Mini Arcade Alert!

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

I actually emailed MyArcade requesting Splatterhouse about a month ago, and what do you know? I especially never, ever would have expected Splatterhouse 2 to make it onto one of these things. They seemed to have memory-holed that franchise after the PS3 game had such a shaky dev history and reception. I guess I should've asked for a Ms Pacman mini cab while I was at it, but I thought it would go without saying. Could be saving it for Volume 2 or something?

Yeah, still the best port of Ms Pacman (arcade accurate) is the ten years old Ms Pacman plug-n-play joystick that twists for Pole Position. They did reformat the games to support landscape layouts of consumer TVs (CRTs were still commonplace ten years ago), but preserved the sprite sizes and game logic. At least Ms Pacman and Pacman play just like the arcade, though some people complained that vintage maze patterns didn't work. Can't win everyone I guess...

 

I am super stoked about the Namco Museum arcade cab coming out later this year, at an affordable price tag to boot.

 

 

It's listed on Amazon, and the Tempest machine is actually available for pre-order (supposedly due to ship in September). The guys behind it don't seem to be giving a lot of concrete info on the whens and how muches so far, and it's Kickstarter, so I'll refrain from getting my hopes up and assume that it will either come out in five years or quietly disappear, and be pleasantly surprised otherwise.

I still remember the Kickstarter for the real life PONG table. Whatever happened to those?

 

EDIT: It's a work in progress...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461917284/play-atari-pong-in-your-coffee-table/

 

I saw those little Lego-like kits at Walmart. Had to pick uo the Asteroids one. Six bucks, I think? You have to wonder who they are marketing these towards other than us old farts. Other than the rare gamer kids who know what these are/were, who else is there? Hipsters?

I can't imagine they are for us. Definitely Hipsters are the main draw to these, or possibly dads who love retro games. I got rid of all my Legos a few years ago...

[Noah98]

How do you play games like Splatterhouse on a small vertical screen like that? Seems odd that My Arcade didnt just stick with vertical games for this release. They could have released a sequel with a horizontal screen for games like Splatterhouse.

 

Speaking of Splatterhouse (one of my favorites), what about a Splatterhouse mini arcade? They could use the translated Famicom rom since it would have to work with the NOAC.

[NE146]

I have to say at this point I'm confused about all the mini-arcades that are out... there seems to be a glut not even including the generic ones, and I can't tell what's what and whatnot.. There's NOAC ones, mame/arcade ones, standalone recreations done with LCD/LED static style, as well as otherwise. Hard to keep track!

Edited June 14, 2018 by NE146

[Daj]

How do you play games like Splatterhouse on a small vertical screen like that? Seems odd that My Arcade didnt just stick with vertical games for this release. They could have released a sequel with a horizontal screen for games like Splatterhouse.

 

Speaking of Splatterhouse (one of my favorites), what about a Splatterhouse mini arcade? They could use the translated Famicom rom since it would have to work with the NOAC.

 

I agree about the screen. I half-expect the aspect ratio to be stretched vertically, while people try to say "it doesn't look that bad!"

 

Conventional wisdom says that a Japan-only Famicom game wouldn't fly off the shelves of Wal-mart... but I'd get it day 1.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Conventional wisdom says that a Japan-only Famicom game wouldn't fly off the shelves of Wal-mart... but I'd get it day 1.

The 10" vertical Namco Museum will use arcade roms, not Famicom ports.

[Noah98]

The 10" vertical Namco Museum will use arcade roms, not Famicom ports.

I think he was responding to my post where I suggested Splatterhouse for the smaller NOAC units. I thought it would be cool if they used the translated Famicom rom of Splatterhouse.

[Tanooki]

Wanpaku Graffiti Splatterhouse is excellent, I keep that one around still.

 

I do wonder, but I guess you'll get some extreme letterboxing with Splatterhouse and Rolling Thunder on this. I don't see them going with a detachable bezel since the screen should perhaps be bigger than the viewable area (like a 2DS panel.)

 

The namco is going to be a split of almost all arcade and a couple of MD/Genesis games for the RT/SH sequels that weren't arcade games.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Wanpaku Graffiti Splatterhouse is excellent, I keep that one around still.

 

I do wonder, but I guess you'll get some extreme letterboxing with Splatterhouse and Rolling Thunder on this. I don't see them going with a detachable bezel since the screen should perhaps be bigger than the viewable area (like a 2DS panel.)

 

The namco is going to be a split of almost all arcade and a couple of MD/Genesis games for the RT/SH sequels that weren't arcade games.

it seems like vertical arcade monitors went out of style in the mid/late 80s? Most classic era late 70s to early 80s arcade hits were vertical; most late 80s to early 90s arcade hits were horizontal, though plenty of exceptions exist.

 

Seems weird but I'd almost rather play a portrait mode game on a landscape oriented screen than a landscape oriented game on a portrait screen. Also where's Ms Pacman, Bosconian, Rally-X, Pole Position, and other classic era Namco IP?

