# Arcade1up TMNT Cab Review and possible MODs!

**Source:** RetroRalph  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2019-10-04  
**Duration:** 17m 15s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L21bygqsiI

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## Analysis

RetroRalph reviews the new Arcade1Up TMNT cabinet, highlighting hardware improvements (lit marquee option, better monitor, four-player control panel, headphone jack) and identifying numerous modding opportunities (speaker upgrade, lit marquee, joystick/button improvements). He praises the monitor quality and overall design but criticizes the loose joysticks, non-clicky Sanwa clone buttons, lack of scanlines, and audio quality, noting these are common upgrade targets for enthusiasts.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] New Arcade1Up cabs now come with optional lit marquees, but the current Walmart bundle does not include one — _RetroRalph, direct observation of current product availability_
- [HIGH] The TMNT cabinet uses two 3-inch speakers instead of the previous 4-inch speaker, potentially limiting bass response — _RetroRalph, physical inspection of hardware_
- [HIGH] The monitor connection uses a smaller ribbon cable than previous versions, simplifying installation — _RetroRalph, technical observation_
- [HIGH] This is the first ever four-player control panel from Arcade1Up — _RetroRalph, product specification_
- [HIGH] The joysticks are very loose compared to original arcade hardware, which would have used stiffer Hap-style sticks — _RetroRalph, hands-on experience and arcade hardware knowledge_
- [HIGH] The buttons are Sanwa clone buttons without the clickiness of original Hap buttons from the arcade — _RetroRalph, technical inspection and gameplay testing_
- [HIGH] The cabinet lacks scanlines on the display, making the image look blockier than original CRT arcade experience — _RetroRalph, visual comparison and gameplay observation_
- [MEDIUM] There is a micro USB connection on the PCB whose purpose is unknown, possibly for future expansion like Star Wars — _RetroRalph, speculation after attempting multiple connections with no results_
- [HIGH] The monitor is a different model (BOE brand) than previous versions and has been better tuned with no light bleed — _RetroRalph, direct observation and comparison to previous models_
- [HIGH] The cabinet uses real team holding (presumably real metal details) on the control panel — _RetroRalph, physical inspection_

### Notable Quotes

> "Just know, don't be disappointed when you open it up, you're not gonna get a lit marquee."
> — **RetroRalph**, early in review
> _Sets expectations for buyers about current bundle vs. future potential features_

> "I don't see the point in there... It's a stupid feature. It's inside the cabinet. You're not going to be going inside, flipping it on and off."
> — **RetroRalph**, PCB discussion
> _Critical feedback on design choices that lack practical utility_

> "The sticks, as you can imagine, they're really loose. Not a big fan of the loose sticks."
> — **RetroRalph**, control panel inspection
> _Key criticism affecting user experience and modding motivation_

> "I'm going to definitely upgrade stuff. But I'm just saying there's nothing about it that's really all that bad."
> — **RetroRalph**, gameplay assessment
> _Balanced critique acknowledging both issues and overall acceptability for casual players_

> "They kicked ass on the monitor. It looks amazing."
> — **RetroRalph**, final thoughts on display
> _Strong praise for specific component improvement_

> "I feel like the audio is really bad... with a little bit of bass response it would be really neat."
> — **RetroRalph**, audio critique
> _Identifies audio as top modding priority_

> "I think as long as you're a casual gamer that just wants to relive that experience, it does a fairly good job at that."
> — **RetroRalph**, final recommendation
> _Conditional recommendation based on user expectations_

> "You're buying a $400 product and you're not going to be able to expect it to be 100% the arcade experience."
> — **RetroRalph**, final thoughts
> _Context-setting for reasonable expectations relative to price point_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| RetroRalph | person | Content creator and arcade/retro gaming enthusiast doing detailed hardware review and modification consultation |
| Arcade1Up | company | Manufacturer of compact arcade cabinets, producing TMNT cab with new hardware features |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | game | Arcade cabinet being reviewed; side-scrolling beat-em-up with TMNT theme, available as Arcade1Up compact cabinet |
| Walmart | company | Retailer selling TMNT Arcade1Up bundle without lit marquee feature |
| Costco | company | Retailer that has sold Arcade1Up cabinets (MK2, Pac-Man) with premium bundle features like lit marquees |
| Sanwa | company | Arcade control manufacturer; TMNT cabinet uses Sanwa clone joysticks and buttons |
| Hap | company | Arcade control manufacturer; known for clicky buttons and stiffer joysticks, used in original arcade hardware |
| BOE | company | Monitor brand/manufacturer used in new TMNT Arcade1Up cabinet |
| Classic Mark Kim | person | Assisted RetroRalph by acquiring TMNT cabinet during work trip; dropped box on foot |
| E3 | event | Venue where RetroRalph previously played/evaluated TMNT Arcade1Up prototype |
| DIY Retro Arcades | company | Potential source for arcade cabinet modification components (referenced in domain glossary) |
| Leonardo | game | TMNT arcade game character; player one button tied to Leonardo attack button in menu navigation |
| Donatello | game | TMNT arcade character; RetroRalph's preferred character for gameplay |
| Raphael | game | TMNT arcade character; viewing angle consideration in cabinet design |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Arcade1Up hardware improvements and new features, Modding opportunities and aftermarket upgrades, Monitor quality and display tuning, Control panel components (joysticks, buttons, aesthetics), Audio system limitations and upgrade potential
- **Secondary:** Comparison to original arcade hardware experience, Budget consumer cabinet vs. arcade purist expectations
- **Mentioned:** MAME ROM implementation and menu interface

