Budget Atari and Capcom arcade cabinets to see release this fall!

[negative1]

I don't either, but given that one of the videos on Arcade 1Up's assembly page specifically deals with joystick replacement, this suggests to me that they're not expecting a great deal of longevity from the components. Not arguing that it shouldn't be documented for future reference, but that's the sort of thing that leaves me wondering what sort of life expectancy they're thinking the controls will have.

the beauty is, its super simple, and not even that expensive to replace the terrible

stock sticks with real arcade quality parts, that make a HUGE difference in gameplay

and durability.

 

sure, 99% of people won't care. but for people that actually play the games, the easy

modding capability is actually a huge plus when the boredom factor sets in, or people

desire to look into enhancing the machine with their own custom parts.

 

in the next week or so, i'm going to gut the pac-man machine, and replace parts,

to make it last much longer, and have a lot more flexibility than it currently has.

so mines going to last a lot longer than a heavily used stock one.

 

later

-1

Edited December 3, 2018 by negative1

[phoenixdownita]

...

 

sure, 99% of people won't care. but for people that actually play the games, the easy

modding capability is actually a huge plus when the boredom factor sets in, or people

desire to look into enhancing the machine with their own custom parts.

 

....

Who are the people that buy a repro arcade cabinet (however inexpensive it may be) to NOT play the games?

[mhedges]

ACHIEVEMENT Unlocked : Pac-Man Killscreen

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing the vid! I can only assume (I've searched but have yet to find the answer) that the Arcade1Up Pac-Man uses the original ROMs or as much of it which pertains to gameplay itself, right?

[negative1]

Who are the people that buy a repro arcade cabinet (however inexpensive it may be) to NOT play the games?

i should have been more clear, i meant that people that actually care about playing the games,

want to get good at them at, etc.

 

i suspect these will be like a fad, and are bought to look good, and show them off.

the casual player and kids, will most likely play them for awhile before loosing interest,

and then not playing them after that.

 

they won't know or care that the controls don't work, or the games are not quite right etc.

 

only people that are real gamers care about things like controls, emulator accuracy, replacing parts, etc.

 

Thanks for sharing the vid! I can only assume (I've searched but have yet to find the answer) that the Arcade1Up Pac-Man uses the original ROMs or as much of it which pertains to gameplay itself, right?

on their facebook page, they did mention they use arcade ROMS, but they alter them.

as far as pacman goes, everythings there, going through ghosts, and ghost home glitches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY5yxYDUSy

 

later

-1

[John Stamos Mullet]

Who are the people that buy a repro arcade cabinet (however inexpensive it may be) to NOT play the games?

the collectors, like a large number of people here, who buy things they fetish over and stick them on a display shelf and don't ever touch them.

 

Also - the people who impulse buy these for Christmas Nostalgia, play them a handful of times between Christmas and New Years, and never play them again until they get relegated to the garage, a storage container and then the town dump - in that order. I.e. most people who buy disposable nostalgia toys like this.

[Flojomojo]

via Fred Chesnais' English Twitter feed:

 

The Future Is Bright for the Video Games of Yesterday

 

Scott Bachrach remembers playing games like Centipede, Galaga and Pac-Man with his friends at his local arcade in Los Angeles in the 1980s.

“It was the spot where we went to on Friday nights,” said Mr. Bachrach, now 50. “We put our quarters on the top of the machines to play the game. We would play for hours.”

Now, as the chief executive of Tastemakers, a toy company, he is recreating that experience for a new generation. The business has collected licenses for his favorite games and others, like Street Fighter II, and is reproducing them in its Arcade1Up arcade-style cabinets.

“This was a passion project,” Mr. Bachrach said, “that turned into a significant business for us.”

 

One in five new consoles sold in the United States this year has been a retro plug-and-play device, Mr. Piscatella said, contributing to the overall growth in the video game industry. Sales of hardware, software and accessories in the United States reached $14.6 billion in 2017, an 11 percent increase over 2016, according to NPD.

[Cynicaster]

the collectors, like a large number of people here, who buy things they fetish over and stick them on a display shelf and don't ever touch them.

