Anyone seriously considering the Atari Asteroids Arcade machine?

[Shaggy the Atarian]

Here's some direct capture footage of gameplay from the latest build. I'm not the best player at it (I'm still getting used to the idea of moving around instead of camping out in the center - you do better in moving around) but it does show how much of this has changed from the console version:

 

 

[roots.genoa]

Of course a "real" arcade cabinet is expensive. But it caters to professionals like Shaggy that are supposed to make money from it.

You guys do what you want with your money but buying that for your living room is a weird idea when you can already play the game at home for a few dollars. You can even build your own cabinet...

[jhd]

On 8/6/2024 at 2:42 PM, Skydog said:

And convince my other half too. This is one package that would be difficult to get delivered under the radar haha

 

Rent a storage unit and have everything delivered there. Build you own, offsite, "man cave" in complete secrecy. 

 

I used to rent a storage unit (albeit not for this reason) and there were several small businesses at the facility that used their units as offices/warehouses/etc. 

[Skydog]

5 hours ago, jhd said:

 

Rent a storage unit and have everything delivered there. Build you own, offsite, "man cave" in complete secrecy. 

 

I used to rent a storage unit (albeit not for this reason) and there were several small businesses at the facility that used their units as offices/warehouses/etc. 

Seems more intense which is a nice differentiator for the arcade version vs. standard Asteroids Recharged. Looks like someone at Alan-1 is channeling Eugene Jarvis.

Question: what the hell is that beeping at 0:58?

[Skydog]

oops, that was meant to quote Shaggy's post if it looks out of context

[Zonie]

for about 25% of that, you could build a better machine.

[PowerDubs]

3 minutes ago, Zonie said:

for about 25% of that, you could build a better machine.

 

Love dumb comments like this. 

 

First- without hands on- you have NO idea what this unit is.

 

Secondly- this is NOT the same game you can get anywhere else. It has changes.

 

Third- you won't have the knockers, etc

 

4th- you won't have the cab graphics

 

5th... you won't have the online connectivity to all the other players on the Esport app.

 

Dumb, dumb, dumb...

[82-T/A]

16 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Of course a "real" arcade cabinet is expensive. But it caters to professionals like Shaggy that are supposed to make money from it.

You guys do what you want with your money but buying that for your living room is a weird idea when you can already play the game at home for a few dollars. You can even build your own cabinet...

 

Shoot, I have 4 arcade machines in my house. It's not just about playing the game... it's about the whole experience that comes with having an arcade machine. I don't know how old you are, but if you were old enough to grow up in the 80s and 90s, you'd likely have a nostalgia for arcade machines. Playing a game on an arcade machine just makes it so much better for me. 

[GraffitiTavern]

3 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

Shoot, I have 4 arcade machines in my house. It's not just about playing the game... it's about the whole experience that comes with having an arcade machine. I don't know how old you are, but if you were old enough to grow up in the 80s and 90s, you'd likely have a nostalgia for arcade machines. Playing a game on an arcade machine just makes it so much better for me. 

I grew up way past the arcade golden era but fell in love after trying some new arcades in the past decade. The mixing of the cabinet design tailored to the game appeals to me in an artistic way. You're standing in front of a machine wholly dedicated to playing one game and playing it well. It makes it feel more immersive for me.

[mr.bill]

5 hours ago, Zonie said:

for about 25% of that, you could build a better machine.

love to see you try to make a "better machine" for 1/4 the price.

 

3 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

 

Shoot, I have 4 arcade machines in my house. It's not just about playing the game... it's about the whole experience that comes with having an arcade machine. I don't know how old you are, but if you were old enough to grow up in the 80s and 90s, you'd likely have a nostalgia for arcade machines. Playing a game on an arcade machine just makes it so much better for me. 

 

100% for pre 90's games, it has to be dedicated. custom controls and vector monitors. after the jamma era, its nice but not that important.  playing sf2CE in a dedicated z-back and playing it in a generic cab or in a tri-sync candy cab makes no difference..

 

Its more about the space. If a cab I love has custom controls and looks great (tempest, star wars, missile command, space lords, tron, discs of tron, battlezone, food fight, major havoc, i- robot, crazy climber, star castle, ripoff, space wars, crazy climber, tapper, timber, ect), then it earns a home in my collection. Games like mr do, do's castle, time pilot, ect that can be played with a jamma adapter, get played in my generic jamma cabs. jamma games llike nflblitz, nba jam, simpsons, trog, strikeforce, ect get played in generic jamma.  drivers like rush 2049 and hard drivn, race drivin and airborne get their own cabs.. pinballs obviously get their own cabs..