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.72) — RetroRalph gives a strong conditional recommendation, praising monitor quality, design, and overall value for the price point. Critical feedback focuses on specific components (speakers, joysticks, buttons, scanlines) that he identifies as modding opportunities rather than deal-breakers. Tone is enthusiastic about the product while maintaining constructive critique.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** RetroRalph planning follow-up video series on TMNT cabinet modding, particularly audio system upgrade (confidence: high) — Explicitly states 'expect a video from me modding the sound that's for sure' and mentions plans to upgrade joysticks in future video
- **[market_signal]** Arcade1Up differentiating product tiers by bundle packaging (lit marquee optional in some retailers like Costco but absent in Walmart bundle) (confidence: high) — Walmart bundle lacks lit marquee; Costco bundles for MK2 and Pac-Man included lit marquee; future TMNT bundles may include this feature
- **[product_strategy]** Arcade1Up introducing four-player control panel as first instance of this feature, positioning TMNT as enhanced product tier (confidence: high) — Explicitly stated as 'first ever four-player control panel from Arcade1Up' with new PCB underneath control panel
- **[product_strategy]** Arcade1Up upgraded monitor quality with BOE brand and improved tuning, eliminating light bleed and improving color/viewing angles compared to previous versions (confidence: high) — RetroRalph notes new monitor is different manufacturer than previous versions, with no light bleed, great colors, and good viewing angles from multiple player positions
- **[product_concern]** Arcade1Up downgraded speaker system from single 4-inch to dual 3-inch speakers, compromising bass response and audio quality (confidence: high) — RetroRalph identifies audio as 'really bad,' notes 3-inch speakers are typically tweeters/mid-range without bass capability, announces plans for audio modding video
- **[product_concern]** Arcade1Up using non-clicky Sanwa clone buttons rather than Hap buttons from original arcade hardware (confidence: high) — RetroRalph states Sanwa buttons are not clicky, original arcade would have had clicky Hap buttons, identifies button upgrade as optional mod
- **[product_concern]** Arcade1Up using looser Sanwa clone joysticks instead of stiffer Hap-style sticks from original arcade, compromising authenticity for cost (confidence: high) — RetroRalph notes joysticks are 'really loose,' states original would have used stiffer Hap-style sticks, identifies upgrading joysticks as key mod opportunity
- **[product_strategy]** Arcade1Up adding micro USB port to PCB for potential future expansion, possibly related to Star Wars product (confidence: medium) — RetroRalph notes micro USB connection with unknown purpose, speculates it may be for 'future expansion and maybe for Star Wars,' confirms trying multiple connections yielded no results
- **[technology_signal]** Arcade1Up TMNT cabinet lacks scanline filter, causing image to appear blockier than original CRT arcade experience (confidence: high) — RetroRalph explicitly notes absence of scanlines, shows comparison of what it would look like with scanlines, expresses preference for scanline filter
- **[technology_signal]** Arcade1Up implementing modular audio connector (3.5mm jack) to PCB, enabling flexible aftermarket audio upgrades and bypassing integrated speaker system (confidence: high) — Audio fed through 3.5mm jack on PCB allows users to plug in amp, soundbar, or other external audio solutions without modifying cabinet

