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MinDRIoT

MinDRIoT

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Having recently acquired a couple of tremendous Arcade1Up machines on sale at a local Walmart. Very tremendous. I thought we needed a dedicated Arcade1Up deals thread to keep track of deals. I know deals people, believe me.
 
These deals are very YMMV but it seems many, many Walmarts are clearing these out right now. Clearing them out. Brickseek links provided where available, check your local stores for price and availability. Brickseek is not 100% accurate though, as I said ... YMMV.

Search your local area, or any ZIP, for in store deals with deals.consolekits.com (Site no longer exists)
 
Asteroids, Major Havoc, Lunar Lander and Tempest - as low as $75 in store, very hard to find or $164.99 online
 
Centipede, Millipede, Missile Command, Crystal Castles - as low as $75 in store, very hard to find or $174.99 online
 
Final Fight, 1944, Ghosts'N Goblins, Strider - as low as $125 in store $150 at Walmart online
 
Galaga, Galaxian - as low as $75 in store $150 at Walmart online

Mortal Kombat I,II & III - as low as $150 in store $199 at Walmart online
 
Pacman, Pacman PLUS - as low as $150 in store
 
Rampage, Gauntlet, Joust, Defender - as low as $75 in store $199 at Walmart online
 
Space Invaders - as low as $75 in store $150 at Walmart online
 
Street Fighter ll - as low as $75 in store $199 at Walmart online
 
Golden Tee - $299 at Walmart

Marvel Superheroes - $299 at Walmart

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade Machine w/ Riser - $349 at Walmart

Star Wars w/riser - $399 at Walmart

Pac-Man Head to Head Arcade Table with Two Pac-Man Gaming Stools (No Galaga or DigDug)- $450 at Sam's

Street Fighter Head to Head Arcade Table - $430 at Walmart

Legends Ultimate Home Arcade Special Edition - $500 at Sam's

 
Arcade1up Riser - $44.88 online or order for instore pickup
 
 
I myself picked up the Final Fight and Rampage machines for $125 each for the Oval Office in the White CatCondo.

 
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MinDRioT said:
Good points. Found this one on Amazon with a TF card reader built in for $24

Looking at these made me realize I have a Raspberry Pi 4 laying around collecting dust, redundant now I have a Legends Ultimate, so I looked into turning it into a handheld console. Found the Game HAT kit for about $50. Will probably try that out for a really kick ass handheld retro gaming console.
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This is a really good option:

https://www.experimentalpi.com/Hand-Held_c_14.html

I've had one for a while and it works great. Requires a bit of knowledge on setting up a Pi though, and a bit of tinkering depending on how fancy you want to get. But, you can play Dreamcast games on the go so that's cool.

 
VegasKeith said:
Very nearly over the edge on the Legends Ultimate Arcade purchase. Someone push me over.
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What's holding you back? For myself, I have a retropi and custom arcade controls setup that I rarely touch... I don't think I'd end up playing it as much as I would hope.

If you have a home for it and will actually put a lot of time into playing it... I think this is easily the best option out there.

 
VegasKeith said:
Very nearly over the edge on the Legends Ultimate Arcade purchase. Someone push me over.
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giphy.gif


 
Well, New Wave Toys latest Replicade is now up for pre-order for the next 2 weeks(Capcom/Romstar 1942 & 1943 Overhaul Edition). Now a few things to note, is that both cabs include 1942 & 1943 games, the only real difference is the look of each. The 1942 cab is shorter, so the extra 2 player controller does not appear to have the hiding space in the rear like their SF2 cab had, or the 1943 cab appears to have.

I was only planing to get the OG 1942, but that will probably not fit as well among my other cabs, since it is shorter. I will also miss that storage space in the rear, so in this case, I may just go for the 1943 cab and call it a day, as I'm not that in to either game were I need to buy both.

They also have their new USB change charger(blue ver.), up for pre-order as well. Of course all said items have there pre-order discount, so get in early if you don't want to pay the full retail at release. Although I can't see much of a demand for either of these and probably why they are doing open pre-orders, as a way to gauge demand.

https://newwavetoys.com

 
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Hello. I'm a high school teacher, and we are redoing our teachers lounge. I thought it would be an awesome surprise for the staff to put a cabinet in there to mess around with. 

I know there are a ton of options, but I have to pay for it out of pocket...so whats the best choice. A countercade and then hack it add games?

What would be my cheapest/best option?

 
adkenner said:
Hello. I'm a high school teacher, and we are redoing our teachers lounge. I thought it would be an awesome surprise for the staff to put a cabinet in there to mess around with.

