Mini Arcade Alert!

[deckardbr]

Ok, just in case people are interested, I posted in the

small arcade 1up cabinet area, because i feel these ARE NOT Micro arcade units.

they are 4/10 scale, and use real arcade PCBs, and CRT monitors.

 

ALSO THEY ARE FOR SALE.

(see : https://www.smallchangearcade.com/services/ )

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/275757-budget-atari-and-capcom-arcade-cabinets-to-see-release-this-fall/?do=findComment&comment=4154541

 

Please comment over there.

 

 

 

 

 

they look awesome.

 

later

-1

 

 

Hey that looks really cool...goes to website and sees this:

 

Material costs for a single game range from $1000-1500.

• $5k for standard game
• $8k for Ms. Pac-man - hand painted - custom inlay
• Commissions
  • $4k total
  • 50% upfront

 

Uhm....no

[ONLYUSEmeFEET]

I found this mini Street Fighter II Arcade Stick PnP in GameStop's holiday ad, but cannot find it online or in my local stores. Anybody know what's on it?

 

Someone found Street Fighter II on MSI Entertainment's website! https://www.msientertainment.com/product-page/street-fighter-plug-n-play-tv-arcadeSeems to be the Genesis port of Champion Edition, echoing the Radica Plug and Play released over a decade ago. Seems like it's single player only as well. I'm still interested, but have to say, I'm disappointed with it being A/V out and the Genesis port of all things.

 

While on their site, I noticed some other new games in MSI's lineup. https://www.msientertainment.com/productsNamco Classics and Midway Classics are ones I haven't seen posted before. If I didn't have Namco Museum on Switch, I'd be picking up Namco Classics for Tower of Druaga.

[negative1]

Hey that looks really cool...goes to website and sees this:

 

Material costs for a single game range from $1000-1500.

• $5k for standard game
• $8k for Ms. Pac-man - hand painted - custom inlay
• Commissions
  • $4k total
  • 50% upfront

Uhm....no

 

so how much would you pay.

 

i think they are worth it, and would get it, if i had that much money.

 

they work with real PCB's, and all the other feature.

 

granted if you want a full size machine, then yeah, you could get one cheaper.

but the appeal of these is the micro size, and real arcade features.

 

later

-1

[Tanooki]

Be wary of MSi, they're known already on this forum and have taken plenty of insults over it, for just how shoddy their little joystick for TV setups have been so far. Look no further than the write ups for Double Dragon and Mega Man 2 to see how annoyed people got from how they work, design layout, build quality.

 

I hope they learned their lesson as catering to SF2 fans if it's not right the complaining will be louder than some other games would be.

[NE146]

The Pacman and Galaga My Arcade cabs (really any of their Namco games) are worth getting over the Super Impulse Tiny Arcade junk. Slightly more comfortable, and the NES ports are arguably better programmed than the new ARM ports. Even if it's not arcade accurate samples, the gameplay is better. The Dpad joysticks are a bit twitchy and hit diagonals very easily though.

 

Yeah I know man.. it's just I have a slight thing against NOACs, simply and solely because of its ubiquity! Of course you know the deal how NES Galaga is in the all the bootleg consoles like Powerjoy 3 or whatever..

And even in the mini-arcade form factor, I dunno.. to me it doesn't even raise a brow since I've had this one below for a while, which is essentially once again, NES Galaga, albeit it crappily hacked

 

 

So you see I actually have a preference for the Tiny Arcade simply because of its uniqueness, with its problem warts and all. Nothing against NES Galaga.. I'm a guy who went out and bought the cart in 1987 excitedly thinking that finally the arcade had came home.. and it did for the most part.

 

On another note I was at Target and they had Mappys if anyone's still looking for them. They also had this weird boxed "2600" and Playstation. The Playstation had crap like a mug and other junk in it.. who knows what the VCS box had.

Edited November 13, 2018 by NE146

[Andromeda Stardust]

NOAC chips can create nice products when done right. A lot of thought went into the presentation of these little guys.

 

On another note I was at Target and they had Mappys if anyone's still looking for them. They also had this weird boxed "2600" and Playstation. The Playstation had crap like a mug and other junk in it.. who knows what the VCS box had.

2018-11-12 18.31.25.jpg

2018-11-12 18.31.31.jpg

I just saw this photo and searched "Atari Box." Oops, that name's already been taken!

