Tiny Arcade - Playable Mini Arcade Games

[@Nostalgianerd]

I'd love to create a model arcade full of these. With the camera close up, you could almost mistake them for the real thing.

[@Techmoan]

Yes I agree, that low light shot towards the end made me think the same thing. Just need to train up some hamsters to play them.

[@Nostalgianerd]

Techmoan you get the machines. I'll start working on the hamsters.

[@Techmoan]

There’s a bit more information about this in the video description text box. If you are viewing on a smartphone or tablet app click the downward pointing triangle to the right of the title below the video. If you are viewing on the web, click on the words “show more’. *Note: You can't get Q-Bert, Asteroids and Frogger in this range* - those are from a different manufacturer and the machines are considerably larger - these "Tiny Arcade" machines are made by a company called "Super Impulse" and as yet they only make the four machines shown superimpulse.com/our-brands/tiny-arcade-2/ You can see that range of larger machines demonstrated by 8-bit Guy in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6bSYaGghK5gp6c

[@HowlinMadMurD0C]

Techmoan you can get these at a shop called Menkind if you have one in you area? £18.99!

[@dl8cy]

£24,99 - 10% ! www.menkind.co.uk/mini-pac-man

[@Techmoan]

I could have saved myself a bit of money - unfortunately I couldn't find anywhere in the UK that stocked them back when I ordered mine in early November. They only seem to sell two of the range of four, but that's still a better deal for most people in the UK. I'll add the info into the video description text box, thanks.

[@LyonsdenBlog]

Mike Herbst thanks for the link to a UK stockist! Buying now! :-)

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

That other manufacturer that put out the ones for Q*bert, Frogger, Rampage, Defender and Joust tend to use inferior ports using "NOAC" (Nintendo on a Chip) hacks... kzbin.info/www/bejne/pai9XmZ7j9uZpbc Someone found a way to hack the Joust one to play Defender on it! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5y1p6acl8aXf9U

[@buymeskittles2719]

I know for a fact I'd get one of these and play with it like twice and show it to a few friends and then never use it again, but I still want one.

[@jzip]

@elena I saw it at the store and I was close to buying it but said exactly that

[@Slycoomer56]

exactly just like any emulator

[@fbi855]

Lol same

[@BrookeKatherine.]

I have it and I legitimately got a record of 53,000. Something is wrong with me lmao.

[@jagottem100]

I got the Ms. Pac-Man one for my birthday and that's exactly how it was like 😂

[@AnalogX64]

If you are on a budget you can add a selector switch and play all 4 games on one unit, since each unit contains all four games on the circuit board, there are videos on youtube showing you how to do this.

[@tubeviewerX20]

What an awesome novelty! It really shows how far technology has come, from a huge 6-foot-tall machine to a keychain.

[@edwardgreenjr167]

FYI - All four of these use the same exact circuit board. The game playing is done by a jumper setting. So if you were so inclined, you could just by one and still play all four games. There are videos showing how to mod this with an external switch to make it easier, as well. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKerna2lad5-aK8

[@jasonkeenan7381]

Beat me to it mate. Was after one myself but too expensive for a novelty

[@MarioManTV]

Edward Green, Jr I was a bit disappointed that he didn't tear them apart like the 8-Bit Guy did. Thanks for this.

[@ELECTROHAXZ]

A friend of mine has one and he had the issue that it didn't save high scores, so I took it apart, added a 1 farad super capacitor across the battery input and now it saves highscores for up to 8 hours after removing the batteries, would have been nice if they put one in while manufacturing them.

[@ThePiquedPigeon]

Stuff like this really makes you think about the technological progress: 40 years ago, you needed a big full sized cabinet for even these games, and now...

[@jusb1066]

and now they are too small to play, imagine if someone shrunk chess to atomic size pieces. how much fun that would be (not really)

[@mgscheue]

True, mostly empty, but the PC boards were still pretty big. Here's a Ms. Pacman board: coinoppartsetc.com/product/parts-sale-pcb-boards/ms-pac-man-pacman-arcade-machine-game-pcb-printed-circuit-board-set-0

[@DogsBAwesome]

I was working in the Tickled Trout in 78/9 when they had a trade exhibition on Space invaders, after all the suits had buggered off, us plebs got into the room and had a play. It was the first time I had ever seen anything other than pong. As the consoles were on free play there was no sleep that night.

[@Perktube1]

I remember the black lights, the indirect lighting, the constant sounds of the machines, going back to the owner again and again for more quarters. If like to see Joust on these.