I know there are a ton of options, but I have to pay for it out of pocket...so whats the best choice. A countercade and then hack it add games?

What would be my cheapest/best option?
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I would just steer clear of Arcade 1up since you have adults as the audience of the cabinet, especially if you are looking to have 2 people playing at once.

As for hacking up one of the other options, you may want to see first if "hacking" it and loading it with ROMs would be okay in a professional environment since emulation is such a gray area.

But if you get one of the Legends cabinets or ones that already come loaded with a bunch, then that is all good.

Or hell try to find an actual JAMMA cabinet and get a Pandora's Box to put in there. Those things go for cheap and just plug into a JAMMA harness.

 
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purbeast said:
I would just steer clear of Arcade 1up since you have adults as the audience of the cabinet, especially if you are looking to have 2 people playing at once.

As for hacking up one of the other options, you may want to see first if "hacking" it and loading it with ROMs would be okay in a professional environment since emulation is such a gray area.

But if you get one of the Legends cabinets or ones that already come loaded with a bunch, then that is all good.

Or hell try to find an actual JAMMA cabinet and get a Pandora's Box to put in there. Those things go for cheap and just plug into a JAMMA harness.
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he really shouldn't do anything with ROMs if he's bringing it into work

 
KrayzieKMF said:
he really shouldn't do anything with ROMs if he's bringing it into work
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Yeah I mean I know I wouldn't do anything like that but it's not up to me to tell him what to do with his job heh.

Maybe just get something like this.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/19-Pandoras-Box-2500-in-1-Video-Games-2-Player-Arcade-Console-with-Coin-Slot/402393511489

It just depends how deep into it you wanna get. Buy a plug and play thing like above, or buy an old cabinet and fix it up himself.

 
KrayzieKMF said:
he really shouldn't do anything with ROMs if he's bringing it into work
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Yeah, you definitely want to go with one of the licensed options if you are going to put it at work. Most people either don't know or don't care, but there will always be that one guy ...

And with a government facility like a school, software licensing is not something you want to play around with, even for that.

 
Picked up a cabinet I’ve been trying to get for years now (at a reasonable price) - PGA Tour Golf. It’s currently a Challenge 3 (2004 I think) and I’ll upgrade it to the last version they made. Such a great game. Going to completely rebuild the pedestal for it and mount a 32” tv on the wall for it. Will sit in between my arcade1up golden tee and my arcade1up conversion mame machine. Super pumped. My barcade is now complete. For now, of course.

I passed on a a couple of silver strike bowling cabs I found. Missed out on a dirt cheap golden tee 2011 cab that I’m super sad about.
 
Here’s my current mess of an incomplete barcade. Awaiting some parts to finish the virtual pinball and a few other things. PGA going where the barrel is and I’m hooking it up to 2 TVs. Gonna have to redo that wall again.
[attachment=35398:32187E43-23FB-4DAD-A9AF-5701015A5314.jpeg]
 
chrislaustin said:
Well, New Wave Toys latest Replicade is now up for pre-order for the next 2 weeks(Capcom/Romstar 1942 & 1943 Overhaul Edition). Now a few things to note, is that both cabs include 1942 & 1943 games, the only real difference is the look of each. The 1942 cab is shorter, so the extra 2 player controller does not appear to have the hiding space in the rear like their SF2 cab had, or the 1943 cab appears to have.

I was only planing to get the OG 1942, but that will probably not fit as well among my other cabs, since it is shorter. I will also miss that storage space in the rear, so in this case, I may just go for the 1943 cab and call it a day, as I'm not that in to either game were I need to buy both.

They also have their new USB change charger(blue ver.), up for pre-order as well. Of course all said items have there pre-order discount, so get in early if you don't want to pay the full retail at release. Although I can't see much of a demand for either of these and probably why they are doing open pre-orders, as a way to gauge demand.

https://newwavetoys.com
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Glad to see NWT will no longer be the website with nothing to sell. These look nice, even though I've never seen a 1942 cabinet like this. They can also each play two games. Would be a must have if it included 1941 and 19XX, like I hoped. Even the Kai upgrade to 1943 would have been nice, as it was included in the Capcom compilations released over the years featuring these games. Nevertheless, this is definitely a "maybe." Also nice is there are four more silhouettes which will ideally become future releases. Unfortunately, none feature the unique shape of the DL cabinet, so Space Ace is not among them. In fact, DL has been completely removed from their site (as has Asteroids). I heard Missile Command is one of these planned releases, and the silhouette two spaces to the left of 1942 is the perfect shape for it.