 

Also - the people who impulse buy these for Christmas Nostalgia, play them a handful of times between Christmas and New Years, and never play them again until they get relegated to the garage, a storage container and then the town dump - in that order. I.e. most people who buy disposable nostalgia toys like this.

 

 

Or people who collect real arcade cabinets and (evidently) never play them. I say this because I can't believe how common it is to see an arcade collector who can't break 20,000 on Asteroids or get anywhere near 100k on Donkey Kong even though they've had the cabinets for years. If they ever played the games you'd think they'd eventually break those scores, even if by accident.

[Austin]

 

 

Or people who collect real arcade cabinets and (evidently) never play them. I say this because I can't believe how common it is to see an arcade collector who can't break 20,000 on Asteroids or get anywhere near 100k on Donkey Kong even though they've had the cabinets for years. If they ever played the games you'd think they'd eventually break those scores, even if by accident.

 

Some arcade collectors (and this goes for pinball collectors too) seem to be more into the fixing-up aspect of the hobby, and less of the playing. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it is sort of depressing to me to see games in nice shape in someone's basement basically go unused. At least they're nice to look at, I guess.

[128Kgames]

the collectors, like a large number of people here, who buy things they fetish over and stick them on a display shelf and don't ever touch them.

 

That's gonna be one huge ass shelf for these bad boys! I'm going to stick with keeping mine on the family room floor...

 

Or people who collect real arcade cabinets and (evidently) never play them. I say this because I can't believe how common it is to see an arcade collector who can't break 20,000 on Asteroids or get anywhere near 100k on Donkey Kong even though they've had the cabinets for years. If they ever played the games you'd think they'd eventually break those scores, even if by accident.

 

Then there are those of us that just plain suck at games apparently but still have a fun time playing them! (Actually, I'm having fun continually trying to break my high scores, that, and pissing off my kids for breaking their's).

[+x=usr(1536)]

 

 

Or people who collect real arcade cabinets and (evidently) never play them. I say this because I can't believe how common it is to see an arcade collector who can't break 20,000 on Asteroids or get anywhere near 100k on Donkey Kong even though they've had the cabinets for years. If they ever played the games you'd think they'd eventually break those scores, even if by accident.

 

Having been in that situation, here's what I can say about it:

 

Just because you own the game doesn't mean you'll ever be any good at it.

 

I've owned plenty of games that I really liked but just flat-out sucked at. Lots of reasons for this... But this is definitely a case where coincidence doesn't equal causality

[negative1]

walks around the arcade..

there's a killscreen coming up... here we go again....(OOPS WRONG MOVIE/GAME)..

 

this time it's galaga's turn, around 3million points.

 

so i finally found a walmart near me that had that and pac-man demos out for

people to play.

 

i was picking up a Street Fighter 2 machine for a friend, so i had to take care

of that first (save that for another story).

 

so i came back later in the evening to put the game through the paces.

 

there's no way i could shoot video, and play, or pause, or anything with my phone,

so i took pictures to document the game.

 

i will have an indepth review of galaga coming up.

 

needless to say, it's pretty disappointing again, much like the pac-man machine was.

poor controls, screen, sound, etc... no glitches though...

 

anyways, killscreen, level 256,

3,021,250 points

 

later

-1

Edited December 4, 2018 by negative1

[negative1]

Ok people, sit back and relax.

 

Here we go again, but this time its with Galaga, instore,

and not at home.

 

Yes, there are tons of reviews out there, but have any gamers,

and i mean dedicated, real, or expert gamers tried these out?

 

I'm not going to bother going over the pro's and con's or the

basic information about the games, sounds, lists, etc. as they are sometimes

personal opinions, or have already been gone over many times already.

 

I am an expert at Galaga, and have killscreened the arcade game,

and several home ports also. I don't play rapidfire, and although

I've practice with no-shots early on, I don't use that option

anymore. I'm NOT an expert at galaxian, i've hit 20k, and that's

about it for my patience with that game, I know the score flips

at 1 million, but it's not ever going to be me doing it.