[@mikeangelo6667]

There are miniature chess sets available as well as Scrabble, Parcheesi, Chutes & Ladders, Candyland and even Mouse Trap.

[@Clell65619]

You always come up with the oddest things. I've seen these minicabinets in a few videogame shops but never imagined they were actually playable. Much too small for my old eyes, but still interesting.

[@RArecordingsRickValcon]

Where is the brown sofa?... O..wait.

[@LUchesi]

"I get it!"

[@chadkirk150]

Ha!

[@lShishkaBerryl]

are we still doing these?

[@DanVR001]

Fucking inflatable fucking crown!

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

Nah, it's still there.

[@mullahviking]

You are genuinely good at what you are doing Techman.

[@InvidiousIgnoramus]

I've seen these on store shelves but not once did i think to try them out. I'm impressed that they have full color screens

[@CoinOpTV]

awesome - some classic arcade games for sure!

[@mglmouser]

A while ago in a different video I saw that these units actually contain all the games and that only the cabinet decoration and packaging differ. The circuity contains a switch that sets it for one of the games.

[@603840Jrg]

Technology has really come far. I used to have the earlier version of the Pac-Man one that was really just a shoddy Game&Watch-like rendition of it.

[@WalcomS7]

These seem somewhat better than those Arcade Classics mini arcade machines because these actually keep score when those don't, but these don't seem to run at full speed and they're considerably smaller. Hard to say what's the better buy.

[@Diabolos1]

The 8-bit Guy also did a video on these and some vintage ones. These new machines are apparently hackable and may actually contain several games. Game selection can be changed by fiddling with the circuit board inside.

[@Techmoan]

There’s a bit more information about this in the video description text box.

[@NeilVanceNeilVance]

I think I saw one of these in TK Max last week ... I love the look of them in your dark room demo ... cool that the marquee's are back lit! ... Thanks so much for making this!

[@Perktube1]

How cute. And they bring back memories. You need to mount them in a small diorama display with a little black light on top and pre-recorded arcade sounds. If like to see missile command, tail gunner, and Victor graphics on a miniature scale.

[@liverush24]

If they made a load more of these, I would build a cardboard arcade to put them in.

[@testietfoot411]

"Welcome to the Mini-cade! We have classic arcade games like pac man,space invaders,mario bros and more!"

[@ViciousAlienKlown]

I have the MS Pac Man cabinet and plan to buy the other three. I already have 5 of the Walmart arcade cabinets. The fact that these are playable make them even better.

[@YouNaughtyMoose]

I'm glad you're doing more video game related stuff lately. I know it's a long shot but I hope one day you do vintage console/computer tear-downs and retrospectives. I know there's a million of them already but it's not so much the products as it is the personality of who's presenting it that makes it enjoyable (or not from some peoples perspective I guess). Products that I either have no interest in or have heard about them a million times I still usually enjoy watching if they're put out by one of my favourite content creators. I'd be happy to give you some suggestions! Lol

[@wingwong1910]

I personally found the joystick to be somewhat stiff and hard to operate. On the other hand, as someone else already mentioned, since the motherboard actually contains all four games, if you have a bit of soldering skill you can open it up, and hook up a slider switch so that you can choose which game to activate on power up (you just have to make sure that you buy the model that has the fire button, in my case Space Invaders). It certainly saves you the money of buying the entire set.

[@bradchervel5202]

If you told myself at 10 this would exist, I would have died right there and been in heaven.

[@FlippytheMasterofPie]

I’ve always had a fantasy of owning my own arcade cabinet so this recent trend of tabletop and IKEA-style constructible arcade cabinets makes my sweat a little bit...but this seems like something that I would play for literally five minutes and then never touch again. The fact that you need a magnifying glass to play them sort of puts a damper on my enthusiasm for them. But ONE DAY I shall own my own arcade cabinet. ONE DAY. Probably when I move into a house that actually has, you know, room

[@MarcZERO1980]

These games would be perfect for a Borrower or Stewart Little.

[@weswesley826]

There’s a slightly larger version I really like that I’ve found at Walmart and target. They have quite a few arcade games to choose from

[@Deep_wolf]

Classic Game Room must get one!

[@SnickyNicky96]

They should totally make more of these. I would collect all of them and have a mini arcade with me everywhere I go.

[@RedMageGaming]

and the best part, all four games are on each of them. with just a simple jumper soldered to the board telling it what game to load when powered.

[@BestVideosToWatchTV]

I have three off these that i bought. I hang them on the wall in my game room. Cool little mini arcade machines!

