You need not make any excuses for your enjoyment of the video arcade. I have a couple dedicated machines myself. If you derive happiness playing the games, that’s all that matters!!

I have 2 multicades...i say enjoy!

How many games are on yours?

The dark-side is strong in this one.

man robotron will always be my go to. i was playing my arcade sd in dig dug cab past weekend dig dug, millipede, mr do, centipede and having fun till i decided to play bagman and then i got aggravated.

I have a couple "multicades" but nothing running MAME/Emulation. I have a darksoft Multi-CPS2 in a Dynamo cab.I also have a darksoft Multi MVS cart in a dedicated 2 slot neogeo cab, and I have another dynamo with Magic Sword in it until Darksoft releases their Multi CPS1. I do have an Area 51/ Maximum force 2 in 1 thats inside an America's army cab but its at my moms and I dont think she wants to give it back.

I tend to play most of my emulated stuff on my SNES classic or Playstation Mini

Ive been looking to build a "high end" one. I think the biggest turnoff is that there are COUNTLESS sources for these things! When you jump on a machine that costs 1200 bucks and has "50k games" its going to feel cheap, and I think this is the biggest turnoff! That said, when done right these things are an absolute BLAST.

Merry Christmas to you as well, and enjoy those games.

P.S. I must say your girlfriend has great taste. Paperboy is epic!

The problem is the controls. I didn’t realize how much of a problem this is until I started playing some multicades.

To do it right you need a machine with a four way stick, an 8 way stick, a track ball, and a spinner, and of course a bunch of buttons. And it’ll still never work right for some of the best games (spy hunter, pole position, Star Wars, etc.)

They are kinda neat but in my experience just don’t do a great job of their intended purpose.

It’s nice to have a variety in my opinion. I have 2 multicades. First was a 60 in 1 which I converted to a 412 in 1 mostly for single player vertical games. Second is a 621 in 1 which is good for 1 and 2 players horizontal games. I also have an Xarcade tankstick hooked up to a Retropie with probably 10000 games which I play through the TV.

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When you start getting into the thousands of games on 1 machine you are 100% right. There's also the issue of horizontal and vertical games; games get squished or stretched or have black bars on the sides. My Multi NeoGeo only plays neogeo games, so the controls are perfect for it. Same for the MultiCPS2. I thought about building a dedicated 1 player cab with a 4 way stick and a spinner that would play only vertical 4 way games and Arkanoid. I know Im weird, I really like arkanoid.

Even with your average 60-1 it’s a huge problem.

I tried my best to play 1942, xevious and gunsmoke with a track ball but it just didn’t work.

I agree but if you limit the games to specific controls that's not an issue. Like Pacman , Pengo, Donkey Kong, Burger Time, Frogger, Dig Dug, Excite Bike; they all use a 4-way restricted stick, you can also add 2 way restricted games like galaga / galaxian and add 2 or 3 fire buttons and they'll all play just like the arcade games.

There are outliers like playing Arkanoid with a trackball instead of a spinner, its functional but not the same thing. I was over on arcadecontrols for 20+ years so I know a lot about both the right and wrong way to do multicades/mame cabs. Unfortunately throwing a shit ton of games on a machine with the wrong controls is the norm, especially on these unlicensed multi-thousand in one machines.

I've been thinking about getting a multicade as I have a good spot for it and it adds another dimension (and a lot of games) to the game room. It seems to me if you have the wall space, a pedestal unit with a very large tv (60+ inches) would still have a lot of screen for a vertical game.

I have a 48 in 1 that we restored and love. We use a switchable joystick to get the 4 way and 8 way functions, it seems to work ok for the most part. If I had it to do again I would probably just get a good 4 way stick and disable the 8 way games. My son loves 1942 though lol.

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Standing directly in front of 60 inch screen seems like a bad viewing angle...if it’s similar to watching TV.

It's cool you and your girl like to play video games. I'd recommend trying co-op games on your standup. Bubble Bobble, Buster Bros, Battletoads, contra, metal slugs, etc... Lots of co-op shooters as well. Back when my wife would play arcades she always liked Legendary Wings and Me. Pacman. And don't forget about Warlords. Great co-op game.

Have fun

I'm with ya, multicades are a lot of fun! Sounds like yours has a trackball. Check out Crystal Castles.

I have a GameGate Hyperspin cabinet that I've enjoyed with a crazy number of games on it. Have been tempted to sell it a couple times but still regularly go back to it. I'm now thinking about ordering a GoldenTee 2020 cabinet as I've enjoyed playing the older GT games on the multicade.

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Oh and wait till you try a newer Golden Tee. They're amazing. Way better graphics, multiple swings, online matches. Would highly recommend going to a pub and try one.

that is the main thing with building out a dedicated cabinet, you can add most of the controls you need.

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Use to love paperboy and track and field.

I've made 2 home brew multicades now. Just messing around really. I think my next step is to just make a single player, 4-way joystick, 3 button multi. Then, a trackball only (but maybe work in a hidden spinner somehow). I agree, too many games with too many controls kills the experience.

I'd bet one of Pez's iScored hanging on a wall would really bring life to an arcade situation!

A new GoldenTee 2020 cabinet is looking pretty tempting right now. I'm about to pull the trigger on one. Found a new one shipped for $3,600. Pricey but still a lot less then a new pin (not factoring in upgrades of course) with a lot of replayability.

The nice thing about a multicade is that you can play several games on one machine and then have more room for additional pinball machines.

I got my Game Gate because of you and we still play it a ton and love it. I was surprised to see you possibly selling it. As for the Golden Tee-it is a blast and it is really popular with guest. The 2020 version is way better than the version that comes on Game Gate(night and day). Call Gary at Abel or JJ at GE to get a competitive quote. Now that I have thousands of mame games I am searching for unique games like Spy Hunter and Championship Sprint to round out my collection.