 

-------------------------------SKIP------------------------------------------------

 

tldr version:

==============================

Controls are not arcade accurate - but actually do the job for average players,

they are terrible for intermediate and expert players.

 

Games play near arcade accuracy - framerate, and response is decent,

graphics are blocky and pixelly of course.

 

Screen angles are shallow - but colors are pretty vibrant enough in most cases when

looked at head on.

 

===========================================================================================================

 

STOP READING HERE, IF THAT ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS

 

 

-------------------------------SKIP------------------------------------------------

 

 

The long picky review follows:

 

I am going to go into boring gameplay details,

response times, and control mechanics for the games i know.

 

================================================================================

Background -

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have been playing videogames from the days of pong, breakout and space invaders

I stopped playing them in the late 90's, and 00's when deluxe units were the norm.

 

I do know most of the Atari, Williams, Namco, and Capcom library inside and out.

 

I am NOT an expert at every game, but have played all of them either extensively

in the arcade when they originally came out, at home in MAME, and in pretty much

every port on PC, console, and remake that has come out.

 

Hardware control experience

----------------------------

I have used arcade controls, buttons, trackballs and spinners since they came out.

 

I have home versions of those controls, and actually don't use dpads or analog stick

on any console unless I'm forced to.

 

My preference is always dedicated controls for arcade games.

 

 

Arcade gaming habits

-----------------------

I play arcade games, or ports pretty much every day, through the 80's, I stopped

in the 90's, and then picked up mame, and played it every day for a few years.

stopped again, until the 2nd year of the xbox 360. got gameroom, and pretty much

every arcade game, and port on those systems. I have continued this when ports

started showing up on the xbox one. I have played them on the playstation also,

but only the original and PS2, and now the PSP 2000.

 

Lately, over the last couple of years, I have been playing arcade ports and games

everyday for a least a few hours. I usually place in the top 1-10 place on games

that I'm an expert in, and below that on other games.

 

======================================

Now with that out of the way, lets get to the cabinets.

 

 

time spent playing

==========================================================================

I have spent at least 4 hours with the cabinet. The first hour was goofing

around, and getting used to it. I was not playing with a riser or a chair,

so it was very uncomfortable, and my neck and back hurt, so I had to

constantly adjust my stance and the controls during the bonus levels.

[Which i scored poorly on].

 

Namco Bandai - Galaga and Galaxian

==========================================================================

Condition of cabinet - Since this was an instore game, it had signs of usage.

- No screen bleed

- Some minor control panel rubbing off

- Other than that it was in pretty good condition, considering most of the

ones of i seen pictures of in stores are pretty beat up

 

 

Durability - the cabinets are super flimsy, and shake when you play. I have a

feeling if you look at it the wrong way it will probably collapse. You have

to be very delicate if you want this thing to last. It's not that I'm rough

on games, I actually own an arcade cabinet of Blasteroids, and its nearly

exactly mint, like when I got it 10 plus years ago.

 

Ergonomics - I don't have a problem with the size. The joystick is too tall, and 'loose',

so that impacts my gameplay. Also, the distance between the buttons and the sticks are

different scaled down from the arcade one, so that takes getting used to also.

 

The thing that killed my wrists, was that the nice gentle 5-10 degree(?) slope of the

arcade was gone, and now it's just this flat panel. i would definitely hike those up

somehow with supports to make it feel better.

 

Gameplay -

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Galaga

=========

- Played until killscreen, wave 256 [or 0].

Here are images of the wave, and score progression, through the millions,

and hundreds of levels.

 

waves:

 

scores:

 

 

Galaga is the 2nd or 3rd generation shooter, with the added novelty of

the 'dual ship', much faster paced than the earlier hit 'galaxian'. (Itself

a knockoff of 'space invaders' with more strategy).

 

Galaga hit the sweet spot, never to be found again by namco. Somehow,

perfect in progression, bonus levels, sounds, graphics, everthing just clicked.

 

Too bad, they were never able to repeat this configuration, despite putting

out even more and more shooters after this.

 

Galaga is the result of a once-in-a-liftime combination of gameplay,

and strategy.What, you say, it's a simple fixed screen shooter.

