(Topic ID: 221904)

$299 New Arcade Cabinets-Street Fighter, Centipede, Tempest

By vid1900

5 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 3,130 posts
  • 313 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 3 months ago by fxdwg
  • Topic is favorited by 83 Pinsiders

You

Topic Gallery

View topic image gallery

6585496.jpg
Screenshot 2023-12-05 at 12-57-52 Amazon.com Arcade 1Up William Bally Attack From Mars Pinball - Electronic Games Sports & Outdo
F&F1 (resized).jpeg
simpsons1 (resized).jpg
IMG_0267 (resized).jpeg
IMG_20231124_150044.jpg
IMG_0969 (resized).jpeg
IMG_0971 (resized).jpeg
IMG_0790 (resized).jpeg
IMG_0774 (resized).jpeg
IMG_0965 (resized).jpeg
IMG_1137 (resized).jpeg
IMG_1214 (resized).jpeg
IMG_1552 (resized).jpeg
71242724819__B21E9205-4F6A-4D33-9A40-D6FEE92E83CC (resized).jpeg
image0 (9) (resized).jpeg

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider malenko.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

#220 5 years ago

The inability to adjust the operator menu or even the LCD adjustment settings are two big strikes against them. I'm sure the operator menu being "locked" is to prevent people from turning off free play and somehow adding coin mechs/DBVs.

I have to disagree with a few points being brought up:
Size, the amount of square footage saved is nominal
Smell (or lack there of) I've had a myriad of machines, the few that had a smell got a coat of primer inside and that fixed it. Seems like a reach.
Portability, how often are you going to pack them up and take them somewhere?

Break/Fix: These aren't likely to break for a long time, if they do break most of us will be able to fix most of the issues; they don't have a lot of moving parts. I think we need to pull on the reigns a bit until we find out more about what this thing is running and how everything connects up.

There is a market for these machines, but I still think the product has too many issues for that market.
Limited number of games (don't say dedicated cabs only run 1 game, there are lots of multigame cabs that don't use emulation)
no updates/expansions (adding games for a fraction of the price sounds like a good idea to me)
Controls looks super cheap(hopefully easy to swap)
no LCD adjustments (unknown how easy it will be to change LCDs)
no volume knob (I'm sure a potentiometer could be easily added)
Even with the booster seat the CP seems pretty low
The width of Rampage is definitely an issue, and the fact you cant play 3 player gauntlet hurts it too.

All that being said, I think they are still really neat and the kid in me wishes one was an option when I was young.

#242 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

It's just a silly toy.
People will come to your apartment, squeal out loud how they remember the games, and play it.
When you get tired of it, you can swap it with your friends or just carry it to the curb.
-
A real $700 MS. Pacman is a serious commitment.
1. It's 300 pounds of heavy. You can't get it delivered by UPS, or carry it to the curb yourself.
2. It looks old, the screen will be burnt, the joystick sloppy, the cab chipped, smells like piss or smoke (or both).
3. You have to search for the game you want. This takes a lot of effort compared to just ordering online. Unscrupulous sellers abound.
4. It has no warranty. The average person has NO idea what to do when the screen is blank. I charge $100/ hour for service calls + travel time. Most people would not know of any company to call.
5. You need to borrow or rent a truck to go pick it up.
6. It's a single game. Maybe you can find a Galaga/Ms Pac ($1000) and get two games.
7. You have to open the game up to turn the volume up for a party, or down to play at night.
8. You have to pull the game away from the wall to reach the power switch.
99% of all the people in the world will not want to do any of the above.
.0000000001% of single moms will want to do any of the above. (50% of moms are single, 55% in Mississippi)

Most of that stuff is a stretch; a few things are wrong like the weight, power switch issues, and number of games in a reunion cab (regular pacman is on there too). I also know the number of games being so limited was done on purpose, but its still a strike against the cab, specifically the SF cab. Its pretty much just 2 games and they definitely should have added an Alpha game instead of 2 versions of Super.

