# Arcade1up Mortal Kombat Control Panel Teardown!

**Source:** RetroRalph  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2019-05-13  
**Duration:** 6m 22s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjEHgpgV_PY

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## Analysis

RetroRalph provides a detailed teardown of the Arcade1Up Wave 2 Mortal Kombat control panel, highlighting improvements to the joystick and buttons compared to Wave 1. Key findings include standardized encoder boards across machines, upgraded micro switches and joystick quality (though still below Sanwa standards), cleaner wiring connections, and evidence of dual-speaker support in future machines. Some quality control issues are noted, such as loose button connections.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Arcade1Up has standardized on a universal encoder board for all machines, moving away from machine-specific boards — _RetroRalph visual inspection of Wave 2 Mortal Kombat control panel_
- [HIGH] Wave 2 joysticks feature upgraded micro switches and better overall quality compared to Wave 1 — _RetroRalph direct comparison and teardown of Wave 2 joystick_
- [HIGH] Wave 1 control panel connections were glued, whereas Wave 2 uses cleaner fastened connections — _RetroRalph visual comparison between Wave 1 and Wave 2 wiring_
- [HIGH] Some Wave 2 units have loose button connections despite cleaner overall design — _RetroRalph identified two loose connections on his specific unit during teardown_
- [MEDIUM] The encoder board includes dual speaker connectors suggesting future machines may support two speakers — _RetroRalph observation of 'speaker' and 'speaker one' connections on encoder board; explicitly stated as speculation_
- [HIGH] Arcade1Up joysticks are clone units but improved quality; still notably below Sanwa JLF standard — _RetroRalph direct side-by-side comparison of Arcade1Up clone joystick with authentic Sanwa JLF_
- [HIGH] Button connections use standard connectors compatible with Sanwa button upgrades — _RetroRalph technical analysis of wiring and connector types_
- [HIGH] Arcade1Up speaker is the same between Wave 1 and Wave 2 — _RetroRalph inspection and comparison_

### Notable Quotes

> "It looks like they're standardizing on a controller board that will be used for all machines. So before it seemed like they had machine specific encoder boards it looks like that's no longer the case."
> — **RetroRalph (Jon)**, early segment
> _Indicates manufacturing standardization strategy by Arcade1Up_

> "There's a speaker two connection. It's like speaker and speaker one. So my guess is that there will be future machines that maybe have two speakers."
> — **RetroRalph (Jon)**, mid-segment
> _Suggests future product roadmap expansion; explicitly labeled as speculation_

> "The arcade one-up joystick is upgraded, but it's not quite Sanwa. So if you're really into fighting games and you want the best possible experience, I suggest a Sanwa joystick like this."
> — **RetroRalph (Jon)**, joystick analysis
> _Qualifies improvement against industry standard benchmark_

> "On wave one these were glued I don't know why but they were glued on so someone with the wave one cabinets from manufacturing perspective got really excited with the glue so there tends to be glue all over the place but this looks much cleaner"
> — **RetroRalph (Jon)**, wiring section
> _Notes manufacturing process improvements and previous quality control issues_

> "These micro switches they're just some kind of reverse engineered, you know, China brand micro switch. But, you know, it plays well for what it is."
> — **RetroRalph (Jon)**, conclusion
> _Identifies component sourcing and pragmatic quality assessment_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Arcade1Up | company | Arcade cabinet manufacturer producing Mortal Kombat and other arcade machines |
| RetroRalph | person | Content creator specializing in arcade cabinet teardowns and modifications; host of video |
| Sanwa | company | High-quality arcade joystick and button component manufacturer used as quality benchmark |
| Sanwa JLF | product | Premium arcade joystick model used as reference standard for quality comparison |
| Mortal Kombat | game | IP theme for Arcade1Up Wave 2 cabinet discussed in teardown |
| Arcade1Up Wave 2 | product | Second generation Arcade1Up cabinet line featuring updated encoder boards and controls |
| Arcade1Up Wave 1 | product | First generation Arcade1Up cabinet line with glued connections and machine-specific encoder boards |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Control panel component upgrades, Joystick quality and sourcing, Button responsiveness and micro switches, Manufacturing standardization, Aftermarket upgrade compatibility
- **Secondary:** Quality control issues, Speaker system and future expansion, Arcade cabinet modification and customization

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.6) — Generally positive about Wave 2 improvements over Wave 1, acknowledging upgraded components and easier serviceability. However, tempered by quality control concerns (loose connections) and realistic assessment that components still fall short of premium aftermarket alternatives like Sanwa. Tone is pragmatic and educational rather than enthusiastic or critical.