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## Transcript

Dude seriously? Quit stealing blankets. Who are you to judge? Yeah, yeah. Hey guys, before we get started, let's do a bit of show and tell. So there's some things that kind of changed about the cabinet that I wanted to point out. These are brand new Arcade 1UP features that you may or may not be aware of. So the first one is obviously not a feature, but there are cabs coming out now with lit marquees. Just know that the bundle that is out right now at Walmart does not have a lit marquee. Now, that's not to say they're not going to have a bundle that does eventually, like we've seen with MK2. at Costco and Pac-Man at Costco. So just know, don't be disappointed when you open it up, you're not gonna get a lit marquee. But the marquee art is actually printed really good, so they did a good job, but no lit marquee. So if I'm looking for modding opportunities, that's one of them, right? So I'm gonna actually go through a couple More Brewing Company. So I would mod the marquee with a lit marquee. All right, the second thing is, you'll see now that above the monitor, there's actually two speakers. Now, I like this and I don't like this at the same time. The problem with it is they're really small speakers. They're three inches. And if you look at the old one, the old one wasn't great, but it was a four inch speaker. You're really probably going to get a fuller range out of this than you will a three inch speaker. But I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt. I have not powered it up yet. I don't know. Maybe it'll sound halfway decent. But this could be another modding opportunity right here. I don't know that you could fit a four inch speaker in here, but you might be able to. So we'll play around with that eventually. I just want you to know that's another modding opportunity to me. Now, the other thing that's new is you'll notice there's actually like a headphone, 3.5 millimeter headphone jack on here. You're probably wondering, well, what the Ben Heck is that? How audio is fed to these speakers is actually through the PCB. So kind of interesting. So there's a couple mod opportunities here is that right here is where this plugs in. So right here is your 3.5 millimeter jack. Now that speaker system plugs into here. So if you wanted to you could bypass that all together as long as you have something that you can plug in a 3.5 Millimeter jack you could plug in an amp a whole bunch of different things So just know your possibilities to mod the audio aren't just contained to this if you want to put like a sound bar on top or anything you could because The output of the audio is actually coming out of the PCB and it's using a standard 3.5 millimeter audio connection So kind of cool while I have this in my hand. I will show you this really quick. This is the new monitor I always forget the the Boe is the model or the brand name. I don't know it's an off-brand type thing the thing you'll notice is if you haven't seen this already in other YouTube videos the Connection to the control panel has changed. It's a smaller ribbon cable So not as many connections just makes it simpler to connect just be aware of that and then on the PCB There's a couple things. There's this on and off switch, which is kind of weird You can, I guess you can turn it on off and then turn on the unit. And I think the lit marquee either stays on and nothing else goes on or something. I don't know. It's a stupid feature. It's inside the cabinet. You're not going to be going inside, Learning to The Flip it on and off. I don't know. I don't, I don't see the point in that. And then there's a couple other things that we don't know what they do yet. There's a micro USB connection. It may be for nothing. It may be for future expansion and maybe for Star Wars. Who knows? It's all speculation. I've tried to connect it a million times to a bunch of different things and nothing happens. I'm kind of over it. I'll save that for other people that have More Brewing Company time. The other thing that's cool is the control panel. It's the first ever four-player control panel from Arcade1Up. Yes, I still have the protective coating on this. I did just see a review online that someone forgot to take this off. It shows you're a noob, but that's cool. Anyways, so here it is. It looks really good The artwork is great I didn see any changes that are recognizable from when I played it at E3 but I did want to take the cover off the bottom so you guys can see what it looked like under here so I'm going to do a close-up of this so you can see it but what you're seeing here is they've they've changed the PCB it's the first time I've seen this one it's a different PCB underneath here doesn't really have any markings that would indicate it's for other games but who knows they may reuse these things, but they've got a different PCB. The sticks, as you can imagine, they're Papa Duke Loose The Flip. Not a big fan of the Loose The Flip sticks. I actually thought at E3 it was because so many people were playing them, but they're just really, really that. The buttons are Sanwa clone buttons, so don't expect clickies, which is kind of unfortunate. I would rather have a hap style, you know, type of a button with clicky. So your upgrade opportunities may be really simple. You could upgrade the buttons potentially. You could upgrade the Joysticks Arcade. I'm going to actually upgrade the Joysticks Arcade, not for this particular video, but I'm thinking a Sanwa JLF with a four-pound spring with the colored bat tops to match the Turtles or a hap competition stick. and you can get different Joysticks Arcade for the HAP competition sticks. So you should be able to, I think there's a purple one, so you should be able to get all the colors of the turtles there. So if you want, your options could be a HAP competition stick or potentially the JLF. Now, I think the JLF is going to fit way Bob Betor in here because they're