Arcade1up NBA Jam Review - BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!

RetroRalph·video·16m 32s·analyzed·Jun 19, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Arcade1Up NBA Jam cabinet review: excellent emulation, online play, faithful arcade recreation.

Summary

Retro Ralph reviews the Arcade1Up NBA Jam cabinet, highlighting Code Mystics' high-quality emulation work, Wi-Fi online play functionality, and faithful recreation of arcade service menus and special characters. He praises the cabinet's build quality, custom topper, and software accuracy, while noting that online play evaluation is preliminary and player roster completeness varies across game versions.

Key Claims

Code Mystics rebuilt menu systems and exposed original dip switches from the arcade, creating a user interface overlay for the NBA Jam cabinet
high confidence · Ralph describes how Code Mystics recreated the arcade service menus and dip switch settings for the Arcade1Up version
Code Mystics built Wi-Fi functionality into a ROM that is over 20 years old
high confidence · Ralph emphasizes this as a significant achievement: 'they actually took a ROM that's over 20 years old, right? This game is over 20 years old, and they actually built Wi-Fi into it'
Ralph owns an original NBA Jam full-size arcade cabinet and built one with all original hardware early on
high confidence · Ralph states: 'I actually built an NBA Jam cabinet early on with all original hardware and I have to say, I don't notice a difference between how that played and how this played'
The Arcade1Up NBA Jam uses a different PCB than the Mortal Kombat cabinet, featuring the Allwinner A40i processor with built-in Wi-Fi capability
high confidence · Ralph compares PCBs: 'it's actually not' the same PCB, and notes the new one 'is significantly larger PCB' with 'Wi-Fi capability, and you can see the antenna right there'
Special arcade characters like Ed Boon and John Tobias are accessible in NBA Jam Tournament Edition via initials and date of birth
high confidence · Ralph tests this feature and confirms both Ed Boon and John Tobias work using their initials and birth dates
Mortal Kombat characters (Scorpion, Raiden, Sub-Zero, Reptile) are not playable on the Arcade1Up NBA Jam cabinet
high confidence · Ralph attempts to unlock Scorpion and states: 'Sadly, you're not gonna be able to play Scorpion, Raiden, Sub-Zero, or Reptile, I'm sorry, but I think this isn't the version of the ROM that supported that'
The cabinet uses a BOE monitor with 960p display maintaining 4x3 aspect ratio
high confidence · Ralph describes the monitor specifications: 'they use the same BOE monitor we've seen in these modern machines they're 960p displays they're really nice and they maintain 4x3 aspect ratio'

Notable Quotes

“This cabinet just feels different, and so did the Star Wars. It felt higher quality. It seemed like the emulation was dead on.”
Retro Ralph@ 2:23 — Establishes Code Mystics' reputation for quality emulation across multiple Arcade1Up products
“Code Mystics' whole charter is to recreate these games with as close to 100% accuracy as possible.”
Retro Ralph@ 2:30 — Explains why Code Mystics' involvement matters and what differentiates this cabinet
“I actually built an NBA Jam cabinet early on with all original hardware and I have to say, I don't notice a difference between how that played and how this played.”
Retro Ralph@ 12:29 — Provides credible expert comparison between original arcade hardware and Arcade1Up emulation
“So this was actually settings that you could go into in service mode of NBA Jam, NBA Jam Tournament Edition, and Hangtime to set specific settings like computer assistance, attract mode, head sizes, normal or big, drone difficulty”
Retro Ralph@ 7:04 — Details the faithfulness of arcade recreation through service menu emulation
“I didn't spend a lot of time on the Wi-Fi admittedly, so I can't tell you with 100% certainty that it's the most solid thing ever.”
Retro Ralph@ 12:03 — Shows professional restraint and transparency about limitations of his evaluation

Entities

Retro Ralphperson Arcade1UpcompanyCode MysticscompanyJoe SabopersonNBA JamgameGameStopcompanyWalmartcompanyAllwinner A40iproductBOEcompany