Ah, but therein lies the rub. Learning how to lure shots over, dodging

enemies, mastering the dual ship, and on and on. galaga adds enough

features for even neophytes to get a little better each time, but adds

enough challenge for the experts to keep coming back and perfecting

their shooting skills. Doing all the bonus waves perfectly with a double

ship is easy enough, i still have never done them all perfectly with a

single yet.

 

Galaga offers something for everyone, whether you want to just pick up

and play for a few minutes, or do the no-shoot bug trick, and practice

to see what the higher levels are like. There is a wall around level 16

or maybe 20, and after that, its just the same 3 rounds over and over,

with the bonus levels in between. if you can get good at those, you

can play the game as long as you want.

 

needless to say, i love galaga, and have played it since it came out,

along with all the incarnations on the NES (Which is much harder,

tracks millions of points, hundreds of levels ->999, and even counts

all your extra ships), the steam version, the xbox 360, and xbox one

and PS4 versions, along with every portable version, and every

namco museum version that came out. they all have different nuances

in timing the shots and movement, even the arcade ports do too.

 

here ARCADE 1up falters greatly, in trying to bring this version home.

 

The emulation is subpar, there are some glitches and hiccups when playing,

but nothing that is a show stopping. The sound is average, with distortion

due to the cheap speakers. Also there is a constant clicking or hiccup

at low volume going on the entire time, maybe due to bad emulation of the

sound, or interference.

 

it is galaga to most people, but in trying to adjust to the subpar controls,

the lackluster buttons, and everything else, its very trying in just getting

it play right. the tall stick, and the odd spacing of the fire button, will

take time to adjust too, if you know what you're doing.

 

 

galaxian

============

- I have a lot less to say about this game. because although there might

be some deep gameplay objectives, and strategies, i have never invested

that much time into it.

 

Galaxian set the standard when it came out, and was a huge hit. i went

straight from space invaders to galaga, skipping galaxian after a few

tries. it just didn't appeal to me.

 

the pace requires a lot of patience, and timing, of which i didn't have.

you can be very sloppy at galaga, and still get good scores, and master it.

here, you are punished, if you mistime a shot, and move the wrong way a

tiny bit.

 

i do admit, someday, if i really want a challenge, i should try to

get 100k on it, but i doubt i'll make it that far.

 

if you liked the original game, then you'll like it here, i can't

complain about this version, but i don't know it intrinsically.

 

It's a simplified harder version, and that's all there is to it.

 

=======================================================================================

 

 

Final thoughts

----------------

overall, i would give 1up arcades a grade of C for effort.

D for quality and longevity, C for emulation, C for graphics.

 

So an average of C- overall grading, or 2.5/5 stars for the price.

 

Take into account the games you like, how much you will play them,

and how rough these things will be handled.

 

To me, I say they feel like they are breaking apart at any time,

because they are so flimsy.

 

If you don't play often, these things will last and look good.

If you do play often, they WILL wear out, the buttons, the controls, etc, eventually.

 

Modding the buttons and joystick, will do a lot of good for playing the

game properly.

 

A valiant, but in the end subpar experience, unless you're going for nostalgia,

and love galaga, and are ok with the compromises.

 

I can't really recommend these machines to people that want to get better,

or think they can manage with the stock controls. sure, you could punish

yourself, and ignore the issues. but when its so easy to modify them,

and replace everything, you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not putting

in arcade parts.

 

it's a shame that Arcade 1UP is botching these releases, like pac-man also,

and just showing how many shortcomings the machines have. i am trying to like

them, but they just can't seem to get anything right when it comes down to the

actual details about the game. the graphics and artwork may seem to be ok,

and appealling, but they are just hollow superficial eye-candy, that still

isn't right, due to cropping, and spacing and other alterations they've done

to fit the small form factor. i don't have much hope for them ever fixing

the issues they have, or doing any kind of testing in the future, and thats

too bad, as these could have been a lot more. the saving grace is that a

new community of modders have come to the rescue in salvaging what little

they can to make these machines acceptable.