 
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adkenner said:
Hello. I'm a high school teacher, and we are redoing our teachers lounge. I thought it would be an awesome surprise for the staff to put a cabinet in there to mess around with.

I know there are a ton of options, but I have to pay for it out of pocket...so whats the best choice. A countercade and then hack it add games?

What would be my cheapest/best option?
Click to expand...
Super fun idea! I'd go with something straight-forward and simple from A1UP. Pac Man is always a favorite. Those Pac Man party-cades are on sale at QVC right now and come with a few games. If you attach that to a wall, that'd be darn near perfect, I think.

 
Something else I noticed about these latest Replicades, is that they are only offered to US & Canada ONLY, due to licensing, so I would be curious to know what that's about? Is this in relation to another company offering mini cabs outside the US? Or just a licensing issue were company A has rights here, while company B has rights elsewhere? Who knows?

After some thought, I think I'm going to go with the smaller 1942 cab(wood-grain), instead of the more full size of the 1943. After looking both over much closer, I just like the features of the 1942 better, as it uses a ball top style stick, while the other uses the bat top/tear drop style sticks, which I can't stand from an aesthetics stand point. And since the 2-player stick matches the 1943 cab, I figured I would go for more variety, and opt for the 1942 cab over the 1943 one.

 
Saphoon said:
Glad to see NWT will no longer be the website with nothing to sell. These look nice, even though I've never seen a 1942 cabinet like this. They can also each play two games. Would be a must have if it included 1941 and 19XX, like I hoped. Even the Kai upgrade to 1943 would have been nice, as it was included in the Capcom compilations released over the years featuring these games. Nevertheless, this is definitely a "maybe." Also nice is there are four more silhouettes which will ideally become future releases. Unfortunately, none feature the unique shape of the DL cabinet, so Space Ace is not among them. In fact, DL has been completely removed from their site (as has Asteroids). I heard Missile Command is one of these planned releases, and the silhouette two spaces to the left of 1942 is the perfect shape for it.
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I wish those usb change machines battery banks were much bigger. Closer to an Arcade1up.

I may still get one of these as I have a few usb powered lights and such in my arcade that are all hooked up to smart outlets. I could hook them all up to this instead and then plug this into the outlet.

Edit: $18 shipping for the tiny usb coin machine and one keychain. No thanks.
 
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kwick7 said:
I wish those usb change machines battery banks were much bigger. Closer to an Arcade1up.

I may still get one of these as I have a few usb powered lights and such in my arcade that are all hooked up to smart outlets. I could hook them all up to this instead and then plug this into the outlet.

Edit: $18 shipping for the tiny usb coin machine and one keychain. No thanks.
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It's around $20 shipping for the 1942 cabinet, and presumably the same for the 1943 or any other cabinet they may offer now or in the future. Amazon has that keychain for the same price New Wave is charging, but with free Prime shipping.

 
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chrislaustin said:
Something else I noticed about these latest Replicades, is that they are only offered to US & Canada ONLY, due to licensing, so I would be curious to know what that's about? Is this in relation to another company offering mini cabs outside the US? Or just a licensing issue were company A has rights here, while company B has rights elsewhere? Who knows?

After some thought, I think I'm going to go with the smaller 1942 cab(wood-grain), instead of the more full size of the 1943. After looking both over much closer, I just like the features of the 1942 better, as it uses a ball top style stick, while the other uses the bat top/tear drop style sticks, which I can't stand from an aesthetics stand point. And since the 2-player stick matches the 1943 cab, I figured I would go for more variety, and opt for the 1942 cab over the 1943 one.
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I also personally like the 1942 one better. It's more authentic to the original (as the original only had one joystick and set of buttons in the same place as the replica), the artwork is larger and more colorful, and the cabinet itself is unique in design. I''ve never seen one of these lowboys. The 1942 cabinets I've seen and played were either the rather lackluster upright version, or the cockpit-style MACH 3 conversion tragedies. It must have been popular, since they returned to a similar design for the post 1943 games (1941, 19XX, and 1944). I'm not sure if the original cabinet dimensions was more akin to cabaret machines, or a shorter, different shaped, but still considered full sized machine like Gauntlet. Regardless of the original dimensions, the replica height is 11 inches - only 1 inch shorter than the typical height for their other cabinets.

 
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VegasKeith said:
Very nearly over the edge on the Legends Ultimate Arcade purchase. Someone push me over.
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While I have one I love, going forward I would be VERY concerned about AtGames as a company.

