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Arcade1up Counter-Cade Review - PacMan

RetroRalph·video·12m 52s·analyzed·Apr 24, 2019
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.017

TL;DR

Arcade1Up Countercade review finds solid $200 value with modding potential.

Summary

RetroRalph reviews the Arcade1Up Countercade, a compact counter-top arcade cabinet featuring Pac-Man and Pac-Man Pal. The review covers unboxing, internal hardware inspection, gameplay performance, and build quality. Key findings: the Countercade uses the same PCB as other Arcade1Up models but with a new LVDS converter board for the smaller screen; joystick and button quality are acceptable for the $200 price point; screen quality is decent when viewed straight-on but has poor viewing angles typical of LCD displays.

Key Claims

  • Countercade includes Pac-Man and Pac-Man Pal, with other titles (Space Invaders, Space Invaders Color, Centipede, Missile Command, Dig Dug, Dig Dug 2) advertised as available

    high confidence · Jon (RetroRalph) reading box contents at 0:20-0:45

  • The cabinet stands 18.5 inches high

    high confidence · Jon reading specification from box

  • The Countercade uses the same PCB as previous Arcade1Up models

    high confidence · Jon examining and comparing PCBs at 2:30-3:45

  • A new LVDS converter board was added to adapt the original LVDS connection for the smaller screen, similar to laptop monitor connectors

    high confidence · Jon inspecting breakout box and comparing to standard Arcade1Up screens at 3:45-5:20

  • The joystick is responsive but feels slightly lower quality than desired

    high confidence · Jon's hands-on gameplay assessment at 6:45-7:30

  • Arcade1Up uses glue on screws, possibly for earthquake-proofing

    medium confidence · Jon's speculation while disassembling at 2:15

  • The product retails for approximately $200

    high confidence · Jon mentioning price point at 9:10-9:30

  • Screen has standard LCD viewing angle limitations, looks good head-on but washed out from sides

    high confidence · Jon testing viewing angles at 7:45-8:45

Notable Quotes

  • “They love, Arcade1Up loves gluing. They love gluing screws on. I'm not really sure. Like, I guess it earthquake-proofs the box?”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 4:15 — Observation about manufacturing practices; humorous but suggests possible design rationale

  • “This does open up a whole new world for mods because if you gonna leave it they going to leave it LVDS then we're fine”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 6:17 — Highlights mod potential; indicates community interest in expanding cabinet functionality

  • “For the price, though, that's the thing. If you want something a little bit more, then you might spend an extra $100 and maybe get the full-size one”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 11:20 — Positioning Countercade in product tier hierarchy; consumer consideration factor

  • “I think that the product works good. You know, the joystick, I have my own comments on the joystick. I think they could be better. But in an effort to make this a $200 package, you gotta, you can't have awesome everything.”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 10:18 — Balanced assessment of value proposition; acknowledges trade-offs in budget product

  • “This will actually be really fun to mod later. So we'll come up with a whole bunch of really fun mods for the channel”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 11:42 — Signal of future content plans; positions product for community engagement and aftermarket development

Entities

Arcade1UpcompanyJonpersonRetroRalphorganizationDIY Retro ArcadescompanyArcade1Up CountercadeproductPac-MangamePac-Man PalgameSpace InvadersgameCentipedegameMissile CommandgameDig Duggame

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Aftermarket community (DIY Retro Arcades, graphics designers) expected to develop custom control panels, marquees, and graphics for Countercade

    medium · Jon speculating on future mod potential and community development at 9:35-9:50

  • $

    market_signal: Countercade positioned at ~$200 price point as space-constrained entry product, differentiated from full-size cabinet at ~$300

    high · Jon discussing price tier positioning at 9:10-9:30

  • ?

    announcement: Arcade1Up Countercade officially available featuring Pac-Man and Pac-Man Pal with expandable game library

    high · Review of retail product with box labeling and game titles confirmed

  • ?

    product_strategy: Countercade differentiates from full-size Arcade1Up through compact form factor, acrylic button protector addition, and tighter button overlay tolerances

    high · Jon noting improved acrylic overlay compared to customer replacement units at 8:10-8:35

  • ?