[@nasonguy]

Glad I saw this! Picked a few up for Christmas gifts from amazon, checked back half an hour later and they are sold out now!

[@pasu2k]

Kind of wish you could plug it into an outlet so you can just leave it on forever, making it a cute light on a dark shelf

[@pasu2k]

Matthew Davies exactly!

[@bigb333]

pasu2k You want some kind of battery eliminator - you can get these things that sit in the battery compartment but are hooked up to wires running to a mains transformer. Useful :)

[@pasu2k]

Hmm intersting... :)

[@runetech]

I saw a tear-down of a couple of those, and apparently they are all identical. The difference is a jumper on the main board which determines what game will be started. So theoretically you could mount a four-way switch on one and attach it to the jumper-pins and you would have all four games. However, it might have been another version. But worth checking out.

[@sellersgarner]

Those are beautiful. I forgot about them, but do recall them. I don't recall any friend having them, etc., but do recall them existing, they would have been disapearing just as I was old enough to notice them.

[@MrThunderwing]

If Sega did some tiny versions of Outrun and After Burner (complete with the back-lit marquees like these ones) I would be all over those, even it the practicality of playing on a tiny screen with a tiny steering wheel or joystick isn't really ideal.

[@chesterfumblenutts6935]

Love these little things! Made sure my family got one for Xmas last year. 😁

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Seriously, you could spend hours putting together such a cool model like the way people fascinate over their model train sets!

[@FCV0511]

They really put some effort into these - the backlit marquee sign is the icing on the cake.

[@ericfresh]

What I want is this in the 80's portable LCD arcade form factor (about 4x bigger) those were awesome back in the day and I would love to have one with the color screen.

[@fastlane250]

They’ve got these at Walmart here in the US now for around $13. I bought a Pac-Man one to put with my Coleco tabletop on the shelf just to show how far tech has come.

[@brandon9271]

Definitely a novelty. Looks like msPacman is running at about 10 fps. Also, the arcade cabs aren't modelled after their real world counterparts. They look more like Williams cabinet, Joust, Sinistar, Bubbles, etc. Still a neat little gadget for the price and I have no doubt somebody has put a Raspberry pi zero in one :)

[@locouk]

In Switzerland, our hotel in the 80’s had a space invader machine. We got fed up putting Franc’s in it so used to jiggle the power switch to get unlimited games.

[@fromfin90]

i wanna know what's inside one of these

[@philrod1]

^^ what he said!

[@twocvbloke]

A microcomputer, 'nuff said... :P

[@iscander_s]

Probably ordinary NES-on-a-chip.

[@MrBrax]

Check out 8 bit guy's video on these

[@jasonkloos6348]

twocvbloke but can it be replaced with a Raspberry Pi so you can add more games?

[@PoweredByRedstonecom]

Fun Tip! if you open the device up, you'll find a set of 4 solder bridges labeled A, B, C, D. A is Ms. Pac-Man, B is Pac-Man, C is Galaxian, and D is Space Invaders. No bridges is test mode.

[@SAVAGE308SNIPER]

I love miniature stuff or oversized stuff. These are beautiful!

[@MRSTU1210]

I believe there is a switch on the board of those arcade games as seen on the 8-bit guy so they have 2 games on each mini arcade game peace.

[@TheLetterTen]

Aw these are so cute looking and this review was also cute. Thank you so much Techmoan for putting our consistent quality content.

[@Bro3256Films]

I will buy one of these if there's a Galaga version

[@wildbilltexas]

I'd love to see one too. I just bought a Itek "Multicade 230" from Family Dollar for $25. There's a lot of "shovelware" games on it, but some are NES hacks like Galaga (called Galaxy Battle) on it.

[@ericbazinga]

Same, I love Galaga

[@edstar83]

There will be.

[@edstar83]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2GsZJanjKuomMU

[@bland9876]

Strange as a kid I loved galaga more but now I only play glaxian

[@JamieLikesGames]

I found the Pac Man one at Walmart for $12. I snagged it and I really like it a lot. Nice little thing to show people

[@buckgill3021]

I am a big big time fan of the old school games such as these guys! I have never seen these!! These little guys are just about the coolest things I have ever seen!! Yes I'm a super nerd!! Lol

[@TimothyONeill_84.]

Tested did a review of these mini arcade games as well but all they did was talked about it but showed very little of it. I think you did a better job of doing both, thanks.

[@twicethemegapower3995]

Each one actually contains all 4 games on the PCB and if you crack them open, you can change the jumpers to select a different game to boot. Ben Heckendorn from the Ben Heck Show created a hack to add a selector switch

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Looks like the sort of thing to stick into a nice diorama if one wanted to replicate an arcade!