 

I agree though the issue is exacerbated by modern lcd aspect ratios. I mean, they used a 320x240 pixel 4:3 landscape screen for the noac arcades. Are 4:3 screens not available in higher sizes / resolutions? Most iPads and larger form factor Android tablets are 4:3 still...

[Tanooki]

Namco I think it's personal with ms Pac-Man and always will be since Midway made it, and Pole Position they perhaps made but maybe it's some licensing old paper agreement hell as Atari put it out there in the US. Bosconian, not sure there, not that popular probably.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Namco I think it's personal with ms Pac-Man and always will be since Midway made it, and Pole Position they perhaps made but maybe it's some licensing old paper agreement hell as Atari put it out there in the US. Bosconian, not sure there, not that popular probably.

Pole Position possibly due to the wheel mechanic more than anything. It didn't stop them from including it on the Jacks Ms Pacman "twisty stick" though. Either way it's not like it was ever my favorite game of all time.

 

I am well aware of the history behind Ms Pacman and GCC and Midway. Almost as colorful as the history of Tetris. But why then did Namco make the Ms Pacman / Galaga Class of '81 reunion cabs if they prefer to deny the existence of Ms Pacman?

 

One word: Money.

 

They know Ms Pacman sells nostalgia to the North American consumer better than Pacman. When it comes to licensing it to 3rd parties, it's been a mixed bag. I have the Jakks Pacific Ms Pacman Plug-n-Play. Tiny Arcade released a Pacman and a Ms Pacman cab. My Arcade did the whole NES Pacman thing. Then there is that piece of crap NES Plug-n-Play floating about as well currently available at Walmart, using the inferior Namco port as opposed to Tengen. $20 for that hunk of junk vs $18 for the Pacman joystick with ten games (but no Ms Pacman). It is the wild west out there in terms of quality.

 

Anyone seen the Tiny Arcade Galagas yet? I hope it functions better than their Galaxian port.

 

And Nintendo for once finally released the arcade version of Donkey Kong to the Switch.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/279743-nintendo-and-hamster-release-arcade-archives-donkey-kong-for-switch/

Bravo. 'Bout damn time. Now put it in a Minicade or Bartop please...

[Tanooki]

Well said and Galaga likely will be broken. I dont see them revising the input to take two buttons at once which is why galaxian stops.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Well said and Galaga likely will be broken. I dont see them revising the input to take two buttons at once which is why galaxian stops.

I haven't played Space Invaders yet but I tested both Tiny Arcade Pacman and Ms Pacman, and neither one responds to joystick inputs while pressing the unused action buttons. So whatever microcontroller they are using to read the inputs cannot process multiple inputs at once. Sadly I don't see them fixing the hardware to support multiple inputs for Galaga. Good news is that like Tanooki alluded to earlier, Frogger and Dig Dug do not rely upon multiple inputs. Frogger doesn't use the action button at all, and Dig Dug pauses movement in the arcade when you use the pump, so it should be unaffected by this bug.

 

It wasn't just the fact that my ship paused whenever I fired in Galaxian but other issues as well. The game engine does not wait for the enemies to return to formation before respawning my ship after a death. So if I die while the swarm is dive-bombing, my next ship can appear directly underneath a dive-bombing enemy and get blown up before I have an opportunity to react. In the Arcade, Atari, and Famicom version, the game waits for all enemies to return to formation before your ship respawns. Also, when you complete a round by shooting the final enemy, your ship is temporarily immobilized while the victory music plays. The one time I beat round 2, I killed the enemy as it fired a bullet, and upon completion of the round was unable to dodge while the bullet hit my ship. That's a cheap shot. Also the fact that shooting bullets at oncoming enemy swarms impedes your ability to evade is just bullcrap. The arcade doesn't function that way.

[atarilovesyou]

The 10" vertical Namco Museum will use arcade roms, not Famicom ports.

Any more info on this thing?...sounds interesting.

[Tanooki]

If you read around on E3 news yes. 10" system, 20 games, 18 of them are arcade games, the other 2 should be Genesis as they're the non-arcade sequels of Rolling Thunder 2 and Splatterhouse 2. Same general innards, different shape to the plastic body, namco stickers on it obviously, but otherwise basically the same device with Namco games instead of the other.

 

Should be out later this year, not sure what month, and looks to be the same price too. When does beg the question how much did Namco charge in licensing fees to My Arcade that they had to cut it at 20 leaving off so much more as the DE unit has over 30.

[Andromeda Stardust]

If you read around on E3 news yes. 10" system, 20 games, 18 of them are arcade games, the other 2 should be Genesis as they're the non-arcade sequels of Rolling Thunder 2 and Splatterhouse 2. Same general innards, different shape to the plastic body, namco stickers on it obviously, but otherwise basically the same device with Namco games instead of the other.

 

Should be out later this year, not sure what month, and looks to be the same price too. When does beg the question how much did Namco charge in licensing fees to My Arcade that they had to cut it at 20 leaving off so much more as the DE unit has over 30.

