Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

RecRoomMasters - The Ultimate DIY Arcade Kit?!

RetroRalph·video·17m 5s·analyzed·Aug 7, 2023
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Rec Room Masters DIY arcade kit revival offers premium controls and versatile gameplay.

Summary

RetroRalph reviews the Rec Room Masters DIY arcade cabinet kit, now revived by Carlos at Arcade Dash One after the original company closed two years ago. The review covers the premium control panel with multiple input options (spinner, trackball, four-way stick), build quality, customization capabilities, and demonstrates gameplay across various arcade emulators including MAME, light gun games, and modern titles.

Key Claims

  • Rec Room Masters was the best DIY cabinet builder on the market before going out of business two years ago

    medium confidence · Jon's opening statement establishing the brand's historical reputation

  • Carlos acquired the rights to Rec Room Masters and continues the legacy under Arcade Dash One

    high confidence · Jon explicitly states Carlos bought the rights and now sells these kits through his company

  • The control panel uses I-Pac encoder boards that support both Direct Input and X Input

    high confidence · Jon demonstrates the encoder board and discusses its versatility

  • The cabinet accommodates 32-inch displays with specific mounting considerations

    high confidence · Jon discusses display options and compatibility concerns in detail

  • The wood thickness matches original arcade cabinet specifications

    high confidence · Jon explicitly measures and compares to original arcade cabinets

  • The cabinet requires a buddy to help with assembly; Jon did it alone and doesn't recommend that approach

    high confidence · Jon's firsthand experience during build

  • Burger Time requires a four-way stick rather than eight-way due to false input issues with diagonal inputs

    high confidence · Jon explains the technical reason and demonstrates the difference

  • The build includes HyperSpin as the front-end, which Carlos continues to support and expand

    high confidence · Jon mentions HyperSpin integration and notes some people are moving to LaunchBox

  • Carlos also sells Arcade1Up builds with curated game selections

    high confidence · Jon mentions using an 8TB Arcade1Up build and links to website

  • Game Room Solutions is another popular DIY arcade cabinet competitor

Notable Quotes

  • “Well, they were probably the best DIY cabinet builder on the market, and they went out of business about two years ago. Well, Carlos over at arcade-one, he sees an opportunity to buy the rights to Rec Room Masters and continue the legacy.”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 0:10 — Establishes the narrative of brand resurrection and Carlos's role as the new steward

  • “So it's really cool that he put the separate four way for the games that require it. You're going to get a six button layout.”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 1:43 — Highlights a key design feature that differentiates Rec Room Masters from competitors

  • “The thickness of the wood they use is actually the same as an original arcade so if you look and measure it you can see it's the same width. So you're gonna get a really beefy and heavy, this thing is heavy right.”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 4:02 — Demonstrates Jon's verification of build quality against authentic arcade standards

  • “If you've ever put together a piece of Ikea furniture, then I would say you're qualified. I did get tripped up in one section of this build. I would recommend you have someone there to help you.”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 5:05 — Sets expectations for DIY assembly difficulty and provides practical advice

  • “As much as I'm an arcade collector, you gotta have a multi-cade in your collection at some point. And I have been absent of one for a long time, so it's kind of like, I don't know what I was thinking.”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 8:08 — Jon's personal endorsement and rationale for owning a multi-cade despite being a collector

Entities

RetroRalphpersonCarlospersonRec Room MasterscompanyArcade Dash OnecompanyArcade1UpcompanyGame Room SolutionscompanyOur Peg ElectronicscompanyRaymond IpersonRec Room Masters Emulator Plus Editionproduct

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Rec Room Masters brand revival by Carlos/Arcade Dash One represents successful acquisition and continuation of defunct DIY arcade manufacturer

    high · Jon explicitly states Carlos bought the rights to Rec Room Masters two years after the original company went out of business and is now operating under Arcade Dash One

  • ?

