Hey folks… been too long! Been really looking at the new mini arcade units from arcade1up.com that are up for preorder. 300 bux seems like not a bad deal but there is minimal info about the controls. Like most of you, i would want to drop good hardware in them cause i highly doubt there is sanwa or happ stuff in them Anyone at evo get some hands on?
Anyone elses interest piqued?
Yup. These look pretty cool. Problem is, they are authentic to a fault. As in, some cabinets don’t have sticks and minimal buttons at best. Bad for those who want to get their money’s worth and add more games in the future, or install something alongside the built-in system like a Raspberry Pi later on to play more stuff on these things.
The Street Fighter II Cabinet is a no-brainer. It has a full set of controls for each player, 1 stick and 6 buttons each, and thus is the most future proof for hacks and other upgrades to add more games. Plus having a replica SFII Champion Edition Cabinet would be pretty sweet.
Anyway from what i gather, these replica cabinets are 4ft tall with the option for a 2ft base to make the cabinet a full 6ft. On the website they boast that this brings the control panel to the exact same standing height as the originals. They use 17" LCD Screens, the system where the games are stored actually comes mounted to the back of the LCD for compactness. Cabinets all weigh 60lbs+ each, so they should be easy to move and transport. Lastly, you have to assemble them yourself but, it looks easy as hell from the tutorial video the company put out. This would probably be great for moving too. You could dissemble them in a snap, and rebuild them when you get to your new place. Stick and buttons are Sanwa or Sanwa clones at least but, arranged in the U.S straight rowed layouts also. Bit of a bummer, i like my japanese style layout but it’s not a deal breaker. The actual cord that plugs into the outlet has a built-in On/Off switch, which is how you turn them on and off. The company also says this isn’t a limited production run and more cabinets could be released later on as well. Overall, as long as the quality of the construction is Good, these things look badass.
$300 each isn’t too bad either as long as the quality is Solid.
Edit: Here the tutorial showing how to put the cabinets together. Looks simple to me.
These things are out in the wild. Anyone buy one of their cabs? I want the Final Fight one but according to their site that’s not coming until next spring.
I thought about pre-ordering one but then discovered THIS:
Xtension Alpha-Cade!
^^ Almost same scale and size of Arcade1Up’s cabinets but, Better build quality, just as easy to assemble, and High-Quality Happ Control panel. You have to get your own HD-Tv or Monitor up to 19" though. This thing looks Perfect for throwing a fully loaded Raspberry Pi system into, and creating a glorious MAME cabinet. The reviews for this cabinet have all been Great. The drawback though, is it’s a LOT more expensive (and no Sanwa option). After cost of the cabinet, shipping costs, and getting your own 19" HD-Tv or monitor? It’s OVER $500.
I’m thinking the Arcade1Up might be worth it -IF- there’s a way to easily hook up a Raspberry Pi into it, and if the build quality is at least Decent. You wouldn’t need to hunt down your own HD-Tv also, as a Display is already included. As for the controls, the Arcade1Up uses knock-off Sanwa parts but, it’s still a control panel designed for japanese parts. So it would be INSANELY EASY to put Legit Sanwa sticks & buttons into it. While for the Xtention Alphacade, you ONLY get U.S style Happ parts.
Even after upgrading the Arcade1Up with Sanwa parts, it’s still about $130 less. Then again, maybe it would be well worth it to invest the extra $200 into a quality Alphacade but, again, stuck with Happ parts. So each have their trade-offs.
Edit: Also they make a Bartop version of the Alphacade! Basically exactly the same, just with height chopped in half for table-top use. It’s all the goodness of the normal Alphacade but, in compact form. Oddly enough it’s only about $20 less. I’m digging the Bartop version the most actually.
I bought one today. It’s vinyl covered MDF. The sticks are below Zippy stick quality and the buttons are knock off Happs. The real kick to the groin is that the LCD panel does not use a standard connector, it uses a ribbon connector from the control panel (which houses all the internals, PCB, speaker, etc). I will put it together tomorrow, but I suspect that modding will be difficult for your average DIYer. It looks nice and the build quality seems to be about what I expected, however, I was hoping that it would be more moddable.
Pretty easy actually:
How is it so far? I was concerned about the build quality but, spotted a Galaga machine at my local wal-mart and was impressed. It seems to be of chunky, sturdy build quality. I even picked it up and it’s kinda heavy too. I’m sure it could take a hit and be ok, although i wouldn’t tempt things.
How do the stock sticks and buttons hold up?
I really wanted them to include arcade quality parts. I would gladly pay a extra 100 if they it did.
The stick is utter trash.
I wasn’t saying it’s not doable, this is way below the technical level needed for building your own MAME cabinet (which I’ve done) but most wont want to do even this much. I used to build fight stick cases for my friends, just the shell. Told them I definitely didn’t have time to wire, they weren’t interested and paid retail instead just avoid having to research and actually, you know, do the work.