The FB groups are just a barrage of people having issues with the new pinball and being told live with the issue or ship back at customer cost for a refund. Just an absolute shitshow. Also be warned, their products have a 30 day warranty. Yes. 30 days.

 
soonerdoc said:
While I have one I love, going forward I would be VERY concerned about AtGames as a company.

The FB groups are just a barrage of people having issues with the new pinball and being told live with the issue or ship back at customer cost for a refund. Just an absolute shitshow. Also be warned, their products have a 30 day warranty. Yes. 30 days.
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There was a lot of skepticism regarding the ALU given atgames reputation from their plug n play products. Maybe they are reverting to their old standards
 
soonerdoc said:
While I have one I love, going forward I would be VERY concerned about AtGames as a company.

The FB groups are just a barrage of people having issues with the new pinball and being told live with the issue or ship back at customer cost for a refund. Just an absolute shitshow. Also be warned, their products have a 30 day warranty. Yes. 30 days.
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Arcade1Up had a similar amount of issues, especially on their early cabinets, and their warranty is only 90 days. The MVSX is 90 days. Even the tiny Replicades are only 100 days. That's not a lot better than 30... all of them basically just get you through any problems that are there when you first get it. You just have to make sure you set it up and test it out in that time frame.

These are all $300 - $600 machines trying to replicate multi thousand dollar machines. I understand wanting to get what you pay for... but well... you get what you pay for. If you wouldn't be comfortable with opening it up to replace/fix parts yourself and want extra piece of mind, there are extra warranty options available.

 
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avatar94 said:
These are all $300 - $600 machines trying to replicate multi thousand dollar machines. I understand wanting to get what you pay for... but well... you get what you pay for. If you wouldn't be comfortable with opening it up to replace/fix parts yourself and want extra piece of mind, there are extra warranty options available.
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Just want to clarify as to not spread misinformation - real arcade games are NOT multi thousand dollar machines for the most part, unless you're talking about a super rare game that is in pristine condition.

 
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purbeast said:
Just want to clarify as to not spread misinformation - real arcade games are NOT multi thousand dollar machines for the most part, unless you're talking about a super rare game that is in pristine condition.
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Just want to clarify as to not spread misinformation - please show me where I can buy a brand new arcade machine for the same price as a brand new Arcade1up. Example, a brand new MS Pacman/Galaga cabinet is 3000$, and I can get an Arcade1up Galaga and MS Pacman cabinet for 300$ a piece.
https://www.thepinballcompany.com/product/ms-pac-man-galaga-arcade-game/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA-aGCBhCwARIsAHDl5x9Zh8YJZiXJRkt_S-MXiZkyNCuhJXLj_3H9zEi_c5Cu87AM7ZzIa_IaAhqXEALw_wcB
 
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purbeast said:
Just want to clarify as to not spread misinformation - real arcade games are NOT multi thousand dollar machines for the most part, unless you're talking about a super rare game that is in pristine condition.
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i imagine they're comparing it to buying a a legit new cabinet and not a used one

 
soonerdoc said:
While I have one I love, going forward I would be VERY concerned about AtGames as a company.

The FB groups are just a barrage of people having issues with the new pinball and being told live with the issue or ship back at customer cost for a refund. Just an absolute shitshow. Also be warned, their products have a 30 day warranty. Yes. 30 days.
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Can you post a link to these groups? I’m seriously considering a multicade and thought the ALU looked like a winner since it lets you play your own games via usb.
 
Cabinet prices have skyrocketed in recent years, and I blame Arcade 1UP. Just a few years ago, it wasn't unusual to find an original cabinet in the $300 range. Now, the boards alone are going for that much.

 
dschroll said:
Can you post a link to these groups? I’m seriously considering a multicade and thought the ALU looked like a winner since it lets you play your own games via usb.
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Just look up AtGames official on FB.

The product ideas are great and if you get a good one great. But if you have problems, watch out. You’re gonna be screwed. People have been waiting 6-12 months for some replacement parts. Others have resorted to soldering parts back on the boards themselves. It’s nuts.

The reason they offer at this price, as someone alluded to above, is they’re using cheaper materials and labor to build these things. There is no quality control. And they simply aren’t equipped as a company to handle the issues.

