Appreciate your response.
Which had one poorly emulated game = most of them. Having two or three versions of Street Fighter 2 does not even come close to offering the same variety as a mame cab.
2 of the cabs had less than the typical 4 game offering. Pacman and Street Fighter had multiple versions of the same game, but it's debatable if you would consider the cabinet only having 1 game. No one was talking about it compared to a mame cabinet.
Poor build quality. Where do I get my info. I've used one and 90% of the feedback says the same. They are made cheap, thin walls, light, not sturdy or arcade-like. Peeling decals and poor sizing.
That 90% number is clearly pulled from thin air. They are made inexpensively, but they will do fine for average Joe home user. I probably wouldn't want them on a route, but I'm going to keep a couple in my house. Peeling decals is definitely a side effect of the inexpensive manufacturing. No excuses for them there, but kudos for providing a solution. "Poor sizing" is a negative to you, but many people actually prefer it. I'm not one of those people, but I wouldn't consider a cabaret a poor sized cabinet, so I don't consider an Arcade1up on a riser a poor sized cabinet either.
The emulation on those "Wave 1" 1Ups sucked and looked like sh*t on the screen. Saying it is "adequate" is a matter of opinion but they are certainly not adequate for me and a whole lot of others. More importantly, you get far better results doing your own mame pc.
It would've been nice if they put some scan line options, or built in some scan lines, to try to help the authenticity, but the emulation is just about perfect on most of the games. As good as any cabinet using mame. I mean... its' using mame, lol. What other emulation do you want? The games that had actual emulation problems is Street Fighter and Gauntlet. The rest are fine. I think you might be mixing up things - like the LCD vs CRT discussion.
It's interesting you would say that you would get better results using mame because I've been contemplating swapping out my mame PC's for all-in-one boards. I like the idea of powering off my system without corrupting it. I think a solid state system will be more reliable than a PC. Using mame on a PC isn't all upside with no downsides. Configuration can be a challenge.
Sure, there are always going to be people with low standards, those who don't care about quality or authenticity. For example... you... but so what.
If you cared about authenticity, you wouldn't even be talking about mame. I've owned plenty of mame cabinets and real deal arcades. I found what is important to me, and they must differ from what is important to you.
There are plenty of bartop kits these days that are designed for easy assembly. Some don't even need screws. Putting a pc and monitor inside is quick. It would take a little more time to attach and wire the joystick but that's a small price to for getting thousands of games vs one.
at this point, I have to question whether you've ever built a mame machine - applied art, installed controls, wired a CP, installed a front end and configured everything. This isn't even a real comparison. I love my mame machines and arcade games, but I've also enjoyed the Arcade1ups for different reasons. Not much different than your love affair with the 12" Street Fighter. It's a hunk of junk as far as I'm concerned, because it isn't playable. But hey, if you like it, good for you.
All that makes the 1Ups are very poor choice for a home arcade.
Of course this is your opinion and you are entitled to it. We'll just have to agree to disagree. Lots of people seem to be happy to them.
Feel free to have the last word. I don't see the point of us having a back and forth when in reality, we both enjoy arcade nostalgia, but disagree on one of our many retro offerings we have these days.