Arcade1up - Michael Jackson's Moonwalker MOD - Real Arcade PCB!

RetroRalph·video·8m 28s·analyzed·Oct 8, 2019

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Retro Ralph reviews custom Moonwalker arcade cabinet built with rare original PCB.

Summary

Retro Ralph showcases a custom Arcade1Up Michael Jackson's Moonwalker cabinet built by Jared from Tech Louis Toy TV, featuring an original arcade PCB acquired in 2002-2003 for $25-30 (now worth $500+). The video explores Jared's decade-long journey to recreate his childhood arcade experience with authentic three-player gameplay, custom artwork, and professional modifications.

Key Claims

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker arcade PCBs were available for $25-30 on eBay in 2002-2003 but now cost $500+ due to increased collector demand
high confidence · Jared directly states he purchased the PCB for this price range circa 2002-2003, and notes current market value is substantially higher
Michael Jackson's Moonwalker was the only arcade beat-em-up featuring a singer/entertainer/celebrity at the time of its release
medium confidence · Jared and Ralph both claim no other singer/entertainer had their own arcade beat-em-up, though neither provides comparative evidence
The arcade version of Moonwalker supports three-player simultaneous gameplay, which Jared was unable to experience with previous hardware configurations
high confidence · Jared explicitly states he wanted 'the authentic three-player experience' and that his previous Street Fighter cabinet setup was 'only two players'
Arcade1Up's clearance $75 Asteroid cabinets were used as the donor cabinet for this Moonwalker mod
high confidence · Jared states: 'those $75 Asteroid cabinets went on clearance. And I said, you know what? There's my Moonwalker. And so I was able to score one.'
The arcade version of Moonwalker can be completed in approximately 25-30 minutes on free play
medium confidence · Ralph estimates gameplay length during commentary, noting it was 'a quarter muncher back in the day'

Notable Quotes

“If you know anything about the value of a Michael Jackson's Moonwalker arcade PCB today, you probably can't score one for less than 500 dollars. So, I got that at quite a steal because no one simply wanted the game at that time.”
Jared (Tech Louis Toy TV)@ 3:01 — Illustrates dramatic appreciation in retro arcade PCB values and collector market dynamics over ~20 years
“I now have one of my dream arcade cabinets in my home that I can play at any time with friends three players the full experience It's just awesome and I couldn't be more happier with how this turned out.”
Jared (Tech Louis Toy TV)@ 4:08 — Demonstrates personal fulfillment of long-term collector goal and nostalgia-driven hobby motivation
“Something that was really unattainable with large-scale arcades is now attainable. So whether you like the product in its form, you know, when you buy it in its stock form or you modify it to create something yourself, it's just a really cool hobby.”
Retro Ralph@ 7:08 — Reflects broader industry trend of Arcade1Up democratizing arcade cabinet ownership and customization
“There was always one version that eluded me, the arcade version... I remember playing that with my cousins at our local putt-putt and thinking, wow, I would love to have this.”
Jared (Tech Louis Toy TV)@ 2:14 — Establishes emotional connection to arcade gaming and motivation for custom cabinet project

Entities

Retro Ralphperson JaredpersonTech Louis Toy TVorganizationMichael Jackson's MoonwalkergameArcade1UpcompanyTylerpersonGregpersonShanepersonSega Genesisproduct

Signals

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community_signal: Retro Ralph's feature of Jared's custom arcade project demonstrates active community support for arcade restoration content and collector projects
high · Ralph states 'I got to meet another really cool person as part of this community' and encourages viewers to support Jared's channel
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market_signal: Significant appreciation in Michael Jackson's Moonwalker arcade PCB values over 20 years (from $25-30 in 2002-2003 to $500+ today) reflects growing collector demand for rare arcade hardware
high · Jared explicitly states original purchase price and current market valuation with decade-long timeline
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community_signal: Retro Ralph providing technical consultation and support to community member Jared's arcade restoration project, demonstrating involvement beyond content creation into hands-on community support
medium · Jared acknowledges 'I want to thank Retro Ralph for his help for some of the technical aspects of this and just taking a general interest in the project'
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technology_signal: Arcade1Up's affordable cabinet platform ($75 clearance Asteroid units) is enabling hobbyists to create authentic multi-player arcade experiences previously locked behind expensive original hardware
high · Jared leveraged $75 Asteroid cabinet as donor for authentic three-player Moonwalker setup; Ralph notes 'Something that was really unattainable with large-scale arcades is now attainable'

Topics

Custom arcade cabinet modification and restorationprimaryArcade1Up platform and modificationsprimaryRetro gaming collecting and nostalgiaprimaryMichael Jackson gaming legacysecondaryArcade PCB values and market appreciationsecondaryThree-player arcade beat-em-up gamesmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.92)— Content expresses strong enthusiasm for the custom cabinet build, appreciation for Jared's project execution, and celebratory tone about community participation in arcade restoration hobby. No critical or negative commentary present.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.025