I'm in no way trying to say no one should buy one just saying why I don't plan to. I think honest criticism of the product is fine but these comparisons to real cabs seem disingenuous.

#246 5 years ago

Ms.Pac doesn't weigh as much as a reunion cab. Reunion has a 25" tube instead of a 19" tube. If you wanted to cite a heavy cab, a 3 player RevX is a boat anchor.

Your line of comparison was all based on MsPac, MsPac's power switch isn't in a terrible position. Sure Gauntlet has a crummy power switch location but a NeoGeo has the switch right inside the coin door. I just don't get the point other than to just pick out the worst thing about multiple cabs and present them as common place across the majority of cabs.

I could do the same thing and say NBA Jam is better because there's a volume pot on the PCB. A playchoice-10 is better because it can play 10 games at a time and the games are easily swap-able. Mortal Kombat is better because it has a bigger screen. Any game is better because it has a marquee that's back lit and I can access the operator menu ,etc,etc,etc

Comparisons are always going to draw a bias and thats why I was giving my opinion based on what it is, instead of what its emulating.
We are in agreement that these are two very different things.

#250 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

If the Arcade Cab collector guys are all upset about the Arcade1up, then you know they are super magic; otherwise no one would care about single moms buying a $299 toy for their apartments.

I don't know if you're lumping me in as an upset arcade cab collector but I'm not; I just wish the product was a little better. Cheers!

#267 5 years ago
Quoted from Chosen_S:

The button layout on mortal kombat is wrong. I hope that doesn’t stick

MK9 art on the front / bezel , CPO art is way off too

#270 5 years ago

yeah but they are terrible mock ups :p Raiden side art FTW!

I don't know how well the MK games can be emulated, they always seem to be an issue on PIs and Pandora boxes so it'll either need a new purpose built emulator or better hardware.

#281 5 years ago
Quoted from Chosen_S:

because of the timing of the input lag emulation provides...

While that is a factor it isn't what I meant On the Pandora if you hack in MK1 , it runs at like 1/3rd speed (or slower) if you have sound enabled and the sound is super choppy. If you turn off sound you can have it running at about 80% speed. Its the same for all the Wolf and T Unit and Y Unit games the emulation is just slow.

The game selection on that Fry's Deluxe looks great , love me some Crystal Castles, if only it had Arkanoid on there too

#288 5 years ago
Quoted from Chosen_S:

Word man, yeah, pandoras box is pretty under powered and uses an old version of mame to run its game selection, have you tried playing MK,2,3 U3 on a current mame setup? its actually not too bad.

For sure, it runs great on better hardware. I guess that's what I was getting at, I think these "arcades" are pi or A13 powered , just enough juice to get the games to run. MK is just gonna need more juice , which is going to move the price point up

3 weeks later
#466 5 years ago
Quoted from dtown:

Also, I messaged the company on FB about their joystick gates. They told me the gate on the Street Fighter was square which is more true to Japanese arcades as opposed to American ones that used octagonal.

Wait what? What American street fighter game came with octagonal gates?
Happ’s don’t really have gates. Rather they have shaped actuators that don’t really act like gates. Comps are better for fighting games because they hit the corners better than supers. The more I hear about Arcade1Up the less I think they know about actual arcade machines.

2 weeks later
#550 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

Exactly.
It has to appeal to single moms, since that's 1/2 of the households.

Who's the other half of the households?

#552 5 years ago

single dads don't exist, or they wouldn't buy one?

Pretty neat that single moms make up exactly fifty percent of households though!

#559 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

It has to appeal to single moms, since that's 1/2 of the households.

Quoted from vid1900:

How simple does it have to be?
Women make up 82% of all single parent households, so you want to make sure that advertising and packaging is inclusive to them.

I have to base this on 2014 statistics, because that's the most recent I could find.