 

 

later

-1

Edited December 4, 2018 by negative1

[derFunkenstein]

 

My full mk2 cab (with UMK3 in it, run button added) was $500 lol. I think all told, $900 for MK1, MKII, UMKIII boards + a full cab.

 

Don't forget that the prices on that site are AUD, and down under it's more than just a straight currency conversion (which itself would put the cab at $450 US). My guess is that in the US, a Mortal Kombat cab would still be $300, and still not be worth the particle board on which it was printed.

[negative1]

arcade 1ups problems in a nutshell:

 

 

consumers wish for high quality at low prices - more consumers

 

companies want high prices - but sacrifice quality

 

finding the sweet spot for quality vs compromise is the issue.

 

ironically, the $10 namco pac-man 256 plug and play, is much better

bang for the buck quality wise, and gameplay wise.

 

it's way better, and more accurate than the arcade 1up emulation

(although for Screen purposes, they moved the scoring, and extra men

locations, and made dig dug scroll). there are more features and more

options on it, than arcade 1up could ever hope to match.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/276464-favorite-plug-and-plays/page-2?do=findComment&comment=4136242

 

yes, its composite SD video, but it's unbelievable how great a value, and the quality

of it, for such a cheap almost throwaway price (1/30).

 

this very item, is prominently featured on a flier that is INCLUDED in the 1up arcade box,

how ironic.

 

later

-1

Edited December 4, 2018 by negative1

[JBerel]

Did you really just copyright that????

[negative1]

Did you really just copyright that????

yes©, its called a joke ©.

 

later ©

-1 ©

 

=========

all copyrighted 2018 ©

[negative1]

mortal kombat machine confirmed for release : March 1

 

 

later

-1

[negative1]

Gauntlet NOT fixed:

 

Installed the replacement Rampage cab PCB that is supposed to fix the level 16/31 and various sound issues. While I can confirm they fixed the level issue (I played to level 33 - my cab froze on level 16) and the sound issue for the Warrior and the Valkyrie, they have also BROKEN the sound for the Elf and the Wizard in the exact same way the Warrior and Valkyrie sound was broken on the original PCB (no sounds for insert coin, picking up treasure or food, no sound on exiting the dungeon).

 

So while a major issue was fixed, they simply shifted an annoying issue to another set of characters.

 

I would appreciate it if anyone else with the Rampage cab who has replaced the PCB can confirm the same sound issues so I know its not just me.

 

If 1Up has in fact fixed one issue and caused another, I have to seriously question whoever the hell they have play testing these "fixes" and seriously volunteer to do it for them.

Just got a second verification on this from Mr. Benjamin Deadmoon, via youtube:

 

 

Benjamin Deadmoon

 

2 hours ago

 

Ok. I just finished checking out the set of problems you listed for Gauntlet. Sadly the information is correct.It is now a mixed bag in the sound department. The elf has the worst sound of all the characters. The elf has no exit music nor food or keys. Player 2 has no insert coin sound as well. The warrior and the Valkyrie sound better,but they both have no sound for food or treasure pick up. The wizard has no sound for food or treasure. These new problems are getting to be a bit much. I still really like my cabinets and all,but arcade1up really needs to get things right. The game runs alot smoother and the sound is better than before. I guess I don't know what else to say about it. It's almost like the sound was perfect when I first installed and played the new game board.

 

so, it looks like Arcade 1UP might need to re-issue a 2nd fix.

 

how likely is that.

 

later

-1

[128Kgames]

Just got a second verification on this from Mr. Benjamin Deadmoon, via youtube:

 

 

 

 

so, it looks like Arcade 1UP might need to re-issue a 2nd fix.

 

how likely is that.

 

later

-1

 

I'm glad someone else confirmed this, thanks negative1 for posting that on his youtube page.

 

I have not heard anything back from 1Up on this new set of issues other than they were "passing it on to their engineers".

 

Funny thing though: today I got a return postage label sent to me from them via email, but I have no idea what its for (nor do I recognize the ticket # associated with it).

 

I'll have to call them tonight and see what its all about.