 
I have had the ALU for a year and it has been great. I don't keep up with what issues others have had with them but mine has been great. Coin Ops has been sweet one it. Lots of different ways to play games on it. I added the Pixelcade and it looks awesome. I hope to get the Legends Pinball at some point too.

 
purbeast said:
Just want to clarify as to not spread misinformation - real arcade games are NOT multi thousand dollar machines for the most part, unless you're talking about a super rare game that is in pristine condition.
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slamoco said:
Just want to clarify as to not spread misinformation - please show me where I can buy a brand new arcade machine for the same price as a brand new Arcade1up. Example, a brand new MS Pacman/Galaga cabinet is 3000$, and I can get an Arcade1up Galaga and MS Pacman cabinet for 300$ a piece.
https://www.thepinballcompany.com/product/ms-pac-man-galaga-arcade-game/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA-aGCBhCwARIsAHDl5x9Zh8YJZiXJRkt_S-MXiZkyNCuhJXLj_3H9zEi_c5Cu87AM7ZzIa_IaAhqXEALw_wcB
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Yeah I'm comparing new to new, not new to used. If you want to do it that way, I bought a used Galaga A1Up for $50 a year ago. In fact a ton of people bought new ones at Walmart for that price. That's what started this whole thread. If you're getting real arcade cabs that cheap, you're gonna need a lot more tech knowledge to keep it running than you would with one of these replicas.

 
avatar94 said:
Yeah I'm comparing new to new, not new to used. If you want to do it that way, I bought a used Galaga A1Up for $50 a year ago. In fact a ton of people bought new ones at Walmart for that price. That's what started this whole thread. If you're getting real arcade cabs that cheap, you're gonna need a lot more tech knowledge to keep it running than you would with one of these replicas.
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Yeah I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm simply stating that real arcade cabinets don't cost "thousands of dollars" as one pointed out. That's all. I didn't say you can't get A1up's cheap. They should be cheap. They are made cheaply with cheap materials and are tiny.

Talking about a brand new arcade cabinet from the 90's is just being dense. Of course you aren't finding a brand new cabinet of something that is 30 years old. If you CAN find a NOS arcade game it's going to be thousands of dollars. But you aren't going to even find one since they pretty much don't exist.

That Ms. Pacman above is a replica and not even original and completely over priced. It also looks like it has an LCD in it from that pic.

 
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I think the main negative to buying cheaper old original arcade games are the monitors and other parts that can go bad.  You need to be willing to learn a lot... or know someone you can rely on.   But, if it's a game that is your all time favorite in the world or something... I can see the appeal.

At one point I considered trying to track down a Diehard Arcade machine as that's a Sega ST-V board... so... like the NeoGeo MVS.. it uses carts.  There were, I believe, 42 games released for the ST-V ...and at the time it wasn't expensive to try and collect the majority of them (It's been a while since I looked into this, but it's still not too expensive for most games... only the top tier stuff like Radiant Silvergun fetches several hundred... and there are multi-in-ones to get around this to at least play it).  Plus as a bonus the ST-V itself is JAMMA... so... it would be possible to reuse the cab for other boards.   But, I let that dream go simply because money was tight and part of that was buying too many games.   Now I have the money but... well... I guess I could look into it... but the age of the hardware kind of scares me a bit and I think I can live without it.   But if I were to buy something it would be either Diehard Arcade or another ST-V game in that nice candy cab.   I had thought of getting into the MVS but it's easier to just play those games other ways.  ST-V even now hasn't gotten as much attention since it's the arcade equivalent of the Saturn.

 
nightc1 said:
I think the main negative to buying cheaper old original arcade games are the monitors and other parts that can go bad. You need to be willing to learn a lot... or know someone you can rely on. But, if it's a game that is your all time favorite in the world or something... I can see the appeal.

At one point I considered trying to track down a Diehard Arcade machine as that's a Sega ST-V board... so... like the NeoGeo MVS.. it uses carts. There were, I believe, 42 games released for the ST-V ...and at the time it wasn't expensive to try and collect the majority of them (It's been a while since I looked into this, but it's still not too expensive for most games... only the top tier stuff like Radiant Silvergun fetches several hundred... and there are multi-in-ones to get around this to at least play it). Plus as a bonus the ST-V itself is JAMMA... so... it would be possible to reuse the cab for other boards. But, I let that dream go simply because money was tight and part of that was buying too many games. Now I have the money but... well... I guess I could look into it... but the age of the hardware kind of scares me a bit and I think I can live without it. But if I were to buy something it would be either Diehard Arcade or another ST-V game in that nice candy cab. I had thought of getting into the MVS but it's easier to just play those games other ways. ST-V even now hasn't gotten as much attention since it's the arcade equivalent of the Saturn.
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Yeah for sure. It's not a hobby for everyone. If you don't like tinkering to fix stuff then you probably won't like it. But most people in this thread talk about modding their a1up cabs so to me that means they like to tinker. It's not quite on the level as arcade games, but it's a start.