Single parent homes make up about 25% of households.
Of the single parent homes, single mothers make up 83% of those.

So single mothers make up about 20% of all households, which while very depressing, is not half of all households.

Anyfart, I think the first batch of these will expose most of the issues the majority of us have pointed out , and will likely get fixed with small revisions if they are cost effective (like the CPO art plastic cover) I don't think the second batch will sell nearly as well and in a few months we'll be comparing these to the Midway cabs that came out a few years ago. (these are definitely a step up from those midway cabs)

Quoted from jawjaw:

I'm a single dad and bought one. I don't get why single women would be all over arcade stuff. Makes no sense to me.

I get why some would, to make their kids happy. But not every kid wants one of these. I asked my nephew if he'd want one of these or a Switch/PS4/XB1 and he said he'd want a PS4 and Madden And my nephew loves coming over to play on my arcades, he just doesn't want one of his own.

#563 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

Look at where these games are being sold:
Bed Bath & Beyond - the place that old women wave their 20% off coupon at the cashier "And I've got this too!"
Not Frys, not Microcenter, not Gameland; they chose BB&B as one of the 3 partners.
So if you are marketing to women, you better have packaging that appeals to them
"I've got a Paris Map shower curtain, 4 My Pillows, a Banana Hanger, and look - a video game for Brandon !"

Using their site as a reference, I don't see Bed Bath and Beyond as any sort of partner.
https://www.arcade1up.com/
1up (resized).PNG1up (resized).PNG

I don't know where you got "3 partners from" but Walmart, Gamestop, FYE, Frys, Target, and Best Buy are the SIX major chains listed on their website.

BB&B is carrying them, as are a ton of other places, but 1up doesn't mention them at all and BB&B doesn't accept coupons on them either.
Capture (resized).PNGCapture (resized).PNG
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/arcade-1up-rampage-game/5040171
(link so you cant say I'm doing any photoshopfuckery)

#566 5 years ago
Quoted from 85vett:

Can we please just stop with the "who's market" is it post? If it's not for you then who the F cares, move on already. Their is obviously a market for them or they wouldn't have SOLD out before being released. I'm guessing that someone did some market research before starting the business and it looks like their research wasn't to bad as they are selling.
I for one would like to hear about feedback on performance of them without having to sift through dozens of post of people who aren't in the market for them and just want to throw shit at something just to try and look cool. Nobody cares....

I'm not arguing who the market is for, just the made up numbers trying to justify what someone thinks the target market is. All the posts complaining about the form-factor and quality were met with "its not made for you" so the next logical thing to discuss would be who its made for.

I for one would like to hear about feedback on performance of them without having to sift through dozens of post of people who justify all the shortcomings of the product by implying they were made shitty because neophytes wont know any better.

What exactly did you want to know about them that hasn't been covered already? These are tiny machines with 4:3 LCD displays, low quality controls, and are powered by hardware closely related to Pandora's boxes.

#570 5 years ago
Quoted from Luckydogg420:

And bed bath and beyond are one of their main featured retailers. Just have a look at the link.

I know who they are and what they do. BB&B being a featured retailer of their products is one thing, being a featured retailer of *this* product is something different. Yes BB&B is mentioned on the main company website with the 1up arcade page, because all their product pages use the same CSS script in the HTML5 coding. It's still noticeably absent from the actual products website, which was part of my original counterpoint. Gamestop and FYE are also on there and not renowned for appealing strictly to women/single mothers.

If you want to know about the quality of the company, just look at their website, specifically:
https://www.tastemakersllc.com/about_the_team.html

They haven't updated that page in over 2 years! "Tastemakers also manufactures and markets novelty products for the upcoming July 2016 release “Secret Life of Pets”."

