretty tired of all the NES on a chip things.. we've been getting it for decades at this point in all shapes and forms. The pirate multi-game N64 controllers sold at malls.. and wasn't the first 2600 Flashback a NOAC? It's just getting old. That's why I didn't give much stock to the Walmart Burgertime, Rampage, etc.. If they're just going to be slightly modded NES games then I'll just play the NES version.. And I just don't consider them much different from the other generic stuff out there. Heck I got the generic mini multicade 230 on my desk right now.. so many of which are just NES reskins. Hey look.. it's NES Galaga with hacked sprites! woohoo.

 

 

Or there's the emulation route which is mostly mame via an Raspberry Pi hacked into a coleco tabletop for example.. same as putting that rpi3 into a more functional barcade,, albeit much cooler looking.

 

But yeah.. that's why I dig the Tiny Arcades since they're unique ports.

 

[Tanooki]

Yeah.. I'm getting pretty tired of all the NES on a chip things.. we've been getting it for decades at this point in all shapes and forms. The pirate multi-game N64 controllers sold at malls.. and wasn't the first 2600 Flashback a NOAC? It's just getting old. That's why I didn't give much stock to the Walmart Burgertime, Rampage, etc.. If they're just going to be slightly modded NES games then I'll just play the NES version.. And I just don't consider them much different from the other generic stuff out there. Heck I got the generic mini multicade 230 on my desk right now.. so many of which are just NES reskins. Hey look.. it's NES Galaga with hacked sprites! woohoo.

 

But yeah.. that's why I dig the Tiny Arcades since they're unique ports.

 

The Walmart specials, they're just NES games, barely hacked other than for title/license or splash screens except one, Rampage. That one is greatly hacked as it adds in the missing content, primarily the wolf. That's the only reason I got it because it put back what the NES had removed so it's kind of worth it. And yes the first flashback, done by Jakks, not ATGames, was a NOAC and those very ROMs were supplied to do the Centipede at walmart. Burgertime and the rest of the DE one offs from MyArcade are also NOACs and pretty accurate at least too. The exception is their $90-100 10" model with 25~ DE games, they're arcade games running on droid4mame with Android driving it under the hood (someone on facebook hacked into it, loaded more arcade goodies and showed a tear down of the system, it's some cheap chinese tablet driving that one.)

 

Those multicades that MyArcade did and other chinese filth are just bad, even their homebrew is so bad it's insulting to call it that for people who try.

Same here on Tiny Arcade, have the Galaxian and they did a nice job for the size and price point.

[Jess Ragan]

I'd like to find a way to use an Android phone as the hardware for a tiny arcade system. I mean, everything you need for gaming is right there except the controller, and these phones have gotten ludicrously cheap over the last four years. It just seems a shame to let that potential go to waste, or e-waste as the case may be.

 

Do they have an Android launcher specifically for gaming? You know, something that throws you straight into MAME so games can be run conveniently.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZxsJQzTMFY

[Flojomojo]

I'd like to find a way to use an Android phone as the hardware for a tiny arcade system. I mean, everything you need for gaming is right there except the controller, and these phones have gotten ludicrously cheap over the last four years.

And an AV Out jack so we aren't stuck with the tiny screen! And an SDcard slot so we can add more games.

 

Honestly if one doesn't like these as-is, there are plenty of other machines to play with.