### Signals

- **[market_signal]** Arcade1Up positioning Wave 2 as upgraded offering with component improvements and better serviceability, suggesting incremental enhancement strategy (confidence: medium) — Documented improvements across joystick, buttons, and wiring suggest intentional value-add over Wave 1; easier upgrade paths support premium positioning
- **[product_strategy]** Control panel improvements in Wave 2 including upgraded joystick micro switches, cleaner wiring connections, and better button fastening vs glued connections in Wave 1 (confidence: high) — Direct physical comparison of Wave 1 and Wave 2 components showing glue removal and upgraded micro switches
- **[product_concern]** Wave 2 units exhibiting loose button connections despite overall cleaner design, suggesting quality control gaps (confidence: high) — RetroRalph identified two loose connections on his specific unit and recommended verification by owners
- **[product_strategy]** Evidence of dual-speaker support being prepared for future Arcade1Up machines (confidence: medium) — Encoder board includes separate 'speaker' and 'speaker one' connections; RetroRalph explicitly notes this as speculation based on technical observation
- **[technology_signal]** Arcade1Up transitioning from machine-specific encoder boards to standardized universal controller boards (confidence: high) — RetroRalph visual inspection of Wave 2 encoder board with explicit comparison to Wave 1 approach

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## Transcript

Hey guys, welcome back. I wanted to create a deconstruction video so you can see what's going on in the control panel of the new Arcade 1UP machines. This is the Wave 2 Mortal Kombat control panel. So to get this thing off, there's a plastic cover on it like that. What you're going to do is you're going to unscrew these three screws at the bottom and these three screws at the top. And once you do that, this just simply comes off. And there you go. So now you have access to the control panel. So at first glance what I noticed was it looks like the encoder board has changed a bit where it looks like they're standardizing on a controller board that will be used for all machines. So before it seemed like they had machine specific encoder boards it looks like that's no longer the case. If you look a little closer too there's interesting etchings or not etchings but there's interesting piece of this that I noticed is that there's a speaker one connection and right below it, I don't know if you can see that, let me turn it this way, right, that there's a speaker two connection. It's like speaker and speaker one. So my guess is that there will be future machines that maybe have two speakers. Again, that's me speculating a bit, but that's what I would guess. There's the joystick they've included on the wave two cabinet. It definitely, I didn't have a wave one cabinet joystick to compare it to, but I've taken enough of these out to realize that they've definitely upgraded the micro switches and they used a better quality joystick Now this is definitely some kind of clone but it better than what we had So for comparison this is a Sanwa So that's what a Sanwa looks like. You can tell, obviously much higher quality. You can also see the micro switches are much higher quality, and you'll see there's the sound. It's very, very tight. Not too tight, but it's tight so that the joystick just, it's easier to pull off moves with a joystick like this. But anyways, and it has an adjustable restrictor gate for various different types of games. You'll also notice that, and sorry, this one came out of a running cabinet that I had, so it pulled off some stuff. But you'll also notice the bat top is a little higher quality. It's got this little grip, so you can grip this with pliers and tighten the bat top down really tight so it won't loosen. I know we've had some issues like that, and you can hear it. Awesome sounding joystick. So this is actually a Sanwa original. I just wanted you to see that, yes, the arcade one-up joystick is upgraded, but it's not quite Sanwa. So if you're really into fighting games and you want the best possible experience, I suggest a Sanwa joystick like this. There's a couple different ones on the market, depending on what you like. So just kind of wanted to show you guys that. So as far as the buttons go, the buttons have been upgraded as well and I haven't seen a machine to see which ones why they're clicky buttons and why they're not That all about the micro switch that used but I did notice that they did a much better job connecting all these connections to from the encoder board to the buttons on wave one these were glued I don know why but they were glued on so someone with the wave one cabinets from manufacturing perspective got really excited with the glue so there tends to be glue all over the place but this looks much cleaner I did notice though so two of my connections right here we're actually loose now I didn't notice any problems in gameplay but you know if for some reason you get your arcade one up and some of the buttons are not responding on the joystick take this cover off and make sure every single one of these connections is really tight I can kind of see how maybe in quality you know in the quality check someone missed that but you know it's kind of unacceptable but at the same time if it happens to you that's an easy fix also you might want to check all these button connections and make sure they're connected properly. The reason why I like this wiring is this would make it easy to upgrade to Sanwa buttons because they have these same connections so if you wanted to upgrade to a Sanwa button you could do that pretty pretty easily and maintain the stock encoder board and the stock system. Now if you did the joystick you're gonna have to do a little bit more because obviously if you're gonna connect those connections to this you're gonna need to you know may potentially solder them to these new to these new points or you could you could kind of strip these ends and put the right connector types on for this but that's up to you it's a little bit more work so that's kind of all I wanted to show you guys I just want to show you that that you know the the back of this has been improved it be easier for you to upgrade the buttons if you wanted to and button upgrades aren very expensive So if you felt like the buttons weren as responsive I feel like the joystick does a decent job. I don't know if I touched that unless you're a hardcore fighting game fan and you know, you'd rather have something that's going to be higher quality. Uh, the speaker appears to be the same. So, you know, it sounds decent. I mean, it's not a great speaker, but it actually surprisingly sounds pretty good and I'm thinking because of it must be engineered to be inside you know a box because it actually sounds pretty good when the cover is on the arcade one-up system and I bet it uses the cabinet a bit for an enclosure as well so it appears to give it a little bit more bass response so anyways that's it guys I just want to show you that really quick I realize this is a quick video I want to give you a glance of what's inside I did notice you know these micro switches they're just some kind of reverse engineered, you know, China brand micro switch. But, you know, it plays pretty well for what it is. But if you feel the need to upgrade this, it's pretty simple. And I'm going to have a future video that shows you how to do this with minimal effort. So thanks guys for joining. Hopefully this was helpful. Like, comment, subscribe. I appreciate the support and we'll see you on the next one. Outro Music

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 3102a25e-53f7-402c-9f48-9dd5942268c2*