    community_signal: Carlos continues to actively support HyperSpin front-end development and expansion for the platform despite some market shift toward LaunchBox

    high · Jon states: 'Carlos does a great job supporting it and continues to expand it if you decide to go that way'

  • ?

    community_signal: Carlos relocated from previous business context to establish Arcade Dash One as the steward of Rec Room Masters brand and legacy

    high · Jon introduces Carlos as having seen the opportunity to acquire Rec Room Masters rights and continue the legacy through his new company

  • ?

    product_strategy: Rec Room Masters differentiates from competitors like Game Room Solutions through premium control panel design with multiple input device integration and I-Pac encoder flexibility

    high · Jon emphasizes: 'I really like the fact that rec room has taken the time to really put all this time and effort into the controls and I do think it differentiates it because some of the other DIY kits out there it's up to you to do that'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Carlos upgraded Rec Room Masters design with improved components (IL Euro sticks vs HAP competition sticks) and new features (dedicated four-way stick, navigation menu integration)

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.051

0:00
Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. Today's episode, we're gonna look at the Rec Room Masters two-player setup. This is a DIY kit, and you're probably wondering, Rec Room Masters, I know, I've heard of them before. Well, they were probably the best DIY cabinet builder on the market, and they went out of business about two years ago. Well, Carlos over at arcade-one.com, he sells these really awesome multi-cade PCs, probably one of the best curations of games. It's one of the best setups I've ever used. I put it in my beast cabinet to video from a long time ago. Carlos saw an opportunity to buy the rights to Rec Room Masters and continue the legacy. Rec Room Masters was known for top quality DIY kits, and this thing takes it to the next level. Carlos has taken the vision that Rec Room Masters first created and put his own unique spin on it. And I got to admit, this thing is pretty awesome. So in this video, we're going to take a look at this. I'm going to show you what you can do with it. And I think at the end of this, you're going to realize this is a really viable option for your game room. So one of the biggest selling points on the Rec Room Master's Cabinet is definitely the control panels. They use all premium parts. This is actually the Emulator Plus Edition, so it comes with a couple different options that I really like. It has a spinner on it, really high quality spinner. It has a trackball, but it also has a separate four-way controller. So if you're playing games like Pac-Man or Donkey Kong or Burger Time that require it, it's right here for you, which is really cool. Now, the other thing that's really neat about them is Rec Room Masters has always used high quality components. And Carlos kept that, but he did upgrade the sticks, I believe, because these were HAP competitions. And he decided to use the IL Euro sticks, which I actually prefer. So that's really cool. But keep in mind, IL Euro sticks are eight way. So it's really cool that he slapped in the separate four way for the games that require it. You're going to get a six button layout. The other really cool thing is got an awesome navigation menu. This is something new that they incorporated into the control panel. This allows you to navigate not only his build, but any other build you choose. So if you wanted to put in coin ops or another PC based build or even a Raspberry Pi, you could map these buttons however you want. Now, the magic sauce in this thing is actually it's using a really good encoder board. I'm not going to open up this one. I have another Rec Room Masters, an older one. I'm gonna actually show you that control panel for reference I keep in mind I had modified this slightly to put pinball buttons on it But so the wiring isn't exactly how I got it But if you look this is showing you the I pack encoder now these can run in direct input X input So it's really versatile for really anything you want to do. So I really like the fact that

high confidence · Jon mentions it as an alternative in his final thoughts

“I don't know if you've ever tried to play Burger Time with an eight-way stick. Not a fun time, because what'll happen is it can't, it registers these like false inputs, and it doesn't know if you're going up or down.”

Jon (RetroRalph)@ 12:26 — Explains technical limitation that justifies the four-way stick inclusion

  • “The control panel is great. I forgot to mention it does have a coin door option. You can have a coin door or a false door or whatever so you can gain access to things.”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 13:53 — Details a practical feature for arcade authenticity and service access

  • “I think they definitely did a great job continuing the Rec Room Master's legacy. And if you're looking for a multi-cade DIY, it's definitely one you should consider.”