It really doesn't matter having to do with slightly less when the Namco wares are more desirable. Hell it's worth it just for Pacman, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig Dug, and Mappy. That's $125 deep right there alone on the 5 NES minicades, at Walmart retail pricing structure.

[Daj]

If you read around on E3 news yes. 10" system, 20 games, 18 of them are arcade games, the other 2 should be Genesis as they're the non-arcade sequels of Rolling Thunder 2 and Splatterhouse 2. Same general innards, different shape to the plastic body, namco stickers on it obviously, but otherwise basically the same device with Namco games instead of the other.

 

Should be out later this year, not sure what month, and looks to be the same price too. When does beg the question how much did Namco charge in licensing fees to My Arcade that they had to cut it at 20 leaving off so much more as the DE unit has over 30.

Pac-man 2 and Pac Panic are also console exclusives I believe... could be Genesis versions, might be another?

 

I don't know how much DE charged for the likes of Scrum Try et all, but they should probably be glad they got it...

[Tanooki]

Good point I overlooked those. PAC panic was the puzzle? Gbc has it the other was like snes and genesis

[Andromeda Stardust]

Good point I overlooked those. PAC panic was the puzzle? Gbc has it the other was like snes and genesis

Pak-Attack was the Tetris style dropping blocks puzzle where you had to eat the ghosts. Never heard of Pac Panic.

 

Pacman 2 The New Adventures was a point and click style adventure game for the SNES / Genesis.

[simbalion]

Pac Man 2 The New Adventures was more like, keep hitting Pac Man with the sling shot until he got really ticked off!

[Bebop]

Talos IV Arcade:

 

 

Machines From Left to Right: Pac-Man (My Arcade), Retro Machine, Pac-Man (Basic Fun), Karate Champ,

Dig Dug, Bad Dudes, Galaga, Retro Arcade Machine, Burger Time and Frogger.

 

Players From Left to Right: Kirk, McCoy, Pike with Vina, Rand, Sulu, Spock with Uhura, Talosian, Checkov, Chapel and Scotty!

Edited June 18, 2018 by Bebop

[Andromeda Stardust]

Talos IV Arcade:

 

So jealous of your arcade bro!

 

I'd have done the same, but I don't collect action figures...

 

So far, I've got Super Impulse Tiny Arcade Pacman, Ms Pacman, and Galaxian. My Arcade Gaming Pacman, Galaga, Dig Dug, Burgertime (NOAC). Bridge Direct Pacman, Space invaders, Centepede (segmented LCD - Centipede is color). Bridge Direct Centipede (Full Color NOAC). Walmart is full of the Super Impulse Tiny Arcades and My Arcades, but I haven't seen any of the Bridge Direct stuff in a while.

[JBerel]

C'mon.....Scotty should be playin' Tapper, and not that kiddie Root Beer version.

[wolfy62]

Hi folks I live in los Angeles but am on vacation in Virginia.

 

The Walmart here in Staunton is loaded with the Bridge direct games such as Joust,Rampage,Centipede etc.

So far I purchased Joust and Rampage,they look great!

I read through this whole thread for info,it has been very helpful!

Surprised I didn't find it before.?

I will look for the rest when I get to the West coast,great stuff to collect!

Edited June 18, 2018 by wolfy62

[Andromeda Stardust]

I got to thinking...

 

I downloaded the Flashback Centipede ROM on my Powerpak and played a bugged out version until the score rolled, before realizing the correct version, which contained the difficulty settings from the Atari Flashback were stripped from the ROM for the Bridge Direct release, much like the 2-player modes were stripped from the My Arcade releases, cleverly deleted from the title screen and inaccessible behind the unused select button. The Flashback 1 port has some janky audio issues on my AVS (which don't show up on the NOACs they were developed on not surprizingly) and is disappointingly restricted to 4-way control even when using a Dpad or 8-way arcade stick.

 

NES got a fairly good port of Millipede bitd, though I do prefer 7800 Centipede to it, or either of the 2600 ports. I wonder if My Arcade or Bridge Direct or some other 3rd party could license it? Since Atari owns Centipede, they presumably own Millipede as well, so why the janky Flashback port? It could have been great had Atgames enabled 8-way control, and Bridge Direct not removed the menu, but as it stands the package left something to be desired.

 

Ms Pacman got released as a plug-n-play despite Namco's recent reluctance to license Ms Pacman, albeit the inferior Namco port (not the superior Tengen version which later got ported to both Genesis and SNES), so why can't the same happen with Atari's Millipede? Just pay some royalties to Atari, remove the "licensed by" off the title screen, and dump it onto a noac mini arcade. Did HAL laboratories own the code, or they just published it in North America?

 

Edit: NES Joust was published by Hal Laboratories as well and it got the minicade treatment.

[Bebop]

C'mon.....Scotty should be playin' Tapper, and not that kiddie Root Beer version.

 

 

Ya know it!!!