Signals

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community_signal: Code Mystics' emulation approach receiving community recognition for arcade service menu recreation and accessibility
high · Ralph emphasizes service menu features: 'This is something that Code Mystics has put in here. This is really cool because it starts to emulate the original look and feel of NBA Jam'
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announcement: Arcade1Up NBA Jam is officially released as the first Arcade1Up online-enabled cabinet with Wi-Fi multiplayer functionality
high · Ralph states: 'NBA Jam just came out. It's the first Arcade1Up online game.'
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product_concern: Player roster on NBA Jam cabinet is incomplete due to NBA Retired Players Association licensing limitations
high · Ralph states: 'The player roster isn't 100%, but it's pretty darn close' and credits 'NBA Retired Players Association and all the things you have to deal with'
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technology_signal: Arcade1Up using different PCB hardware (Allwinner A40i) with built-in Wi-Fi for NBA Jam versus previous Mortal Kombat cabinet PCB
high · Ralph compares PCBs and notes: 'it's actually not' the same, with new one being 'significantly larger' with Wi-Fi antenna visible

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.050

0:00

All right, guys, I'm super excited. Today's the day. NBA Jam just came out. It's the first arcade one-up online game. I'm going to bring three of my closest friends, and we're going to play. All right, let's bring the first one on. Hi, man. Hey, man. Hey, thanks for joining. Yeah, yeah, good to see you. All right, let's bring the second one on. Yeah, man.

0:21

Okay. Yeah, man. All right, cool. All right, let's bring on number three. Yeah, man. Hey, Ralph. What's up? It's Ralph. Do I know you? Yeah. Anyway. Cowboy. Who am I kidding?