    technology_signal: Countercade introduces new LVDS converter board component not seen in previous Arcade1Up models, adapted for smaller screen compatibility

    high · Jon's detailed hardware inspection at 3:45-5:20 showing converter board distinct from standard horizontal monitor setup

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.039

0:00
Hey guys, welcome back. So today I was just, you know, minding my own business, working from home, and the doorbell rang, and I got a package.
0:11
I bet you're curious what that package was. Well, I'm gonna show you. It's the Arcade One-Up Countercade!
0:30
All right, so let's just dive right into this thing. Okay, so at first glance, it comes with this sort of plastic protective coating right here. I'm not sure. Just maybe to protect it in shipping, which is cool.
0:51
The box is just normal. You know, the box has these nice handles. It came in a bigger box, but it has these handles so you can carry it. It shows you that it includes two games, Pac-Man and Pac and Pal, and you can see it advertises the other games that they're going to have available, which is Space Invaders and Space Invaders Color, Centipede, Missile Command, and Dig Dug and Dig Dug 2. So it says other titles are available, but right now I think that's it. It stands about 18 and a half inches high, so it does state that on the box, and inside the box we've got the counter-cade itself, the power cable, and an instruction manual. we're gonna dig in and check that out right now. So I'm gonna just take this tape off so I can get it open. Needless to say I'm pretty excited. In the box you've got the manual. Obviously there's nothing to assemble which is nice. Take this protective plastic off so it looks like this just slides off all right now you've got they oh nice so they put um they put the acrylic protector on top that's actually really nice on top of the buttons oh it's nice cool that's a good good little addition. Spin it around real quick there's the side art. That's the back of the cabinet very similar to what the full-size looks like. I noticed there's some protective coating right here so I'm just gonna take this off the screen. That's not as easy to get off as you'd think. So here it is right here uh buttons feel good joystick feels okay although it seems like it's the same joystick they used in the prior I see there's a little speaker hole right here for the speaker alright guys moment of truth we're gonna fire it up for the first time it's kind of nice you know the putting together Hmm. Do I really want to play it right now I mean I kind of feel like this is uneventful Maybe I should take it apart first Come on I should totally take it apart first We're going to take it apart, then put it back together. Or at least we're going to check out the inside. So, I don't know if there would be a point in taking it all apart. I'm assuming that once you take the back off, that you gain access to the whole thing. I don't think there's much to this cabinet really, so we should be able to just take this apart. All right, there she is. So we've got what looks like the same printed circuit board here. Looks like the same printed circuit board and I don't know what's going on in here. So let's take the PCB off and just see if it actually is the same one. I'll bring the camera over so you guys can get a better look.
4:10
Dang, you really got to get some leverage on these things to get it off. They love, Arcade 1-Up loves gluing. They love gluing screws on. I'm not really sure.
4:19
Like, I guess it earthquake-proofs the box? I don't know. But they love themselves some glue. Yep, there's some glue on there.
4:32
Okay, so guys, this looks like the same PCB. however the connector looks slightly different if you guys look closer inside here appears to be the same PCB but they did leave the etchings on the chip which they didn't do before so that's interesting it looks like two of them are etched or all of them are etched off except for one so I don't that was a mistake and they did that by accident or what but it looks like it's still got an LVDS connector for the monitor and it still has the same ribbon cable so effectively it's really the same unit I mean it's the same unit just in a small form factor however the screen is interesting so the screen has a different style there's some sort of breakout box for the screen right here so we're gonna open that up and just see what's in there I'm gonna guess this is like your voltage regulator and maybe because this is a smaller screen there be some electronics in here too so let's let's open that up really quick okay guys so I removed that plate this is definitely a component we have not seen in an arcade one up yet it looks like what that is is it's got the LVDS connection coming off of the main board to another board and then converting it to a different type of LVDS connection the one on the right this LVDS connection on the right this is similar to what you'd see in a laptop usually laptop monitors are connected that way so I don't actually I'm a little unfamiliar with what that board is I'm sure we could look it up and get more information on it but I'm what I'm gonna guess is that this is the board that probably ships with whatever this screen is that they're using so kind of interesting but this does open up a whole new world for mods because if you gonna leave it they going to leave it LVDS then we fine So we can plug this into a controller board I going to show you that in a minute I'm not going to actually do it, but I'll