    Jon (RetroRalph)@ 13:35 — Jon's explicit recommendation and validation of Carlos's stewardship of the brand

    • HyperSpin
    product
    LaunchBoxproduct
    I-Pac encoderproduct
    IL Euro sticksproduct

    high · Jon details the upgrade path: 'Carlos has taken the vision that Rec Room Masters first created and put his own unique spin on it' and notes specific upgrades like IL Euro sticks and new navigation capabilities

  • ?

    technology_signal: Broader market trend away from HyperSpin toward LaunchBox as front-end menu system for DIY arcade builds

    medium · Jon notes: 'some people are moving on to LaunchBox and other things' in context of discussing front-end options

    • 2:38
    Rec room has taken the time to really put all this time and effort into the controls and I do think it differentiates it because some of the other DIY kits out there it's up to you to do that. So if you want something where you don't have to worry and you're getting really good controls it makes Rec Room Master is a really good choice. The other thing that's awesome about this thing is it can accommodate a 32 inch display. Now I chose a more expensive premium LG display. Now on the website he actually recommends a couple of displays. The thing you need to be aware of is where your connections plug into your monitor can actually be a concern because of how the TV or monitor mounts inside this system. There is a mounting system that it comes with, but you want to avoid having to modify that to fit your TV or your display. So what he recommends is a couple models where the plugs are in such a position that makes sense for the display. He has sort of a low budget, a mid-tier, and a premium, the LG being the premium, but it looks awesome and it's pretty cool to be this close to an arcade cabinet with such a large display like this it definitely becomes a little bit more immersive. If you have the right build it will actually maintain the aspect ratio of your retro games but allows you to play a lot more modern games that may have 69 aspect ratios. So when you're looking to buy a solution like this overall build quality is obviously going to be a big concern. The quality or thickness of the wood they use is actually the same as an original arcade so if you look and measure it you can see it's the same width. So you gonna get a really beefy and heavy this thing is heavy right So you do need to kind of be aware of where you building it because it is heavy but they use real T This is the black version of the cabinet. They have custom artwork if you want to choose that. There's some really cool styles too. Just for the purposes of review, Carlos sent me the version of it without the artwork. But yeah, you're going to have quality, regular, you know, arcade T-molding, and then it's going to be the thickness of a standard arcade cabinet. So it's definitely not flimsy, and it's definitely not going to be easy to move if you put it somewhere. So just make sure that wherever you're building it is actually where you're probably going to want to keep it. Otherwise, you're going to need a couple people to probably help you move it if for some reason you want to take it from one room to another. Speaking of putting it together, Rec Room Masters has videos to guide you through the process. Keep in mind this is DIY, so you will need some basic skills to put this together. If you've ever put together a piece of Ikea furniture, then I would say you're qualified. I did get tripped up in one section of this build. I would recommend you have someone there to help you. I did it alone, and I wouldn't recommend that. Just get a buddy to help, and it'll be a lot easier for you. Okay, so you're probably wondering, what do I have running in this thing? I have an 8TB Arcade-1.com build. I'll have a link to the website if you want to check out some of the builds. It has so many games on it. It's really cool and you can flash the firmware on the control panel so that it integrates seamlessly with his build Now the other cool thing about a DIY arcade project is you can do whatever you want with it So I decided to put an 8 inch subwoofer in here and then I put a 2.1 amplifier Which has a subwoofer output so I can support all this stuff. But again, that's the beauty of DIY You can be as crazy as you want with your build I will say the other thing that's really cool is there's another top shelf area You could use that for like other builds like I'm just using a PC in here You could have a Raspberry Pi you could have a PC with steam you could do a whole bunch of cool stuff with this Whatever you really want to have as the brains in here. You can really do that The other thing is I didn't show you this but from the front There's a there's a hidden panel you can push in and it drops down and that gives you