846 in 1 - Dual Arcade Joystick
Continuing with the channel's theme of not really having a strong theme - here's a video about a games machine that's both new and retro all at the same time. This pre-configured home arcade machine (minus the screen) can currently be bought in a version containing 999 classic arcade games, mine has but a mere 846.
If you are wondering why it's permitted to sell a games machine packed full of ROMS when selling CDs or DVDs of ROMS is prohibited, I'd say that it's an anomaly.
Some of the multi-game arcade machines sold through ebay do contain officially licenced ROM sets, e.g. the Williams collection, so I suspect this makes the category difficult to police. Now I have no idea whether the games in these "Pandora's Box" machines are officially licenced...but it seems very very (very) unlikely. If the majority of the multi-game arcade machines sold through ebay do contain unlicenced games, at some point this loophole will be closed.
I remember buying full MAME ROM sets in the early days of ebay and that ship sailed, so if you are in the market for a ready made retro arcade machine you might want to think about getting it sooner rather than later.
There are some links to these in the video description text box on youtube as well as a few tips as to what to look out for. I assume everyone here will be experienced ebayers, but I still want to warn you that there do seem to be a couple of dodgy ebay sellers that have latched onto this category (the chap pretending to be in Italy who has 0 feedback and is advertising them for £35 is the most obvious fraudster I've seen in a while) , so if you do buy one, please shop carefully.
Comments (30)
More of this please! I am about to buy such a thing for our new office....
Well I’ve bought the version 5 as well, which should get delivered soon. I’m not sure about making another public video because of the outcry over the unlicensed roms, however I may post some findings up here on Patreon.
Been keeping an eye on these for a year or so. Stupidly, the only thing that has stopped me getting my wallet out is that my two all time favourite games (Rolling Thunder and Bosconian) are always oddly absent. However, great video and very persuasive! I think I might go for it and hopefully be able to upgrade the game board when new ones are released. Does anyone know if it saves highscores?
The three letter arcade name reminds me of the film 'Night of the Comet'. Main character Regina (REG) is annoyed that her high score streak on Tempest is ruined by someone known as DMK
Excellent video, nostalgia rules as one gets older. I've gone though umpteen various arcade 'machine' variations over the past couple of decades it seems. One definitely gets addicted to 'more games is better' but you finally realize that as in all things, there were only a small percentage of great games in the past, the rest were knock offs and filler. Just watching the random menu videos in Hyperspin for a few minutes is sometimes enough for me. A big influential part of our early years for sure. Only thing left for you to do now is find a bargain deal on a pinball machine to restore and document!
I wish I had the room for a pinball table. It’s always been something I’ve wanted...but unless someone buys me a house with a games room it’s not going to happen. Well you can’t have everything.
Mat, I also spell MY name with 3 letters (short for Russell) because of high score inputs in arcade games in the early '80s! :D
There might be a few of us out there.
Fantastic review. Thanks for the in depth video as always.
Great video Mat! It does seem more suited to those who grew up with the Arcades. I remember similar arcades, but despising them just because they seemed all about relieving you and your parents of as much coin as possible for 5 minutes of fun. Fortunately, when I was young we also had an Atari 2600, 7800 and later a NES and SNES. So I must say I much prefer those experiences. Although I do remember being wild eyed when I saw and heard the cacophony of an Amusement Arcade. Hmmmm. £120 still doesn't seem like the worst investment I've ever made.
It may have sounded like my arcade experience was a bit more comprehensive than it was. I did go on the machines at the seaside, but that was probably once or twice a year. I also used to have a go whenever I went to the bowling alley or stop at a motorway services. I never really had more than a few pounds to to spend on them at any one time. I suppose the fact I was pretty terrible at them stopped me spending too much time there. All my pocket money went on Spectrum games. I could usually afford one or two of those a month, and that's where all my money went for most of the 1980s.
I guess I'm a bit weird in that I completely lost interest in most video games by the early 1990s. So pretty much all of the modern games bore me.
I just don't have the continuously available free time required to play most games nowadays. I start quite a few but then have to leave them for a couple of weeks. When I return I've forgotten what I was supposed to be doing and what all the controls are. By the time I've picked it up again, it's time to stop playing.
I can only give this video a 9 out of 10, rather than 10 of 10, due to NO PUPPETS! :(
Unfortunately I haven't been up to the task of shooting another outro yet. I try to get one out a month.
You have done that, with a Raspberry Pi.
I suspect that you will not be the last person to write this Although yours in in jest, I don't think the others will be. The thing that always amuses me about the people who say "you could make that yourself" have obviously never done that. You only have to look at the garbage fire that is Kickstarter to see what happens when people who think making things is easy try to make things.
I was really into arcade games in the early 1980s. If this machine played my favourite, "Defender", I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
I think all the Williams games are absent. I’d have liked to play Robotron using the dual sticks. There are also no vector games.
Heya, Matta whataya meana?
It took me a while but I've figured out that you're responding to my comments about the dodgy 'Italian' seller. Funnily enough when I was putting all the ebay links together, the one country where he didn't show up if you searched for this device was in Italy itself. There's an old phrase about not 'going to the lavatory' on your old doorstep.
I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who likes Neo Turf Masters :) It's nice to see some retro-gaming stuff on your channel, Mat. Are you thinking of doing more in the future?
If something suitable turns up I’ll try and feature it, but as you know there are a load of people covering retro-games , so it’ll likely be few and far between.
I've looked at and dismissed other sticks but yes this one does look very good value and I'm also very impressed by the build quality. I spent many many hours as a youth pumping 10p pieces into the late 70s and early 80s machines. Must resist!
Excellent as always Mat. Something else I didn't even know existed. :)
I’m expecting to get a few comments about how I’m behind the ball on featuring this, but just like you until relatively recently I hadn’t been aware of these. Perhaps it’s because we’re not heavily into the retro games scene.
I just got some coffee going and my email notification pinged – yay, a new Techmoan video...so there’s my morning programme taken care of. Impeccable timing on this one...and a handy reminder to get my consoles hooked up again at some point. As always, great work :)
I thought I should try and get this uploaded early enough so that people could still get one delivered in time for Christmas. I bought mine in September, and they’ve already come out with a newer version, the 5S.
Just added up in my head, if you would buy the stuff in there on its own it would be more expensive and not so nice looking, so yeah, good bang for the buck. Regarding the SD card, i bet there is an Ext3 on there with some ARM Linux. One of your Pi's should be able to read it just fine.
Seems likely, as the A13 chip in there is an SoC with an ARM Cortex core in it.