 

I don't think there's any actual games in those. Think of it like an Atari 2600 themed loot crate. A bunch of random retro themed garbage collectables to sell to unsuspecting suckers who don't know better, to give out as stocking stuffers. Unboxing videos of previous entrants (NES, et al) have been quite underwhelming...

[Andromeda Stardust]

Underwhelming...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TginFGY6aKk

[negative1]

The NES ports get a bad reputation at times.

 

However:

==========================

Pac-Man, score retains the millions digits, up until 10 million and then flips:

 

There is no 9th key pattern, and the ghosts never stop blinking, although

the 10th key repeats.

 

Galaga - game is much harder than the arcade.

The speed increases much faster.

Score digits show millions of points, and the level

counters show more than the 255 that the arcade flips over.

 

Dig Dug - game maxes out in speed , and then repeats forever.

Score flips at 1,000,000, and levels max out at 99.

The flowers at the top stop at 93.

This version is easier than the arcade one.

 

Those are similar to the arcade versions.

 

later

-1

[BrianC]

The My Arcade Namco and Data East cabinets based on FC/NES games look cool, but I read somewhere that a couple of them have input lag and Galaga has sound issues. I also have the actual carts for most of these games (even the JP only namco FC ones like Dig Dug, Mappy, and Galaxian).

[NE146]

NES Galaga is GREAT. We just have it x10 is the point.

[Andromeda Stardust]

The My Arcade Namco and Data East cabinets based on FC/NES games look cool, but I read somewhere that a couple of them have input lag and Galaga has sound issues. I also have the actual carts for most of these games (even the JP only namco FC ones like Dig Dug, Mappy, and Galaxian).

The sound issues are minor. In Galaga, the bullets shot from your ship are slightly off. Everything else is perfect. In Pacman, te last note of the death animation (almost the same pitch) is off as well. There are far worse noacs out there.

 

Pacma gets a bad rap because te maze is two pellets between paths instead of three. The maze width is smaller at one tile thickness instead of two for the walls. This allows the whole maze to fit without scrolling. The Tengen port of Ms Pacman is superior and closer to the arcade despite the vertical scrolling aspect. In fact this exsct version was ported to both Sega Genesis and SNES.

 

For what few inaccuracies the vintage nes/fc ports have to the arcade, overall they are vastly superior to nearly every other arcade port on vintage systems. Donkey Kong was the best bitd port as well, despite having only 3 screens. By comparison, the Tiny recreations by Super Impulse arem ostly rubbish from a gameplay perspective because the programmers did not have depth of understanding for the arcade rules, but cheaply programmed with little bug testing.

 

In most cases nes ports sold millions of copies, and unlike other precrash systems, developers were often given inside acess to source code by the arcade developers. Things like enemy patterns and behaviors needed to be perfect, knowing the famicom / nes was the first system capable of accurately reproducing tile based arcade gsmes, tlc was poured into recreating these masterpieces.

 

Modern micro arcade recreations are a "race to the bottom" in terms of cost, so sacrifices are made everywhere. Even the 1up arcade cabs have sacrifices to reach price point, though at $300 they are good value. Control panels can easily replace guts with superior parts, varnish or overlays to protect artwork, etc.

[negative1]

The Tengen port of Ms Pacman is superior and closer to the arcade despite the vertical scrolling aspect.

 

In fact this exsct version was ported to both Sega Genesis and SNES.

 

ok, thats semi true, its NOT the exact same version, they have the same features but look different:

the NES tengen one came out in 1990, and has the most accurate colors:

 

the genesis tengen version came out in 1991:

Developed by Tengen in 1991. This is a 16-bit conversion of the game, and features enhanced graphics and sounds.

 

the master system version came out at the same time

 

the SNES version came out in 1996:

 

-----------

the second NES version was interesting because it had 4 new mazes, it was also ported

down to the gameboy, and the gameboy color with the new mazes.

 

 

Donkey Kong was the best bitd port as well, despite having only 3 screens.

interestingly, later on, they released, a newer, classic original version that had all 4 screens,

including the pie factory:

 

There was a special release of the NES version emulated much later on that included the pie factory:

Donkey Kong "original edition" was released by Nintendo for the virtual console.

 

http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/3ds-eshop/donkey_kong_original_edition_nes

 

later

-1

Edited November 13, 2018 by negative1

[BrianC]

The sound issues are minor. In Galaga, the bullets shot from your ship are slightly off. Everything else is perfect. In Pacman, te last note of the death animation (almost the same pitch) is off as well. There are far worse noacs out there.