 

now back to asteroids recharged, fun game. but I got it for free online and can play it on my pc.  But I rather have my space duel and asteroids deluxe. So no way would I give up space for asteroids recharged arcade game.. plus the price. if it was $500- $1k, I might buy one.  but at $7k, I would rather have a deadpool or rush pinball.

[roots.genoa]

7 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

Shoot, I have 4 arcade machines in my house. It's not just about playing the game... it's about the whole experience that comes with having an arcade machine. I don't know how old you are, but if you were old enough to grow up in the 80s and 90s, you'd likely have a nostalgia for arcade machines. Playing a game on an arcade machine just makes it so much better for me. 

I understand, I'm just saying there's a difference between an old cabinet from a video game classic you'll find for way cheaper than it was back then, and a new cabinet catering to professionals, that's all. I'm pretty sure the 4 arcade machines you own are old games, aren't they?

Edited August 9 by roots.genoa

[Zonie]

17 hours ago, mr.bill said:

love to see you try to make a "better machine" for 1/4 the price.

 

 

100% for pre 90's games, it has to be dedicated. custom controls and vector monitors. after the jamma era, its nice but not that important.  playing sf2CE in a dedicated z-back and playing it in a generic cab or in a tri-sync candy cab makes no difference..

 

Its more about the space. If a cab I love has custom controls and looks great (tempest, star wars, missile command, space lords, tron, discs of tron, battlezone, food fight, major havoc, i- robot, crazy climber, star castle, ripoff, space wars, crazy climber, tapper, timber, ect), then it earns a home in my collection. Games like mr do, do's castle, time pilot, ect that can be played with a jamma adapter, get played in my generic jamma cabs. jamma games llike nflblitz, nba jam, simpsons, trog, strikeforce, ect get played in generic jamma.  drivers like rush 2049 and hard drivn, race drivin and airborne get their own cabs.. pinballs obviously get their own cabs..

 

now back to asteroids recharged, fun game. but I got it for free online and can play it on my pc.  But I rather have my space duel and asteroids deluxe. So no way would I give up space for asteroids recharged arcade game.. plus the price. if it was $500- $1k, I might buy one.  but at $7k, I would rather have a deadpool or rush pinball.

Check back with me in a few years. Too many projects in the queue. I have a control design that isn't just a panel-o-everything that satisfies what I need.

[Zonie]

23 hours ago, PowerDubs said:

 

Love dumb comments like this. 

 

First- without hands on- you have NO idea what this unit is.

 

Secondly- this is NOT the same game you can get anywhere else. It has changes.

 

Third- you won't have the knockers, etc

 

4th- you won't have the cab graphics

 

5th... you won't have the online connectivity to all the other players on the Esport app.

 

Dumb, dumb, dumb...

Not dumb at all. I can get a pretty good idea of what it is.

• How long do you think it will be before that code gets out. Someone here will probably hack it and release it (not me).
• Online connectivity is also nothing new.
• As for the graphics, don't really care about them, and 7K isn't worth it for graphics. Side art printed on quality medium is available readily now to the masses. Someone could copy that too, if they wanted to.
• Knockers are not rocket science either. Digital outputs and solenoids. I'm an automation engineer. This is childs play for me and many others here.

OK. Maybe 1/3 to 1/2 the cost. In hardware. Sure software dev would be more, but people who do this as a hobby do this for the love of it. Only their time.

 

I think the game is overdone. The powerups are cool and all, but seems too over the top.

 

$7K for an operator in a busy entertainment center that may recoup his investment, fine. For the wealthy and gotta have it at any cost crowd? Sure. For the masses? No.
 

[waynel]

1 hour ago, Zonie said:

Not dumb at all. I can get a pretty good idea of what it is.

• How long do you think it will be before that code gets out. Someone here will probably hack it and release it (not me).
• Online connectivity is also nothing new.
• As for the graphics, don't really care about them, and 7K isn't worth it for graphics. Side art printed on quality medium is available readily now to the masses. Someone could copy that too, if they wanted to.
• Knockers are not rocket science either. Digital outputs and solenoids. I'm an automation engineer. This is childs play for me and many others here.

OK. Maybe 1/3 to 1/2 the cost. In hardware. Sure software dev would be more, but people who do this as a hobby do this for the love of it. Only their time.

 

I think the game is overdone. The powerups are cool and all, but seems too over the top.

 

$7K for an operator in a busy entertainment center that may recoup his investment, fine. For the wealthy and gotta have it at any cost crowd? Sure. For the masses? No.
 

Don't forget labor. 
 