There really isn't much to arcade games though. I think it's more intimidating than it really is. Like you have a PSU, a board, a bunch of wires, and a monitor. That's it.

Sure, fixing boards and stuff can be something most can't do (i can't do that), but it's easy to learn how to track down some issues, like being able to read voltages and stuff with a multimeter.

And same with monitors. A lot of the issues with CRT's boils down to needing to have a capkit or flyback replaced. And if you know how to solder, or want to learn, it's pretty simple.

The first monitor I had worked on, I paid someone $175 to do the capkit. I went to his house and watched him do it, and he did it quick. Then I got 3 more arcade games and one was a light gun cabinet, and it wasn't registering very well, so I decided to my own capkit. It took me a while but it really was not hard at all. It was like 35 capacitors I had to replace. And I also did the flyback, which is like 12 solder points. And then it's just plugging stuff back in where it went. Thankfully with smart phones, it's easy to take tons of pictures.

And now, after having no experience with any of this, I have a light gun cabinet with a switcher in it with 8 games, and one of the ports is external, so I can swap a game at will. It was a super fun project and I learned a ton doing it. I have like 15 or so light gun boards now. One of them was Time Crisis and I had to convert it to JAMMA by making a TC -> JAMMA harness. It was pretty straight forward after learning how to read schematics.

Again, I realize this isn't for everyone, and it's way more of a hobby now than I ever anticipated. But it's super rewarding as well.

Without Arcade 1up's, I honestly would have never gotten back into this hobby. I had a KI2 machine since 2002, and it had been sitting in my garage since I moved in this house in 2012, and was sitting in my moms basement for the prior 6 years when I lived in an apartment. Once I saw an a1up in person and was like WTF is this crap, that is what lead me to move my KI2 cab into my house and then install a pi2jamma in it.

And that lead to 3 more arcade games. I'd probably have more or a pinball machine if I had more room but in a way I'm thankful that I don't lol.

 
purbeast said:
I'm simply stating that real arcade cabinets don't cost "thousands of dollars" as one pointed out. That's all.
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Original arcade cabinets DID cost thousands of dollars. Buying a "new" arcade machine at present WILL cost you thousands of dollars. Arcade cabinets have always been premium products meant for display and use in public venues. In order for companies to make a profit, they have to charge premium prices for their cabinets. So most "brand-new" arcade cabinets typically do cost multiple thousands of dollars. This has always been fairly typical.

This is, naturally, the cost of fully designed, professionally constructed cabinets with custom hardware and software. If we're talking purely about the basics of materials, and how much it would cost for a private individual to construct their own cabinet, the prices in questions shift considerably. Assuming you already have the needed tools, a base cabinet would only cost around $300 in raw materials. Of course, you could also use higher quality materials, and bump the price up to $600 or higher. Size, design, and hardware all figure into it. Honestly, the A1Up cabinets are fairly reasonably priced, diminutive as they are.

 
Richard Kain said:
Original arcade cabinets DID cost thousands of dollars. Buying a "new" arcade machine at present WILL cost you thousands of dollars. Arcade cabinets have always been premium products meant for display and use in public venues. In order for companies to make a profit, they have to charge premium prices for their cabinets. So most "brand-new" arcade cabinets typically do cost multiple thousands of dollars. This has always been fairly typical.

This is, naturally, the cost of fully designed, professionally constructed cabinets with custom hardware and software. If we're talking purely about the basics of materials, and how much it would cost for a private individual to construct their own cabinet, the prices in questions shift considerably. Assuming you already have the needed tools, a base cabinet would only cost around $300 in raw materials. Of course, you could also use higher quality materials, and bump the price up to $600 or higher. Size, design, and hardware all figure into it. Honestly, the A1Up cabinets are fairly reasonably priced, diminutive as they are.
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I know what they cost back in the day. No one is arguing about what they cost back in the 80s and 90s. We can't go back in time and buy them brand new.

The only "new" arcade games you will find now a days are the huge games you see at places like Dave and Busters. That isn't what a1up is trying to replicate though. We're talking about cabinets they are trying to replicate, like SF2, Mortal Kombat, Pacman, etc.

 
purbeast said:
Yeah I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm simply stating that real arcade cabinets don't cost "thousands of dollars" as one pointed out. That's all. I didn't say you can't get A1up's cheap. They should be cheap. They are made cheaply with cheap materials and are tiny.

