In an effort to bring this post back to the original topic, I will give my two cents on this product.
My thoughts on this machines are they are knowing shooting for a niche market. They probably know that the diehard purist will not be interested in a 3/4 scale machine. I can accept that. I think what gets my attention is that for $300 dollars, I can have a Galaga machine, with good looking artwork and have something that I don't need to call someone over to help me move. If I decide after a period I want to move on, I can, and not be to far in the hole (probably just take it to my dad's house, he loves arcades too). I don't have a lot of space, so something cut down a bit, even if on a riser, is fine for me, because I'm trying to have a dream work where normally it wouldn't.
In my attempts to build my own machines, I never seem to finish the project because I judge my own work too hard. (Design, artwork and finish product, I enjoy doing the programming and wiring, but I hate doing woodwork and trying to have a professional look. I have even tried two of Haruman's kits, and when I get to the artwork design point I get frustrated because I want something original and not cheap) I like the fact I can play these with a 7 year old and one day my 2 year old. I guess a knock on them is that you only get 2-4 games depending on the machine. I could see some buying several kits just for the different control panels and just swapping those out while keeping just one functioning cabinet in whatever artwork they like. I think that for $300, there will probably be a decent shot at replacing components with this cabinets with something else if someone chooses. Unless you built a cabinet to go the mame route, you only have a 1 game cabinet anyway, so I don't think that's a big deal. I would rather have a couple of cabinets with the artwork, because that has a more arcade feel to me than one multicade with everything thrown into it.
Now, if they use the wrong materials on this thing and they are flimsy, this will crumble as fast as it started. Their social media team did tell me that they would be using MDF, like real cabinets, but we all know there are also different kinds of MDF.
I am excited about this product and hope it does well. The possibilities for cabinets is pretty extensive. The idea of them doing maybe a NBA JAM and BLITZ would be awesome, but I'm not holding my breathe for a Blitz cabinet, as we all know the power you need to run that game. But I'd settle for Jam and Open Ice.
Would I buy one.. I will admit I have pre-ordered a Galaga from Walmart. One of these media images shows a flat pack on a rack with Pac-Man and Pac-Man Plus, so I would probably go for that as well, wish it included Ms Pac though. It just has to be yellow like an original Pac-Man! Looks like GameStop will have a Space Invaders only machine... I wasn't ever a big SI fan, but the artwork on the box looks pretty good! I also looked into getting a few 12v barrel connector splitter so i could add some led light strips for accent lighting... I think a Galaga with green glowing led light coming off the top and around the back would look cool in a dark room.