using Sanwa clones already. My only problem with Sanwas is if you look, or not Sanwas, sorry, HAP, if you look right here, this one's very, very close to the edge, and HAPs have like a really wide base. So it may be hard to get a hap right here in this corner one You may have to actually like dremel off a bit of the board or even potentially the mount So i'm not that picky with this cabinet. I mean, I don't know. I mean, it's a it's a side scrolling beat them up I may just do the jlfs with With the four pound springs, but anyways, I wanted you guys to see that something I was really surprised to see was it actually has real team holding on the control panel It's only on the control panel, but that is a freaking rad feature So very cool arcade one up and it makes a really nice touch on the control panel. So thumbs up to that Alright, let's take a More Brewing Company detailed look at the cabinet. The thing is Papa Duke beautiful. The riser looks awesome The control panel is just amazing looking. I'm really Impressed and the marquee looks good. I mean everything is Papa Duke spot-on The side art looks amazing. I got a hand it to him They did a really good job and the bezel around the monitor looks great, too And you know, April, she's looking totally 90s. So who can beat that? It's looking good. Let's do some gameplay. All right, guys, it is time to fire this thing up and play some Turtles. So gameplay time. So here's what I'm going to say. Volume slider, very cool. You can turn it right and left and it goes from 0 to, I think, 15. So kind of cool. And then your speakers are mounted right up here. So we're going to go right into the first TMNT. I will tell you, you have to use the controls all the way to the left to actually manipulate this menu. None of the other controls will work. So just so you know that, that might be an annoyance for some, just point it out. So then once you have your game selected, you select the A button, which is actually part of Leonardo's character, it's the attack button. That will start that game. Then you'll hear the intro music, which... Here it is. I don't know, man. It sounds Papa Duke lame to me, but honestly, I don't care that much. But it sounds lame. All right, I'm going to play as Donatello because I always do. When you press your player one button, it also inserts a coin. So what they did with the MAME ROM is they actually made this button both coin and start. So you can keep crashing it and it keeps putting credits. Alright, we'll skip through this. So I have played this a little bit. My initial thoughts on it as far as gameplay is the buttons are super responsive Just know the buttons and Joysticks Arcade are Sanwa clones The buttons aren clicky and that kind of synonymous with a Sanwa button Sanwa is usually not going to be clicky. A Hap button is usually going to be a clicky button for the most part. So some may remember this game had clicky buttons, because I believe they would have been Hap controls on that original arcade game. The Joystick Bar also would have been More Brewing Company of a Hap style, which would have been a lot. it would have been a lot More Brewing Company stiff than this. This is actually very, very Loose The Flip. But I mean, honestly, if you're not really picky, it's totally fine for a game like this. It's just a matter of, you know, do you want the best of the best on this? It's not like this game needs precision. So I'm totally fine with it, although, you know, you know who I am. I'm going to definitely upgrade stuff. But I'm just saying there's nothing about it that's really all that bad. You know, it works fine. I do think it would look Bob Betor aesthetically if it had bat tops that match the color of the turtles because that's what would have been on the original cabinet. But, you know, we can, you know, that's something that you can add later if you want. I'm actually surprised for the price they were able to pull all this stuff off anyway, which is cool. Now, one thing I will mention, so those of you that are in that hardcore gamer category, you may notice that the images are going to look a lot More Brewing Company blocky than you remember if you played this in a traditional arcade with a CRT. That's because this does not have scan lines. I wanted to show you guys what this does look like with scan lines. I'm gonna actually Pump in a video of that right now as I'm playing So that you can see the difference between you know This layout and what it would look like if I had scan lines Which would kind of smooth that out a bit and make it not look as blocky So anyways, they decided not to put a scan line filter on this I don't know why that'd be an easy thing for arcade wanted to add but I I prefer these games looking like the original, but I'm obviously still bought it so arcade one didn't give this to me I bought it so clearly it doesn't bother me that much, but I think it would look Bob Betor with scanlines anyway Super picky little thing, but just want to lay now alright We will go into the turtles in time now so to get Back to the Arcade main menu Just press the player one button on the left the Leonardo player one, and I'll get you back into the main menu I feel like arcade one up did a really good job on these menus I think they're Papa Duke cool now compared to the old ones, so good job on that. So anyways, go over to Turtles in Time. Same thing, you're going to need to press the A button, which is the Leonardo attack button, in order to get into the game. This game, to my knowledge, wasn't manipulated or changed at all. It's the same music that came with it in the arcade. I can't stand this song, so I never liked this song. So if there's any song I want to complain about, it's that this song sucks. But anyways, I never liked it as a kid, and I don't like it as an adult. But anyway, so I'm going to get through this really quick. I mean, the game plays really well. So I don't have a whole lot of things I could say that are really