Talking about a brand new arcade cabinet from the 90's is just being dense. Of course you aren't finding a brand new cabinet of something that is 30 years old. If you CAN find a NOS arcade game it's going to be thousands of dollars. But you aren't going to even find one since they pretty much don't exist.

That Ms. Pacman above is a replica and not even original and completely over priced. It also looks like it has an LCD in it from that pic.
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This is the "Class of '81" machine they released in 2000. It obviously isn't an original machine, since it was made 19 years later, and it does have an LCD screen (which is larger than the original, and projects a higher-res image). Still, it is made of commercial grade materials, so it's sturdy, and was widely used in movie theaters, bars, and other places where arcade machines could still be seen. I still see these occasionally, right next to the Silver Strike Bowling and Big Buck Hunter machines that still stubbornly cling to life in the dwindling amount of establishments that still have arcade machines. An Pac-Man machine cost around $3000 upon original release, and that was in 1980s dollars.

 
So I'm unsure who to respond to, so I'll just open this up to everyone.

I've not yet purchased the ALU or any arcade cabinet for that matter. I have the space and money it's just more about making the right purchase. Because I only want to make one purchase.

I'd like to tinker. A little. Not a lot. No soldering if I can avoid it. I'd like to add games. I've done a little modding in the past. The PlayStation Classic, 3ds, Wii, stuff like that.

I know that these will not be as heavy and robust as a 'true' arcade cabinet. With that in mind, is the ALU the way to go. I confess my hesitation was that it was an AT Games product.

Thanks!

 
The Legends Ultimate seems to be a bit closer to a full-sized cabinet, especially compared to the more diminutive A1Up cabinets. Also, I definitely like the fact that it comes with built-in USB support and access at the top of the control panel. That's a handy feature. It's even convenient if you want to do further customization later. (that USB port could easily be wired into a separate board, like a raspberry pi)

If space and money aren't an issue, I'd say go for the Legends Ultimate. It seems to have wracked up some decent reviews and response from general consumers. It doesn't hurt that they're treating it as a full-on platform, which will likely keep it supported for longer.

 
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Richard Kain said:
Richard Kain said:
The Legends Ultimate seems to be a bit closer to a full-sized cabinet, especially compared to the more diminutive A1Up cabinets. Also, I definitely like the fact that it comes with built-in USB support and access at the top of the control panel. That's a handy feature. It's even convenient if you want to do further customization later. (that USB port could easily be wired into a separate board, like a raspberry pi)

If space and money aren't an issue, I'd say go for the Legends Ultimate. It seems to have wracked up some decent reviews and response from general consumers. It doesn't hurt that they're treating it as a full-on platform, which will likely keep it supported for longer.
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The Legends Ultimate seems to be a bit closer to a full-sized cabinet, especially compared to the more diminutive A1Up cabinets. Also, I definitely like the fact that it comes with built-in USB support and access at the top of the control panel. That's a handy feature. It's even convenient if you want to do further customization later. (that USB port could easily be wired into a separate board, like a raspberry pi)

If space and money aren't an issue, I'd say go for the Legends Ultimate. It seems to have wracked up some decent reviews and response from general consumers. It doesn't hurt that they're treating it as a full-on platform, which will likely keep it supported for longer.
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Thank you, this is helpful.

 
purbeast said:
Yeah for sure. It's not a hobby for everyone. If you don't like tinkering to fix stuff then you probably won't like it.
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The other factor too beyond the hardware tinkering is something I completely forgot about... the weight. Unless you are willing to gut a machine ... or just put it in your garage or main level... it's also a fairly hefty item to be moving around in a house. The older I get, the more I want to cut back on both the weight of the items I own and amount of stuff I own. I know I'll be moving at least one more time in my life. I really want to be in a one story house just for the ease of maintenance. It's bad enough we have an upright piano and a dresser that's made of hardwood. Everything else is fairly easy to move with two people.

VegasKeith said:
Thanks!
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Seems like the ideal platform for the person that just wants one machine in the Arcade Legend Ultimate. You get controls built in that'll cover most classic arcade games and no real need to buy anything else to be up and running. The only major gripe I'd have, from my research on the ALU (I don't own one), was that in youtube reviews it looked like the screen was a bit too low and at an odd angle. So either sit down to play it, play it hunched over, or look into ways to further raise it up to a more eye/back pleasing level. But that was it.

