Alan North
If you subscribe to ArcadeNet, you can stream games. The basic free tier gives you a taster with 10 titles but limited play time and stream quality. For $20 a month, $80 for six months, or $120 for a year, you can unlock more than 80 games, but the only thing on the list that caught my eye was Ikari Warriors. You also need a decent internet connection to stream games, and there will likely be some lag.
Customization and Expansion
There are some basic customization options in the Legends Ultimate user interface, such as background colors for the menus and audio tracks. You can also pick up various accessories and add-ons, like the QuadPlay, the marquee screen, and the pinball buttons. You can even buy side art panels or create your own. But what most folks will want to add to the AtGames Legends Ultimate HD Arcade is more games.
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Photograph: Simon Hill
The machine has two USB ports, but annoyingly, AtGames charges $100 to unlock OTG (On The Go), enabling you to stick a USB flash drive with your own (hopefully legally acquired) games into the machine. It also charges $100 to unlock external applications. This is a shame since these features used to be free. Understanding what will work is a minefield. While there are lots of guides out there about how to add more games, most have outdated information, and it seems as though AtGames has clamped down and no longer allows you to install CoinOps X. (I asked the company about this, but it has yet to respond.)
There is an HDMI port, so you can plug in your own console (PlayStation, Xbox) or an Android phone (if you have USB-C to HDMI), and you can use the Legends Ultimate’s screen and speakers. You can even pair the controls via Bluetooth with some devices, otherwise, you’ll need an OTG USB cable. AtGames also used to offer the ability to stream games locally for free from your PC, but the link to the necessary software seems to be dead.
To be fair, most alternative home arcade machines, such as the Arcade1Up Pac-Man Deluxe I tested, are far more limited than the AtGames Legends Ultimate HD Arcade. They do offer stronger theming, with artwork and sometimes controls that are specific to the handful of titles included, but there’s no way to expand without modifying the guts and rebuilding the machine.
Ultimately, the Legends Ultimate HD Arcade does more than enough to justify its price. Even if many of the games are duds, there are 300 to choose from, so you will likely find a few you like. The two-player controls are great, and my family had tons of fun playing on it. It’s easy to recommend, and if you have space for one, it should be on your short list.
