Another year, another CES, and this year, Arcade1up is pulling out all the stops. The company, known for its three-quarter-sized arcade cabinets and price efficiency, at least when compared to the full-size original cabinets, has six new cabinets in production.
A big change to their traditional line-up is an included riser, which used to be a separate price, and what seem to be quarter slots, which likely are just a means of pressing them as a button to activate credits.
Aiming at fans of beat-em-ups and arcade fighters, X-men and Killer Instinct are coming to the line of machines. X-men, a four-player cabinet, comes with the classic arcade game that sees you battling as the mutants against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Though the cabinet supports online multiplayer, it is unknown whether you will be able to add the fifth and sixth player from the original arcade game to your party.
The X-men cabinet also includes Captain America and The Avengers and The Avengers in Galactic Storm, in case you like your Marvel adventures with a bit more Iron Man in them.
Killer Instinct, a fearsome fighter and eater of quarters back when it released in the ’90s, is paired with its sequel, Killer Instinct 2, and two Battletoads games, both the arcade version and the Battletoads/Double Dragon game, which was previously only available for home consoles.
Additionally, fans of Don Bluth’s classic titles are in for a treat. A cabinet featuring all three of his arcade classics: Dragon’s Lair, Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp, and Space Ace is coming, and is actually the same size as the original.
These classic cartoon games with hand-drawn animation are sure to delight any gamer with their insanely unique art style and gameplay. I can’t recall the number of quarters I put into these titles when I was a kid as they were ridiculously hard, but thankfully, that is now a problem of the past!
Three ‘Legacy Edition’ cabinets were also announced that contain 12 classic games each. The Atari collection features a bunch of older titles, such as Asteroids and Tempest, harkening back to the early era of the arcade. Capcom’s cabinet features six different versions of Street Fighter II and other famous titles, such as Darkstalkers and 1944.
Finally, the Bandai Namco cabinet features the king of the arcade, Pac-Man, and nearly all the versions of the dot-munching hero, along with other favorites, like Galaga and Dig Dug.
Last but certainly not least, a departure from the other cabinet’s classic form factor, a four-player Pong cocktail-style cabinet allows for four players to play the ball and paddle game at once. It also features many other styles of the tennis-based game, along with Super Breakout and Tempest.
All of these cabinets look fantastic and will undoubtedly add some pizazz to your existing collection or could perhaps start your new passion to collect. Either way, the arcade scene is back and can be yours to enjoy in the privacy of your own home.
Check out more information about the Arcade1up line-up on their website.