[@MichaelBennett1]

Bought a couple of Space Invaders from eBay UK for £17 each. Week or two to arrive but they were a must have, putting a rotary dial on the back of both for switching games.

[@rchaffer]

1:37 "I'm looking through the camera's viewfinder at the screen" - welcome to the Ashens Experience™

[@WickedGamerCollector]

These mini's are so awesome !

[@Clone42]

Why is every single version of Ms Pacman 50% slower than the one I was addicted to at my local arcade? They're so slow it bores me to tears, while on that machine I couldn't let ANYONE get above me on the leaderboard. It was an obsession.

[@Shundi12]

The marquees lighting up is a really nice touch. The emulation looks a little slow on Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, but great little collectables though.

[@filipmac1545]

Wow, one of these would make a great Christmas gift.

[@BeauSkunk]

I have the Space Invaders one, it works great. It says these are officially licensed by Taito & Namco too.

[@vladimirvolkhov6786]

I've got the Space Invaders, I love these little arcade games. I wish they would make many many more. Including berserk, and Battlezone.

[@havoc3434]

Honestly, I love miniature little doodads of all kinds, especially if they happen to be mechanical. Though I will admit that electronic miniaturization is amazing too. Most notably in regards to Moore's Law and it's impact on modern society.

[@DarkKnight-bn9gu]

little disclaimer they sell them at your local wallmarts in the U.S. and I believe if I'm correct all 4 are sold in the gaming aisles and I'm not too sure about game stop but I believe they sell them as well

[@stevef6392]

Man, that shot with the lights off looks like it was taken at a real arcade.

[@jaxnean2663]

You can make a display for these items resembling an 80s arcade room. That would be so cool!

[@malcolmdonohoe9388]

Saw them in a Waterstones last week as well - wondered what they were like. Considering purchase now... Definitely are the same units.

[@rustblade5021]

i think a lecture on cd error-correction might be interesting? without it, even just the slightest scratch would make discs unplayable. also its pretty cool how incredibly scratched a disc can be before it wont play

[@jublywubly]

Kmart, Australia, sells three mini arcade machines, from the same range: Pac Man, Galaxian, and Space Invaders. I haven't seen Ms Pac Man, in their stores, but they do have Frogger. They're rather cheap, too, at only AU$20 each! :-) (Although that does add up, quickly) Last year, I bought a "Retro Arcade Machine". It's about the same tiny scale as your machines. This one came with about 300 built-in games. Realistically, about 1/3 are just variations of each other. There's probably about 30 decent games, making the AU$50 price a good deal. I've seen several other multi-game mini arcade machines. I haven't been able to find out what games are in them, though. From their packaging, they seem as if they're like the one I already have, only with different decals and less games.

[@diemwing]

I wonder if these are the same as one that the 8-bit guy looked at. if so, they're all the same logic board with all the games in memory (hence the extraneous button on Pac-man). There's a set of contacts on the board that you jump to select which game it accesses.

[@AtheistOrphan]

Quality video (as always). Now all they need to do is make a ‘table’ version that I remember playing in pubs in the early 80’s.

[@mydasmurray]

The chip inside contains all four games, so you just need to buy one and wire it differently, then can switch between the games. Not that people are going to do that, but worth knowing

[@dawge30]

I'm kinda surprised on how well made they appeared. But, maybe it's just your wonderful quality videos. Thanks for posting.

[@espurious]

I love tiny versions of things, so these really scratch an itch.

[@bswiders]

Wal-Mart in Canada sells mini arcade machines of the same games. But the machines look different and have inferior green and black LCD screens that are not backlit.

[@JimGardner]

I'm sure others have already pointed this out, but better to be on the safe side, if you check out 8 bit guy's video on these he shows you how to mod them so each cabinet plays two different games. As I remember Galaxion can be switched to play Space Invaders as well and Ms Pac Man can also play the regular Pac Man. Which is neat, I guess!

[@gamecat666]

its odd that Galaxians and pacman (both) run at a pretty low frame rate, yet space invaders seems to run quite smooth.

[@xtraOhrdiNAIR]

Whats inside the box ? Disassemble maybe ?

[@m2pt5]

I don't know if these are the same model Ben Heck took apart, but the ones he did had dip switches inside to choose the game, and each of them had all four games on it.

[@WaybackTECH]

I am impressed they bothered to make these actually function instead of putting a pretty printed sticker where the screen is and maybe have it make sound when you push one of the buttons.