A1UP though, as a modding platform, it can certainly be done. But you have to think about what controls you want... spinners? track ball? six buttons? ... or are you going to live with the limit of what your purchased unit came with? If you are going to mod controls do you cut the existing board or build/buy a secondary control panel and finish it off to look good? Then there's the other hardware for the retropi (pi, power supply, microsd), controller adapters (unless you plan to straight wire them to the onboard gpio). You'll need a monitor converter as well as an amp for the speaker (and at that point do you upgrade the speaker to it offers stereo). Then there's how you plan to power everything since it all has it's own power supply and how you will turn it on and off. Just going to use a surge strip... or are you going to try and wire in a separate plug and wire that plug to a hidden surge strip within the machine? The list to mod can get long.. and by time your done it might have just made more sense to have picked up the ALU.

 
nightc1 said:
The other factor too beyond the hardware tinkering is something I completely forgot about... the weight. Unless you are willing to gut a machine ... or just put it in your garage or main level... it's also a fairly hefty item to be moving around in a house. The older I get, the more I want to cut back on both the weight of the items I own and amount of stuff I own. I know I'll be moving at least one more time in my life. I really want to be in a one story house just for the ease of maintenance. It's bad enough we have an upright piano and a dresser that's made of hardwood. Everything else is fairly easy to move with two people.

Seems like the ideal platform for the person that just wants one machine in the Arcade Legend Ultimate. You get controls built in that'll cover most classic arcade games and no real need to buy anything else to be up and running. The only major gripe I'd have, from my research on the ALU (I don't own one), was that in youtube reviews it looked like the screen was a bit too low and at an odd angle. So either sit down to play it, play it hunched over, or look into ways to further raise it up to a more eye/back pleasing level. But that was it.

A1UP though, as a modding platform, it can certainly be done. But you have to think about what controls you want... spinners? track ball? six buttons? ... or are you going to live with the limit of what your purchased unit came with? If you are going to mod controls do you cut the existing board or build/buy a secondary control panel and finish it off to look good? Then there's the other hardware for the retropi (pi, power supply, microsd), controller adapters (unless you plan to straight wire them to the onboard gpio). You'll need a monitor converter as well as an amp for the speaker (and at that point do you upgrade the speaker to it offers stereo). Then there's how you plan to power everything since it all has it's own power supply and how you will turn it on and off. Just going to use a surge strip... or are you going to try and wire in a separate plug and wire that plug to a hidden surge strip within the machine? The list to mod can get long.. and by time your done it might have just made more sense to have picked up the ALU.
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Yeah I have all my games in my basement and when I moved them, I gutted them. It isn't nearly as hard as it sounds and took about 10 minutes for games other than my Rush 2049s.

Just took the monitor out and control panel on KI2, and the wood the game is mounted to

Maximum Force I just took the monitor out and mount gameboard was mounted to.

Rush 2049 I had to split into 2 pieces (which is does by default - seat and main part), and then took the top marquee part off, took the monitor out, and took the control panel off. And I had to do that twice since I have two of em.

 
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VegasKeith said:
So I'm unsure who to respond to, so I'll just open this up to everyone.

I've not yet purchased the ALU or any arcade cabinet for that matter. I have the space and money it's just more about making the right purchase. Because I only want to make one purchase.

I'd like to tinker. A little. Not a lot. No soldering if I can avoid it. I'd like to add games. I've done a little modding in the past. The PlayStation Classic, 3ds, Wii, stuff like that.

I know that these will not be as heavy and robust as a 'true' arcade cabinet. With that in mind, is the ALU the way to go. I confess my hesitation was that it was an AT Games product.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Honestly sounds like ALU is perfect for you.

No problems with mine. Owned since late 2019.

I’m running coinopsx natively on it.

Can run coinops next 2 by direct wired connection to PC. For more demanding games, think anything above nba jam.

Have the bitpixel connected for marquee. Very cool. Works with included games, coinopsx and as of yesterday pc version of coinops next 2.

My pinball is supposed to arrive tomorrow according to FedEx so that will give me something to mess around with this weekend.

The machines are a great concept and if you’re lucky and get a working one then great in reality. Just be aware their customer support sucks ass. If you have problems consider yourself likely screwed.

Look around. Lots of Sams have them clearance to $350, some to $200.

 
VegasKeith said:
Thanks friends. It would go in the garage. Think there's any concern that it would get too hot/cold out there?
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Depends on where you live, how well insulated the garage is, whether it gets heat or air conditioning, whether you've had problems with rodents (they'll most likely make a nest in your machine), whether you park cars in there (subjecting them to engine fumes can have a negative effect over time), and other things that I haven't thought of. If your garage is like most, there are a lot of risks, but if it is all you have, there's not much you can do about it.

 
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