Quoted from 85vett:

The big one is lag. Early on in the conversations people thought their may be excessive lag. I'm not talking about frame rate types of lag but more along the lines of input lag. Kind of like some experience with Virtual Pinball. I'd also like to hear about gameplay from those that maybe own or have played a MAME cab and aren't going to just diss it because it's made like IKEA furniture (True story, my IKEA entertainment center is 10 years old and rock solid by the way...) or doesn't have top of the line buttons.

These are basically stripped down Pandoras boxes, with the A13 CPU. The stripped down part is the lack of pin headers and SD card slot, but the architecture is the same. If you can handle the emulation of the PB, this is fine for that. Controls are going to boil down to preference. For SF, I prefer a nice Happ Comp not a knock off Sanwa with a balltop that constantly comes off midgame (citation: multiple youtube reviews)

Ive had MAME cabs, Ive made them from scratch, Ive converted cabs. Ive used Pandora's boxes before. Ive used cheap controls, Ive used pricey controls (im lookin at you Sanwa octogon gates!) Ive used CoinOps on XBOX. I figured to be a pretty level headed guy to give an objective look at these. I didn't like having my opinion dismissed because "these weren't made for me"

I have to repeat that I think the concept is great, and while some of the details are great (like using a 4:3 LCD) some aren't (like not protecting the CPO art at first) . The good and the bad should both be discussed without dismissing either based on who you think they are built for or who they aren't built for.

#574 5 years ago

I'm on board with all those points except Pis. They are great for small form factor cabs (like bartops) but I'll take a 2nd gen (sandy Bridge) i5 over a pi any day. The funny thing about #6 is they are already on Craigslist and eBay for inflated prices.

EDIT: Almost forgot, I love the bad photoshop job on this riser auction: ebay.com link: Arcade1UP Riser

#589 5 years ago

Yeah, that's the bad photshop pic. Does that guy not look shopped into place to you?

#601 5 years ago
Quoted from woody24:

He doesn't look photoshopped in. But it does look like there's been a window or something photoshopped out. That wall to his right has obviously been photoshopped.
The tell for him actually being there is the reflection. It's too good for someone to have photoshopped him.

That reflection is EZPZ in photoshop. Copy, mirror, rotate, and gradient mask with a slight focal blur. They even fucked up the stripe on his shoe, its in the reflection but not on the shoe itself, and the stripes don't match the other show he's wearing. The cabs shadow is badly shopped in, and there's no light source to reflect the metal onto the hardwood the way its shown. That cab was never in the room they took the picture of. The guy was probably never next to it either. The most glaring thing is the unnatural light along his side closest to the cab, the funniest thing is the dark gradient going up from his vertical shoe along the wall.

Walmart has a higher res picture that's less touched up, wavy lines along the back of the machine and everything.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arcade1UP-Riser/963795060

Why not just find a guy that's 5'3" and stand him next to one instead of doing a really bad photoshop job?

shuuuz (resized).PNGshuuuz (resized).PNG

#605 5 years ago
Quoted from woody24:

Sure you can do that if you want to look like an amateur. If you did exactly what you said, he'd be floating in the air. Only the very edge of his foot would be touching the ground. And the fact that his reflection looks so good and the wall does not, means that he was taken in that photo.
The shoe is proof that he's real. They removed a line from his shoe to not use a copyrighted Adidas shoe in their photo. They either didn't notice the stripe in the reflection, or realized it was going to be too hard for the amount that it's shown. Because, if they did what you said, why wouldn't they mirror the photoshopped version of the shoe?

I thought the basic commands would show you I knew what I was talking about and my critiquing of the photoshop work is valid. The reflection is likely real, but I was saying its easy to fake (because it is)

I also never said that he wasn't in the room I said the arcade cab was never in the room, and the guy was never next to the cab:

Quoted from Malenko:

That cab was never in the room they took the picture of. The guy was probably never next to it either.

Original point still is that its a really bad photoshop job.

1 week later
#646 5 years ago

according to their marketing pix, your daughter is about 5'3" right? :p

I'm glad she likes it though!