 

Yeah, it does look like a minor issue from what I have seen, but I'm more worried about the comments I heard on controls. It might just be someone not used to the way the joystick on the controller works, but input lag can be a major issue. Also, don't get me wrong, I like Namco's NES ports quite a bit (not too sure on the Now Production outsourced port of Ms. Pac-Man, though) and find them impressive for early FC games. I also find interesting that the GB Pac-Man port looks like the NES version at first glance, but is closer to the arcade in some ways.

 

Tengen Ms. Pac-Man is good stuff. Definitely one of my favorite ports of the game.

 

Despite not being AC perfect and being easier, I like the Tiny Arcade Pac-Man and SI port. Both control better than I tought they would and some of the arcade tricks actually work (tested the potty break trick in Pac-Man and it worked).

 

I like the NOAC Frogger. Patterns are pretty close, at least early on, and controls are spot on. It does lack the riding on the snake's tail, though. I was disappointed that a homebrew NES Frogger lacks some of the things that are in the NOAC version of Frogger like the otters and diving turtles.

Edited November 13, 2018 by BrianC

[Andromeda Stardust]

ok, thats semi true, its NOT the exact same version, they have the same features but look different:

the NES tengen one came out in 1990, and has the most accurate colors:

 

the genesis tengen version came out in 1991:

Developed by Tengen in 1991. This is a 16-bit conversion of the game, and features enhanced graphics and sounds.

 

the master system version came out at the same time

 

the SNES version came out in 1996:

 

-----------

the second NES version was interesting because it had 4 new mazes, it was also ported

down to the gameboy, and the gameboy color with the new mazes.

 

 

 

interestingly, later on, they released, a newer, classic original version that had all 4 screens,

including the pie factory:

 

There was a special release of the NES version emulated much later on that included the pie factory:

Donkey Kong "original edition" was released by Nintendo for the virtual console.

 

http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/3ds-eshop/donkey_kong_original_edition_nes

 

later

-1

I am well aware of all of that stuff.

 

In fact the Namco Ms PAcman had a total of 8 mazes in it, plus an additional 8 beta mazes (which can be unlocked and played using Game Genie codes). I posted them on an old defunct hacking forum online, circa 2005. I may have them somewhere on my hard drive, or I could eventually redo them using a hex editor. For the mazes included in the game, I changed the start level using a single code. For the beta levels, I changed the 16-bit pointer for the first stage (two codes) to match the header for the beta level.

 

I have screenshots somewhere. I labeled the mazes which appear in game 1-8 in order of stage appearance, and the beta mazes A-H in order of their appearance in the ROM itself.

 

The 16-bit enhancements to graphics and sound for the 16-bit ports of Tengen Ms PAcman do not negatively influence the gameplay in any way. I own all three and would rate the NES, Genesis, and SNES ports as equals. I guess the Tengen version is my favorite. Due to bad blood between Tengen and Nintendo, they did not release any games on the SNES instead licensing to the Sega Genesis. Tengen was well defunct by 1996, as I imagine the home console license to distribute the game got bought out as well.

 

And yes, I know about the DK Complete Edition, and have a repro of it from RetroUSB. I was specifically referring to what people had access to back in the day, why I didn't bring up homebrews, hacks, protos, or modern reissues.

[negative1]

I am well aware of all of that stuff.

 

In fact the Namco Ms PAcman had a total of 8 mazes in it, plus an additional 8 beta mazes (which can be unlocked and played using Game Genie codes). I posted them on an old defunct hacking forum online, circa 2005. I may have them somewhere on my hard drive, or I could eventually redo them using a hex editor. For the mazes included in the game, I changed the start level using a single code. For the beta levels, I changed the 16-bit pointer for the first stage (two codes) to match the header for the beta level.

 

I have screenshots somewhere. I labeled the mazes which appear in game 1-8 in order of stage appearance, and the beta mazes A-H in order of their appearance in the ROM itself.

 

The 16-bit enhancements to graphics and sound for the 16-bit ports of Tengen Ms PAcman do not negatively influence the gameplay in any way. I own all three and would rate the NES, Genesis, and SNES ports as equals. I guess the Tengen version is my favorite. Due to bad blood between Tengen and Nintendo, they did not release any games on the SNES instead licensing to the Sega Genesis. Tengen was well defunct by 1996, as I imagine the home console license to distribute the game got bought out as well.

 

And yes, I know about the DK Complete Edition, and have a repro of it from RetroUSB. I was specifically referring to what people had access to back in the day, why I didn't bring up homebrews, hacks, protos, or modern reissues.