access to your keyboard or Controllers like if you want to have games where you have four players But you only have a two-player panel and the other two play on controllers You can do something like that or just games that are better suited for controllers versus, you know Arcade controls and also it'll give you access to light guns and whatever else you want to put in there As far as your front audio you have two pre-cut holes for four-inch speakers and you provide the speakers yourself I decided to go with these kicker 300 watt speakers. They sound really good, especially paired with that 8-inch subwoofer It gives you a nice full deep rich sound The other thing I'll mention is it does have a bezel so it comes with a plexiglass bezel that sits in front of your monitor. I would have liked to see some artwork on it, but you know what? It would be nearly impossible to accommodate a plethora of 32-inch monitors, so I know why they didn't do it. So it's something you could do yourself. You could mask it off and maybe just spray it black so you have a black border. I don't know, whatever you want to do. Again, that's kind of what's cool about DIY. You can do it however you want. Of course, no arcade would be complete without a light-up marquee. It looks great with even light distribution and a high-quality graphic that's reverse printed on the Plexi. Oh, and you might see this little issue right here. The shadowing you're seeing is because of how I mounted this particular speaker. I put the wires in front, so it's my fault, but I decided to just fix it later. But just be aware for when you install yours. Commander Darius, we need you. So, you're probably wondering, what can you play on this thing? Xenocrisis. I don't know. Everything? Xenocrisis is on it. One of my favorite games. And actually, it's a new game, but that's the cool thing about this kit. You can play modern games, you can play retro games, you can play whatever the hell you want on this thing. So, it's kind of like one of those things, right? Like, as much as I'm an arcade collector, you gotta have a multi-cade in your collection at some point. And I have been absent of one for a long time, so it's kind of like, I don't know what I was thinking. I can't collect every game, right? So I have to have some alternative to play the games I can't play if I don have you know all the funds to grab everything in space Space is kind of still an issue But anyways I having a blast with this thing I going to show you a couple more games just to show you how versatile it is But man, you don't have to buy Carlos' build. There's many other builds, but I gotta say, it's pretty awesome. Just let's break out to the menu real quick so I can show you. Hit the exit button. It has MAME. It has Fightcade integration. It has Neo Geo. It has Capcom, CPS-1, CPS-2, CPS-3, Daphne, Techno Parrot. I mean, it goes on and on. Naomi, Triforce, Atomis Wave, American Laser Games. You can play gun games on it too. I'll go to gun games. I'm going to remove our little tray here. There's a little bit of setup involved in getting the gun games to work. So I'll link the videos below. So if you decide to get this build, there is some setup you have to do. I feel like I play a lot of Area 51. I feel like I play that all the time. Let's pick a game that I don't play as often for a gun game. Let's see. Okay, we're going to pick one of my favorite light gun games of all time, and I hardly ever play it, which is Operation Wolf. This is one where I actually would like to own the cabinet one day. But anyway, all right, let's let her rip, and you can see how the light gun support works. And let's go. And the force of feedback works too.
    9:50
    Let's go. I killed the nurses. Shoot. Sorry, guys. All right, so you get the point. It's badass, right? And you can play all the gun games on it. It has Sindin support and support for Ultimark Aim Track. I was going to talk to him about integrating gun for IR because that's my preferred light gun method, although the Sindin is great too. And the cool thing about it is this build absolutely supports Sindin and the Ultimark Aim Track. Okay, I know you guys are going to want to see the spinner working, so we're going to do Tempest because that's a classic spinner game. And you'll see the spinner integrates nicely into this system, you know, that classic, you know, Tempest where you kind of spin around and go crazy. but uh but yeah so this works real good on here tempest is obviously a game that showcases the spinner another one would be arkanoid let me show you arkanoid real quick it uh it's a little sensitive you know i was never actually that great at arkanoid but i remember playing this was like um a game they had at on a cocktail cabinet at this chinese restaurant by my house they'd always swap out the games but they had this and they had like galaga or galagala as kim calls it. It was always a game I kind of liked, but I wasn't that good at it. You got your spinner. Now I'll show you the trackball real quick because, you know, I want to make sure you see all of the features of the cab. So let's go to the trackball real fast. Let's get Centipede going. So obviously Centipede is going to be a game where you use the trackball, and this works really great too. So I just want to show you, you know, like I said, there's a lot of versatility in this control panel. you can pretty much do whatever the heck you want with this. Oh, come on. Really?