#650 5 years ago

Already 600+ on craigs and ebay

#660 5 years ago

The Atari Deluxe has the best art package by far

1 week later
#694 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

Probably will hold it's value better than a full size arcade.
A new Gauntlet arcade game cost $8,200 in today's dollars, and now sells used for $600
A Gauntlet Arcade1up sells for $300 and would probably fetch $150 used.[quoted image]

That's a pretty unfair comparison. Let's make it a little more apples to apples. How much will the 1up cab be worth in 33 years?

-1
#696 5 years ago

Nothing I posted has anything to do with which will be more valuable. I was saying the time frame comparison isn't fair, the current timetable is too short to extrapolate data from. If you want to use a 50% drop per month as the functioning variable in 4 months ($150, $75, $37.5, $18.75) a 1up will be worth $18.75 ; that's why I said the comparison isn't fair. I was actually *DEFENDING* the 1up's value as I don't think I'll be able to pick one up for $20 in March.

I only posed the question "How much will a 1up be worth in 33 years?" to put the timeline comparison on equal footing. If its worth more than $24 (adjusted for inflation) it would have held its value better than the arcade machine.

-1
#699 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

The question was how would they hold in value compared to a real arcade cab, so my answer was as fair as fair could be.

No it wasn't. The most fair answer would be "There is no real basis of comparison as one is a 30+ year old commercial product made for a different purpose and the other hasn't been out long enough to know if it will hold any value"

I thought we were past the "downvote because we disagree" thing, maybe I just expect more from you. I think its fantastic that you have such a sales boner for these things but that doesn't change that they have issues in execution. I'm just glad you didn't try to defend the horrible photoshopping not only in their advertising but on the box itself (the hand placement on the control panel is cringe worthy)

Sorry that I refuse to feed the echo chamber.

-1
#701 5 years ago

don't lie, you read it.

#703 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

How To Unlock Akuma In Arcade1Up Street Fighter Arcade Cabinet

So the same way you do on the actual cab?

#722 5 years ago
Quoted from Parkshow30:

Here is my street fighter 2 with a riser that I made out of scrap wood in about 20 minutes. Makes for a comfortable playing height and hides and protects my ugly water meter that is underneath.
[quoted image]

You keep talking about this water meter but I don't see it in the pix

1 week later
#796 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

You guys have the longest expected lifespan of any country in the world.
You've got time to wait.

Canada is 18th, unless ShadowFlame76 is from Monaco :p

I was actually in my local Best Buy to get some thermal paste and I was actively looking for these things and they didn't have any for sale or on display (Christiana Best Buy in Delaware) . The 2 nearest Walmarts aren't worth the drive to look.

3 weeks later
#1032 5 years ago

He'd still be ahead of the game and could just throw away the riser and be in the green

1 week later
#1133 5 years ago

From what I read Walmart isnt happy with the number of returns and is getting rid of inventory.

#1157 5 years ago
Quoted from thedarkknight77:

I am waiting for $150, which I believe we will hit by February. These are just not worth $200 or $250 in my opinion.

I think that price point will hit closer to early January and once stock is gone at Walmart I don't think its ever coming back.

2 weeks later
#1333 5 years ago

I'll test it on my CPS2 powered machine when I get home

#1367 5 years ago

No way they are putting MK4 (bottom logo on the cab you grabbed from the Brazilian advert) on an MK cab. The hardware needed to emulate it would not be cost effective.

#1369 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

That came from their Twitter feed.
Video on the dark web seems to show 1-3, but I can't make it out. You'll have official pics in a few hours my friend.

Not saying there wont be an MK cab, just that 4 wont be on it unless its like the PSX or N64 port (more likely PSX as the N64 emulators aren't as complete)
If they do put a PSX emulator on the cab they should add MKT

#1371 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

That came from their Twitter feed.