 

 

very cool about the unused mazes, i will try them out.

i take it these are the ones:

https://tcrf.net/Ms._Pac-Man_(NES,_Namco)

 

i wonder if there is a way to hack the rom to make those permanent.

 

later

-1

[Andromeda Stardust]

very cool about the unused mazes, i will try them out.

i take it these are the ones:

https://tcrf.net/Ms._Pac-Man_(NES,_Namco)

 

i wonder if there is a way to hack the rom to make those permanent.

 

later

-1

Holy hell. I have no proof atm (searching my old user profile stardust4ever on acmlm archives turned up in vain) but those might be the same codes I discovered back in 2005/2006...

 

I believe it was the first web forum I ever used the name "stardust4ever" on:

http://acmlm.kafuka.org/archive3/profile.php?id=2662

 

Iirc I posted them online somewhere, however any skilled hacker could have pulled the exact same codes out of their ass with a hex editor...

 

YYTEXO + NZTEUP was my favorite maze.

[BrianC]

Doh. Missed the post about the diagonals on the My Arcade Namco and Data East games being sensitive. Sounds similar to some of 8bitdo's controllers. SF30 model 2 is terrible for Mr. Do and Pac-Man. It would probably be fine for Galaga and Galaxian, though.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Doh. Missed the post about the diagonals on the My Arcade Namco and Data East games being sensitive. Sounds similar to some of 8bitdo's controllers. SF30 model 2 is terrible for Mr. Do and Pac-Man. It would probably be fine for Galaga and Galaxian, though.

My experience with 8bitdo controllers (the old NES30, FC30, and SNES30, and the new Switch compatible Pro SN30) has been the dpads have been responsive and precise.

 

Unfortunately, the force needed to depress the silicon dpad membrane on the My Arcade cabs is very small, and my experience with them is the slightest pressure on any cardinal direction, even if slightly misdirected, will fall straight into a corner. This sloppy dpad action is caused by not having the dome on the bottom of the dpad raised enough. Raising the dome even a few thousanths of an inch by adding tape between the buttons will increase the amount of travel required to tilt the pad and actuate the membranes. This will allow diagonals on clone controllers to function properly, ie only when you want them to, rather than hitting the corners every time when you don't.

 

The problem is in the contruction of the My Arcade cabinets. The button PCB is held in place by tiny phillips screws underneath the control panel. It is impossible to access said screws due to the shape of the cabinet, unless one drills holes on the under side of the cab.

[Andromeda Stardust]

In other news, I just picked up the Donkey Kong Ornament from Halmark last night. It is a work of art and looks nice next to the somewhat random assortment of Bridge Direct, Super Impulse, and My Arcade cabs on my shelves, even if it isn't functional.

 

Nintendo is like Disney with strict control over their IP. They will not license actual games to third party companies, so if we ever see functional licensed micro arcade recreations of Donkey Kong or DK Jr, it will be from Nintendo themselves.

[BrianC]

My experience with 8bitdo controllers (the old NES30, FC30, and SNES30, and the new Switch compatible Pro SN30) has been the dpads have been responsive and precise.

 

Unfortunately, the force needed to depress the silicon dpad membrane on the My Arcade cabs is very small, and my experience with them is the slightest pressure on any cardinal direction, even if slightly misdirected, will fall straight into a corner. This sloppy dpad action is caused by not having the dome on the bottom of the dpad raised enough. Raising the dome even a few thousanths of an inch by adding tape between the buttons will increase the amount of travel required to tilt the pad and actuate the membranes. This will allow diagonals on clone controllers to function properly, ie only when you want them to, rather than hitting the corners every time when you don't.

 

The problem is in the contruction of the My Arcade cabinets. The button PCB is held in place by tiny phillips screws underneath the control panel. It is impossible to access said screws due to the shape of the cabinet, unless one drills holes on the under side of the cab.

 

Not all 8bitdo controllers have the oversensitive diagonals, but the SN/SF30 controllers that came with the adapter to use 8bitdo controllers on SNES do (and I read reviews that the recent recolored SN30 pads still have the same issue). I have two of those and they both have the same issue. My SF30 Pro is the earlier model and works great (though it was more still with diagonals) and I had no dpad issues with the 8bitdo Zero. I heard a similar mod fixes the pads with the oversensitive diagonal issue, though. A pity those Analogue Super ST colored controllers have that diagonal issue since they look nice and are otherwise well made.