I have seen some done well, but the overload of controls kind of ruin it for me. I have a dedicated donkey kong jr and all points bulletin. I have everything to make a multicade for two button games though. My problem is I have A.D.D. And just end up cycling through different games every five minutes instead of sitting and actually mastering one.

I built this using a kit for the cabinet. It was not that hard and inexpensive as well, under $400 to build as I recall.

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I have had a 60-in-1 multicade in old Space Duel cabinet with a vertical CRT monitor for many years. I also have a Street Fighter 2: CE with a 25" horizontal CRT monitor that I swap pcb's in and out of. I have been looking to turn the SF2 into a multicade, but don't know the best route. I have looked into Pandora's Box and the Game Elf, but it seems the later models don't support CRT monitors. Shy of doing a complete MAME setup, does anyone have a recommendation for a good JAMMA plug and play solution? I mostly want to play 2D fighting games and brawlers.

Agree! My first cabinet i built about 4 years ago. A hyperspin mame arcade. Love it. Now have a virtual pinball and 2 new real pins. Play pinball way more than the arcade, but still love it

Betelgeuse get a CPS2 motherboard and a Darksoft CPS2 kit www.arcade-projects.com , all you would need to do is put the CPS2 in place of the CPS1 game, and get a CPS2 kick harness. Then you'd have all the CPS2 fighting games (Super SF2, SUper SF2 Turbo, Dark Stalkers, All the Alpha games, all the versus games before MvC2) and all the side scroller beat em ups ( Punisher got ported, Both Dungeons and Dragons games, Alien V Predator, etc) and some good shmups like GigaWing and Mars Matrix

basically all of these:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP_System_II

plus the punisher , SF2 Turbo and SF2CE that got ported to CPS2 from CPS1

never cared aboot ho12rizontal to vertical games and i think you can switch a spinner for a trackball and it's fine my me. I also really don't care aboot a 8-4 way controls but I don't think i play many of those games anyway.

The real issue is 593,000 games and honestly you only end up playing a handfull.

Torw mine down years ago for more pin space. Been thinking aboot putting on together at some point though.

I sold all my MAME cabs in favor of 10,000+ games on RetroPie where I can sit in the recliner and play off of a big screen.

Thanks, Malenko! I do have some CPS2 motherboards already, so going to look into this.

Yeah I was thinking of selling it to make room for another pin but have decided to hold onto it for now. Thanks for the tips about finding a GoldenTee! A GoldenTee seems like a perfect game to play with guests.

I got a multicade over a year ago and like it. 412 games and yes some are unplayable w/the controls. But there are enough to keep me entertained. I also got a Arcade1up 12 in 1 . I'm good for now.

My multicade has over 400 games. It has a few pinball games in it. Interesting but no where near the real thing. I like the casino games.

Made mine over 20 years ago, (bad dudes cab) plays most all games I played as a youngster. I really like it when guests come over and I ask what game they remember playing, I can boot it for them and they’re always amazed.
The racer was a mame cabinet, (California speed cab) but the old arcade racing games just were not as good as I remembered. So I put a PS3 and logitech wheel in it, went to the junk yard and bought a real car seat. Burnout, need for speed and gran turismo are so fun on this one.
These add variety to the game room, as much as I love pins, these will never be replaced by one.

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I had a Golden Tee 2003 which I converted to 2006 Complete. I had it for about 3 years and found it fun even though the Fore series of GT was very dated and as in most GTs the coures are often too fantasy for me.
I was lucky to find a PGA Tour Challenge edition 4 years ago which I have upgraded to PGA Tour Team Challenge. In addition to this I have the original PGA Tour, PGA Challenge 1 and 3 PGA Challenge and PGA Tour All Access Pass versions, which I can run from different hard drives. I enjoy it much more than the GT as I like the real courses. The fantasy courses are also mostly good with just a few weaker ones.

I actually run an Online Tour and have about 100 people from around the world that play against each other each week in weekly tournaments.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/340416533239955/

The new GTs are much better looking, but the courses tend to still get to arcadey for me.
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For anybody in Colorado I highly recommend Centerpiece Arcades. http://centerpiecearcades.com/

I’ve got a MAME built by them with 50,000+ games on it and it’s awesome! (Ok, so I’ll only probably play a couple thousand of those, but still!). It’s even got a couple of hundred pins on it. The cabinet is solid and looks great!

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Dude, standing up to play the cabinet actually is an issue once your back starts getting grumpy. Maybe the right comfy barstool could help. My back always gets sore before im actually done playing on the cab =\

I always use my bar stool.

I have Video Vegas and Hoyle Casino Games. I play Black Jack on Hoyle. The slots are fun too. Ms Pac Man is my favorite though.

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Pretty sure everyone here has at least 1 or 2 multicades. I have one with a horizontal monitor and one with a vertical monitor. Used to collect dedicated games but needed more room for pins so out they went.

I remember in the early 80s a game at a local market called Galaga and the kids new of a way to not kill two defenders and the game would go into no fire mode it was strange , kool and games lasted forever. The weird thing is not sure how the info got around by word of mouth or telephone (landline) because we no the internet wasn’t available. Here is an article that covers it.

https://triosdevelopers.com/jason.eckert/blog/Entries/2012/10/31_The_Galaga_no_fire_cheat_mystery.html

I have a japanese sit down cabinet. They got it right from the beggining. I still don’t know why arcades everywhere else had stand up cabinets.

Back in the 80s I rigged up a Wico joysick and a few buttons to my C64 so I could play Jumpman with an arcade feel.
Nowdays things are a bit more elaborate...
(It can also easily be set on a furniture dolly to slide it under some pins when it's not being used.)

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