I stand correct it was a Norwegian advert
flyer (resized).jpgflyer (resized).jpg
I just noticed they were pretty lazy photoshopping the same screen shot on both cabinet renders

They also misspelled their own hash tag #tatsemakers , lol
Capture (resized).PNGCapture (resized).PNG

Quoted from vid1900:

In 17 hours, all will be reveled to you

I cant find the video, might be getting blocked here at work from the twittah

#1377 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

Look on the arcade1up twitter feed when you get home, you'll see the pic.
16 hours and you'll have live video from the show floor.
Still one more exciting Spring 2019 game that has not leaked out to you guys yet.....AND some super cool new products from a1u that will blow your mind (thanks to ****** for the leaks)

Didnt see it, just the silhouette pic
https://twitter.com/arcade_1up/media?lang=en , right?

#1416 5 years ago

That's what I don't get, why so many flavors of the same game? MK1,MKII, and possibly (U)MK3 that's cool. 4 versions of golden tee? not so much. Final Fight cab seems to be the best value even if they should have Ghouls and Ghosts instead of Ghosts and Goblins.

Kinda weird they cut off the bottom of MK guess they don't know what all will be on the cab or haven't updated their marketing material.

#1425 5 years ago
Quoted from Luckydogg420:

Different golf courses, just as much difference as different fighters in street fighter

I thought one of the old 2D golden tees had all the courses on it. They definitely need a 3D golden tee maybe add Capcom Bowling (IT worked on that game too) to mix things up.

I wasn't happy with the SFII game selection either, same argument as golden tee. Now if they had Alpha 3 and Darkstalkers…...

#1436 5 years ago

MK3 instead of UMK3? odd choice.

#1441 5 years ago

riggy469 I have limited access at work, I had to go by what northvibe posted.

Hopefully the board can be edited to run the new MK2 Plus and UMK3 Zeus or TE hack
Also, I knew MK4 wouldn't be on there.

#1466 5 years ago

The copyright screen on karate champ is weird.
I guess not enough people complained about the volume control being a button instead of knob.
For the MK cab they should add vanilla 3 just because they can.
The bartops look neat but the cocktails look dumb, they should have cut down the bezel size and added a larger screen.

#1519 5 years ago
Quoted from NimblePin:

Maybe, if you have said space to spare...
Having a single two player BB/Candy/Dynamo cab modified with a dizzying amount of games to endlessly scroll through, that may or may not play/sound like their original counterparts is so 2008 thinking.

You lose me a bit here. There are emulation issues on a1up. "Season 1 machines" are using a MAME build from 2010 ( 0.139u1 ). I think his overarching point was that a 2 player head to head fighting game cocktail takes up more floor space than a stand up cab like a dynamo, and he is correct.

1 week later
-7
#1739 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

You are totally missing the market for these.
Top 20 Wallmart toy of 2018.
No single mom is going to search CL to find an old 300 pound cab with the proper monitor orientation, borrow a truck to go get it, repaint it, re-decal it, re-Tmolding it, rebuild the monitor board, drill holes for extra controls, wire up a USB board, buy a RasPi, buy all the buttons and trackballs, get MAME running.......that's months of nonsense that a normal person is not going to do. (let alone it costs $1,000 minimum)

Sexism aside , the 1up arcades don't even have "proper monitor orientation". They play vertical and horizontal games on a non rotating monitor.
Your arguments against a real arcade isn't apples to apples. The end result of your fantasy MAME build is a cab that plays a significantly larger number of games than any A1Up. You even pluralize trackball to trackballs, and I don't think 3 player Rampart is super high up the average player's want list.

As for "months of nonsense" Pi2JAMMA is borderline plug and play with a jamma cab, finding a cab with the "street fighter" layout or a regular 3 button layout isn't hard to do. A Pandora's box IS plug and play.

lol @ a grand minimum to MAME an arcade machine.

These are a great lower cost toy for kids to beat on, I don't deny that but I'm not blinded by their limitations or quality issues either.

