Evaluating the Real Value: Do You Truly Benefit From Having a Personalized Arcade System?

Quick Links

• Arcade Cabs Are Too Big (or Are They?)
• Finding Good Boards Is Getting Harder (Does It Matter?)
• DIY Cabs Are Too Hard (But, Not Really?)
• Maybe I’ll Just Buy an Arcade Stick (But It’s Just Not the Same)
• I Have Too Much Gaming Stuff Already (But Cabinets Are Cool)
• It’ll Be My Most Expensive Game (But Also My Coolest)

Growing up, my dad owned a small arcade. So while my friends were playing NES games, I was rocking Street Fighter 2 with unlimited credits. Now, I might be making a midlife crisis decision soon, and need help!

I’ve been toying with the idea of getting an old-school arcade cabinet. Not the original single-game systems I grew up with, but a modern emulated multi-game system that has the look and feel of stand-up arcade cabs. It’s the ultimate geeky white elephant and as you might imagine as a responsible adult, I’m conflicted.

Arcade Cabs Are Too Big (or Are They?)

All of my gaming stuff has been getting smaller and smaller over time. Gone is my huge gaming PC tower, replaced by a gaming laptop. My TV is now a razor-thin OLED mounted up on a wall. My OLED Nintendo Switch won’t quite go in a pocket but it’s still pretty tiny. So the idea of bringing a virtually immovable gaming device into my house seems like a bad idea.

Then again, these days you can buy alternatives to those full-sized arcade cabinets. There are three-quarter scale replicas, as well as smaller half and quarter scale systems. Of course, if you go below three-quarter scale then it might be hard for an adult to play!

Then there’s the option of a counter-top cabinet. Which removes most of the height of the system, and you simply place it on a counter of your choice. Since modern arcade cabinets don’t contain heavy CRTs, it makes these truncated systems easier to move around as well. So maybe getting a little of that arcade nostalgia doesn’t have to be so much of a space hog.

I make reference to “JAMMA” boards below, and while it’s not super-important information, you’ll want to know that this is short for “Japan Amusement Machine and Marketing Association” and describes a wiring standard for arcade cabinets. Hence, a game on a JAMMA circuit board will work with a JAMMA arcade cabinet. This is the most common standard you’ll encounter with both classic arcade cabinets and modern remakes.

Finding Good Boards Is Getting Harder (Does It Matter?)

Mister

An original arcade system contains bespoke hardware meant to run that game (or a set of games) exactly as the developers intended. If you have deep pockets, and want ultimate authenticity, then it’s still possible to find this hardware. However, the number of roadblocks can seem endless, and that’s definitely not a route that I’d want to take. Especially since I’d like to change games when the mood takes me.

This only really leaves emulation or virtualization options, but here we run into another set of issues. For one thing, many of the “affordable” arcade cabs you can buy make use of inaccurate emulation. For example, the popular Pandora’s Box arcade systems have mixed reviews, and how well games are emulated varies depending on the hardware model and individual titles. For many classic arcade titles, you’d be hard-pressed to tell they aren’t running exactly as they should, but if there are specific games you want to play on these systems, then you’d best do a little web research to see which of these mainstream emulation cabinets will do the best job.

Emulation is legal, and it’s legal to buy a device like a Pandora’s Box (without pre-loaded games) since it’s just a computer. However, systems that come with SD cards or internal storage filled with game ROMs are not legal, and this amounts to piracy. You must provide your own legally-obtained ROMs .

Alternatively, products like the Legends Ultimate Arcade and Arcade1Up have legally licensed the games on their systems, which means only a relatively small number of games, but the assurance that you aren’t breaking the law.

If you’ve got a bigger budget, then the gold standard would be a MisterCade kit , which uses FPGA technology for hardware-level emulation, and provides the most accurate replica of original hardware, while letting you play many different games. The kit (like the Pandora’s Box JAMMA board) should work with JAMMA arcade cabinets.

You can, of course, also roll your own by running something like MAME on a Raspberry Pi. There are plenty of Raspberry Pi arcade projects to find online, but again, this is for casual fans because the emulation won’t satisfy purists. If it were me, unless my editors graciously bought me a MisterCade to review (hint-hint!) I’d probably buy something like the Arcade Legends systems, and just accept that emulation will never be perfect.

DIY Cabs Are Too Hard (But, Not Really?)

I might be into 3D printing, and like building desktop computers, but I am not actually a DIY guy. So the idea of building a cabinet from scratch isn’t appealing. Even building one from a kit fills me with dread, though it looks only mildly more involved than assembling an IKEA-style flatpack bookshelf.

The good news is that there’s often a local company that will either build these kits for you, or make ones to your specifications,and then ship them a short distance to your door. Whether you actually live close enough to one of these outfits to make use of this depends on where you live, but I guess if I had no other choice, spending an afternoon assembling a kit isn’t the worst way to spend your time.

Maybe I’ll Just Buy an Arcade Stick (But It’s Just Not the Same)

HORI

Maybe you don’t have to buy the whole arcade cabinet. Instead, why not just buy a good arcade stick? If I just want to play casually, it doesn’t even have to be that good. There are lots of great arcade sticks around thanks to the fighting game genre. Heck, you can even get those Pandora’s Box arcade systems built into an arcade stick deck, that hooks up to your TV.

That sounds sensible, and you can pack it all away when you’re not playing. Still, it feels like it defeats the point of having a dedicated arcade system. It’s like having a Chess board set up somewhere. You can just walk up to it and start playing with no friction. If you have friends over, people could just come and go as they felt like it, playing when the mood takes them.

I Have Too Much Gaming Stuff Already (But Cabinets Are Cool)

I have way too much video game stuff. PCs, every console, every handheld, mobile games, retro emulation systems, and more stuff I’m too embarrassed to list lest you really think I’m too much of a geek. So really, can I justify spending yet more money on a video game system that I’ll hardly have time to play?

“But wait,” says the little horned man on my left shoulder. “An arcade cabinet is also decoration. Even if it just stands there in attract mode, it livens up the place.”

“Can’t argue with that.” adds the guy with the halo to my right.

Well, I guess just one more gaming thing can’t hurt. Except maybe in the wallet area.

It’ll Be My Most Expensive Game (But Also My Coolest)

Finally, it all comes down to money. Isn’t that always the elephant in the room? For an arcade cabinet setup you’re looking at anything from $500 to well over a grand, depending on how good you want it to be. That could net you at least a current generation console, or a decent mid-range gaming PC if you’re going far enough up the totem pole.

But, what’s the price of being cool? Arcade cabinets are cool, and that has to count for something. Especially since you can cover them in sick artwork, and how many of your friends have one? Anyone can have a PlayStation, but a full-size Street Fighter II cabinet? Now that is geek cred my friends.

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