I bought a custom 4player pedestal style cabinet from AG 2 years ago and I absolutely LOVE it to this day! I was able to design my own wrap for it, choose the colored buttons the way I wanted and they did an amazing job putting it together. The wrap still looks as new as the day I received it but I wanted to preserve the functions of the joysticks and buttons so I chose to use controllers mainly and the only mods I did were adding holsters for the guns on the side and some RGB lighting under the lip of the control area. These guys are the BEST and I'm certainly buying my next one from them
Nice! I'm glad that everything turned out well with your unit. I absolutely loved my time with the unit when they dropped it off for review. Unfortunately, I don't really have the extra space in my home for one, but it was awesome having it when I did.
I grew up and grew with gaming from the very start, before there were even stand up arcade machines. the first gane i remember seeing was a sit down machine and was pong. I wish some arcade company would make me a machine to review, I would love to play galaga again. I am looking at getting an orginal old machine thats been refurbished but they are high. I loved the arcades of back in the day and having lived that era was amazing to experience. Qbert, galaga, galaxian, zaxxon, looper, packman, donkey kong, tempest, space invaders, defender, missile command, asteroids etc etc etc
Id honestly be more on board if they didnt use a TCL screen. We had 3 of them, for a couple years in our house and have since gotten rid of all of them and traded for Samsung tvs. The tcl tvs would all randomly shut off or quit out of whatever app or show and go back to the home screens and navigating the menu screen was super laggy without the ability to delete any caches. Only thing that would help for a short time was fully deleting the app and reinstalling. We finally got fed up and got rid of them all.
The 4 player model with 43 inch screen is on my target, did you try to adjust ration to 4:3, from the tv itself ? As this would be concern and ruin the experience. Thanks for great work on this review
There should be hotkeys to get to the menu so you can adjust aspect ratio and scaling of your emulation. This also includes being able to switch that ugly anti-aliasing off
i bought one. my only complaint is the guns are kinda meh on the rasberry pi, and you cant really play "modern games" such as the new mortal kombat or guilty gear strive. Going to ditch the pi eventually for a PC build eventually. Overall build quality of the cabinet is fantastic
Great video very informative. Thank you. I just ordered the TAG Pedestal which comes with Raspberry pi 4. I have sinden guns, will i be able to plug them in and go?
Thank you! I appreciate it! 🙌 As long as the software and drivers are installed then you should be good to go. I haven't used them on this specific cabinet, so I don't have experience first hand with anything from The Arcade Guys. The Sinden software should add a thin border around the display and then it should be able to calculate the aiming position based on that. This guns are so well made!
Man, I already said this before, but I NEED one of those machines. Absolute envy on my side, lmao. If only I had easy access to them over here. Good vid as always, Rudy.
Thanks dude! And yes, these are pretty hard to ship internationally because they deliver them in person in the continental US, AFAIK. Maybe you should come here? 🤔
Baldy, dont know where else to ask this: I have a 2 player pedestal system with one of those small boxes inside that handles 10's of thousands of games (redundant and old). My question is: Can I use this two stick pedestal with a newer system like a PS 4 or some such system? Can I unplug that small box (emulator) with that PS4 or something that will plug in and then give me some newer games?? Thanks for your time. (I am 76 years old and not up on these sytems)
Hey Greg! You may be able to since the pedestal systems are connected via USB. The one thing that I'd be worried about is whether or not the PS4 will recognize them because the PS4 needs to be able to communicate with the pedestal itself. And if it does, will it have the buttons mapped out properly. That's my main concern.
Does the MVC2 have access to all characters all ready or do you have to unlock them? If you do, does it save your progress. I used an older Pandora's box that ran the PS2 version of the game and you couldn't save your unlocked characters.
MVC2 does not have access to all of the characters right out of the box. Yes, you can have save states for every single game. It just saves the exact spot that you're in and continues from there. Haven't tried unlocking a character and seeing if it saved in the data. Might have to get back to you on that specific thing. 😅
@@baldlyrudy Any updates on whether or not MVC 2 can saves unlocked characters? I also enjoy Soul Calibur and wanted to know if it has part 1, 2,3, 4 or more?
Hey! Yes. The save states are there. Characters unlock like you would normally as you win matches. Also, this only has Soul Caliber Broken Destiny. Glad you asked this now. They're coming to pick up the unit in a few days.