Ralph? Ralph? Are you there? It's Michael. I've got something to show you. It's bad. It's dangerous. Come on! It's off the wall. It's a real thriller. One second. What the hell? This has got to be a dream. Where am I? Retro Ralph! Jared? What are you doing here? Dude, I just saw Michael Jackson. Wait, wait. You saw Michael too? Okay. I think I know what this is about. Come on, I'll show you. Dude, take it away. Are you guys ready? Let's do this! All right, guys. here it is the moment you've been waiting for the michael jackson moonwalker arcade one-up this game was one of those games in the arcade that i absolutely loved and when i heard that jared over at tech toy tv was doing this i had to check it out i was so inspired by it i said man you've got to tell me a little bit more about you know your love for the game what are you running are you using you know the real pcb and he told me all about it and i just had to showcase it and he agreed and I'm really glad that he did and plus he's a really good guy and I got to meet another really cool person as part of this community so anyways I was asking all these questions I said but dude are you running the real arcade PCB that was my main thing and he goes yep I am and I was like dude those things are really expensive how did you land that so I'm just gonna let Jared tell the story because it's a really cool one so check it out here's Jared you might be asking yourself why Michael Jackson's Moonwalker? Well ever since I was a little kid watching the Thriller video on MTV I've been a huge Michael Jackson fan and that's led me to want to collect a ton of memorabilia including video games and growing up in the 80s and 90s in the golden era of gaming there was plenty of Michael Jackson to be had Of course I owned the Sega Genesis version I later bought the Sega Master System version, but there was always one version that eluded me, the arcade version. And I remember playing that with my cousins in our local putt-putt and thinking, wow, I would love to have this. But of course, as a kid, you can't afford to have an arcade game in your home. So later on probably around 2002-2003 I started looking into how much a full-size Moonwalker arcade would cost and I soon realized that it was going to be too much money for me. But I decided to look into how much the arcade PCB by itself would be and on eBay at that time they were going for around $25 or $30 so that was super cheap. So I bid and I won and yes I got it for about 25 or 30 dollars. And if you know anything about the value of a Michael Jackson's Moonwalker arcade PCB today, you probably can't score one for less than 500 dollars. So, I got that at quite a steal because no one simply wanted the game at that time. So I eventually turned that into a super gun. I had it in a full size arcade cabinet that I eventually bought, which was a Street Fighter, but that was only two players. So I never had the authentic three-player experience. And then those $75 Asteroid cabinets went on clearance. And I said, you know what? There's my Moonwalker. And so I was able to score one. And from there, I had gotten the artwork several years ago for the Moonwalker Arcade. And so I sent that over to Tyler at Arcade Graphics. He did an awesome graphics job. I got with Greg at 99 Lies. He did the awesome control panel. and then lots of the parts I bought from Shane at DIY Retro Arcade. And of course, I want to thank Retro Ralph for his help for some of the technical aspects of this and just taking a general interest in the project. But this has been a huge huge check mark for me because I now have one of my dream arcade cabinets in my home that I can play at any time with friends three players the full experience It's just awesome and I couldn't be more happier with how this turned out. All right, let's go over to Jared for some gameplay and then I'll give you some final thoughts. so let's go over some gameplay for moonwalker it's basically a beat-em-up featuring michael jackson and i don't know of any other singer you know entertainer celebrity that had their own arcade beat-em-up at the time so it's basically your beat-em-up you have your punch attacks which you can punch the enemies with there is a special attack that you can hold in your moonwalk and then you let off a bigger blast uh other than that you save the children which will give you either a health bonus or a dance bonus and then of course you have bubbles the chimp which you collect and you turn into robo michael which is pretty cool you're pretty much invincible and you just kick butt. The other thing that you can do is use your dance magic and that will cause all of the enemies on the screen to dance and then proceed to die. Like I said this is a three-player game so we'll bring in the other Michaels and I'll control them and they can do a little choreography for you. You'll see if you stand still and don't do anything they will do some little dance moves and and whatnot. If you do use your dance magic attack, this will cause all three of the Michael characters to dance and perform. And so that's basically Michael Jackson's Moonwalker for the arcade There are five stages This is definitely a game of its time period Like I said there wasn any other entertainer or celebrity that I can think of at the time that had their own beat in the arcade And, you know, take away Michael Jackson from this, and this is still a very fun game. I have it on free play. You can probably beat this in about 25 to 30 minutes on free play. But this was definitely a quarter muncher back in the day. All right, guys, it's final thoughts time. Jared did a killer job on that Moonwalker cabinet. I gotta say, I can't believe he even found a Moonwalker PCB for that price. Nowadays, they're super expensive, as he said. So anyways, I just loved hearing his story, and then hearing that he recreated a game, you know, that he really knew and loved in the arcade, and got to have it now and enjoy it in his house. That's awesome. I know many of you have done that as well with arcade one-ups, and that's what kind of makes this whole community really cool. Something that was really unattainable with large-scale arcades is now attainable. So whether you like the product in its form, you know, when you buy it in its stock form or you modify it to create something yourself, it's just a really cool hobby. And it was awesome to hear Jared and Jared's story. So anyways, thanks again, Jared. What I'm going to ask for you to do is go check out Jared's channel. It's Tech Toy TV. He does unboxings, toy reviews, technology reviews, all sorts of cool stuff. So go check him out. If you like the page, go subscribe, please. And then leave a comment in his comment section and just tell him, you know, Retro Ralph sent you. He'd really appreciate that. But anyways guys, that's it for now. If you enjoyed this video, please like it. Please consider subscribing to the channel and put your comments below. I wanna know, like, was Moonwalker a game that you loved as a kid? And then also, if not, like, what game is it that you wanna create? Let me know. So anyways guys, that's it for now. We'll see you on the next one. Take care. Hi, this is Michael Jackson. you