Hello and welcome to a special review/feature, this is going to be different to my usual features as I will be talking about a product rather than just a game. So for this special feature, I will be covering the special X-Men 97 Arcade1Up Deluxe cabinet, which is sold in various locations. This cabinet contains all of the Capcom developed Marvel fighting games up to Marvel VS Capcom 2, alongside a couple of bonus action titles to round out the package.
Disclaimer: the product discussed in this feature has been my own personal purchase, so all thoughts and opinions contained within this feature are my own. There has been no sponsorship of the content in this feature.
About the product
Arcade1Up are a line of home arcade machines, where players are able to bring the thrill of the arcades into more cosy spaces. This started with a series of smaller cabinets, creating 3/4 scale replicas of classic arcade machines, starting with games like Pac-Man, Rampage and Street Fighter II. As time passed, more systems and variants were released, with Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, TMNT and even the Simpsons, offering up to four player action with expanded systems.
Recently, there has been an abundance of additional machines released, with Legacy Street Fighter, Atari 50th Anniversary, X-Men 97 branded and even a Special Sonic the Hedgehog Deluxe cabinet. I was able to obtain the Deluxe X-Men 97 Cabinet from a local big box store on sale, having it paid for and delivered at half the MSRP. Then the adventure began as an Arcade1Up owner, with the system coming as a flat pack product needing to be built before use.
This construction method allows the systems to be built and stored in a home easily, as they are designed to fill a range of spaces, both domestic and commercial. The original line are around 4 feet in height, which required an additional riser so they could be played comfortably while standing. The cabinet in my possession is a deluxe cabinet, which stands at the full height of over 5 feet tall, not requiring the riser to be able to play while standing.
Each of the cabinets also contain several games, with the X-Men 97 board featuring most of the Capcom developed Marvel Fighting games, alongside a couple of action games for SNES. This is powered via an android board attached to the main screen, which runs the officially licensed ROMS for the games via emulation. These are dedicated forks of Final Burn Delta and Flycast, which allow the system to run each of the titles.
There are Eight games that are included with this cabinet, offering players the opportunity to play all of the Capcom developed fighters that released in arcades. This includes the one-on-one slugfests of X-Men Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes, featuring classic characters like Spiderman, Captain America, Psylocke and Colossus. Then we have the birth of the Tag Fighter with X-Men VS Street Fighter, which set the precedent for the series.
This entry features 17 playable characters, consisting of 8 X-Men characters and 9 Street Fighter combatants, with the ability to select two characters that will fight together. As a team, the player will take on 6 pairs of opponents, the boss Apocalypse and then their own teammate in a final battle. This game served as the main blueprint for most of the series to come, with two additional releases coming in the following years.
After X-Men VS Street Fighter, there was Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter. This sequel features the same distribution of characters as the previous, with 8 playable heroes and 9 world warriors. However, there are several additional characters that are hidden with special requirements needed to unlock them. There are also special hidden battles, secret bosses and more that players will be able to encounter during their battles to reach Apocalypse.
After the two games where Marvel battled Street Fighter, the heroes took the fight to expanded universe with Marvel VS Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes. This release features a mix of Capcom characters, with characters from major franchises like DarkStalkers, Captain Commando and Mega Man. There are many returning Marvel heroes alongside new characters like Venom and final Boss Onslaught, who was heavily featured in Comics during development.
Marvel VS Capcom made the assist system a key part of the experience, with characters from across Capcom and the Marvel comics universes. There are more than 20 characters that can be randomly assigned as assist characters. The assist characters that can appear include Arthur from Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Anita from DarkStalkers and Jubilee from the X-Men. These made for the ultimate celebration of both Marvel and Capcom when the game released in 1998.
The last arcade game that is included in this collection of games is Marvel VS Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. This title released in 2000 and marked a new direction for the tag fighting genre, as it went from 2 VS 2 battles, to the 3 character teams that have become the standard. This title also has the largest roster of characters, coming in at 56 total roster members, using a modified ROM to access all of the characters from the start.
Marvel VS Capcom 2 also has an adjusted fighting system, taking the standard 6 button inputs with triple punch/kick and adjusting it to four attack buttons with two assists. This makes the game a lot easier to jump into for players, as the streamlined controls allow for easy combo attacks to be set off. The game mostly follows the game loop of the other games, where the player battles through a series of opponents before fighting a final non-playable boss.