[negative1]

I'm glad someone else confirmed this, thanks negative1 for posting that on his youtube page.

 

I have not heard anything back from 1Up on this new set of issues other than they were "passing it on to their engineers".

 

Funny thing though: today I got a return postage label sent to me from them via email, but I have no idea what its for (nor do I recognize the ticket # associated with it).

 

I'll have to call them tonight and see what its all about.

Thank you for reporting the follow-up issue.

I was looking into what might have caused the problem, and depending on what emulator they used,

they probably messed up the stereo-> mono downmix.

 

==================================================

 

However, the key sound fix is here:

- 0.137u4: Lord Nightmare fixed swapped stereo in Gauntlet and Gauntlet II. Thor (warrior)'s/red player's coin slot is 
toward the left, and specific sounds for that player (coin insert gong, death ditty, etc) should come from the left speaker, 
not the right. Verified with schematics. TODO: Merge Gauntlet audio into atarijsa.c since the Gauntlet audio hardware is clearly 
the direct ancestor of the Atari JSA-i audio board, and currently is missing most of the chip specific volume controls, 
etc which are already implemented in atarijsa.c. Hooked up the YM2151 reset bit to the sound cpu in gauntlet, 
and fixed sound reset to properly reset all the sound chips and volume latches.

So, it seems like the downmixing isn't working, or isn't implemented correctly going to mono.

 

later

-1

Edited December 5, 2018 by negative1

[negative1]

Asteroids clearing out at $199 for Walmart online:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arcade1Up-Asteroids-Machine-4ft/828150107

 

later

-1

[Gregory DG]

I got the 12-in-1 Deluxe Atari cabinet! It's not perfect, but it's still a lot of fun!

 

[twalk]

It's not perfect, but it's still a lot of fun!

 

 

 

I think that this is the point that some people (often deliberately) miss. I had a few issues with my 12-1 & Rampage cabs, but A1U got me new parts and I'm really happy with them now (Although I'll eventually rpi mod them.. )

Edited December 6, 2018 by twalk

[negative1]

I think that this is the point that some people (often deliberately) miss. I had a few issues with my 12-1 & Rampage cabs, but A1U got me new parts and I'm really happy with them now (Although I'll eventually rpi mod them.. )

perfect* and fun*

 

*for very low expectations of 'perfect' and 'fun'

 

later

-1

[128Kgames]

Thank you for reporting the follow-up issue.

I was looking into what might have caused the problem, and depending on what emulator they used,

they probably messed up the stereo-> mono downmix.

 

==================================================

 

However, the key sound fix is here:

- 0.137u4: Lord Nightmare fixed swapped stereo in Gauntlet and Gauntlet II. Thor (warrior)'s/red player's coin slot is 
toward the left, and specific sounds for that player (coin insert gong, death ditty, etc) should come from the left speaker, 
not the right. Verified with schematics. TODO: Merge Gauntlet audio into atarijsa.c since the Gauntlet audio hardware is clearly 
the direct ancestor of the Atari JSA-i audio board, and currently is missing most of the chip specific volume controls, 
etc which are already implemented in atarijsa.c. Hooked up the YM2151 reset bit to the sound cpu in gauntlet, 
and fixed sound reset to properly reset all the sound chips and volume latches.

So, it seems like the downmixing isn't working, or isn't implemented correctly going to mono.

 

later

-1

 

 

I'm going to forward a link to the confirmation from Deadmoon's page as well as your potential fix to them and see what they say. Can you point me to where that stereo down-mix fix was originally posted? I can forward that to them as well.

 

I've asked for a supervisor at 1Up to call me back to go over my various tickets and find out where my replacement parts are, I will bring this issue to her attention as well.

 

On a side note the return label they sent is supposedly for me to ship back my Pac-Man control deck which was damaged and they are supposed to replace - I was kind of taken aback and prodded the representative with "you want it back after you ship me a replacement, r - i - g - h - t - ???

 

They can't seriously expect me to pull the control deck and wait 2 months for a replacement. But, this is the kind of stuff I plan to talk to the supervisor about, so we'll see how things go.