Just because I didn't experience the games doesn't mean that I didn't experience any 8-bit or 16-bit titles. I would rather have them emulated properly without anti-aliasing. 🤷♂️
While i would utilize the joysticks for the arcade games. I would prefer a controller for the nes and snes stuff. Does it offer a port to plug in a controller???
Some of the models that the Arcade Guys have do offer controller support via Raspberry Pi. It's definitely something that this specific model in the video did not support.
If you get an arcade machine, you better currate your own ROM selection by hand. Starting with any preloaded 1000+ titles dumpster of ROMs will drive you nuts.
Thanks! I didn't dismantle the cabinet to test that, but I can definitely see that being a thing after doing some research. I no longer have the cabinet, but I feel like I could see that being a possibility.
Great review. Where can we see the list of 17000 games? I wanted to make sure sequels to Tekken, Mortal Kombat, and Soul Calibur were there. Also, do you prefer Raspberry Pi over the Pandora software for gaming?
Thanks! There isn't a list on their site or on the sellers of the Pandora Box. I prefer having the flexibility of Raspberry Pi. There's just more you can do. The Pandora Box is a great option for casual users that don't want to mess with things. Edit: Fixed typo.
i've been tinkering with retroarch, using mame2003,2010,and 2016 tekken i got to tekken tag. so far i havent been able to run tekken 4 and up. with mortak kombat same story, up to mortal kombat 3. with soul calibur only the first one, and soul edge 2...i THINK i was able to run soul edge 1, but it was too primitive and i dropped it.... i also run several world heroes games, and king of fighters, and several street fighter games. i was never able to run mvc2. i'm running the dreamcast version, which is the closest port to the arcade.
seems a bit overpriced to me. you can get retroarch free of charge....and all the mame roms. all you need to do is assemble the cabinet and cheap computer
@@sabin97 gotta pay people for their work. You don't lift a finger when they do it. Plus you know it's done right and with a warranty and future service and upgrades. 2600 is fair.
@@sh0cktim3 nah. 2600 is a steal. the software is all free. and the hardward doesnt even get to 1000 usd(assuming you use top quality components, which i dont see in this video). you can easily assemble it in less than an hour. they are not creating new hardware, or designing new circuits.
Actually I think it is TOO cheap, so they have to make various sub-par component choices. A good Seimitsu stick alone is 35 bucks nowadays. I see they offer an upgrade to Sanwa, so that means the starting price is with Chinese sticks. With quality sticks you go up to 3600, and even then I bet the profit marging is thin, it won't allow for headroom to sell through other channels than their own webshop.
@@sabin97 you also not taking into account the machine and tools required to build these. The best cabinet builders are using CNC machines and those ain't cheap and just floating around everyone's house.
Was thinking about pulling the trigger on one of these but the anti-aliasing on the retro games seems like a sticking point because it just makes the games look ugly. Did they let you keep the cabinet because I would like to hear a follow up review after having had it for a few months now. But yeah, that anti-aliasing thing seems pretty bad
Hey Noah! I agree. The AA is bad for pixel games and I'm not a fan. They took it back after a few weeks of posting this video. I might revisit getting one from them in the future though.
No trackball?! A whole lot of space there for one. There should be options for aspect ratio. No trackball and no ratio options seems kind of an egregious miss for this.
Personally I think 43" is way too big, our TV isn't even that big. For the price it can't be that good of a screen too, probably some low-quality white-LED edge lit sub-sRGB panel with backlight bleed and non even illumination. I did like the peek-in-the-workshop part. I got myself this one: th-cam.com/video/BFBRU5ss0Lk/w-d-xo.html, as it has the Wife Acceptance Factor (I am the wife!).
I was definitely playing Killer Instinct on there. It was a part of my childhood. It was my first SNES game, since my parents got the bundle. I'm not sure if it's possible (I didn't check it), but would the cabinet manufacturer have been able to add that to Pandora's Box?
@@baldlyrudy nah. PBs and Pis don't have the muscle to run CHD based arcade games like KI1 or KI2. Some PBs can't even run Mortal Kombat Arcade correctly
There is a combined seven video games that are any good and require either of those play the 99% of games that use normal controls however this thing has no light gun so i also agree that you shouldnt buy it
These cabinets are way overpriced for what they are. If you want a quality cab with better components, better emulation & better build quality, there are quite a few choices for the same money. I have a Pc-Based system that runs Hyperspin and includes better hardware, correct screen emulation for all the games, including vector games & runs games that the Rasp Pi systems simply cant. Total cost for my system was $700. I really feel sorry for people that buy this crap.