[@Spiderelectron]

Fantastic interesting little machines!

[@bilal00276]

I was hoping you'd disassemble one

[@Gojiro7]

I saw one of these at work and didn't pick one up because I was sure it would be like a Tiger LED game but im super suprised by this, im gonna pick one up now :D

[@Raptor50aus]

thanks Mr Techmoan I have ordered the space invaders from Amazon. childhood memories and lots of coins back then :)

[@JeffDeWitt]

Very cool, just ordered one as a Christmas present.

[@preferredimage]

Just got one of these myself. You can do a mod inside to unlock all 4 games on any of the cabinets with just 4 bits of wire between the joystick and the game select pads on the PCB.

[@SeMr7en]

Mat Recardo how would u select the game you wanted to play?

[@preferredimage]

The units ship with all 4 games built in, but a solder joint across 2 pads determines which game it plays (saves on manufacturing costs). if you remove the link (across pads labelled A B C and D. then wire up 4 wires to the joystick control wires (first 4 nearest the LCD screen ribbon) when you power on with a direction held, you get a game, if you power up without holding a direction, you get a test rom that lets you check the buttons and screen are working (I guess included as part of the manufacturing process).

[@Lumibear.]

I got one of these for my birthday, the Space Invaders one, it’s just too cute, I love it. Top tip if you want to buy one (sorry, life-hack, if you’re under 40) Amazon.com has them and will send them direct from America so long as you pay the postage, takes a while like, but it’s perfectly affordable.

[@JamesMossR33]

Now look what you've done Mat! Ordered myself Space Invaders, and shipped from the US it's cheaper than Menkind is without shipping. I seem to be buying more Christmas presents for myself than for others this year. Still, thanks, I didn't know about these.

[@keithAstansell]

Too bad they don't have micro-USB ports for always-on power. I think it would be cool if you could have a group of them sitting on your desk as a mini-arcade on and running in "attract mode". You can't do with just batteries (for long). Also, how do they compare to the size of action figures? I can see setting these up with little Darth Vaders and Luke Skywalkers playing the games.

[@TreadTheDonutDuck]

I got one of these, and they’re pretty cool. Only complaint is that they don’t have a usb micro port so you could keep them in idle mode.

[@fish4fun354]

Walmart carries Frogger, Q Bert, Centipede, and Asteroids. So there are other options too.

[@Techmoan]

Those are from a different manufacturer and are considerably bigger - there's a bit more information about this in the video description text box - but these "Tiny Arcade" machines are made by a company called "Super Impulse" and as yet they only make the four machines shown superimpulse.com/our-brands/tiny-arcade-2/

[@fish4fun354]

Ahhhh alright I assumed it was made by the same manufactures.

[@reeffeeder]

I thought this was an 8-Bit Guy video and was pleasantly surprised post click.

[@gummel82]

reeffeeder I see another 8 bit guy fan :D Thought the same lmao

[@emptyspotlight]

the 2 have collaborated, the cassette boom box one

[@FCV0511]

I ended up purchasing and gifting a few of these for Christmas after your video - much appreciated!

[@CardwellYoung]

Best retro tech man on KZbin.

[@meowwaffles6040]

I got one for Galaga at a cracker barrel, it works beautifully, doesn't save that high score when turned off though.

[@jasonknight1085]

It almost looks like they used my 5x5 sprite-sheet for Paku Paku, but without the eyes changing direction or the full chomp/death animation... and without making the map look better by properly aligning the pellets and borders. Even so it does look a LOT like the same 3:8 ratio of original game to screen. Makes me want to get one just to see if they lifted anything (else) from my game as a shortcut.

[@EqualsThreeable]

Thanks Techmoan, you just found me the perfect Christmas gift.

[@mysticvirgo9318]

all four running at once in demo makes such a joyous noise! :)

[@BillyTheKidAudit]

LOVE YOUR CHANNEL TECMOAN. I SHOWED MY DAUGHTER THIS VIDEO AND SHE LITERALLY CRIED FOR ONE... LOL... THANKS, LOOKS LIKE IM PURCHASING ONE.

[@JD_Mortal]

Totally unrelated... These fit well on a lego-base. They will not "lock-in", but the feet seem to come right up to the nibs on the lego pads. I may build a little lego-arcade now. I got one for free. Found it on the floor in walmart. Figured that some kid dropped his "toy keychain". It shocked me when I saw it was actually a real, (real tiny) arcade machine. I wish it came with a complimentary magnifying-glass and I would have rather had an external remote control that works with them too. You know, for "fat fingers" and "old eyes".