critical of it. I also think that they did an awesome job on this monitor. They definitely tuned the monitor the right way so the brightness isn't all whacked out, and you get, like, a light bleed from it. It actually looks Papa Duke spot on and Papa Duke great. So I got to say, I got to hand it to them. They kicked ass on the monitor. It looks amazing. So I will tell you, though, this one thing I wanted to mention is one thing I'm definitely going to want to mod on this is the audio. I feel like the audio is really bad, but they went from, you know, one four-inch speaker to two three-inch speakers. A three-inch speaker is usually a tweeter or a mid-range. So to try to get a full range of sound out of a three inch speaker and get bass response out of it's Papa Duke rough I mean you can put it up all the way. There is some bass but I feel like we could maybe have a Bob Betor experience if we Updated the audio some may not be that anal. I'm kind of anal when it comes to audio. I really like high quality audio It doesn't actually sound bad. I just think that you know with a little bit of bass response. It would be Papa Duke neat So expect a video from me modding the sound that's for sure But anyways, guys, that's the gameplay. I'll go Back to the Arcade main menu. And I give you some final thoughts so we can wrap this thing up All right so what are my final thoughts on this thing Well it Papa Duke good They did a Papa Duke good job Now there certain things that you know are going to be annoyances to some, you know, one of those being the theme song of the original TMNT arcade. It's not very good, but you know what? It's only when you start the game. It is in attract mode, though, so if you leave it there, you might be annoyed by it, but anyways, it's not a big deal. It doesn't affect gameplay, but if you're super hardcore on the nostalgia thing and you remember it the way you remember it and nothing else will do, then yeah, it's going to bug you. But anyways, it's not that big of a deal. The other thing that I think could have been Bob Betor is the sticks feel kind of Loose The Flip. It doesn't really affect the gameplay, though. So for a game like this, it's not like it's a fighting game and it needs ultra precision. So it might be fine for most, and I think it will be fine for most. I would probably prefer it have had the colored bat tops to match the turtle. That would have been kind of neat. So I'll probably do that. I also think it might be good to just add a four pound spring to the Sanwa clone. It'll give it a little stiffer feel. It won't feel so Loose The Flip. I think it will help. Outside of that, the buttons are obviously, they're not the same clicky buttons you would have remembered from the arcade. So in that regard, you could change them or you could just leave them. Like I said, maybe it doesn't matter. But if you're super anal, it might. But again, you're buying a $400 product and you're not going to be able to expect it to be 100% the arcade experience, right? Because if you want that, you're going to buy a refurbished one of these full size and it's going to cost you a hell of a lot More Brewing Company than $400. So outside of that, the monitor, they did a great job. I don't know if they, not only did they change the manufacturer of the monitor, but they also seem like they tuned it really well. Like there's no light bleed, the colors are great and the viewing angles are good. So if you are playing Leonardo or Raphael, you're actually in a good position and the viewing angle looks good And it's not all washed out so props to one up for actually using a much Bob Betor monitor and tuning it appropriately It is lacking the the light up marquee But that's something that you can get as an aftermarket thing if you want And my only other thing that I'm not super stoked about is probably the speaker system. It sounds okay I'm kind of anal on that too. So I'm gonna have a subsequent video where I update the sound But that's it guys. Can I recommend this? I really would. If you're a TMNT fan and you want to relive those memories of playing this in an arcade, I really would. You know, there's going to be some things that the purists, and I kind of toe that line between I'm a purist and I'm okay and casual. So certain things are going to definitely bother me and I'm going to change them. But for the most part, I think as long as you're a casual gamer that just wants to relive that experience, it does a fairly good job at that. So anyways guys, that's it. If you like this video, please like it. Please consider subscribing to the channel Leave your comments below. I know you thought about this and some of my sort of critical feedback of the product and That's it for now. We'll see you on the next one. Take care So before we wrap things up, I did want to say a special thank you to classic Kim or Kim as I call her But um, yeah, she did something really awesome I was on a work trip this week and I was watching all these people saying I got my TMNT I got my TMNT and then they started shipping to Arizona Walmart's and I Asked her I was like would you mind picking it up? And then I kind of went no no, I shouldn't ask her that It's Heavy Brewing and she even though I told her no in the end. She still went and got it So that's like really awesome. And I mean, I love her anyways, obviously a lot but I I was extra happy to know she did that. So she didn't look that happy in the picture right here when she got it because I guess she dropped it on her foot and she has a bad foot. But anyways, I made dinner that night and smoothed it all over. So stuff's really good now, but she wasn't that happy with me because I don't think she realized the size and scoop (hole mechanism on playfield) of The Box Arcade. But I did, admittedly, I did tell her not to get it, but she did, which is really sweet of her. But anyways, that's it, guys. 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: 395213da-4beb-4682-b0ae-aa48c7e5a41a*