I bought a custom 4player pedestal style cabinet from AG 2 years ago and I absolutely LOVE it to this day! I was able to design my own wrap for it, choose the colored buttons the way I wanted and they did an amazing job putting it together. The wrap still looks as new as the day I received it but I wanted to preserve the functions of the joysticks and buttons so I chose to use controllers mainly and the only mods I did were adding holsters for the guns on the side and some RGB lighting under the lip of the control area. These guys are the BEST and I'm certainly buying my next one from them
Nice! I'm glad that everything turned out well with your unit. I absolutely loved my time with the unit when they dropped it off for review. Unfortunately, I don't really have the extra space in my home for one, but it was awesome having it when I did.
I grew up and grew with gaming from the very start, before there were even stand up arcade machines. the first gane i remember seeing was a sit down machine and was pong.
I wish some arcade company would make me a machine to review, I would love to play galaga again. I am looking at getting an orginal old machine thats been refurbished but they are high.
I loved the arcades of back in the day and having lived that era was amazing to experience.
Qbert, galaga, galaxian, zaxxon, looper, packman, donkey kong, tempest, space invaders, defender, missile command, asteroids etc etc etc
Maybe some shots of you playing it so we can judge the scale of the unit next time?
*writes down notes*
Id honestly be more on board if they didnt use a TCL screen. We had 3 of them, for a couple years in our house and have since gotten rid of all of them and traded for Samsung tvs. The tcl tvs would all randomly shut off or quit out of whatever app or show and go back to the home screens and navigating the menu screen was super laggy without the ability to delete any caches. Only thing that would help for a short time was fully deleting the app and reinstalling. We finally got fed up and got rid of them all.
The 4 player model with 43 inch screen is on my target, did you try to adjust ration to 4:3, from the tv itself ? As this would be concern and ruin the experience.
Thanks for great work on this review
There should be hotkeys to get to the menu so you can adjust aspect ratio and scaling of your emulation. This also includes being able to switch that ugly anti-aliasing off
i bought one. my only complaint is the guns are kinda meh on the rasberry pi, and you cant really play "modern games" such as the new mortal kombat or guilty gear strive. Going to ditch the pi eventually for a PC build eventually. Overall build quality of the cabinet is fantastic
Great video very informative. Thank you. I just ordered the TAG Pedestal which comes with Raspberry pi 4. I have sinden guns, will i be able to plug them in and go?
Thank you! I appreciate it! 🙌
As long as the software and drivers are installed then you should be good to go. I haven't used them on this specific cabinet, so I don't have experience first hand with anything from The Arcade Guys.
The Sinden software should add a thin border around the display and then it should be able to calculate the aiming position based on that. This guns are so well made!
Man, I already said this before, but I NEED one of those machines. Absolute envy on my side, lmao.
If only I had easy access to them over here.
Good vid as always, Rudy.
Thanks dude!
And yes, these are pretty hard to ship internationally because they deliver them in person in the continental US, AFAIK. Maybe you should come here? 🤔
Are the games licensed or are they essentially selling pirated games?
My guess is the latter.
have you tried the light guns with 2 players? does lag?
Baldy, dont know where else to ask this: I have a 2 player pedestal system with one of those small boxes inside that handles 10's of thousands of games (redundant and old). My question is: Can I use this two stick pedestal with a newer system like a PS 4 or some such system? Can I unplug that small box (emulator) with that PS4 or something that will plug in and then give me some newer games?? Thanks for your time. (I am 76 years old and not up on these sytems)
Hey Greg! You may be able to since the pedestal systems are connected via USB. The one thing that I'd be worried about is whether or not the PS4 will recognize them because the PS4 needs to be able to communicate with the pedestal itself. And if it does, will it have the buttons mapped out properly. That's my main concern.
@@baldlyrudy thanks a lot buddy I really appreciate your input and your time
@@gregorgman you're welcome!
At first I was going to say it was a bad choice to get the Pandora version but you can always buy new versions of Pandora Box to upgrade.