I actually have a bunch of left over JLWs that I will be putting in along with a ton of left over OBSFs that I’ll be putting in when I have time. I feel it’s a necessity if you want a game that is playable at all. I had a really hard time finding the corners and kept missing SRKs.
Also, the cabinet, once assembled, has some heft to it. It’s MDF, it looks great, and at the reduced price is definitely worth the price of admission, even with the garbage stick and buttons.
It should be good once you replace the buttons and sticks though. Although i hear it won’t fit a JLF as stock, because it lacks the mounting holes for the JLF mounting plate in the right spots, and you have to drill some. As someone who wouldn’t want to go drilling holes into his new $300 toy, i’m curious if you can just dissemble the stock stick and use it’s mounting plate on a JLF. Then JLF installation would be a snap. Have you tried?
Been playing one of these recently on display at the local Walmart over the past few weeks. The sticks and buttons are hot garbage. Doing SRKs in ST and CE feel like an impossibility most of the time. The control panel doesn’t have any plexiglass to protect it so the paint rubs off very easily. This thing is also obviously designed for children just based on the overall size of the thing from the hight down to the width of the control panel. There’s not enough room on the street fighter one for a grown adult to rest their hands on the control panel without the edges digging into their wrists. Seeing as how I own 2 original sf2 cabs that I bought for 200 bucks each several years ago I can’t justify 300-400 bucks for these things.
Not everyone wants a ginormous, 200lb+ Dynamo cabinet, that takes two grown men or at least a dolly to move around. That would be a pain in the ass to own. Especially if you ever had to move suddenly. Part of the appeal is having something that looks nice but a single person could lugg around easily if needed. When you put it on the riser it has nice height to it also.
Arcade1up is starting to make Free plexi covers for owners to protect their artwork also. As for the controls, they look to be easy to swap out with Good parts.
Missed the point of my post entirely. My point isn’t that people should instead buy an actual cab. It was that these things aren’t worth the 300-400 dollar price point because the quality of it is pretty garbage. With all the upgrades and modding that needs to be done it would be more worth it to just save up a bit more and buy/build something custom. Most people buying these aren’t gonna know shit about modding or where to even begin on what quality sticks and buttons are. They’re gonna be pissed that their 300 dollar toy broke on them in less than 2 weeks. Already plenty of people online complaining about it.
I haven’t had time yet, but I have spare JLWs to put in. I’m not a fan of JLFs and have always preferred JLWs. I might put IL concave in–i grew up on Happs buttons and prefer the concave style–and pair with Cherry MX switches.
I agree that the stick internals are garbage, I said so in my post. The size is the same as the Capcom Mini cute control panels that I have, it’s definitely not any more cramped than either a mini cute or the mini Neo Geos. I wouldn’t pay more than the $299 that I paid at Walmart, but the LCD alone costs $259 to replace, I can’t agree that the price is outrageous. I plan on buying another 3 or 4 and hack/modding for my Neo Geo, do a replica 720 degrees using the original stick, keeping the stock final fight one, and making an AimTrak based shooting one.
if you went with a quality 3/4 like the Xtension 3/4s, you’re looking at $349, a 4 month wait and still need to plunk down $80 for the LCD, and about $100 for the stick internals. It’s not even comparable from a price point perspective, and I actually think the cab is fine. The heft is decent. And in both situations you need to build/mod. If I was only going to have one, I’d go Xtension or build one myself, but since I’d like a whole mini arcade, I think the Arcade1up is the best choice (I have too many projects to be able to commit to building 3 or 4 3/4 arcade cabs)
JLW for the Win !!!
Guess its just a fad hot holiday gift item this year
I rather Just look on Craigs list for a used cab.
These look cute.
I get that the quality isn’t there when compared to a full-sized real cab, but the lower cost, all-in-one solution as well as accessibility makes it fine for the general masses.
It’s also a decent starting point for modding for those with no access (or skills) to woodworking themselves.
That being said, I don’t think I’d get one of these (no room), but I’d kill for a Capcom Cute cabinet (I’d make room for one of those).
I got one of these to mod and convert to a dedicated Jamma cab (the SF one). I actually have Full size cab. But its too big to have in my place. This thing is compact and i thought its a pretty nifty thing. I would definetly buy this over building my own cab. Not a very good case builder (go look at my primal rage thing, iv had to cover up the jank in it lol). Already plopped in some Happ parts to fool with till my new harness and lcd controller board comes in. Had to cut away at the base of the stick because by default its too close to the buttons lol.
As for the games themselves tho. I really dont understand putting in vanilla Super but not Turbo Hyperfighting. Also no difficulty settings so i wouldnt ever play Super Turbo that much because of it.
(crap picture but yeah)