check your local walmart stores, the one by my wife’s house (Longview, TX) is selling their units for $200.
As much as i’d love to buy a SF: Champion Edition cab and mod the hell out of it with a Pi or Pandora Box, i’ve no room for it.
Kudos on turning that sow’s ear into a silk purse, and making me look at them just a wee bit harder at walmart
If it weren’t for the damn layout and the cost of the thing in Canada, I’d be tempted to get this and mod it. But the cost to do all the mods I want make it cost prohibitive. Just to get the cab in Canada is $400 plus 13% tax. I also don’t have the room.
Just got my first Arcade1Up cabinet! Got the Final Fight version, as it looked slick as hell and FF is one of my favorite beat’em ups ever. Plus the other games.
Took me about 1 hr 30 minutes to put it together, as i took my time. Not particularly hard and the included instructions were excellent (there’s also a cool video tutorial on youtube). This machine also comes with the protective plexi out of the box to protect the control panel art. Sticks & buttons aren’t great but are decent Sanwa Knock-offs that function perfectly fine for the games included.
There’s no volume control. You have Off/Normal/Loud. Some complain about the volume being too high but, on the first setting it’s almost Perfect actually. Not too loud, nor too low. Just right. And the second/highest setting is pretty loud. Although the sound coming from the single speaker in the control panel does sound pretty good! So it’s nice i have the option to ramp up the volume like that but, i prefer the first setting.
The games’s themselves have no options that can be tweaked. You’re just met with a neat Arcade1Up intro and then it goes straight to the game select menu. Simple and sweet. The games boot up very fast. There is no ‘smoothing’ filter over them though, so you’re seeing the bare pixels in HD.
The build quality of the cabient itself is pretty nice. First off, i wasn’t sure if i’d be able to fit the box into my car. I drive a subcompact and was able to put it in my back seat fine. So for those driving an average sized car or truck, you’ll be able to load it in fine. The cabient is pretty heavy though, at like 65lbs but, i was able to carry it boxed myself ok.
It’s made of MDF, so, not real wood then? Whatever it’s made out of is pretty chunky at least. Most of the panels are solid feeling, especially the sides. Once you put it all together it feels like one solid peice, and can be carried around with no worries. I wouldn’t go tossing it down some stairs but, it feels pretty durable overall.
Artwork: The artwork on the cabient Rocks! It’s all very nicely copied & pasted from the original Final Fight cabient nicely. Very vibrant and high quality looking. So the looks of the cab are spot on.
Height: I’m a big guy at 6’3" and the cabient by itself is almost a perfect, comfortable sit-down height. Yes, i bought the riser. It looks really cool with the riser, being higher up, plus that psiffy Arcade1Up logo the riser has. Although when on the riser, it’s still too short to play comfortably for someone of my size, and it’s also TOO TALL to play sitting down also. At least in a normal chair. I’d have to get a stool or other chair that above-average in elevation.
Screen: The 17" LCD screen looks good. And i was lucky to have mine without any scratches, defects, or dead pixels out of the box. There are no picture settings for brightness or contrast but, I can play for a few hours and not feel any eye strain from brightness or other such issues. Adjustable controls would be nice but, the default setting it comes with is good at least.
Overall, this thing is pretty nice! It looks great, games play well, durable, Good sound despite only having one speaker, and the stock controls are decent. I’d say these Arcade1Up cabs are slightly over-priced but still worth it. Especially if you have plans to mod them. Which i plan on doing eventually but not for a while.
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Can you do a build log when you do your mod. I heard mix reviews, and someone I really trust gave it a bad review.
I also think the MDF might be better than standard wood, as long as the MDF is properly sealed you get no moisture damage, while wood is subject to warping over time.
Ymmv
My localish Walmarts are putting the first couple of cabinets on clearance for $150.
Been playing my Final Fight Cabient a good bit lately. This thing is sexy as hell! The games play great, the stock controls are pretty decent and seem to be holding up fine, the replicated artwork is excellent (the side panel artwork in particular almost look like its painted on), and it just looks badass as a (fully functional)display peice too.
My only gripe is, it’s not easy to mod with more games. Yes, i’ve seen ETA Prime’s video and there is a fair bit of surgury involved to put a Raspberry Pi into one of these cabinets.
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Does anyone have the SF cab? I got it and it’s pretty good, but the joysticks are a little off. I swapped it with a real Sanwa but still have issues getting Shoryuken to come out consistently on SSF2T. The stock Sanwa clones are actually really good in comparison and I don’t notice much different between the two. Maybe SSF2T is just too fast?
Did you have to drill holes or some other modification to get the Sanwa stick in there. If so, are you sure you aligned the stick properly?
I actually didn’t have to drill holes because the Arcade1Up bracket fits the Sanwa perfectly so it is centered. QC motions have no issues. Just my shoryuken. lol Were inputs more strict on the older games?
Are these new or used JLF sticks? And wow, many of the tutorials online said you had to drill holes and stuff. They said nothing about reusing the stock mounting plates.
Also…how long has it been since you’ve played a fighter that required SRK inputs? Also, assuming you also put a JLF on the 2P side, do you also have that problem on the second player stick?