Does the MVC2 have access to all characters all ready or do you have to unlock them? If you do, does it save your progress. I used an older Pandora's box that ran the PS2 version of the game and you couldn't save your unlocked characters.
MVC2 does not have access to all of the characters right out of the box. Yes, you can have save states for every single game. It just saves the exact spot that you're in and continues from there. Haven't tried unlocking a character and seeing if it saved in the data. Might have to get back to you on that specific thing. 😅
@@baldlyrudy Any updates on whether or not MVC 2 can saves unlocked characters? I also enjoy Soul Calibur and wanted to know if it has part 1, 2,3, 4 or more?
Hey! Yes. The save states are there. Characters unlock like you would normally as you win matches.
Also, this only has Soul Caliber Broken Destiny. Glad you asked this now. They're coming to pick up the unit in a few days.
Hi. Was the MvC2 on the pandora ex 3 or the raspberry pi? Thanks
@@mak23997 Hi! It was on the Pandora EX 3.
Him: "I didn't experience a lot of these games as a kid"
Also him: "Anti-aliasing ruined my nostalgia."
Just because I didn't experience the games doesn't mean that I didn't experience any 8-bit or 16-bit titles. I would rather have them emulated properly without anti-aliasing. 🤷♂️
While i would utilize the joysticks for the arcade games. I would prefer a controller for the nes and snes stuff. Does it offer a port to plug in a controller???
Some of the models that the Arcade Guys have do offer controller support via Raspberry Pi. It's definitely something that this specific model in the video did not support.
Totally disappointing that the current model does not work with an actual controller 😢
Does anybody still make just a simple 60in1 ACTUAL standup with the ACTUAL arcade games from back in the day?
Is there a list of the games that are included anywhere?
Not that I'm aware of. They're all ROMs.
If you get an arcade machine, you better currate your own ROM selection by hand. Starting with any preloaded 1000+ titles dumpster of ROMs will drive you nuts.
Cool video. Without knowing, I always thought Roms could be added to a Pandora’s box
Thanks! I didn't dismantle the cabinet to test that, but I can definitely see that being a thing after doing some research. I no longer have the cabinet, but I feel like I could see that being a possibility.
Are these the original games from the arcade or SNES SEGA ports?
They seem to be all ROMs from various platforms. Not as many MAME ROMs as I'd like, but they're just organized by title and not platform.
Great review. Where can we see the list of 17000 games? I wanted to make sure sequels to Tekken, Mortal Kombat, and Soul Calibur were there.
Also, do you prefer Raspberry Pi over the Pandora software for gaming?
Thanks! There isn't a list on their site or on the sellers of the Pandora Box.
I prefer having the flexibility of Raspberry Pi. There's just more you can do. The Pandora Box is a great option for casual users that don't want to mess with things.
Edit: Fixed typo.
@@baldlyrudy is the raspberry pie strong enough to play some of the more demanding 3d titles or is it better to go with this setup to play those games
It's raspberry pi 4, so I'd say yes. Most of these are similar to a PS One.
i've been tinkering with retroarch, using mame2003,2010,and 2016
tekken i got to tekken tag. so far i havent been able to run tekken 4 and up.
with mortak kombat same story, up to mortal kombat 3.
with soul calibur only the first one, and soul edge 2...i THINK i was able to run soul edge 1, but it was too primitive and i dropped it....
i also run several world heroes games, and king of fighters, and several street fighter games.
i was never able to run mvc2. i'm running the dreamcast version, which is the closest port to the arcade.
Is Marvel vs Capcom 2 on it?
Yes
Man this is awesome! There's just no way I can afford 2,600 dollars lol.
seems a bit overpriced to me.
you can get retroarch free of charge....and all the mame roms.
all you need to do is assemble the cabinet and cheap computer
@@sabin97 gotta pay people for their work. You don't lift a finger when they do it. Plus you know it's done right and with a warranty and future service and upgrades. 2600 is fair.
@@sh0cktim3
nah. 2600 is a steal.
the software is all free.
and the hardward doesnt even get to 1000 usd(assuming you use top quality components, which i dont see in this video).
you can easily assemble it in less than an hour.
they are not creating new hardware, or designing new circuits.
Actually I think it is TOO cheap, so they have to make various sub-par component choices. A good Seimitsu stick alone is 35 bucks nowadays. I see they offer an upgrade to Sanwa, so that means the starting price is with Chinese sticks. With quality sticks you go up to 3600, and even then I bet the profit marging is thin, it won't allow for headroom to sell through other channels than their own webshop.
