Play NES Cartridges On Arcade 1UP!

In this episode, we show you how to convert your Arcade 1UP cabinet into a machine capable of playing physical Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges.

Arcade 1UP, or 1UP Arcade, has done a good job marketing itself over the years with classic arcade machines that are affordable enough that many people can add to their homes. The problem? Many people eventually get bored with the preloaded games and there's no way to side-load more. The solution? Intec gaming has released a number of different conversion kits to allow you to convert your Arcade 1UP machine to an even more capable platform.

Check out our installation and review video of the Nintendo Switch conversion here:
https://youtu.be/kOUtDraJLec

The conversion we are featuring here will allow you to play original Nintendo Entertainment System games through your Arcade 1UP. If you have a multi-cart, this is something that could be really awesome for a low cost. The retrofit kit includes a new deck with two joysticks for player one and player two, a new main PCB, a ribbon cable to attach the monitor, instructions, a number of overlays, and a few odds and ends. Overall, this is a pretty complete kit.

The conversion process takes about half an hour to 45 minutes depending on how handy you are. I was able to utilize the ribbon cable from the switch conversion I recently installed, so that saved me a little bit of time. I was initially confused regarding where to attach the HDMI cable, and then I realized that it just goes to the joystick deck. That's right, this conversion essentially has a clone NES system built into it. That could be a good thing, but it had me very concerned.

When I got everything bolted together, I did have to flip the top dip switch to the down position to get the correct aspect ratio. This is covered right in the instruction manual and is very easy to do. From here, well, let's just say this NES is a system on a chip and it performs rather poorly. First and foremost, the color palette is so off compared to an original system or the NES online on the Switch. How they managed to have colors be too hot and not hot enough I won't understand. similar to the Nintendo Switch conversion, the NES conversion only uses a three-position Switch to adjust the volume on the audio. Loud is way too loud, and quite honestly low is way too loud.

They do include a 60-to-72-pin adapter so you can actually use this with Famicom cartridges, that's a nice touch. I did try to see if the Famicom disk system ram card adapter would fit, it does not. Everything that you've seen or heard about system-on-a-chip-based NES clone systems, the Intec system does. Reverse duty cycle issues with the audio? Oh yeah. Bad color palette? We cover that before. Some lag and latency, I can feel it.

While it may seem like I'm really dogging on the system, it actually has some charm to it. I love the Mario Bros overlay on the control deck, I think it looks terrific. And for games where precision responsiveness isn't a requirement, it played okay. Games compatibility was pretty similar to other systems out there, Battletoads still locks up on level two, but other than that it played everything else that I threw at it. Even though I thought the graphics for Castlevania 3 had the completely wrong pallet, the game still played

Why it RoX:
- converts your arcade one up to an NES machine
- easy to install
- 60 to 72-pin adapter included
- I really liked the Mario overlay

What could be improved:
- hideous color palette
- reverse duty cycle audio issues
- not compatible with Battletoads
- definitely felt some lag

Should you buy one?
I can appreciate what Intec gaming was trying to do here, but the execution is just not great. If you are less sensitive to things like colors being off and audio being off, this is a fine unit to have fun with. For me, however, it was kind of a bummer to see and hear the way the system played. I can't get over how bad Simon looked in Castlevania, and the Super Mario Bros title screen was just as painful. I've already uninstalled this conversion kit and reinstalled the Nintendo Switch one, as it provides much more authentic audio and visuals on many of the same games through the switch online service.

#nintendo #Arcade1up #NES