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Arcade Terminal, the Best: Comparison and buying guide!


You like retro gaming and you are looking for a nice decorative object for your interior, why not opt ​​for an arcade terminal? It's a nice piece of equipment, by necessarily too cumbersome, which allows you to challenge your friends easily during a party.

I love video games and spent time on arcades when I was younger. I have 3 at home and there is always someone who wants to play a game! In this comparison, I give you my opinion on some sure values ​​and I give you some tips for choosing the right one.

The Best Arcade Machines

Arcade Cabinet

Pandora Box 9D: Versatility

Well, you will tell me that it is not really an arcade machine, and you will be right… However, we can have a machine made around it if we really want to and it remains the most stylish and retro game console. from the moment. The Pandora Box is therefore a game console, directly equipped with a board with 2 joysticks and 12 buttons, to play 2 of the 2,700 games integrated into the software.

There are almost all the games that we found on the arcade machines in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. The list of fighting games is huge, with Street Fighter, Mortal Combat, The King of Fighters, but there are also legendary games such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Paper Boy, or the first Sonic, Altered Beast, etc. We can hardly do more versatile.

The console is very solid, entirely in metal, with a tray covered with plexiglass, to hit the buttons with rage without risk of damaging the equipment. There is enough game to play for several years and even several lifetimes… We are rediscovering old games and we can finally finish titles that took all our pocket money in bars before reaching the end.

Arcade Cabinet

Arcade1up Pac-Man: For fans of the yellow ball

If you adore Pac-Man or are looking for the ultimate vintage arcade machine , then you are bound to fall for this Arcade1Up Pac-Man , almost entirely yellow, which allows us to dive back into one of the very first paid video games of the planet. There are 2 versions of the game inside, with the original graphics and sounds.

The joystick and buttons are also the same as on the first machines. The build quality is very serious. The terminal is made of thick wooden panels, nicely painted, in the colors of the game. The screen is 43 cm, it is vertical, as at the time, but its quality is much better and it is lighter.

Arcade1up is an American company, which manufactures superb arcade kiosks and the Pac-Man is one of the most sold. I'm not a big fan of this game, but I spent a few hours with my son and my wife, trying to break the new records we were making. It's quite addicting and everyone wants to put their name on the scoreboard!

Arcade Cabinet

Arcade1up Street Fighter 2: For those who want combat!

We stay at Arcade1up but with a more complete terminal. Here, we can play with two people, there are indeed 2 joysticks and 6 buttons per player. Here again, it is the original components of the Street Fighter machines of the time that are used. The design of this Arcade1up Street Fighter 2 is very serious, the assembly only takes a few minutes and we have a beautiful arcade terminal in the middle of the living room.

There are 3 Street Fighter 2 games inside, among the most famous: Street Fighter II Champion Edition, Street Fighter II The New Challengers and Street Fighter II Turbo. If you already loved them in your youth, you will find them with pleasure. For children who are discovering, it remains excellent games, which have really not aged. The game play is excellent, better than a lot of much newer games.

It is a superb arcade cabinet, with a beautiful finish. It is designed to play seated and therefore it is quite small, but you can order a booster seat to have it at breast height. For me, it's the most profitable arcade machine, because you know that everyone is going to want to play Street Fighter and everyone can win. If you are looking for a terminal with this game, go for it, you will not regret!

Arcade Cabinet

ITAL - Mini Arcade Retro Opinion: Small price but very complete

It's the cheapest, but it's pretty amazing. Entirely in plastic, with a design reminiscent of modern terminals from the 2000s, this ITAL contains 250 games in bits and 16 bits. Its 2.5-inch TFT screen offers a rendering very close to the video games of the time and there is sound. We discover many games, but they are known game clones.

So, there are copies of Mario or Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, which have other names. Anyway, it's pretty cool, we really have a huge choice, with board games, shooting games, sports, puzzles, etc.

The build quality is decent for the price, but the controls are still a bit fragile, especially the joystick. It is therefore necessary to handle with care, without forcing too much. This mini-terminal works with 3 AA batteries which are not supplied, and you can play for a good 30 hours before replacing them. Note that the terminal is available in 3 colors, blue, yellow or red.
Arcade Cabinet

MEETg Mini Arcade Retro: My favorite

Here, we really have a perfect replica of a Street Fighter arcade machine or almost. We find very nice drawings with Ryu (one of the Street Fighter characters), there is a joystick and 6 buttons to perform all the moves of the famous game. In addition to this combat video game, there are 240 additional titles, for all tastes. It is therefore very comprehensive.

The screen is very good, with nice colors and good brightness. The build quality is pretty basic, it's plastic, but the design is pretty serious. The stick is quite solid, although you should avoid playing like a nag. There is obviously sound and we really have fun discovering all the old or more recent games, which are installed on this mini-arcade terminal.

Best of all, you can connect it to an RCA TV (cable is provided) and play on a big screen. The graphics are not great but it does the job. Finally, a lithium battery is integrated in the battery compartment. We can therefore recharge the terminal and if the battery ends up dying, we can still use batteries! For the price, it's really perfect!