Super old head chiming in. I don't think Mike said there wasn't a market for these I believe he said he was surprised people here were interested and gave legitimate reasons. I agree with him that no one should buy one of these with the expectation of it replacing a real arcade machine.
I think the cabs are far too small for an adult, even with the booster seat. However, they are the perfect size for kids. I still have a small interest in a SF cab, wont pull the trigger till I see some reviews and if they can be hacked to add additional games. Game wouldn't be for me or in my "line up" but it'd give my nephews something to beat on and the younger trick or treaters could also reach the controls without standing on milk crates :p
Based on what Ive seen here are my opinions on the cabs. I really hope badmouth wasn't talking about me with a 2,000 word rant :p Also to note, I understand that some of my game wants may not be possible due to licensing issues.
"Street Fighter" Cab
The game selection on the SF cab is the worst of the lot, SF2CE, SF2T, Super SFII and Super SFIIT. They should have dropped Super in favor of one of the alpha games; and they would have sold a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- ton of these if they did Super SFIIT , SFA3 , a DarkStalkers game, Marvel Super Heroes, and Xmen vs SF (or MvC even though XvSF is better) instead of 4 flavors of SFII. These machines are obviously running emulators, and there is just a more varied selection of (fighting) games available on CPS2
"Galaga" Cab
While the SF cab only has SFII games, at least it has 4. This will undoubtedly be the most popular cab but it boggles the mind why there are only TWO games. At minimum they should have added Gaplus/Galaga 3. Or used a 4 way stick and released this as an updated "reunion" cab with Pac, MsPac, Galaga, Galaxian, etc Walmart exclusive is also.....odd.
"Trackball" Cab
Centipede, Millipede, Missile Command, Crystal Castles. This is the most oddball cab to me, Im not a huge trackball game guy but I do love me some crystal castles. I think if they dropped one of the `pedes in favor of something like Capcom Bowling itd help. I also dont know how its going to work with Centipede being a vertical game and crystal castles being a horizontal one. Stretch or black bars I guess (screen looks to be vertically mounted, so only bars on CC I guess) No Marble Madness? for shame.
"spinner" Cab
The spinner cab comes with 4 games but only 1 that actually used a spinner, tempst. Despite that this one has one of the better selection of games but at the expense of "authentic controls". Im sure everything will be playable once you adjust, asteroids is a classic (even if I think blasteroids is more fun) and even with different controls this will introduce tons of new players to Major Havoc. I honestly don't feel this one will sell very well.
"Ramage" aka the tight fit cab
This cab should be bigger and 4 players. 3 players with a single 3 player game (Rampage) , a 4 player game (Gauntlet) , a 2 player game (Joust) and a 1 player at a time game (Defender). The game selection is definitely diverse, but doesnt make a ton of sense. There are other 3 player games out there like Alien Vs Predator, Ghostbusters, Battletoads, MoonWalker, and Golden Axe. I think a 4 player "beatem up cab" would have been a better thing to make. I don't see anyone getting wax nostalgic for Rampage but they'd go ape ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- for TMNT/TiT, Simpsons, Xmen, etc
"Final Fight" cab
Hands down the best selection of games to me. A fight and go right (Final Fight) , a slow platformer (Ghosts n Goblins) a more frantic platformer(Strider) and a shmup (1944). If I were to buy a cab for myself this would be the one. I really don't have any complaints about this one except like the rest the number of games is very short. There are a myriad of additional games from Capcom that are 2 button 8 way games that could be added
*Final Fight also got delayed until early next year, so if I do want to pull the trigger, I'll have plenty of time to see how well the others get reviewed.
In my heart of hearts I hope they sell well and they start making "deluxe" ones that are closer to real arcade proportions. And maybe they can start releasing more complete "collections" by other venders.