# Bat Tops vs Ball Tops w/ an italian american mafia accent + Easter Egg **Source:** RetroRalph **Type:** video **Published:** 2019-02-16 **Duration:** 4m 56s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL3D1Vrt7Pg --- ## Analysis Jon Hey provides a casual comparison of bat tops versus ball tops for arcade cabinets, discussing personal preference and regional familiarity (US arcades favor bat tops, Japanese arcades favor ball tops). The video includes a practical demonstration of swapping tops on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade machine and promotes custom bat tops made by a channel subscriber. An Easter egg features a comedic mafia-accented closing segment and a brief dialogue about arcade equipment. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Bat tops are more familiar to those who grew up playing US arcade and fighting games; ball tops are more familiar to those who grew up in Japan — _Jon Hey states this as regional familiarity pattern based on arcade prevalence_ - [HIGH] Bat top/ball top selection is primarily a matter of personal preference rather than objective superiority — _Jon Hey explicitly states 'there really isn't a simple answer to this' and 'it's kind of a matter of preference'_ - [HIGH] Bat tops and ball tops are easily interchangeable upgrades that screw on and off — _Demonstrated on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade machine; Jon explains the simple screw mechanism_ - [HIGH] Jon Hey personally prefers bat tops for fighting games and side-scrolling beat-em-ups — _Jon states 'I personally, if I'm playing a fighting game, I like a bat top' and 'I personally feel like fighting games, side-scrolling beat-em-ups... I just really like the Bat Top'_ ### Notable Quotes > "All right, kid, you got ball tops and you got bat tops. What's it gonna be? Choose one or the other or else you'll be sleeping with the fishes." > — **Jon Hey**, Opening segment > _Sets comedic tone with Italian-American mafia accent premise for the entire video_ > "There really isn't a simple answer to this. Well, actually there kinda is. It's kind of a matter of preference." > — **Jon Hey**, Main segment > _Core thesis of the video; establishes that bat tops vs ball tops is subjective rather than objective_ > "I personally, if I'm playing a fighting game, I like a bat top." > — **Jon Hey**, Main segment > _Jon's explicit personal preference statement_ > "The beauty of this is that it's a super simple upgrade. You just screw them down." > — **Jon Hey**, Demonstration segment > _Emphasizes accessibility and ease of the upgrade process_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Jon Hey | person | Host/primary speaker discussing arcade joystick upgrades; associated with Retro Ralph's channel | | Retro Ralph | person | Channel owner; mentioned by Jon as having suggested the video topic | | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | game | Arcade machine used for practical demonstration of bat top/ball top swapping | | Urban Dictionary | organization | Referenced for validating both 'sleeping with the fishes' and 'swimming with the fishes' as valid phrases | ### Topics - **Primary:** Arcade joystick upgrades (bat tops vs ball tops), Regional arcade gaming preferences (US vs Japan) - **Secondary:** Arcade cabinet customization and maintenance, Personal preference vs objective quality in gaming equipment ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.85) — Jon maintains an enthusiastic, casual tone throughout. Content is informational and encouraging toward the upgrade. Comedic mafia segments add levity. No negative commentary about either joystick type. --- ## Transcript Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. All right, so today we're going to answer the question, bat tops or ball tops? This topic's been covered about a hundred times, actually probably thousands of times. So what would make this interesting is maybe if I did it, I don't know, in an Italian American mafia type voice. All right, kid, you got ball taps and you got bad taps. What's it gonna be? Choose one or the other or else you'll be sleeping with the fishes. All right, stay tuned to find out. Okay, so Retro Ralph told me you're gonna give me the answers, bat tops or ball tops. All right, so here's the thing. There really isn't a simple answer to this. Well, actually there kinda is. It's kind of a matter of preference. Now, if you grew up in the United States and you're used to playing arcade games, fighting games, things like that, then the Bat Top is probably pretty familiar to you If you grew up in Japan then you probably played lots of video games with Ball Top So it one of those things right I personally if I playing a fighting game I like a bat top And what's cool about this is actually one of the subscribers to the channel sent me a bunch of bat tops that he makes. So he's got green ones, he's got black, he's got red, and blue. I think there's maybe one or two other colors, but I'm going to have links in the description to them. So honestly, this is just more of a matter of preference, but he makes a really nice bat top And I personally like I prefer bat tops over ball tops But but it's an easy upgrade because he's just screw right on so if you look at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles We got right here. You simply just screw unscrew these so it does help to put this down from it It does help to just hold the the shaft of it And then you can pull you can usually twist them right off now I will say if you have a little bit of problems with that that, something I've done in the past and I wouldn't do it exactly how I'm doing it. You basically need like maybe a towel or something that's about to drop. Maybe put a towel around that and then you can put pliers around the shaft of it if for some reason it's hard to get off and that help you get the leverage you need to lift those off So the beauty of this is that it a super simple upgrade You just screw them down And you know like I said you might have to hold the bottom just to make sure it gets a good connection So you hold the shaft and screw it down And that pretty much it And you know I personally feel like fighting games, side-scrolling beat-em-ups, any of these types of games, I just really like the Bat Top. To me, it works. It works really nice and it feels better to me. So again, it's a matter of personal preference. But if you're looking to grab these bat tops for a simple upgrade to your arcade one up. I'm going to leave links to the descriptions of where these came from. They're great quality bat tops. They're fairly inexpensive and it's a nice upgrade. And plus, if like I said before, if you grew up in an American arcade, then you probably were used to these anyways. All right, guys. Well, thanks again for watching. Please leave your comments below. If you like this video, please like it. Please subscribe to the channel and hit that notification bell so you can be informed of future videos. So I didn't tell this but there's going to be a little Easter egg after this after this this is over so stay tuned for a minute and I told you kid bad taps of ball tops what's it gonna be you better make a choice or else I'm gonna put the cement boots on you and you be swimming with the fishes oh hey guys I was thinking before the Easter egg is it sleeping with the fishes or swimming with the fishes Oh Hey You know, Urban Dictionary said both of them are valid, so I think I'm covered. But if not, you better make a choice so you'll be sleeping with the fishes. Oh! Babe, do you know what this is? No, I don't. What is this? I don't know. Come on. I don't know. guess oh jesus a brand new phone what is this i don't know a microphone it's not a microphone babe something to do with your game something to do with arcades a little stick shift thingy right what is it called i'll accept that as an answer i guess It's one of those... _(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: c3fdf78a-0e9c-403a-976b-de7bd85f7cae*