0:59

All right, guys. Guys here it is, the Arcade 1UP NBA Jam cabinet. It's finally here. I feel like we've been here before though. Cool, but there's one game you gave us a taste of. You said, hey, look into the trailer, we got something special. I'm going to take a little picture so you can see a little sliver of it, but we're not going to get it. You're not going to give it to us. Why? Metro Ralph will give it to you. Metro Ralph wants to give it to you. So in this episode, boom shakalaka, let's do it. Okay, okay, okay, well now it's officially here. But anyways, so the reason why this excites me is for a couple of reasons, but one of the main reasons, this may be one that's not as obvious, is they partnered with a company called Code Mystics, and you're probably like, well who the heck is Code Mystics? Well they did the emulation for this game, and another game you may be familiar with, which is Star Wars. This cabinet just feels different, and so did the Star Wars. It felt higher quality. It seemed like the emulation was dead on. And that's because Codemystic's whole charter is to recreate these games with as close to 100% accuracy as possible. Now, down to little details. They even rebuilt menu systems for this particular game that would expose the original dip switches from the arcade. So obviously this isn't an arcade board, so I can't go in and flip the dip switches. but they actually exposed the dip switches and then wrote a user interface that goes on top of it. They also took a ROM that's over 20 years old, right? This game is over 20 years old, and they actually built Wi-Fi into it. Like, these aren't little things. These are really big things, and they actually really preserve what I would call retro gaming. I mean, it preserves retro gaming by taking something and making it even better. Now, there's some limits, right? There's some things that people aren't going to like about the cabinet. You know, the player roster isn't 100%, but it's pretty damn close. And they did a pretty good job considering the NBA Retired Players Association and all the things you have to deal with that. So props to them for getting as much as possible. So let's go through a couple of little things about the cabinet physically before we dive a step deeper. So as you can see, it's got the light up deck protector. Now, there's a lot of confusion around this because there's several bundles. You know, I purchased the GameStop bundle which comes with the stool I'm sitting on as well as the light up deck protector, the system and the riser. Now there is an offering from Walmart that doesn't come with that, but keep in mind it's lacking the stool and the light up deck protector So a lot of people are saying it you paying for an LED strip That not really accurate because the stools themselves retail for So you technically getting an LED strip for an extra $20 and if you don't want the stool then buy the Walmart bundle. So that's what I have to say about that. Now the light up deck protector is pretty interesting and as you can see you can cycle through various different colors but what I found pretty fascinating is they actually reverse printed the artwork or some of the artwork on the control panel plexiglass in order to make the light shine off of it. Now that's a pretty big deal because they actually took an extra step to do that to make the light actually reflect off the graphics. Otherwise it probably would have looked pretty flat. Now it's not for everyone, but you can shut it off. So if you don't like it, you can shut it off. Now the monitor, as far as a monitor goes they use the same BOE monitor we've seen in these modern machines they're 960p displays they're really nice and they maintain 4x3 aspect ratio which is great they still have the two speakers like we've seen on all these so it has stereo speakers and it has a lit marquee however I put something a little special on it this is by Joe Sabo and this actually emulates the real arcade topper so he did a really good job as a matter of fact I think his looks even better. And hold on for a second. I'm going to get the real one. So we're going to do this live. Well, we're not really live, but you know what I mean. So this is the real one. I actually own the real one because I had bought a kit that was an official NBA Jam kit meant for a full-size machine. And that's what the real one looks like right there. So it looks really nice, but obviously it's way too big to go on top of an arcade one-up. So Joe Sabo recreated it and that's pretty awesome. And I'll show you, I even have it backlit. So I even have, I put a strip of LEDs behind it to make it backlit. As far as the artwork goes, the artwork looks awesome. The controls and buttons are your typical for Arcade 1-Up, at least the newer generations. Their Sanwa clone joysticks and their Sanwa clone buttons. So they're decent, you know, I think they're going to be fine and do the job for what it is. Now, a couple of people have talked about the power switch being different. Now, why is the power switch different? It's different because this particular system, again done by Codemystics, it has more of a sophisticated operating environment. So it does need to go through a graceful shutdown, so that's why you have that type of switch. So if you have something like smart devices in your house or things like Alexa switches and stuff, you're going to have a problem, but I would highly advise not modifying that because the system does need to go through a shutdown process. All right guys, so when you boot up the system, you're greeted with the game selection menu. got NBA Jam, NBA Jam Tournament Edition, and NBA Jam Hangtime. Now you'll notice there's a little gear icon on the left. If you go to that, you'll notice a menu pops up. Now the reason why this menu is so significant is because this is actually part of the real arcade board's game adjustments menu, which is really cool. So this was actually settings that you could go into in service mode of NBA Jam, NBA Jam Tournament Edition, and Hangtime to set specific settings like computer assistance, attract mode, head sizes, normal or big, drone difficulty, which is, you know, how difficult the computer is going to be, and then the game timer speed as well as scanline. So this is something that Code Mystics has put in here. This is really cool because it starts to emulate the original look and feel of NBA Jam on a CRT. Now this is also, this is available on all of the games on this cabinet, which is really cool. So I'm going to hit hide menu really quick can go on to the next one. You'll notice in Tournament Edition, these game adjustment screens are pretty much the same except you have Tournament Mode enabled and disabled. So many people ask, what is Tournament Mode? When the system's in Tournament Mode, CPU assistance is turned off and no power-ups or special guests are allowed. So there's no cheating of any kind. I've got a couple questions about if NBA Jam Tournament Edition contains some of the special characters. So I going to hit that Now these are accessible via your initials and date of birth So I going to do that really quick So we going to go in and try the Ed Boon one So that going to be EJB and it going to be 222 So February 22nd And if you look, Ed Boon is there. So I tested Ed Boon and I tested John Tobias and both of those worked. So I'm not saying that all of these are going to work, but it looks like in NBA Jam Tournament Edition Ed Boon and John Tobias work. So for what that's worth, you can kind of have fun with it and try it yourself, but I thought that was kind of cool and thought it was kind of worth bringing up. Now I know your next question is gonna be, what about the Mortal Kombat characters? So let's see, so we're gonna go S, U, B, and I believe it's December 5th, so we're gonna go December 5th.

