Arcade1up Claw Machine is another let down

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Is this latest SNAFU from A1up the final nail, or just a blip on the radar?

[@saiyanspirits]

I hope they can claw their way back.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

That joke's almost as bad as making a claw machine that has a claw that won't drop. Almost....

[@oldskool7423]

Haaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

[@domeshtan1677]

Maybe they could make that Uncle Fester Shock machine from years back. Nothing to break down. They can just connect the AC current directly to the hand grips to save money.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Now who wouldn't want that in their home? ;)

[@JayCuts]

It's almost like they want to go out of business.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Right?

[@decadentdave]

Yet they continue to coast on sales of Pac-Man and Countercades.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Pac-Man is the foundation of their business. There's nothing wrong with that is a general sense, except that there's diminishing returns.

[@paulutah9176]

Tbh they are almost done for I suspect. It's like star wars they need to put out a good run of amazing products to turn it around and change the narrative. Not just one but at least three or four.

[@Th3DarkCanuck]

Apparently you have to enter the Konami code to get it working again. Along with some janky resets with the control board lol.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

And you have to say "John D" 3 times in a mirror whilst spinning around!

[@Allen-v1r]

This will be a fitting and unfortunate end. I would love to meet the leaders who drove this business into a wall. This company had great potential and retailers shelf space. They blew it due to poor executive leadership, execution and lack of innovation. Great video.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Thanks Allen! Now some of the decisions that really crippled A1up happened before current leadership - SIMPSONS, T2, and BLITZ were all disasters for A1up but aren't the fault of people there now. But putting out the "skinny" NBA JAM game & a boring looking claw machine that appears to be broken out of box are. So is the near-total lack of communication with fans and bad customer service.

[@bonesjackson81]

Mordecai and Rigby say this is the Death Blow. 💥

[@ArtSproul]

Did you have TaskRabbit do the assembly?

[@gamerfridge]

LOL, Having the Claw work is a great feature.

[@KingEdAV]

You’re asking a lot! 🙄

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Next you'll be wanting an arcade game that lasts more than 4 months before frying itself - jeez!

[@PC_TV_73]

I spent half the night building it and then my claw did not drop so I spent another few hours researching and yes, I bought it for my son not for myself and I’m so frustrated that it doesn’t work. I may just do a charge back on the credit card and forward it to garbage. I’m not taking it apart. I don’t even have the box to ship it back, but that was my last product from them.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Thank you for sharing (and sorry that it happened)! This should have been a no-brainer slam dunk for A1up - no licensing, a tech that's been around forever, very light release schedule. Instead, it's what it is - a mess.

[@mrbigdaddykool7648]

I wonder if this is a sign ATgames has a claw machine coming out ?

[@carlo1132]

#ClawGate, I wouldnt say the final nail, but they dont have many nails left before we put a fork in them!

[@KaneTime22]

I'd say a bit of both. We have had a blast with it so far, but I have had to fix mine twice so far

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

The reviews on Amazon are sorta the same - the ones who have units that haven't broken seem to really like them... but nearly 50% of the reviews are 1 star because, well, they broke.

[@RETROOBLIVION]

I look at this claw machine thing as Arcade 1Up's last breath before it sinks and drowns. I seen this coming.😂 I made a video a month ago trying to convince people my claw machine was better. Mine still works perfectly and it was cheaper! Excellent video! I look forward to checking out those vampire videos you made.👍👍

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Thank you! Hey, go ahead a leave a link to your claw machine if you want!

[@jonarsenal]

Sega, Sony and nintendo don't want you to play roms and want sites closed down. Theres no way they will do them a famour for HOTD or Daytona unless they take their property over

[@5teve..]

Mine broke within the first 15 minutes. Look it up I posted a video, the claw doesn't drop anymore.. it's going to break on everybody.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Steve, it's pretty apparent that the design is sub-optimal even if the claw did work like champ... which it clearly doesn't. As I mention in the video, the lack of attention to detail on some of the A1up designs is truly stunning (the placement of Homer's buttons on THE SIMPSONS is something I still shake my head about).

[@tedadamgreen]

Thanks for another good video ! 👊🏻😎🕹️

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Thank you Ted, always good to hear from you!

[@GrampsArcade]

I have no issues with customer service. Always responsive. Are you opening tickets for TRON with their app? If you’re just emailing them they may not respond. They use a ticket system.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

I did exactly what their (poor) website asks a customer to do. Multiple times. Not a peep.

[@GrampsArcade]

@ I use the app to open tickets not web. Always works

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Well, I'll try that too... not that I have much hope for success.

[@specialagentorange4329]

The arcade1up ceo can not even conduct an interview. How did he get the position?

[@oldskool7423]

I got rid of all my 1ups. Poor quality and releasing products that are mediocre led me to this. Nostalgia can only blind people for so long. There are a lot better alternatives than these cheaply made products.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Some of them are fine - the Pac-Man's are good machines, in part because they don't try to pretend to be able to fit 2 (or more ridiculously 4) grown people around them. My T2 still (knocks wood) works right. I would like a F&F cab at some point. But any 2 or 4 player cab is inherently silly just based on size alone.

