This week, Adrian reviews the AtGames Legends Ultimate home arcade machine from arcade supremos Liberty Games. Watch the review or read it below.
Assembling the AtGames Legends Ultimate
The arcade machine is easy to assemble, with clear instructions provided. The screws were also contained in separate compartments, making my life even easier. It took me and my son around 30 minutes to fully put together. If I can do it, anyone can.
Look and Feel
The AtGames Legends Ultimate is one impressive looking machine. The pictures online do not do it justice, this is one quality-built machine.
Standing around 6ft tall, it would fit in seamlessly to any classic 80s arcade! The wooden exterior is glossy, the screen is pristine and everything up to the joysticks and buttons feel high quality. Turning on the power button for the first time gave me a huge buzz.
It also boasts two sets of well-made and durable joysticks with six action buttons each. There are also two spinners (hello Tempest!) and a full-sized track ball. If that wasn’t enough, there are pinball buttons on the cabinet’s side.
Usability
After inputting my Wi-Fi details and registering my arcade, I was ready to dive right in!
The menu screen is easy to navigate but the first thing that really jumped out at me was the clear screen. The pixelated graphics stood out like a beacon of gaming goodness, showing the true power of the 24” HD LCD display.
I loaded up a quick game of Disney’s Aladdin to first test out the arcade machine in all its glory. Now, this is a game that I loved on my Mega Drive back in the day and I never thought I would be playing this platforming classic on an arcade machine!
Games on the AtGames Legends Ultimate
The Legends Ultimate Arcade includes 300 fully licensed games. These include arcade classics such Asteroids, Tetris, Space Invaders, Centipede, Tempest and Burger Time. I was also impressed with slightly more modern arcade games such as Operation Wolf, Rod-Land, Thunder Fox and Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja.
It also boasts a good selection of console classics such as Aladdin, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Brutal Sports Football, The Lion King, Joe & Mac and three classic Super Star Wars titles. A decent number of games, covering many genres that’ll keep you busy for many hours.
The lack of a seriously good fighting title was a tad disappointing. The inclusion of the classic Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat or even a classic console title such as Eternal Champions would have helped fill a small, yet significant hole in the arcade’s library.
You can boost your game selection though, with the Legends Arcade Family Platform, which allows you to enable a growing selection of additional titles and features. This feature also opens the Bring Your Own Games (BYOG) setting. This feature is certainly an area well worth exploring.
It’s fascinating comparing this selection of games, to, let’s say, a fully loaded RetroPie with literally 1000s of titles stretching across every arcade title and console imaginable. The Ultimate Arcade’s 300 games will certainly keep you busy, but a few extra killer titles would have taken this arcade to a whole other level.
However, I fully appreciate there’s bound to be many licensing issues, which makes the Star Wars and Disney titles already included, more and more impressive!
Graphics & Gameplay
The AtGames Legends Ultimate boasts amazing graphics and gameplay. Most of the titles are 2D pixel-based games. This arcade shows off every pixel to perfection. The HD LCD screen is made for these arcade and console titles. Every title I played looked like the cats’ whiskers. One huge highlight for me was playing Zombies Ate My Neighbors with son Tate, on an amazing screen – with arcade sticks! Something, I never expected to try out in my life. This machine really stands up with two player fun – perfect for a gaming night with your friends!
Sound
The machine has high-quality sound from its down-firing stereo speakers. I also liked the discreet volume buttons, allowing me to annoy the neighbours with the iconic Tetris soundtrack!
You can’t beat the classic arcade sounds and music from the past. This machine helps you relive the glory days in pristine quality.
Features of the AtGames Legends Ultimate
The menu and accessibility of the AtGames Legends Ultimate is another plus point. It also has a high score feature and access to other upgrades mentioned earlier. The fact that the arcade has a trackball and spinners is a huge plus point. I couldn’t seem to find a pinball game in the 300 included titles though, so the pinball buttons have so far remained untested.
Conclusion
I have so far had a lot of fun with this arcade machine. The game selection is good but not perfect, but the feel of playing on a high-quality arcade machine cannot be underestimated. Just grasping those joysticks and enjoying a quick blast of Tron or Midnight Resistance is quite frankly, an amazing feeling. So, if you have a few spare quid, and you are looking for a decent arcade machine for your man or woman-cave, the Ultimate Arcade from AtGames is certainly a decent option.
Adrian