9:06

Sadly, you're not gonna be able to play Scorpion, Raiden, Sub-Zero, or Reptile, I'm sorry, but I think this isn't the version of the ROM that supported that, I think they stopped supporting that at some point, so they did not put those on here. Now maybe they'll make them unlockable in the future because you can do, this is a connected arcade so maybe they'll do a patch for that later but it doesn't look like you have them for now. Alright let's talk a little bit about the live settings. So when you hit the live button you're going to be greeted with this menu. So the basic stuff is you're going to have to set up your network first. So you connect it to your wireless network. So you're going to need to do that. It's pretty basic and straightforward. You're going to need to supply an email address and a public name. yes my public name is Retro Ralph so you can log on and kick my ass because I really do suck at NBA Jam. Then you got social options which mean your availability. Now this is important because you may want to be invisible, you may want to be visible. Now you can choose visible to only your favorites so let's say you have a bunch of friends in your favorites list. That's probably the one I'll be using when a couple more of my friends actually get the cabinet but for right now I'm just going to say I'm visible to everyone. Now you may not want to do that because that means anyone can join your game. Well, that's what you can select right here. So you can say no one can join your game, only your favorites can join your game, or anyone. Now keep in mind, if you select anyone, you could be in the middle of the game and someone can join your game. Do you want to post your high scores to leaderboard, yes or no? And then who can see those? So you can say everybody, that's fine. And then, you know, change the order that you want your games to appear for available games. You can have your favorites list, so your friends first, or whoever's there, so newest first. Recently played it'll show you the people that you played before. I don't have any favorites yet and then if you have a block list that's pretty much it. It's not really superly overly complex or anything like that. Just figured I'd walk you through that so you can see. Now when you're back at this menu you can see on any given game you select there's going to be an available game section. So there's obviously more people playing NBA Jam than it looks like are playing NBA Jam Tournament Edition right now. So if I wanted to play NBA Jam I could go there, move my joystick to the right and then I can actually select if I want to join these games and it shows me how many free spots are available. So that's pretty cool. And you can see that I suck because I lost two games. That's awesome. But yeah, that's, it's really that simple. Now there's another place where you can change your availability on the fly. So if you say, look, I really, I really would rather be invisible right now. You can do it right there. So you don't have to go and press the live button and do it there. But if you do it on the main screen, it does reflect itself here. So I'll do that again really quick. So I'll go back to availability. I'm going to switch that to visible to everyone. Now, if I hit the live button, you'll see visible to everyone. So it's just a more convenient way to do it without having to hit the live button and go through the menus. So it's pretty straightforward. And you've got this really cool leaderboard that pops up that tells you things about, you know, who's on a winning streak, you know, what available games are there and stuff like that. So greatest players, pretty neat. I'm pretty excited about the way to deploy Now I didn't spend a lot of time on the Wi-Fi admittedly, so I can't tell you with 100% certainty that it's the most solid thing ever. And I would expect a little bit of hiccups right now as people come online and they figure out what bugs might be there. Okay so you probably going to ask me how was gameplay I got to admit Code Mystics really nailed it out of the park on the emulation I actually built an NBA GM cabinet early on with all original hardware and I got to say, I don't notice a difference between how that played and how this played. So that means they did a good job. And they pride themselves on being, you know, almost 100% accurate when it comes to emulation, and I really think they achieved that. Now, as far as the online play, I didn't play it enough to give you guys a valid, hey, it's great, or, you know, it need some work so i don't feel comfortable answering that right now i did have some people you know join my game and exit my game and i joined a couple games and it seemed fine but again i don't have enough practical experience with it to give you uh you know a positive or negative review on that one and i'd really like you know one of my friends to pick it up i'm waiting for justin to get it so that we can play some you know games that way and i think i'll probably play more that way with other friends than i will with like random people but uh but Yeah, so we'll kind of do a subsequent follow-up on that. But I did want to share one more thing that was just my own personal curiosity before I do final thoughts. Is this the same PCB they've been using? And as a matter of fact, it's actually not. So here's the Mortal Kombat Costco bundle PCB. This is using the Allwinter A40i. So I don't know, I didn't remove the heatsink to see, but it's a significantly larger PCB. And it actually has the Wi-Fi capability, and you can see the antenna right there. Now, they didn't put Ethernet on it, unfortunately, but the Wi-Fi has seemed okay so far, but I just was curious. So it looks like they are using a slightly different system here, and maybe at a later date I can take off the heatsink and we can see what's going on under there. But pretty cool stuff. And as you saw, they're using the BOE monitor like I mentioned earlier.