[@marknorville4192]

The machine is nothing but a cash grab. It is a product that they hope to sell to make money, all of the profits will go to them as there is no branding. I am shocked that they have not made a vending machine for soft drinks as yet.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

OK, that's pretty funny Mark. If they ever do make a vending machine my advice is to make sure it dispenses the cans after the money is put in - people kinda expect that.

[@nicholassuriano6957]

Thanks to you.... they will now!!! lol

[@HorrorRod]

:)

[@theoldar]

Ah yes, the 8,473 "final nail" since they shipped their first cab in 2018. The haters have been predicting doom from day one. Why do so many people chose to hate on the ONE COMPANY that has actually tried to bring the arcade experience home for people without tens of thousands of dollars to spend on machines? Obviously the vast majority of people who buy these cabs have a positive experience with them. That's why they are "foamers" (oh, I just love the name calling, @MikeS). Sooner or later A1Up will go out of business, as all businesses do, and the haters will say "See! I told you so!" (As a P.S. I own a real coin-op claw machine. They are a vastly over-rated addition to any arcade that isn't visited by children on a regular basis. It gets old very quickly.)

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

I certainly don't hate them; far from it. I want nothing more then to have A1up be smartly run company that produces new, exciting products that work as you'd expect. Tell you what, if they're still in business to star 2026 I owe you a Coke.

[@specialagentorange4329]

Numbers don't lie

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

And the most important number is zero - which is the number of new titles from them in 2024.

[@KingEdAV]

I’ll pick up an A1Up Flaw Machine at closeout price of $199. Arcade1Up knew about the claw “flaw” and released the product anyway. Terrible!

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

I don't know if they knew about the flaw... but they sure should have. Just as they should have known that they weren't getting BOE screens (instead of TNs) for an entire year's worth of cabs.

[@KingEdAV]

@ There are clues that lead to the high likelihood that Arcade1Up released this unit knowing about the wire harness issue. One, their initial teaser video showed a loose control panel (the panel that must be removed to aid in temporarily fixing the claw issue) and two, they released a fix video as soon as they received complaints about the claw failing. Hmmmmmm!

[@Th3DarkCanuck]

@@KingEdAV That's true!

[@kevgret]

We warned you....

[@ThomasGrillo]

Yeah, I think I'm done collecting A1ups. My brand new Galaga Deluxe has started showing display artifacts, and customer support wanted me to take the whole thing apart, photograph the connections, and I've not heard from them, since. Started failing, yup, 90 days later. All of my deluxe cabs, and second wave legacy editions have started locking up, if left on more than a couple of hours. That also started about 2, or 3 months on. What I "was" going to spend on another A1up, I just put towards a nice collection of simulation panels, and controls for the newly released Flight Sim 2024. Thanks for the video.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Well at least they emailed you back - it's more then they did for me! First I've heard of them locking up, but with the way they completely surround the PCB with metal, it's little wonder.

[@decadentdave]

No offense JDV but this video comes off as mostly hyperbole. Only a few people have reported issues with the Claw and there was an immediate fix provided by Arcade1up which was a simple factory reset. Should we have to rely on a Band-Aid fix? No. But the percentage of issues so far is minimal and almost kind of expected considering all the complexity of the motors and gears. When they begin to fail in less than a year across the board then we’ll talk.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Dave - fair point: perhaps these problems are minor/easily fixed & on a small percentage of machines. I doubt many will be sold, so we may never know, but hey - it might yet be a hit. But the rest of my arguments, including the lack-luster graphics, zero new titles, and long track history of design defects and/or poor QC are pretty much inarguable.

[@xcom6466]

He speaks the truth. 1UP has been messing up for the past few years. They need to stick to arcades.

[@decadentdave]

@xcom6466 but his doom and gloom rhetoric gets old. Arcade1up still keeps plodding along. People are just disgruntled they don’t make what they want. Don’t like it? Don’t buy it. Meanwhile Arcade1up is far from closing their doors.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

@@decadentdave That remains to be seen....

[@decadentdave]

@@evilgeniusentertainment it’s far from the final nail in the coffin you have been saying for the last year. JamesHatesEverything showed 1up’s financials and they were surprisingly good. But I understand how all the negativity in the community is fueling clicks and views for youtube dramatizers. Nothing else to talk about.

[@MikeS-el6vd]

The Arcade1Up “foamers” don’t care though as they will buy anything the company puts out. “Foamers” are what I like to call people who foam at the mouth for anything a company puts out.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Mike, always good to hear from you! But I do think this is the one time die-hard A1up fans will keep their cash - a) It doesn't even drop and b) it's not a branded cab. For a company that made their bones by putting out gorgeous machines, this one looks like a dud. That it's an actual dud makes it much worse.

[@decadentdave]

That would be Corner Cade

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

And I don't think even he will buy the claw machine!