Arcade1Up is a range of officially licenced large-sized arcade cabinets featuring classic video games from the 70s and 80s. Made by US toy company Tastemakers and led by CEO Scott Bachrach, it started off as a passion project for Scott where he wanted to capture that feeling of playing old arcade video games, just as it was in the 70s / 80s. With modern versions being largely mini handhelds or console-based, he felt that the ‘feeling’ of the old school arcades just wasn’t being delivered. And so the project started to make officially licenced affordable arcade cabinets!
A year later and they have had a hugely successful launch recently winning the prestigious award of TECH TOY OF THE YEAR 2019 at the New York toy fair! The full line-up will be available nationwide this month.These cabinets where actually something I once sought myself after the faded away from arcades over the years and they were pricey back then and the price now is not bad for some retro custom gaming cabinets.
Launching first in the US, the machines have gone down a storm with fans finally having their favourite cabinets in their homes,This year they showed the games at Toy Fairs in London and New York and with the games now available for retail sale in the UK.
Arcade1Up are officially licensed versions of original videogames machines from the ‘Golden Age’ of gaming. These are ¾ scale replica copies of original arcade cabinets (full-size when used with an optional riser), complete with original artwork, controls (including rotary sticks, rollerballs and joysticks).
Each machine comes with multiple games and these are the original-code versions of the games, complete with techniques and tactics to learn, hidden features to exploit. So, if you could master Space Invaders patterns, exploit using the edge of the screen in Asteroids or rack-up extra lives in Defender back in the day… there’s nothing stopping you living that dream again!
The current Q1/Q2 line-up is:
ASTEROIDS
Asteroids, Major Havoc, Lunar Lander and Tempest
RAMPAGE
Rampage, Gauntlet, Joust, Defender
SPACE INVADERS
Space Invaders, Space Invaders Color
STREET FIGHTER II
Street Fighter II: Championship Edition, Super Street Fighter II: The new Challengers, Super Street Fighter TM II Turbo
Arcade1Up will be available nationwide this month from £349rrp. https://arcade1up.com/