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Review: iCade Arcade Cabinet for iPad
Last year when the iPad was released, the geek shopping site ThinkGeek debuted an arcade cabinet that would play retro games using the iPad as the screen. The problem? It was an April Fool’s joke.
That didn’t last long. When it was clear this was something people really wanted to buy, the product became a reality. Now, the $99 iCade Arcade Cabinet, a beefy, well-built personal video game machine, is a reality. But is $99 (on top of what you might have paid for an iPad) too much to spend to indulge in some retro video game whimsy, especially when many of the games available cost extra and are likely available online for free?
That will depend on how much value you place on that whimsy. The product itself seems worth the cost; it’s sturdy and well-packaged, emulating the curved edges and dark enclosures of upright arcade machines. It’s also got a very clicky joystick and eight full-sized buttons that can be configured in a variety of ways. Three’s even a glowing coin slot on the front (that you shouldn’t actually insert coins into). The whole shebang runs on two AA batteries, which are included.
Contrary to what it might look like, the cabinet is not an iPad dock. The iPad rests inside a holder, but it doesn’t connect to anything. Instead, the joystick and buttons communicate with the tablet via Bluetooth. The cabinet won’t charge an iPad and requires no wires to be connected, in other words.
Once the iPad is nestled inside the cabinet, you can run “Atari’s Greatest Hits” an app that does a lovely job packaging more than 100 80s-era arcade and Atari 2600 video games. The games are pretty much exactly as they were in their original forms with the option to set switches and options on the games as you would have on an Atari 2600 console. “Missile Command” comes free with the app, but other game packages cost 99 cents. You can buy the entire catalog for $14.99 and play everything from “Tempest” to “Combat” to “Asteroids” (some games offer both the arcade and 2600 versions).
The joystick is problematic in games that originally requires a paddle or roller ball controller like “Pong” or “Crystal Castles.” But otherwise, if you can get over the clacking noise of the buttons and joysticks, it’s a pretty note-perfect retro gaming experience. The iCade also works with other iOS apps and there are lots of options available to configure the way the screen and controls are set up for each game. Each arcade or 2600 game displays the original arcade cabinet artwork or box art; quite often the artwork is much better than the game itself.
One nitpick: “Greatest Hits” offers options to play a lot of games with the screen set horizontally. The way the cabinet is set up, there’s no way to place the iPad sideways, making that option worthless unless you want to take the tablet out of the cabinet. Also, unless you turn Bluetooth off after you’d done playing, the cabinet can interfere with iPad touch-screen typing.
Many Atari 2600 games that I tried seem much, much worse now than they did even a few years ago. Time has marched on and despite some solid game mechanics, many of the games feel practically unplayable. But some of the arcade games, particularly “Tempest” and “Asteroids” still hold up. And the cabinet itself is a lovely visual showpiece, a great one to bust out at parties. It doesn’t stand up to long gaming sessions, but it’s a cute, eye-catching novelty that actually works.
ThinkGeek iCade Arcade Cabinet
For iPad and iPad 2
$99, includes “Missile Command”; other games come in packages of 3 or 4 for 99 cents.
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