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Arcade1Up: Street Fighter 2 Hands-On Impressions

Posted by: Nick on December 26, 2018 at 10:37 PM CST


For those of you not familiar with Arcade1Up, they are the first company to produce large scale replicas of classic arcade cabinets for the mass market. This cabinets launched in September at most major retailers and have since found their way into the holiday shopping frenzy. Check out our hands-on impressions with this units to know why you should consider grabbing one for under your tree, especially when there are several promotional sales right now.

Street Fighter 2 (Capcom) Cabinet

Initially retailing for $299 (was on sale for the holiday at Walmart for $249), this amazing little unit allows you to relive the glory days of arcade fighting games with Street Fighter 2 Championship edition, Street Fighter 2 The New Challengers, and Street Fighter 2 Turbo! Featuring original artwork and authentic controls it gives you that sensation of being back in the arcade and destroying your friends in one-on-one matches.



What We Love About It

The cabinet features continuous play, so no quarters needed. They included two joysticks so you can play with your friends or alone. There is a good mix of games here giving you a little more value in this unit over the cabinets with just two games.

The control scheme matches the original allowing you to perform all those complex combos or just mash buttons at random.

The other games also look pretty amazing on the brilliant LCD screen. It really looks great on this unit in particular.



The artwork is amazing and lends that real feel sensation. As does the control scheme. The LCD screen lends bright vibrant colors and prevents the unit from weighing a ton, so you can easily move it around.

Assembly was quick and easy, about 20 minutes for an adult that has experience assembling an IKEA bookshelf. Probably and hour if you do not consider yourself handy.


What We Wish Would Improve

Biggest issue is that the unit has one speaker and does not play in stereo like the original machine. Having played with four of Arcade1Up's cabinet, I can see a cookie cutter approach to the build. While it works to have the same speaker layout for the mono cabinets, more modern games like Street Fighter 2 have stereo and would benefit from the inclusion on another speaker. Hopefully moving forward they do this for units in stereo.

Also a problem for us but maybe not for you is that all of a sudden the unit stopped playing one of our game options. In this case Championship Edition no longer loads. After doing some internet research, I found this is a recurring problem for some who purchased a particular batch of units. I spoke with Arcade1Up and after some unsuccessful troubleshooting, they are sending me a new CPU, which will hopefully resolve the problem. Seems like an issue with the emulator on some of the units. Hopefully it is not that widespread.

The only other thing that would take this over the top for us would be if the marquee lit up. Just and extra little dynamic that would lend to that arcade feel and probably be cost efficient via and LED light.



Our Recommendations

This is a must have for your at home arcade collection if you are looking to 1Up your game room. We highly recommend you purchase a riser to give the unit that extra foot of height for stand up play. These can be incredibly hard to find. We have managed to secure several through Walmart, which not only has the best price ($40 vice Gamestop's $50) but they get the most stock on a weekly basis. Tip: While it may not be available for online shipping, you can check to see if it is available via your local stores for pick up. I suggest playing around with the zip codes on the site to see if there is one in a neighboring town. We have found frequent shipments of large quantities to Walmart stores, so it may be easier to get in general very soon but if you see one, get it because they sell as fast as they arrive.



If you are looking for additional decor to set up your game room, we found an 8-bit Akuma light at Gamestop.

That's all for now. We are skipping the Atari units for now and will focus on more this upcoming spring including the Final Fight cabinet! Check back for some announcements on future releases and a preview from our 2019 Toy Fair coverage.


Related Stories:

Arcade1Up: Marvel Pinball Back In Stock at GameStop
Arcade1Up: CES 2019 Reveals
Arcade1Up: New Cabinets Revealed
Arcade1Up: Rampage Hands-On Impressions
Arcade1Up: PAC-MAN Hands-On Impressions


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