New announcement today....

3rd cabinet is Marvel.

https://www.ign.com/articles/arcade1up-ms-pac-man-marvel-x-men-street-fighter-capcom-cabinets

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/arcade1up-announces-new-lineup-with-pinball-xmen-v/1100-6478257/

Later,
EV

Agreed it looks a little odd to us pinheads, but will the average family consumer care?

Why spend the extra $$$ tooling up to re-invent the wheel?
Just use as many off-the-shelf components as you can to keep the BOM cost low, and crank 'em out.

The missus and I are already planning on getting both this Star Wars one as well as the Marvel release...

Later,
EV

Thanks for the heads-up. (and BTW it's Nov. 30th, not Oct...)

Pre-order placed. I'll try to post updates to this thread as to how the process goes....

Later,
EV

OK.....first bit of detail...

Pre-order charged nothing for shipping, so it says it's supposed to show up at my door within 2-4 business days of release date.

Price was just $550 + tax

Later,
EV

OK....new update. With the release of pre-orders for the Star Wars version, I noticed that the release date is now showing as Dec 15th. This is also what is displayed for the Marvel version.

I pulled up my confirmation email, and clicked on the included "Order Tracking" button;
Order Status shows "Awaiting Product Availability"
Release Date now shows Dec 15th.

Dammit. Two additional weeks of waiting....

Later,
EV

Well, so much for Christmas.
Checked Order Tracking today.....release date now shows Feb 08, 2021.

Double dammit!

Later,
EV

I presume you're referring to this video;

While it looks sexy, my main worry is with the screen being directly under the "lockdown bar".
I think that it'll be far too easy to forget it's there, lean on it like a normal pin, and crack the hell out of the corners of the screen.

At one point, the guy mentions the idea of going with a 27" monitor. I think I might try that when I finally get mine....

Later,
EV

Very much interested to see what you have planned!

Later,
EV

Just saw a YouTube video last night where someone had access to a log of all the ships from China coming into port at Long Beach, CA.

Looks like around 600 units or so of both Marvel and Star Wars pinball arrived in port on Friday, 2/5.

Will probably take a bit of time (couple weeks?) to clear Customs, and then make it out to the distributors like GameStop and BestBuy.

So, another delay, but things should start happening soon....

Later,
EV

Just received an email from GameStop that the new shipping ETA for my Marvel 1up is March 9th.

We shall see.....

Later,
EV

New update.....

Initial order page said that GameStop would not charge your credit card until game was ready to ship within one week.

CC charge went pending yesterday, 2/23. So that would put delivery date next Tuesday, 3/2.

Time to start porch watching!

Later,
EV

Look what just showed up at my (garage) door!!!

Unboxing photos to follow later tonight....

Later,
EV

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So far, so good. Thing is very well packaged, but interestingly, packed and shipped with the LCD screen side down. The use the underside of the cabinet to store the box containing all the backbox pieces, but I would have had the LCD side in the middle of the container....

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So, finally got the thing all put together. Very much like an IKEA item (even with dowel pins!). It's not super beefy construction, but feels solid enough. Here are a couple of comparison photos next to my GOTG Pro...

Later,
EV

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A few more pics for height comparison;

As you can see, the lockdown bar and flipper button are a touch *higher* on the Arcade 1up. But look past, and you can see how flat the screen angle is compared to a normal Stern. This pic is with the noses of the pins even.

For reference, my wife here is 5'6".
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The mylar around the flipper button came pre-installed. Good thinking on their part.

Poorer thinking on their part is I don't think they realize how nitpicky some of us pinheads can be. While they protected the art at the buttons, they neglected to consider protecting at the legs.

The legs are roughly the same size as normal pin legs, but the metal is noticeably thinner. Also, the edges and not as rounded off as the could be, and that is just screaming for leg protectors.

Since they have the offset bolt holes going into each face, you really can't add nice thick leg protectors like usual. I just trimmed a couple of layers of electrical tape on the back of the leg and hope for the best.

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To be candid....annoying.

Those folks on YouTube that have early reviews that claim this thing is lag-less have obviously not spent much time around real pins.

The main issue is that there is a tiny bit of visual lag between when you hit the button and when the flipper moves, and then a tiny bit more to when the solenoid fires.

Most annoying part is there is no menu capability to adjust the delay. So, you get what you get.

I found it to be less distracting and easier to make my shots if I turned the solenoids off. But in that case, you're turning off part of what you paid for.

Later,
EV

I'll post a more lengthy review when I have some time tonight, but here's the short version;

HIGHS
- Zen/FX tables are fully ported over. All the ball tricks/moving characters/etc. are there.
- The small 3/4 scale actually works well. Yeah, it would be nice to have a slightly bigger screen, but overall, it IS fun to play.
- Really good looking machine. Art quality fits right inline with modern Sterns
- Sound system is quite good for the size.
- Graphics at 720p seem fine. Nice and smooth.