Yes, new Sanwa JLF stick installed. These used to come with different joysticks which weren’t Sanwa knock offs so I think a lot of tutorials are based off those. Installed on 1P side and stock is on 2P.
I’ve been playing SFV on my PS4 with a MadCatz TE stick. No issues with that.
So it’s been a while now, i finally got my 2nd Arcade1Up cabient: Marvel Super Heroes! Damn, this thing is SEXY!! Quality artwork all over. Especially the side panels, almost looks like it was hand painted on.
They also upgraded their controls. Not Sanwa quality but, feel like Decent KOs and play fine.
Build quality of these cabinets continues to be solid also. I remember there was a LOT of skeptisim from the community before these things launched. About how their using MDF, keep the cabients away from moisture or they might crumble like a wafer lol, etc, etc. After owning my Final Fight cab for about 8 months now, still looks/feels great. I mean, i wouldn’t toss these things down the stairs and expect them to be fine. But they are nicely chunky and durable feeling. The individual pieces feel pretty solid and it’s designed so everything fastens/slots together in multiple ways for a Good combined durability overall.
I think i’m done now though. Two cabs for me is plenty enough.
Edit: Also i got my Marvel Super Heroes cab for $250 ($270 after tax). Wal-mart had discounted them slightly recently.
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Lucky!
As a HUGE Marvel Super Heroes fan, I was REALLY tempted by that cabinet… but it’s hard to justify it with the wife when there’s no logical space to put it in the house. 
what are the screens/lag time like on these things. Do they have curved screen/scanline options as well?
Oh, definitely. Let me go over all the various options these have. I’ll start with the control panel. On the top/left, there is the On/Off switch. Turns the system on and off. Then Top/Right is the volume control. In earlier releases there were only (3) settings: OFF->Normal->LOUD. In the recent wave you have full control over the volume level, not unlike an LCD Tv. If you hold down the 1P start button, it goes back to the main menu. Hold down the 2P start and it resets whatever game you’re on.
And thats it. Pretty amazing, huh?
Yes i am being sarcastic. There are no customization display options whatsoever. What you see if what you get. By default it uses the “normal” look: Raw and authentic, sharp pixels. No ‘filters’ to ‘smooth’ things out. No ratio or 4:3 or widescreen options either. It’s all 4:3 Original aspect ratio. No resolution changing either, etc.
In Arcade1Up’s feeble defense, they have put some thought into it’s pre-set brightness/sharpness/color saturation/etc, it comes with. It’s a nicely bright & vibrant look, without over-doing it and giving you headaches or anything. I can play through an entire game of X-Men COTA in the dark and not get eye strain or anything.
Only missing lack of customization i can say i truly miss is difficulty settings. Would be nice to tweak things. Why they don’t give us these options? Heck if i know. Otherwise, these things are pretty awesome.
My only other complaint might be building them. I’ve built two by myself so far, and it’s certainly do-able by yourself but, can be a pain in the ass at times. Such as joining the other half of the large side panel when you have everything else inside. Can be tricky and frustrating to set it all up just right. In it’s defense, part of the reason it can be rough is the way these things were designed to slot/fit together at a multitude of points, for best possible durability and security. Oh well. Just gotta be patient, take your time, and NOT attempt to force anything.
Edit: On the upside, to mod these things, you DO NOT have to dissemble them. You can gain access to the control panel and monitor easily by just removing the back panel. Where you can remove the stock system, and hook up an LCD controller and Raspberry Pi/Pandora Box/Pc/etc. The control panel with the stick & buttons also easily lifts out & unplugs after unscrewing the top bolts, so you can tinker with it as you please.
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I just bought my brother the marvel 80th anniversary cab. It’s supposed to come into a iron man box. It has yellow T molding, authentic sanwa buttons and joysticks, light up marquee and custom riser. It’s pretty dope. I’m going to put a retro pie inside of it
He cant keep his hands off my cab everytime he comes over. Not to many things gets my brother excited so I’m happy to present him with this near 500$ present for his satisfaction. They are very beautiful cabs. I almost have buyers remorse when I bought my pre fab barcade kit. Of course I bought my kit before arcade 1 up was a thing but these are nice cabs for the price and are easy to mod.
I wanted to ask peoples opinions of the sanwa joystick and buttons or better yet a picture of the Internals. Curious if it’s a standerd sanwa joystick or so custom fab one. I seen arcade 1 up talking about making a stick with no microswitches for smoother joystick movements which leads me to belive that they might go some sort of optical route. I’d be curious to see if that’s true. Also would really like to see a light gun series come out like a operation wolf edition. That would be the bees knees! Next cab I’m getting will be the star wars edition. I just love these things!
That Star Wars one has amazing artwork. I’m not THAT big of a Star Wars fan to spring for it but, if i was? I’d be all over that release. And even the “regular” version of the Marvel Super Heroes cabinet looks fantastic. Even though i really dig the Yellow on the Limited edition, I actually prefer the Blue highlights of the retail version more. I don’t have unlimited room though, so i won’t be getting anymore of these. My Marvel & Final Fight cabs are good enough.