Time only costs nothing if your time isn't worth anything. 
 

 

[mr.bill]

4 hours ago, Zonie said:

Check back with me in a few years. Too many projects in the queue. I have a control design that isn't just a panel-o-everything that satisfies what I need.

true, but do you think you will build an asteroids recharged clone dedicated cabinet, or will you build a mame box? 

 

I prefer mame box with multiple changeable control panels so the panel is not a cluttered mess..

 

my personal preference is atari family drawer cabinets for my generic jamma cabs. I happen to have 2 proto cabs. 1 is built like rampart/guardians of the hood where they will accept a bolt on control panel front. they currently have 2 player wide fronts.  I have spare 3 player wide (rampart). and I am pretty sure I can bolt on a 4 player wide if I wanted, but I have a dedicated sportstation thats 4 player wide.

 

I have several spare metal control panel tops that fit the atari family drawer cabinets.  SO i have a dual trackball one, a street fighter layout, one setup for primal rage, one for drivers like world rally, and 1 to play hall effect games like escape from the planet of the robot monsters.. I probably should build one to handle rotary  games and another to have a spinner to handle stuff like arkanoid.

Edited August 10 by mr.bill

[Zonie]

31 minutes ago, mr.bill said:

true, but do you think you will build an asteroids recharged clone dedicated cabinet, or will you build a mame box? 

 

I prefer mame box with multiple changeable control panels so the panel is not a cluttered mess..

 

my personal preference is atari family drawer cabinets for my generic jamma cabs. I happen to have 2 proto cabs. 1 is built like rampart/guardians of the hood where they will accept a bolt on control panel front. they currently have 2 player wide fronts.  I have spare 3 player wide (rampart). and I am pretty sure I can bolt on a 4 player wide if I wanted, but I have a dedicated sportstation thats 4 player wide.

 

I have several spare metal control panel tops that fit the atari family drawer cabinets.  SO i have a dual trackball one, a street fighter layout, one setup for primal rage, one for drivers like world rally, and 1 to play hall effect games like escape from the planet of the robot monsters.. I probably should build one to handle rotary  games and another to have a spinner to handle stuff like arkanoid.

A mame cabinet. Funny, about 20 years ago I designed one with a rotating control console, Four sides, all different. I still have all the parts I was going to use, lazy susans for the rotate, buttons, sticks, spinner, IPAC adapter, VGA to CRT board, etc. I got so busy I never built it. Then a coworker was telling me about his and he came up with the very same design.

I now have a design for a cocktail with a very ergonomic layout of various controls including a star wars yoke, spinner, properly laid out sticks, etc.  I have been buying parts but will not get to building it for a while.

 

It will be a Mame cab, but only have games I want, not 500+games and variants with endless menus just to have them. Probably about 2 dozen and that's it. I also want to add in a few consoles too, as I really like some of the console games, so it will probably have Mess too.

3 hours ago, waynel said:

Don't forget labor. 
 

Time only costs nothing if your time isn't worth anything. 
 

 

Labor doesn't count when it is your hobby. If you have to assign a labor cost to your hobby, you need a different hobby.

[THX-1138]

If I owned a bar or arcade, yeah I'd seriously consider it.  But I don't and I wouldn't play it enough to justify the cost - I play it on my VCS800 and I think that's enough for me.  I've got 3 little MyArcade machines sat on a shelf, that's probably as far as I'd go with arcade machines. 

[waynel]

11 hours ago, Zonie said:

Labor doesn't count when it is your hobby. If you have to assign a labor cost to your hobby, you need a different hobby.

That makes no sense.  You claim you can build a better machine for ¼ the price, then decide that you're not going to include the cost of labor on your end?  

 

I won't pretend to know the financials of building an arcade machine at commercial scale, but if it's like the other manufacturing I've been involved with, labor is at least 50% of the cost.  You can't make the quarter-rate claim if you don't use equal measures.

 

Are you also going to claim that the cabinet costs nothing on your side because you already have a bunch of wood laying around, and your neighbor has a large-format banner printer in his garage that he'll let you use for free to make the cabinet graphics?

 

And while you're cyphering, be sure to factor in the cost to you of researching, designing, and programming the actual game.  Those are all costs that are included in Atari's price.  Are they included in your dollar store price?

[GiygasKaz]

Although it's mostly targeting businesses, I do appreciate Atari releasing something like this and having it available for collectors. It's out of my and most other's price range but having those true industry grade cabinets available for hardcore enthusiasts that don't want a simple Arcade1up is great. Hope to see more companies offer releases like this in some capacity.