LOWS
- the aforementioned flipper lag is annoying.
- trim part quality needs a bit of help. Rough edges on lockdown bar, plunger handle, and legs
- Big dead space inbetween end of screen and lockdown bar. Makes it look like this was designed for a 27" monitor, and then they cheaped out to 24" at the last minute.

OVERALL
- Not bad, especially for the price, but at the end of the day, there's nothing like the real thing!

Later,
EV

OK...have some time to organize my thoughts....

ASSEMBLY
All the lower cabinet needs is the legs bolted on. All the main assembly effort is putting together the backbox. Everything is pretty straightforward to build...very much like an item from IKEA. One little gripe is the holes for the dowels are drilled a little too deep, so when you go to assemble the other end of the joint, you only have about a 1/8" nub of dowel sticking out to guide you. Otherwise, all the joints go together pretty easily and simply. Having an electric screwdriver makes this process go much easier.

PART QUALITY
The cabinet and artwork is really nice. Bright, vivid colors on the sides of the cab and the backbox side panels. One thing I might have changed is to bring the background "starfield" look around the front of the cab. It's just plain black with the Marvel and Arcade 1up logos. The translite is direct printed onto a piece of plexi, but it still looks good.

As I mentioned above, my only gripe is some of the tactile surface edges are a bit rough. While I can forgive the edges of the legs being that way at this price point, it's not excusable on the corners of the lockdown bar where your fingers rest. In addition, be VERY careful if you ever take that bar off, as there are two Philips head screws on the ends that hold it in place. On mine, one of the screw heads is nice and smooth, but the other is a bit rough, as though it had been re-torqued at some point and the "+" part stripped a little.

Also, the corners of the shooter rod metal housing are quite pointy. Since you need to use that button underneath to select a game (or even do some actions during a game - looking at you Thor), it can rub you a little wrong if you go for it quickly. I'm actually giving serious consideration to re-locating that button to the left where a traditional Start button would be. Also some plastic flashing around the shooter knob itself is still present. Clean up your injection molding die seams, guys.

SOFTWARE/GAMEPLAY
Here's where my major complaint in the game lies. Yes, there IS flipper lag. It's more noticeable on games I know like X-Men and Fantastic Four, and less on games I don't know. However, at the end of the day, making your shots is all about timing, and it definitely takes getting used to the delay before you can start really hitting what you're aiming at. As I mentioned above, there's even bigger delay from the button push to the solenoid firing. I really wish there was a menu setting where you could manually change the delay. But since there is not, you just have to get used to it. It's a bit less distracting if you turn off the solenoids, but then you're killing one of the main selling features of the game. "Seamless"? I don't think so. Meh.

The graphics look pretty good so far. I haven't noticed any glitches or other hang-ups. Everything seems to run pretty smoothly, except for the aforementioned flipper lag. Oh, one item that's kind of funky....the "DMD" screen has the single color dots from the original FX games, but it almost looks like there's a slightly bigger gap between the top half of the pixels and the bottom half. Makes it look like a tiny black line is running through the display, and I don't remember seeing that artifact on my Xbox.

Otherwise, everything else is ported over almost perfectly from the Zen/FX stuff. One thing I noticed is that some of the video modes will only take up a portion of the screen (Baxter Building in FF), while others (Serpent in Fear Itself) take up the whole screen. One cool detail is that when you play a multi-player game, the color of the DMD changes for each player. For example, on X-Men, Player one was amber dots, and Player 2 was yellow dots. Kinda cool, but to be candid, I've been spoiled by ColorDMD and would have liked to see those dots fully colorized.

OVERALL IMPRESSION
Let's be real folks. For $550 bucks, you're not going to get top of the line stuff. For what it is, I think they did a pretty good job. I'd have much preferred them to maybe have the screen a bit bigger at 27", but I understand they have to keep tight reins on the BOM somewhere. I like the overall 3/4 scale package, as it reminds you that this is not a real pinball, and really can't be held to the same standards. The main word my wife and I use to describe this little guy sitting next to our other real pins is "cute". I just wish they would have dialed in the flippers a bit better. Because ultimately, that's what makes or breaks your game.

FINAL GRADE
B.....minus
(come see me after class 1up, I know you can do better!)

Later,
EV

Appreciate the advice, but I am virulently anti-FaceBorg.

Know of any other ways to get in contact with their team? I am a Quality Engineer by trade, and would love to talk with their QC team...

Thanks,
EV

Nope. No settings for the flippers. There is a calibration option for the plunger.
This tells me there could be an option for the flippers if A1Up wanted to...

Later,
EV