All of the arcade games are preset with free play enabled, as well as a suite of adjustable settings, with difficulty, timer and more that can be adjusted. There is also a bonus pair of action games from the SNES. The first is X-Men Mutant Apocalypse, which is a single player action platformer, featuring characters that were also added to Children of the Atom. Then there is Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems, an action title that is similar in play featuring several Marvel heroes.
All of the fighting games have the ability to be played in head to head multiplayer, with the Arcade1Up having a twin control deck for multiplayer. These are six button panels that are designed to look just like the original machines, with a stock set of buttons and bat top/drumbstick levers. This system also includes the LIVE! System, allowing players to compete for high scores as well as in competitive multiplayer, but this can be a little hit and miss.
All of these game work very well and are accessed through a dedicated main menu, where rankings will appear on the side of the screen for each game. To compete with other players, an account must be made which is free, with an additional companion app that can be downloaded for mobile devices. This app can be used to rack online rankings, find additional details on games ad share score/profiles on other platforms.
Personal Thoughts
I had been looking at the Arcade1Up systems for many years, with the early Street Fighter cabinets being the main interest, but the main issue was the height and need for a riser. But the availability and cost of the units was also a factor that prevented me from committing to them. However, the release of the X-Men 97 special release caught my attention, as it contained X-Men VS Street Fighter, which is my favourite entry in the cross over fighting series.
Recently, I was able to obtain this cabinet for about half the price during a sale period, which made me take the leap. The build process for these cabinets is time consuming, taking a couple of hours to get it built and put into position. Overall, the quality of the cabinet is unfortunately a little mixed, due to issues with static coming from the speakers and the stick tops coming loose. This was easily remedied with a pack of replacement ball tops and a loop isolator.
When playing with the stock levers and buttons, it works very well with responsive inputs that feel natural in play. Multi-button inputs for special moves, directional inputs like quarter circles and Z motions feel good, but the stock bat tops are not the best. They would repeatedly come undone and proved to be a significant frustration, even when tightened repeatedly. But by buying third party ball tops, it felt even better with no frustrations due to loosening lever grips.
The games included with the cabinet are emulated very well, with the quality being on par with the recent Marvel VS Capcom Fighting Collection that came out around the same time. The day it was set up, I played through X-Men VS Street Fighter to test it out and managed to get a 1CC on the highest difficulty. This gave me that feeling of being in the arcades again, taking me back to the days where I would go to arcades on holiday and play the different machines.
While these machines have games pre-loaded into them, since they have Android boards inside them there are communities for modding the cabinets. This can be done through various means, with the capability to side load additional software onto the system. It is also possible to hard mod the cabinets to replace the speakers, control deck and even the board itself with a Raspberry Pi. As a stock unit however, it fulfils its purpose well.
I may go the route of full modification in the future, but I have had to perform some minor alterations of the hardware already, as there is a flaw with the design. The Android PCB for the system is mounted on the back of the screen, which is achieved through encasing it in a metal box. Unfortunately this can cause some significant heat build up and damage the components over time, so I had to remove the casing and mount it via brackets, which was pretty easy to do.
In general I really like this cabinet, the size, design and general feel is perfect for those looking to add an arcade cab to their personal game space. I will say that it is a little narrow for two player, so you will need to have a good amount of space on either side for multiplayer. But if you have that space it can be a fun bonding experience with another, getting to embrace the nostalgia together. Due to the height, I recommend getting a stool for long play sessions too.
Having looked around, these machines go on sale rather frequently at different stores like Sams Club and Costco in the US, as well as occasional sales on Amazon and Argos in the UK and Europe. If you have the space, I do recommend picking one of these up if you want an arcade cabinet. I always wanted to own an arcade cabinet as a kid, and managing to get this with one of my favourite games feels like a childhood dream coming to life.
If you have enjoyed this feature, then take a look at the other content available and see what catches your eye. There are reviews, sometimes news and features that cover a variety of games. There is the Lost Gems series, Retro Revival series, special Gaming Oddities and more coming in the future. So stick around for a while and check out the other content.