-3
#1762 5 years ago
Quoted from Guinnesstime:

99% of the market for these doesn’t understand what your saying.
98% of the market understands but doesn’t want to be bothered. They just want it now and have fun with it at a low cost.

I dont disagree with any of this, never have. He just always embellishes the difficulty and cost of a MAME cab. Spoiler alert: I dont have a mame cab anymore. All my machines are actual hardware (well, excluding my mini vpin) but Ive built enough to know they can be done for far less than a grand, especially if its going to be pi powered.

Quoted from vid1900:

I'm not sure if your only source of family is Leave It To Beaver reruns, but a huge section of the US population is single moms or households headed by women (just look at one of A1U first outlets was: Bed Bath Beyond).

Look closer.
The Centipede cab is vert, the SF is Horiz.
Of course the 12in1 had some compromises, but there is no way around that if you want to offer people that popular mix.

Yep.
But a many times the price, and a few months of time dicking around. (I know, I have 2 of them).
Anyone who wants a MAME, probably already built one.
A1U is not marketed towards people who already built a MAME.

It's a toy, not a commercial arcade machine.
It costs the same as a nice dinner for 2
If you feel it has "quality issues" that you can't see past, don't buy it.
If you feel "limited" by it, don't buy it.

I've posted the stats of how many families are single mother led before, no point in retreading. You can't say I'm incorrect about A1Ups running horizontal and vertical games on the same monitor, then cite the exact example I was talking about proving that I was correct. I also showed you that Bed Bath and Beyond wasnt one of the first outlets for the machines, but Im tired of talking in circles about it.

And then you cement my point in place. A1ups aren't geared for people who can build a MAME. So stop using a MAME cab as a basis of comparison.

Ahhh out of context joke , those are always zingers!

Quoted from jwo825:

I came for honest reviews of the product. I stayed to watch Vid mercilessly skewer trolls and arcade purists.

Oh except Im neither of those. I agree with him that these are super neat toys. I'm also far from a purist, I put Area 51 /Maximum force into an America's Army cab!

Quoted from vid1900:

Absolutely.
Of course, you will try to pick apart every point, trying to say that you once saw a MK2 cab for $50, everyone has a bin full of trackballs, and an extra Pi on their desk, and a full woodshop, but I'm going see what it would cost TODAY.
Let's take a realistic look:
-
Cab
Moms everywhere are putting the A1U in the living room, so your build can't be a blown-out cab with water damage along the bottom, and missing decals and T-molding.
It's got to obviously look good.
Looking on CL, the cheapest cab with a working, unburnt vert monitor was a working Scramble. Most of the other listings were missing the monitor, or were "unknown if monitor works", but this one says unburnt.
Pics look good as far as cab condition.
Guy is asking $350, I assume I can chew him down to $300 because the ad is almost a month old.
There were literally no other cabs with working unburnt monitors under $350, and I live in a metro area of millions of subhumans.
Not including your time, truck rental and gas, it looks like $300 here.
[quoted image]
-
Next, you've got to buy a computer to run it.
You mentioned you use Pi2JAMMA
That's $37 shipped.
Add $9 JAMMA cable to convert Scramble into standard JAMMA
Add the Pi, Pi power supply, SD card and mounting ring $47 shipped
Add power strip to supply power inside the cab, and we are at $100
-
The cab is going to need paint, primer and Bondo to look new.
I would shoot 2part auto paint, but you seem like a rattle can kind of guy, so primer & paint cans $30
Bondo $18
Sandpaper $12
The cab will need new Tmolding $20
The cab will need new graphics $120
I'd keep the Scramble Marquee, but if you want something different $45
Not including a ton of your time, you've got an easy $225 here
-
Next you need a control panel. I assume that most single mom's dont have a router or a bunch of hole-saw bits to make large holes for Joysticks, trackballs & buttons; let alone cutting out the panel itself.
Although not crazy deluxe, the XArcade seems like a solid choice for only $200 shipped
[quoted image]
-
Now most single moms are not fluent in Linux, so add a few hours on learning how to navigate the OS, formatting the card, finding an old USB keyboard, maybe finding an image already built, googling instructions, choosing just the games she wants (so she does not have to scroll through 50 versions of some Asian game she's never heard of).
Add a few hours in wiring the cab's speaker to the Pi, the controls to the Pi, troubleshooting the mapout, focusing the monitor, centering the image on the monitor, attaching the control panel to the cab, mounting the Pi, putting a non flickering bulb behind the marquee.
You want to move the power switch to the front of the machine, then wire it to the power strip.
-
If the 40 year old monitor kicks the bucket after a few weeks, most single mothers would not be able to service it, or even get it out of the cab.
Our 300lb Scramble cab is huge and can't just be picked up and moved to another room to make room for the christmas tree - especially by a single parent.
-
So we spent well over $800 in parts alone and probably 30 hours of labor trying to go as cheaply as possible and still have a new looking cab that could be in the livingroom and not the garage.
Even if you only make $20 a hour, you've blown $1400, and many weeks of labor, research, frustration & troubleshooting.
How many single mothers want to do any of the above, compared to just spending $200 and getting a brand new toy they can order with a single click, and pick up and carry???
(think before you post, you don't want to sound foolish)