    12:03
    There we go. So like I said, lots of versatility in the control panel, and you also have that four-way stick too, so you can do games that require four-way joysticks. Okay, we're going to put that four-way controller to the test with BurgerTime. Now, I should be able to clear this board with a four-way stick. Eight-way, I can't do it. So I don't know if you've ever tried to play. Well, I can do it, but it's a lot harder. I don't know if you've ever tried to play BurgerTime with an eight-way stick. Not a fun time, because what'll happen is it can't, it like registers these like false inputs, and it doesn't know if you're going up or down. So it's really cool that he included this on here you know because there a lot of fun four arcade games that without the proper stick it really not fun to play them Oh shit I not doing amazing but Ah, crap.
    12:57
    Alright, come on. Come on, man. Everyone on the internet is watching you right now. You gotta do this.
    13:06
    I'm close. I'm close. Okay, these bastards are all over me right now. All right, they're going up that ladder like a bunch of idiots. Okay, hold on. I think I got this. The egg. Oh, the egg is on me.
    13:28
    Yes! All right, I decided I'm going to play out with some Street Fighter IV, but I want to give you some final thoughts on this thing. What do I think about it? I think they definitely did a great job continuing the Rec Room Master's legacy, And if you're looking for a multi-cade DIY, it's definitely one you should consider There's a lot of them out there right game room solutions is another popular one But I think you can't really go wrong with this the control panel is great I forgot to mention it does have a coin door option You can have a coin door or a or just like a false door or whatever so you can gain access to things I love the hidden control panel Would you gain access to a keyboard controllers other things like that and the fact that they used an ipad controller in here? really or encoder rather will really expand your capabilities as to what you can support you can really put anything in here but definitely go check out carlos's company arcade dash one they make great builds they are hyperspin based and some people are moving on to like battle sarah and other things but uh he does all the hard work for you that's the one beef i have with hyperspin it's not really easy but carlos does a great job supporting it and continue to expand it if you decide to go that way but anyway let's play some Street Fighter 2 cool she first to she heard her for and we'll see how we fare here all right let's let's go I'm gonna to a medium difficulty because I know you guys always give me crap in the past also if you're interested in more information about the arcade one system I built a multi-cade called the beast about I don't know, maybe over three years ago now, and I used that build in that. So you can take a look. I did more gameplay and showed you a little bit more about how it works.
    15:13
    All right, let's see if I can do it. Medium's tough for me, man. You know, I'm not the best at this, so we'll see. I should be good. All right, let's go.
    15:32
    Hey. No, no, no! I don't guess I don't know how block works. Not that impressive, I know. But I'll take it. Anyways, guys, I hope you enjoyed this video. And I hope you're enjoying this content. We're taking a little break from the normal arcade stuff and doing some emulation And it's been fun. I've had a great time with it So we have one more emulation video up before we call this whole emulation thing quits But we're gonna do um gun for IR I sent my guns to Raymond I over at our peg electronics and he hooked me up with some pretty cool stuff So I'm gonna show you that the next video give me some feedback on this. Do you like this? I've covered other Rec Room Masters cabinets in the past and it's just nice to see that Carlos is continuing the legacy and making some improvements along the way. Thanks so much for watching guys. Put your comments below. Consider subscribing the channel if you enjoy this and that's it for now. We will see you on the next one.
    16:57
    Thanks for watching!