Edited November 14, 2018 by BrianC

[NE146]

My experience with 8bitdo controllers (the old NES30, FC30, and SNES30, and the new Switch compatible Pro SN30) has been the dpads have been responsive and precise.

 

I think they work great.. I only have the ones that came with the NT Mini & Super NT, but to be above board it has to be at least acknowledged that they are different with the diagonal response sensitivity in comparison to the original pads. How much that affects anything depends on your own play style and the individual game of course (e.g. no problem with RPGs for example ).. but they ARE different, and it's easily demonstrated.

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

Not all 8bitdo controllers have the oversensitive diagonals, but the SN/SF30 controllers that came with the adapter to use 8bitdo controllers on SNES do (and I read reviews that the recent recolored SN30 pads still have the same issue). I have two of those and they both have the same issue. My SF30 Pro is the earlier model and works great (though it was more still with diagonals) and I had no dpad issues with the 8bitdo Zero. I heard a similar mod fixes the pads with the oversensitive diagonal issue, though. A pity those Analogue Super ST colored controllers have that diagonal issue since they look nice and are otherwise well made.

I bought my NES30 in 2013, then the FC30 and SNES30 some time later. I also purchased the NES BT adapter and the SNES BT adapter separately a while back. I installed old beta firmware (downloaded from the now defunct 8bitdo forums) on the NES30 receiver to use A and B as A and B, not B and Y.

 

The SNES30 has the latest "retro" firmware on it (I don't even know if newer firmware contollers work with older firmware recevers and visa versa), and the newer Purple/Violet styled SN30 Pro I have the latest firmware installed. It works great with the Switch.

 

I don't have any of the non-BT "2.40Ghz" controller/dongle pairings. I think the decision to release incompatible controllers caused a lot of confusion for 8bitdo customers.

[negative1]

In other news, I just picked up the Donkey Kong Ornament from Halmark last night. It is a work of art and looks nice next to the somewhat random assortment of Bridge Direct, Super Impulse, and My Arcade cabs on my shelves, even if it isn't functional.

 

Nintendo is like Disney with strict control over their IP. They will not license actual games to third party companies, so if we ever see functional licensed micro arcade recreations of Donkey Kong or DK Jr, it will be from Nintendo themselves.

 

Wonder if someone will mod it to play the arcade version.

Could be tough at that size.

 

later

-1

Edited November 15, 2018 by negative1

[Tanooki]

I have the black SNES pad that came along site the SuperNT, also before that ended up with the NES30Pro with the dual analogs. In either case design I've never had a control problem as they've felt natural. I've mostly though retired both as I think the battery life on them are completely crap and I don't wish to keep them consistently plugged in so I don't get a nasty surprise next time I want to play a game and nothing happens as it happened enough to do just that.

[BrianC]

I bought my NES30 in 2013, then the FC30 and SNES30 some time later. I also purchased the NES BT adapter and the SNES BT adapter separately a while back. I installed old beta firmware (downloaded from the now defunct 8bitdo forums) on the NES30 receiver to use A and B as A and B, not B and Y.

 

The SNES30 has the latest "retro" firmware on it (I don't even know if newer firmware contollers work with older firmware recevers and visa versa), and the newer Purple/Violet styled SN30 Pro I have the latest firmware installed. It works great with the Switch.

 

I don't have any of the non-BT "2.40Ghz" controller/dongle pairings. I think the decision to release incompatible controllers caused a lot of confusion for 8bitdo customers.

 

The controller/dongle paring I have is the BT controllers that were marketed with the NT. The pads work ok for some games, but they are terrible for Pac-Man and Mr. Do. However, the SF30 Pro I have works great with both. I make sure I have the latest firmware too. The BT SNES dongle is nice and I like how PS4 controllers and the WiiU Pro Controller work with it.

 

Has anyone tried the Super Impulse Tiny Arcade Frogger? It's a given the music is different, but I'm curious whether the snake's tail can be jumped on like in the arcade version. It can't be jumped on in MSI's NOAC port and the hacked Basic Fun version of it.

 

Nintendo doesn't license their games out often, but they did license out a few of their G&W games. There was also a cell phone conversion of the arcade Popeye licensed to Namco. Those odd HAL Atari ports to NES are recently appearing on NOAC devices, despite their connection to Nintendo and even using music and sound effects that were later used in Nintendo first party games like Punch Out.

Edited November 15, 2018 by BrianC