Retro Thing TV: Quasicade EX Arcade Cabinet Video Review

It's here! Our first Retro Thing TV video review. You'll see me assemble the Quasicade EX, a DIY kit that lets you build your own stand-up arcade cabinet.

We worked hard to bring this to you, and really hope that you enjoy it. Don't forget to let your retro gaming friends know to come here and check out this new video. Let us know what you think of this video by posting in the comments section.  What else would you like to see reviewed on video?

Comments

[Jeremy]

Great review! My only advice would be to cut down the retro thing intro. I think half as long would be just fine.

[matrix]

Awesome. I enjoyed that. Great to see you in the flesh Bohus! : )

[Mark]

Fun fun fun! And I *loved* the intro - wouldn't cut it a bit!

[Duncan]

> What else would you like to see reviewed on video?

Anything fast ... maybe a Lightning or a Harrier...?

[Hugh Jass]

I'm sure this is great, but I hate it when video is the *only* option. An alternate version with a few framegrabs and text descriptions would be welcome for us slackers who like to read your blog at work. :-)

That was very cool! Semi-regular podcast maybe?

[Mike]

Nice, informative video. Personally, I would halve the length of the intro video as you'll possibly lose some viewers with very short attention spans who want to see the advertised content ASAP).

Can you easily break the cabinet in half for moving more easily up and down stairs/etc.?

I'd mount a piece of smoked glass in front of the TV to make it look better.

Thanks for the video!

[Giles P]

Next time Ikea deliver to my house - who'm I gonna call - Bohus!!

[fireball87]

I'd have to play it, I'm willing to bet that with the analog joysticks it would just end up pissing me off... just like those Miss Pacman/Galaga compilations with 8 way joysticks, they just don't seem to play right with the older games. (and why the hell would you even throw an 8 way joystick on a pacman machine anyway... the world may never know.)

[Pwntalive]

I like the build info, what about the interface? the screenshot showed a button map (?) but this looks like a big papercraft kit. You mention analog sticks, hows it play halo?

[bohus]

Wow! What a great response! Thanks for checking out our video everybody! Now I'll answer some questions:

The intro: I'll consider cutting it down a little. My background is in TV/Film, so the intro may be more suited to that than the net. On the other hand I like that we have a real intro instead of just me staring into the camera!

Matrix: you're not saying that you want me to do the next one in a bikini, are you? ;)

Hugh: I'm glad that you brought that up. I thought about putting up some framegrabs next time. I should have also posted how long the video was so that folks knew they weren't in for a huge time commitment. Oh, and please say "hi" to I.P. Freely and Harry Balzagna when you see them.

Mike: it doesn't split "easily" in half as the top doesn't really have a lot of structure to it on its own. On the other hand it would be easy to just knock down the top (it's only like 5 pieces) and then carry the bottom as-is. I will likely leave it one piece even when moving it - while the holes have tee bolts in them, it is all anchored in particleboard, so I'd rather not money with taking it apart too much.

Fireball: I agree with you that many analog sticks don't work right with modern games, however the Quasi's controls don't seem to have that problem. Maybe it's because they're huge and have a lot of throw, I don't feel shy about really jamming on them when playing a game. I played some classic titles and really didn't have any problems.

Pwntalive: Sorry - I'm not sure what you mean by "interface", but I'll take a guess. The QuasiCon controller unit plugs into your console's controller ports - just like any other third party controller. All of the buttons and sticks on your controller are duplicated with arcade-type controls on the QuasiCon. Something in the conversion to YouTube's format made the video darker than how I shot it, so it's hard to make out the details of the control surface. Thanks for asking!

The button layout thing that I showed is a bit of backlit art on the cabinet to remind you of where controls are mapped for the different systems. It just takes a little getting used to.

As for Halo, I'll have to let you know once I put my Xbox back together. ;) Some games don't work well on the arcade stand-up because you really need the multi-finger access afforded by a controller cradled in your hand, but other games worked better for me because I'm a bit of a spaz and I could smash down on the controls. ;)

[Justin]

Looked great!

I can see both sides of the intro controversy, but I loved the review!

I agree that a text version with some screen grabs would be neat too.

Keep up the great work!

[tinfoil]

Good review, bohus. One point of note, either you are extremely tall or the machine looks to be a bit smaller than a standard machine?

[bohus]

I'm 6'2", I don't know if that qualifies me as "extremely tall", but I do get asked to get things off of high shelves a lot...

The cab is about 66" (167 cm) tall, so it's somewhat shorter than a regular cabinet, but not by much. It's 29" (74 cm) wide - enough room for two people to play games side by side.

[fireball87]

I guess I should note that I've been gathering pieces to make an arcade for quite some time. (just waiting for various things to come to me cheap) Got 2 20 inch (viewable) CRTs for 50 bucks, got more then enough wood, now all i need is to snatch a cheap computer, and I plan on buying the microswitches from X-Arcade (2 8 way joysticks + 20 microswitch buttons for 30 bucks shipped ain't bad at all. Group those together with a bit of soldering work, and cheap crap usb joysticks on ebay, and you've got a reasonable hookup for not too much money, atleast in theory)

[bohus]

Sounds good. You also might want to check out happcontrols.com. They are providers to the arcade industry, and you won't beleive how good their prices are too.

Quasimoto holds a patent on the analog pushbuttons, so if that's important to you because of modern games, you may be interested in picking up one of the finished QuasiCon controllers - the buttons are not available separately.

If you're just going for classic gaming "mash 'em to kill 'em buttons", then you can just pick up the regular sort of buttons.

[Fireball87]

Yeah, yeah, its mostly what I'm interested in. Seems even with alot of newer games (when i play them, my newest console is a dreamcast, i may buy a wii just to toy with it as a blue tooth mouse) i use the D-Pad. Its just all that button mashing of the old days that makes it hard for me to not jam a button as far as it goes. And in most games, thats all you really need anyway.

But yes, my main goal for an arcade cabinet would be emulation. Some arcade control metal slug is something i haven't been able to experience in a long time. (all the arcades in this town closed)

[fireball87]

A hind note since i was brought back here, after a bit more research from a few more educated sources (arcade builders communities, fighting game communities), i decided to skip the XARCADE due to it being crap, in favor of Happ buttons and a GPWiz.

[Cory]

I second the semi-regular podcast suggestion. These are really great! Good production quality, interesting products and insightful reviews; I'd subscribe!