[Zonie]

8 hours ago, waynel said:

That makes no sense.  You claim you can build a better machine for ¼ the price, then decide that you're not going to include the cost of labor on your end?  

 

I won't pretend to know the financials of building an arcade machine at commercial scale, but if it's like the other manufacturing I've been involved with, labor is at least 50% of the cost.  You can't make the quarter-rate claim if you don't use equal measures.

 

Are you also going to claim that the cabinet costs nothing on your side because you already have a bunch of wood laying around, and your neighbor has a large-format banner printer in his garage that he'll let you use for free to make the cabinet graphics?

 

And while you're cyphering, be sure to factor in the cost to you of researching, designing, and programming the actual game.  Those are all costs that are included in Atari's price.  Are they included in your dollar store price?

Sorry I have taken up rental space in your brain. Really, the is is a stupid argument.  Materials cost X. Outside labor (printing services, etc) costs Y. Those two are probably 1/4 -1/3 of $7K if you really buy good stuff. Personal labor cost is moot if you are doing it for the fun of doing it, ie. hobby. Like I said before. If you have to assign labor cost to Playing at your hobby, because, this is play, pure and simple, you need a different hobby. Just buying expensive stuff and not actually creating anything isn't my idea of a fun hobby.

[waynel]

1 minute ago, Zonie said:

Sorry I have taken up rental space in your brain. Really, the is is a stupid argument.  Materials cost X. Outside labor (printing services, etc) costs Y. Those two are probably 1/4 -1/3 of $7K if you really buy good stuff. Personal labor cost is moot if you are doing it for the fun of doing it, ie. hobby. Like I said before. If you have to assign labor cost to Playing at your hobby, because, this is play, pure and simple, you need a different hobby. Just buying expensive stuff and not actually creating anything isn't my idea of a fun hobby.

Except Atari isn't doing it as a hobby, and you stated that you could do the same job for a quarter of the price. Since you won't answer the labor question, how about stating much of that $1,750 is going to software?

 

As for renting space in my head, I will relieve you of that entirety. Until I got the alert about your response, you occupied precisely zero space in my head. Not even as a hobby. 

[Video]

Eh, no. I'd love to have one, sure, but people here would likely literally kill me for picking up another arcade, and especially paying nearly $7k for it. Most mine cost sub $100, and none cost more than a grand (granted used) and if you want a home version, buy the thing for any number of consoles it will be on for $60 (or more likely, sub $20) if you want arcade, there's plenty of cheaper options.

 

Still, considering what some arcades went for new in the 80's and 90's, 7g isn't that much. Sure arcades fell out of favor as home consoles became more capable, but a not so small chunk of what killed arcades was the exorbitant price machines started getting to. At least 7 grand has a possibility of making their money back, many arcades are a buck a pop nowadays, unless its older machines.

[ledzep]

On 8/4/2024 at 7:29 PM, thanatos said:

The game on Steam is $10.

 

From what I gather the arcade version is a tweaked/altered version of whatever home options are available that's more tailored toward being in an arcade.  Even if it weren't, what you are arguing for is nobody ever buying/owning an arcade cabinet because MAME (and MESS) exists.  That's a ridiculous statement, especially on a forum like this one that is geared towards collectors.  Nobody "collects" Steam games.  They buy them and own them and play them, yes, but nobody is displaying their vintage Steam files to anyone or getting corrupted files working again using original lines of code stripped out of other corrupted versions, or ordering blocks of new code from the manufacturers as spares.

 

I wouldn't buy this game strictly due to the price, even though it seems more fun than I initially expected (based on the boring home version which I wouldn't spend $10 on).  5-10 years from now, a used one shows up for a few hundred bucks, maybe.  I don't know of any collectors who were buying new arcade games back in the day directly from Atari, Bally/Midway, Gremlin/Sega, etc., at full price.  That's nuts, that's a business expense.  I think people are treating this as some kind of overpriced Arcade1Up cab and slagging it for that reason.  I haven't seen one in person but I very much doubt it has that cheap vibe.

[ledzep]

9 hours ago, waynel said:

Except Atari isn't doing it as a hobby, and you stated that you could do the same job for a quarter of the price. Since you won't answer the labor question, how about stating much of that $1,750 is going to software?

 

Agreed.  To make this comparison fair, the current price of the Alan-1 cabinet would have to be adjusted to remove Alan-1's in-house labor costs.  Just for assembling the cabinet, any outside labor costs (for printing the side art for example) would still be included.  The price seems to be for the 2-player version so that would have to be the same as well.

[Razzie.P]

On 8/8/2024 at 6:43 PM, PowerDubs said:

Third- you won't have the knockers, etc