@@sabin97 you also not taking into account the machine and tools required to build these. The best cabinet builders are using CNC machines and those ain't cheap and just floating around everyone's house.
Does it have contra??
Yes
Was thinking about pulling the trigger on one of these but the anti-aliasing on the retro games seems like a sticking point because it just makes the games look ugly. Did they let you keep the cabinet because I would like to hear a follow up review after having had it for a few months now. But yeah, that anti-aliasing thing seems pretty bad
Hey Noah! I agree. The AA is bad for pixel games and I'm not a fan. They took it back after a few weeks of posting this video. I might revisit getting one from them in the future though.
@@baldlyrudy Appreciate the response. Glad I saw your video because wouldn't have known about the AA otherwise. Thank you
You're welcome! Glad I could help. 👍
Sweet Machine! Better than Arcade1up
so it comes with the games ?
Yes.
Oh man thanks. Im looking and didnt want to have to learn all that it takes to put it together.
That looks like the Nintendo Entertainment System version of Pac-Man
You are correct.
My issue is that at this price point with the trash TCL screen and lack of a trac ball I think I could build something better for cheaper
Totally understandable points.
Their website seems to claim 17k games is it only 3300?
The unit that I got to review had 3300.
@@baldlyrudy 🙏
'Only 3300' 🤣
Can hold up to 17k
The rasp. Pie one has 17+ thousand
Looks great but 2700$ cab is way beyond by price range.
No trackball?! A whole lot of space there for one. There should be options for aspect ratio. No trackball and no ratio options seems kind of an egregious miss for this.
It's an option to add.
How can you call this the LAST cabinet you'll ever need..when it doesn't have a trackball? :D i put one in mine...for golden tee :D
You can always add it if you have the tools.
Personally I think 43" is way too big, our TV isn't even that big. For the price it can't be that good of a screen too, probably some low-quality white-LED edge lit sub-sRGB panel with backlight bleed and non even illumination.
I did like the peek-in-the-workshop part.
I got myself this one: th-cam.com/video/BFBRU5ss0Lk/w-d-xo.html, as it has the Wife Acceptance Factor (I am the wife!).
Meh, Pis and Pandora's Boxes Mean No Killer Instinct arcade. I'll check on them when they incorporate mini PCs in their cabinets
I was definitely playing Killer Instinct on there. It was a part of my childhood. It was my first SNES game, since my parents got the bundle. I'm not sure if it's possible (I didn't check it), but would the cabinet manufacturer have been able to add that to Pandora's Box?
@@baldlyrudy nah. PBs and Pis don't have the muscle to run CHD based arcade games like KI1 or KI2.
Some PBs can't even run Mortal Kombat Arcade correctly
So it was running the SNES version of KI?
Yea 3 grand for a pie I'll pass that's kinda nuts
Constructive criticism. Try to use "frankly" and "honestly" a little less. Other than that, great review. I plan on buying one for my game room. 👍🏻
Much appreciated! I'll take that into account in the future. Thanks for the comment. ✌️
i wouldnt use any pirated games for any commercial purpose.....that's asking for a lawsuit.
Agreed
Not hand made, hand assembled.
Handcrafted?
Omg, 2000.00 plus for a cabinet!??? Thats absolutely insane!!! Thats way too much for what it delivers....
Personally, I'd never pay that much either. But I see plenty of people online that are happy paying for it.
no spinners or trac ball, hard pass
There is a combined seven video games that are any good and require either of those play the 99% of games that use normal controls however this thing has no light gun so i also agree that you shouldnt buy it
My arcade guys arcade has a track ball
These cabinets are way overpriced for what they are. If you want a quality cab with better components, better emulation & better build quality, there are quite a few choices for the same money. I have a Pc-Based system that runs Hyperspin and includes better hardware, correct screen emulation for all the games, including vector games & runs games that the Rasp Pi systems simply cant. Total cost for my system was $700. I really feel sorry for people that buy this crap.
Anything you recommend?
says this is crap, says something is better, doesnt say what is better. great job!
And? Link? Name? Anything? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
What are these other options that the guy off the street can get?
100% this is way overpriced rubbish. Sorry.
they should run batocera in their arcades