Main Restorations Software Audio/Jukebox/MP3 Everything Else Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements Monitor/Video GroovyMAME Merit/JVL Touchscreen Meet Up Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing Woodworking Software Support Forums Consoles Project Arcade Reviews
Automated Projects Artwork Frontend Support Forums Pinball Forum Discussion Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board controls.dat Linux Miscellaneous Arcade Wiki Discussion Old Archives
Lightguns Arcade1Up Try the site in https mode Site News

Unread posts | New Replies | Recent posts | Rules | Chatroom | Wiki | File Repository | RSS | Submit news

  

Author Topic: ArcadeSD - holy grail or just an expensive Raspberry Pi?  (Read 5183 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Zebra

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 619
  • Last login:August 19, 2021, 01:12:24 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
ArcadeSD - holy grail or just an expensive Raspberry Pi?
« on: December 07, 2019, 03:28:23 pm »
Does anyone here own or know anything about the Arcade SD from Phoenix Arcade?

https://www.phoenixarcade.com/products/arcadesd/arcadesd-pcb-canada-shipping

It seems to be pitched as an alternative to a mame pc except, instead of needing a PC + Ipac + Apac + trackball encoder + USB2Gun + Pac drive etc, you just need their one PCB and an SD card for games. Regular joysticks connect via it's jamma edge. The PCB then has inputs for analog controls, trackballs and it even has a light gun port. It also has built in outputs for lamps n stuff. It offers a choice of CGA or VGA  and has a simple built in menu system for all of the above. Sounds neat...

As far as I can tell from the pics, the light gun port is for a real arcade Happ Light gun. It's not just a composite video port for a Guncon 2 with Wingun drivers.

At a first glance, it sounds too good to be true. The problem is that the Youtube demonstrations only show it running old games from the space invaders era (which could run on a calculator). This makes me assume that it's a POS. If it allowed you to play Time Crisis with a real arcade light gun, that would be in the Youtube video instead of Donkey Kong right? Or maybe they just suck at marketing...

Even if the PC side sucks, I wouldn't mind paying for a USB I/O board with all that functionality in one place with simple user friendly menus.

JDFan

  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3448
  • Last login:May 21, 2023, 04:07:42 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: ArcadeSD - holy grail or just an expensive Raspberry Pi?
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2019, 07:25:20 pm »
IIRC it will only run the roms that have been adapted for it - the latest list of supported games is here ( https://www.phoenixarcade.com/sites/default/files/arcadesd_gamelist2016.pdf ) -- other roms do not work on it. So no Time Crisis !

chopperthedog

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1049
  • Last login:Yesterday at 09:27:26 pm
Re: ArcadeSD - holy grail or just an expensive Raspberry Pi?
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2019, 07:43:41 pm »
It only supports the games listed in docs online (classic vertical and horizontal games early 80's), there hasn't been any updates since maybe 2014 and never will be any in the future.

Now, I own an use 2 of these boards in cabs and they are really impressive for what they are. The gun input is just for the nintendo VS duck hunt and hogans alley. But when it comes to plug and play, nothing odd feeling about the games or any control lag, friends can't find there way into a menu with some strange 20 button combo and for the games it supports it's pretty impressive.

If I had a use for another SD board I'd buy anther in a tick. I've tried the arPicade, and this other one, but it's all the same leg humping of retroarch and attract mode giving a reach around while mame has trouble getting a tongue in and add in the 6 or so frames of lag even on a crt and things become meh with a pretty menu.

ArcadeSD is right there with the controls / zero lag and games feel right. I suspect there is some sort of static binary conversions and some other cool coding going on with the arcadeSD. If you're serious about the classics (supported games) in a cab with a crt and want a solid product, that's what the arcadeSD is for.

my 2 bones.

good day.
« Last Edit: December 07, 2019, 07:45:44 pm by chopperthedog »

Zebra

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 619
  • Last login:August 19, 2021, 01:12:24 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: ArcadeSD - holy grail or just an expensive Raspberry Pi?
« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2019, 12:10:21 pm »
Thanks for the info. It's interesting and kinda surprising.

The most surprising part is that nobody has made a comparable board with less restrictions on what you can run. There are a lot of fairly average multi game PCBs but none with the convenience of having onboard I/O for all the different types of arcade games. It's such a waste to have the only arcade light gun port on a board where Duck Hunt is the only choice. That's not even a real arcade game IMO.

A board like that with more up to date mame compatible hardware would be the only kit you'd ever need to put in a cab. Well... If it had two light gun ports instead of one and output native res and refresh rates like GM instead of just CGA or VGA. 

It's also interesting what they consider to be the "golden age of arcades". To me, their list is the beginning . The golden age happened between Double Dragon and Street Fighter 2 HF. Maybe the golden age is just whenever you happened to be 11.

Titchgamer

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4222
  • Last login:December 17, 2023, 08:05:48 am
  • I have a gaming addiction.....
Re: ArcadeSD - holy grail or just an expensive Raspberry Pi?
« Reply #4 on: December 09, 2019, 04:03:51 am »
Yeah I would of loved one of these to be able to play light gun and trackball classics with plug and play compatibility.

Maybe one day.....

Howard_Casto

  • Idiot Police
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 19399
  • Last login:March 16, 2024, 05:59:16 pm
  • Your Post's Soul is MINE!!! .......Again??
    • The Dragon King
Re: ArcadeSD - holy grail or just an expensive Raspberry Pi?
« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2019, 01:11:52 pm »
It's also interesting what they consider to be the "golden age of arcades". To me, their list is the beginning . The golden age happened between Double Dragon and Street Fighter 2 HF. Maybe the golden age is just whenever you happened to be 11.

