Unboxing & Review: New Wave Toys Dragon's Lair X 1/6 Scale Arcade Cabinet

In this video, we unbox and test out the Replicade Dragon's Lair 1/6-scale arcade cabinet from New Wave Toys.

In 2019, we had a chance to interview the folks from New Wave Toys at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. Days prior to the event, they had launched their newest Kickstarter, a 1/6-scale arcade cabinet replica of the classic Dragon's Lair. I was amazed by the attention to detail and the overall quality of the unit that I saw, and that was a prototype. Fast forward 12 months and we now have a production version here to test out.

One of the wonderful things about this is the fact that New Wave Toys paid meticulous attention to detail. The game itself is built off of the actual arcade ROM, meaning you should have the exact same experience playing this as you would playing an arcade unit. The only difference, you don't have to throw your quarters into the system.

Speaking of quarters, New Wave Toys went all out with making sure that you had as realistic of a replica as possible. This includes features such as a scaled down version of the LaserDisc and LaserDisc player, the remote control for the LaserDisc player, and even scaled down quarters in all, they perfectly replicate exactly what the real unit would look like, simply scaled down and a hell of a lot less expensive.

While I have always admired Dragon's Lair from afar, I have to admit I had never played the arcade version. I'd seen it plenty of times, but the lines were always too long for me to actually get some time on the cabinet. I will say, this is a game of patterns, trial, and error. Think of it as a game that is all one QuickTime event. You don't control Dirk as much as you react with Dirk. And your reactions need to be very good as the action happens incredibly fast. The more I played, the better I got, but clearly I need more practice. It's very cool that I can also go ahead and connect the unit to my television by HDMI cable, and some USB controllers also work.

Why it RoX:
- Arcade perfect port
- Beautiful attention to detail
- USB and HDMI ports
- Exceptional sound quality from the built-in speakers
- Really good battery life
- Beautiful display quality
- It's just fun

What could be improved?
- I did run into some USB controller compatibility issues
- Joystick and buttons are a little on the small side, but they're definitely scale
- When I connected my HDMI cable audio did not come from my tv, but my capture card recorded it

Should you buy one?
While I tested many of their cabinets out in Portland, this is the first long-term test that I've been able to do with one of their products. I was blown away, from the quality of the box, the quality of the system, the quality of the game, I would say even surpasses 1Up arcade. And I love my 1Up Arcade cabinet! Scale details like the laser disc player, remote control, and quarters just take things to the next level. Dragon's Lair is in and of itself a different sort of game but one that I still consider to be a masterpiece. And this is a faithful and loving recreation that anybody can now take home.

#DragonsLair #NewWaveToys #Replicade

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