show you that that's the same connector that's on the normal arcade 1UP. Okay, so for comparison, I brought over a normal arcade 1UP screen. This is the horizontal monitor, horizontal orientation monitor. This is out of an Asteroids. So if you look, there's your LVDS connector and then I'm going to bring out the one here. If you look, same exact LVDS connector. It appears that it's the same exact wiring as well. Now we could validate that by putting this other board in, which I'm very much tempted to do right now. So in front of you is the controller board that we've all been using to mod our arcade one ups. what we typically would do in order to have you know HDMI and VGA inputs and potential DVI into your arcade warm-up so you can put things like a retro pie or you know anything really with HDMI connection we would put we would take off the LVDS connection and the voltage connection and we would put those in the appropriate places on this board so if you look I just wanted to show you for reference purposes that this is exactly the same so it's the same exact connector same exact power connector same exact ribbon cable alright guys so I'm gonna try to give you some you know basic gameplay of this thing and we'll see how it how it works so here's a start button right here looks like some controls obviously it's pac-man is not a whole lot to control one player two player and that's pretty much it those tones are new those were not in the other in the other games. Oh, it's very loud. I'm going to lower it here. So, I mean, it plays really nice. The joystick feels a little crummy to me, but, you know, the arcade one of joysticks aren't awesome. And it's not, it's not crap. It's just, you know, it could be a little bit better. I'm a little anal like that, but will most people be fine with it? I think so.
8:53
I mean, so it seems to be playing well. Joystick's responsive. It just, it doesn't, doesn't feel 100% amazing, but, but it's definitely playing well. It's responsive is what I, is what I'm saying. There aren't really buttons to be able to, oh man. the sound is really good honestly it sounds great I feel like it plays well for what it is the screen looks decent I don't know if it's going to pick that up in the I don't honestly think it's picking it up on the camera very well the screen's decent it's not bad but it but like all these one screens they kind of have different viewing angles where they look better so I going to move the camera down real quick so you guys can see It looks better from where I sitting So if you look when you looking straight at it, I mean, minus the glare, it actually looks really good. It's just, you know, when you look at it from the side, it starts to look washed out. And you look at it from the top, it starts to look really washed out. So, I mean, that's kind of in par for the course with these. That's kind of how they've been all this time. But when you're dead set in front of it, I mean, minus the glare that you're getting off the screen, it looks pretty good. And they did look, it looks like they toned down the brightness on this. It doesn't look so bad. But, you know, honestly, there's not a whole lot to review here. But I think that the product works good. You know, the joystick, I have my own comments on the joystick. I think they could be better. But, you know, I think, you know, in an effort to make this a $200 package, you gotta, you can't have the awesome everything. so for what it is I think it's great. The buttons, you know the buttons are fine. A little bit of volume there. I love the fact that they actually put the acrylic top on it. This makes it really nice and it looks good. It actually looks like they got it tighter to the buttons than they do when they were shipping these out to customers for replacement. So it actually feels and looks really good. Like I said it's got the molding on it. You have some holes for the speaker right there. The molding is just sort of like a tape type of material. It seems like it's pretty stable on there, though. It's not gonna come off or anything. The bezel is on here with the four screws, so you can get under there and clean it so you can can the other ones. But it's a nice little unit. I mean, it's pretty cool. If you're limited on space, you kinda want a little fun arcade, I'd go for it. For the price, though, that's the thing. If you want something a little bit more, then you might spend an extra $100.
11:27
Not that that's cheap, but you might spend a little bit more money and maybe get the full-size one or the three-quarter scale arcade cabinet with a riser or something like that. Anyways, I like it, though. I got nothing but good things to say. It's nice. And this will actually be really fun to mod later. So we'll come up with a whole bunch of really fun mods for the channel, and we'll do them with this. with this and then undoubtedly I'm sure guys like DIY Retro Arcades and stuff will probably come up with custom CPs for it and all sorts of stuff and I bet a bunch of the graphics guys will want to print graphics for it so it would look really cool with a lit marquee that's all I'm going to say Scott Evans it'd look really cool with a lit marquee anyways thanks for watching guys please like the video if you like it please subscribe to the channel we do tons of fun modifications and all sorts of cool arcade projects. So I would love to have you here. And leave your comments below. Let me know what you think about this thing. And as always, thanks for watching, and we'll see you on the next one, guys.