Well that term is more commonly used for comics, and it doesn't refer to the quality of the games or anything.  For comics, the golden age is when those evergreen super hero characters started popping up, like Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, ect..  so the 30's and 40's  The silver age was when super hero comics became mainstream as the main genre of comics, other, more complex heroes started appearing (the Marvel characters like Spiderman) and some of the golden age heroes got a much needed reboot (Barry Allen Flash, Hal Jordan Green Lantern, ect.)...so the 50's/60's  Everything else is modern age, even though that's a ton of years to group into one age. 

Going by that logic, the 80's would be golden age as that's when characters like Pacman and Mario appeared and some of your major genres and IPs started to emerge.  The silver age would be the 90's as that's when the games got more advanced and most genres started to cement themselves as they are today.  16bit remakes/reimagining's of older 8-bit games started to pop up as well.  Everything from the 2000's and beyond is modern age. 

yotsuya

  • Trade Count: (+21)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 19955
  • Last login:Today at 01:02:22 pm
  • 2014 UCA Winner, 2014, 2015, 2016 ZapCon Winner
    • forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137636.msg1420628.html
Re: ArcadeSD - holy grail or just an expensive Raspberry Pi?
« Reply #6 on: December 09, 2019, 01:31:47 pm »
It's also interesting what they consider to be the "golden age of arcades". To me, their list is the beginning . The golden age happened between Double Dragon and Street Fighter 2 HF. Maybe the golden age is just whenever you happened to be 11.

Well that term is more commonly used for comics, and it doesn't refer to the quality of the games or anything.  For comics, the golden age is when those evergreen super hero characters started popping up, like Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, ect..  so the 30's and 40's  The silver age was when super hero comics became mainstream as the main genre of comics, other, more complex heroes started appearing (the Marvel characters like Spiderman) and some of the golden age heroes got a much needed reboot (Barry Allen Flash, Hal Jordan Green Lantern, ect.)...so the 50's/60's  Everything else is modern age, even though that's a ton of years to group into one age. 

Going by that logic, the 80's would be golden age as that's when characters like Pacman and Mario appeared and some of your major genres and IPs started to emerge.  The silver age would be the 90's as that's when the games got more advanced and most genres started to cement themselves as they are today.  16bit remakes/reimagining's of older 8-bit games started to pop up as well.  Everything from the 2000's and beyond is modern age.

I agree with this assessment. What Zebra is describing is definitely post-Golden Age.
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

Zebra

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 619
  • Last login:August 19, 2021, 01:12:24 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: ArcadeSD - holy grail or just an expensive Raspberry Pi?
« Reply #7 on: December 10, 2019, 03:39:52 pm »
I know little to nothing of how the term "Golden age" is applied to comic books but that term is used in a bunch of different ways. The dictionary definition is:

Definition of golden age
: a period of great happiness, prosperity, and achievement

It can also mean when someone turns middle age or retirement as well as other meanings.

How this applies to arcade games is highly subjective so it's not surprising that different opinions exist. A lot depends on which period you have nostalgia for and what genre of games you prefer. One person may think of Pac Man and Mario, another may think of Ryu, Haggar and Billy and Jimmy Lee.

yotsuya

  • Trade Count: (+21)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 19955
  • Last login:Today at 01:02:22 pm
  • 2014 UCA Winner, 2014, 2015, 2016 ZapCon Winner
    • forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137636.msg1420628.html
Re: ArcadeSD - holy grail or just an expensive Raspberry Pi?
« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2019, 03:54:17 pm »
I know little to nothing of how the term "Golden age" is applied to comic books but that term is used in a bunch of different ways. The dictionary definition is:

Definition of golden age
: a period of great happiness, prosperity, and achievement

It can also mean when someone turns middle age or retirement as well as other meanings.

How this applies to arcade games is highly subjective so it's not surprising that different opinions exist. A lot depends on which period you have nostalgia for and what genre of games you prefer. One person may think of Pac Man and Mario, another may think of Ryu, Haggar and Billy and Jimmy Lee.

You need to look at the industry as a whole. What your are describing is “Your Golden Age”.
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

Zebra

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 619
  • Last login:August 19, 2021, 01:12:24 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: ArcadeSD - holy grail or just an expensive Raspberry Pi?
« Reply #9 on: December 15, 2019, 06:14:47 pm »
I know little to nothing of how the term "Golden age" is applied to comic books but that term is used in a bunch of different ways. The dictionary definition is:

Definition of golden age
: a period of great happiness, prosperity, and achievement

It can also mean when someone turns middle age or retirement as well as other meanings.

How this applies to arcade games is highly subjective so it's not surprising that different opinions exist. A lot depends on which period you have nostalgia for and what genre of games you prefer. One person may think of Pac Man and Mario, another may think of Ryu, Haggar and Billy and Jimmy Lee.

You need to look at the industry as a whole. What your are describing is “Your Golden Age”.

I agree. That was my point. I.e. That's what we all do, whether we know it or not. It's not a black and white issue. It's an opinion based on our own perception and memories.

BTW, the definition I posted above is not mine. It's a cut an paste from the Webster's dictionary. I.e, it's not just what I think, it's what most people think. The definitions vary slightly between dictionaries but none describe it as any more than opinion. How long is a golden age? When does it start? What are it's criteria? None of that is defined. Some add that it's a period a person has rose-tinted memories of. That sounds about right to me.
 
Wikipedia describes a "classical age" and a "golden age" of Hollywood (movies). You think Pac-Man and Space invaders was the golden age. I think of it as being more like the equivalent of the classical age. Those simple one-screen games are the gaming equivalent of black and white silent movies.