And dear, sweet Golden Tee!
Home arcade cabinet maker Arcade1Up seems to have found a reliable niche for itself. In 2018, the company launched a line of relatively inexpensive smaller-scale cabinets themed around games like Asteroids, Rampage, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Now, shortly into the new year, Arcade1Up has shared plans for another batch of machines. Mortal Kombat fans, in particular, will want to listen up.
The 2019 roll-out includes five arcade cabinets, the first of which will release in February.
- Final Fight Cabinet: Final Fight, 1944, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, and Strider (February 2019).
- Space Invaders Cabinet: Space Invaders in color and black and white (February 2019).
- Golden Tee Cabinet: Golden Tee Classic, Golden Tee 2K, Golden Tee ’99, and Golden Tee ’98 (June 2019).
- Mortal Kombat Cabinet: Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Mortal Kombat 3 (September 2019).
- Karate Champ Cabinet: Karate Champ, Bad Dudes, Burger Time, and Caveman Ninja (September 2019).
Arcade1Up’s cabinets are 3/4 scale, use 17″ LCD screens, and typically cost $300 a piece. Of course, there are trade-offs: the build quality and game selection won’t be to every enthusiast’s liking. That said, the cabinets are inexpensive (as far as these things go) and only weigh around 60 lbs. If you’ve ever helped a buddy move an original machine, you know how friendship-testing they can be.
That Mortal Kombat cabinet is a crowd-pleaser, but if you’re holding out, know that more are in the works. According to Tastemakers CEO Scott Bachrach, “This is just the tip of the iceberg for us as we continue to secure the licenses our community wants to see.” I hope each wave is better than the last.
For more reading on the subject, I’d encourage you to check out this in-depth review of the Arcade1Up Pac-Man cabinet from Destructoid reader Pacario. He’s got assembly pictures and everything!