You say "lets take a realistic look" then paint this worst case scenario picture of everything that could go wrong. So I'll just reiterate, these arent made to be real arcade machines or as complete as a MAME cab; so stop using a MAME cab as your basis of comparison.

A more realistic price would be about 300 for a Jamma cab , $150 for a PI2JAMMA, and 100 in paint and stickers. so about 550. A pi2JAMMA plugs into the JAMMA harness and gets its power from there.

Just curious, why do you think Im a rattle can guy?

-1
#1766 5 years ago
Quoted from Luckydogg420:

I dont even know what your point is?
That you dont like arcade1up cabs? or that you can build something better; therefore everyone should build something better? or that only real arcades are worthwhile and magically there will he enough old stock for everyone to get a real arcade like you have?
We get it, you dont like them, but what's your point?

That he should stop comparing them to MAME / Arcade cabs and in the same breath call them toys. They are toys are really neat ones at that. I wish I had something like it when I was a kid.

I feel that A1up cabs are a great entry point into the hobby with few obstacles and a really low entry fee. Wish quality was better though.
While I actually can build something better , not sure I ever made the the purpose of any of my posts. I've seen CrapMAME, no way would I ever think everyone should build an arcade. Never said only real machines are worth having nor did I say there's no value in these especially as a toy.

What I don't like the ad naseum repetition of saying they are better than a real machine because every single mother in America should buy one so they can move it without the help of an absentee father when the Christmas tree has to go up.

Quoted from vid1900:

Arcade1Ups are MAME cabs, so if you choose to keep buzzing around like a fly at a picnic, I expect you will see many mentions of MAME and MAME cabs.

BBBBZzzzzzzz.......

Well if we're being super technical they are MAME powered cabs that violate the MAME license running hardware on par with a Pandora's Box . You'll also be wrong when the season 2 cabs come out and they are running only the commercial moo emulator instead of MAME

Dunno why youre so downvotey with me, we agree with pretty much everything about the A1up cabs except what counts as a good comparison.

-1
#1770 5 years ago

Those are my exact feelings on the machines. Again, we agree about what the machines are pretty much 100%.
Sorry to disappoint, but I don't abuse toluene and I don't accuse people who disagree with me of using drugs either.

Here's the last cab I did any work on, no rattle cans in sight!
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,152600.0.html

It was the last restore I'll likely ever do, kind of bittersweet that I just sold it

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider malenko.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/299-new-arcade-cabinets-street-fighter-centipede-tempest-?tu=malenko and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.