June 10th, 2020 will go down in history as the day Tastemakers, LLC solidified the company as the industry leader in home arcade cabinets. In the 3 years that I have been covering Arcade1Up, they have sprinted into the hearts of gamers with their beautifully designed playable art pieces. If you own a cabinet than you know this is not an exaggeration.
Like a piece of fine art, they draw attention and instantly become a topic of discussion by visitors unfamiliar with the product. June 10th, 2020 wasn’t just a showcase of new cabinets, it was a victory flag raised high for all to see in regards to the industry partnerships they have obtained and the innovative steps forward which was originally thought to be impossible to achieve.
Big Buck Hunter
Release Date – Fall 2020
While living on the lower east side of New York, I would occasionally drink my nights away at a bar called Doc Holiday’s. It was at this bar that I was introduced to Big Buck Hunter. I can’t shoot straight sober not to mention mildly intoxicated, so my hunting expeditions were always on the short side. The game is challenging and always drew a crowd when someone was on a roll. Now we’ve seen this franchise on home consoles but never recreated to this level due to the change in modern technology. Long story short the old light gun technology was made to work with a CRT display.
Many companies have tried but none were successful in fully recreating light gun mechanics to work with modern LCD screens. Last year at E3, I saw a company called Sinden Lightgun. The light guns they created worked smoothly with particular light gun Arcade titles due to some clever ingenuity. During a post-announcement interview with a friend of the site, YouTube content creator Retro Ralph, John D – Sr. Vice President of Licensing and Business Development at Arcade1Up confirmed Arcade1Up has in fact partnered with Sinden Lightgun on the Big Buck Hunter cabinet. If all goes well, I can predict that this will be one of the best-selling Arcade1Up cabinets and possibly open the door for future light gun cabinets.
Key features
• The Big Buck Hunter arcade cabinet will feature 4 different titles licensed from Play Mechanic, Inc. – Big Buck Hunter Pro, Big Buck Hunter Pro Open Season, Big Buck Safari and Big Buck Safari Outback.
• The cabinet will feature the original, licensor-approved artwork from the iconic Big Buck Hunter Pro cabinet.
• Arcade1Up will feature the original game ROMS from classic Big Buck Hunter arcade machines.
• Big Buck Hunter is the first title released by Arcade1Up with the inclusion of 2 light gun accessories.
Ms. PAC-MAN
Release Date – Fall 2020
PAC-MAN was part of the Arcade1Up generation one collection. No surprise that this was a huge success for the company and for Namco who is the parent company for the title. Many assumed that Ms. PAC-MAN would soon follow, however that was not the case. As I researched, I quickly discovered the messy legal issues surrounding the Ms. PAC-MAN game. The good news is Arcade1Up found a way to make this beloved classic part of the Arcade1Up family, in fact, this is the first time a Ms. PAC-MAN Arcade will be made for at-home use.
Key features
• Along with Ms. PAC-MAN the cabinet will also include Galaga, Pac-Mania, Pac-Man Plus
• The Cabinet will feature the original licensor approved side artwork
• Arcade1Up will feature the original game ROMS from the classic Ms. PAC-MAN Arcade Cabinet
X-MEN vs Street Fighter
Release Date – Fall 2020
If you are old enough to remember playing this in Arcades than you know what a dream match up it was. I could have never imagined at that time these two iconic franchises would be meshed together to create one of the best fighting games to-date. Upon purchasing Arcade1Up Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition, I began to think of the possibilities of other Street Fighter titles.
The 2 that quickly came to mind was X-Men vs Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom. I thought this would be nearly impossible due to multiple licensing deals that would need to be made with Mega Company Disney and Capcom. The implausibility began to dwindle upon the successful release of Marvel Super Heroes and Star Wars cabinets. Arcade1Up proved to be a suitable partner for these 2 companies and here we are, just months away from having which I believe will be the must-have fighting game cabinet for years to come.
Key features
• This is Arcade1Up’s first cabinet to feature major licensor crossover titles
• This cabinet will also include Marvel vs. Capcom, Marvel Super-Heroes: War of the Gems, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter
• Arcade1Up will feature the original game ROMS from the classic Marvel vs. Capcom and X-Men vs. Street Fighter Arcade Machines
• The Cabinet will feature the original licensor approved side artwork
Marvel Digital Pinball
Release Date – Fall 2020
Out of all the announcements, I have to say this one really caught my attention. We have yet to see an Arcade1Up Pinball cabinet in the wild, (excluding conventions). There are 3 Pinball cabinets scheduled to release simultaneously Fall 2020. We also know each Pinball cabinet will have 10 tables from ZEN Studios and these tables have been optimized to take full advantage of this new playable form. Pricing has also been loosely been discussed with no definite answer. One thing is apparent, a great amount of detail has been focused on getting the look and feel of a mechanical pinball cabinet.
Key features
• The Marvel Digital Pinball table will be mid-sized or just under 5FT tall
• This pinball table will feature a Recessed 24” high definition LCD playfield
• The pinball table will be supported on replica pinball legs with adjustable feet
• The digital table will be fitted with a protective acrylic top with thin metal bezel
• This digital pinball table will feature licensor approved side artwork
• This will also be one of the first digital pinball tables in this category to feature Built-in solenoid’s for haptic feedback and built-in accelerometer for real nudge & tilt feature
It’s also worth noting the NBA JAM arcade cabinet is still available for pre-order. The cabinet should be shipping out in the coming weeks (date vary on retailer) and according to the latest update from John D, the Golden Axe arcade cabinet will be available in the Fall and sold directly from Arcade1up.com.
