Review: AtGames Legends Ultimate HD Arcade

A home arcade machine can be a lot of fun, whether you miss the old arcades or simply want an alternative to the console under your TV. The AtGames Legends Ultimate HD Arcade is an easy way to dip your toe in the home arcade scene, but it’s versatile enough for hobbyists looking to customize. Easy to assemble, with around 300 licensed games onboard, this full-size machine boasts solid arcade controls for two players and a 24-inch screen.

It’s nostalgia-tinged fun for me, but my kids have also been hooked by arcade classics despite never setting foot in one. It may not be the prettiest, and many of the included games are duds, but if you have the space, the Legends Ultimate HD Arcade is a great way to bring the arcade home.

Substance Over Style

Assembly with some home arcade machines can be an all-day affair, and it can be enjoyable if you’re into that kind of thing, but if you just want to start gaming you'll appreciate the Legends Ultimate HD Arcade. The top half comes preassembled, so all you need to do is screw together the hollow MDF bottom section, connect a few wires, and it’s game on. Mine was ready to rock within half an hour. It may take a little longer if you snagged custom artwork (you can fit acrylic side panels).

I’m not in love with the look. Compared to real arcade machines, the Legends Arcade is wider and shallower, though this helps it fit into homes better. You get a list of games in the middle panel at the bottom and mixed artwork on the sides, but you might want to buy or make your own side panels and marquee art. AtGames offers the Legends BitLCD HD ($350) as an add-on for animated marquee art, but it’s way too expensive.

This is a full-size machine at 29.53 x 21.65 x 66.44 inches, so make sure you have the space for it. The advantage is that you can comfortably stand side by side to take advantage of the two-player controls. We’re talking two sets of joysticks with six action buttons apiece, two spinners with a smooth 360-degree motion for authentic paddle play, and a full-size, premium trackball in the middle. The eight-way joysticks, springy buttons, and weighty indented spinners feel great and will satisfy most folks, but if you prefer something top-notch, like Sanwa joysticks, they are relatively easy to swap out.

The 24-inch horizontal LCD is plenty bright and colorful, with good viewing angles, but some vertical games feel squished to fit. Perhaps the weakest link is the speakers, which can get a bit rumbly and jarring at times. Directly beneath the screen, there are two USB ports and an HDMI port, which adds some real versatility, enabling you to add your games (more on that later) or hook up other systems to play with the Legends Arcade’s screen and controls. The control panel links wirelessly via Bluetooth.

Speaking of controls, AtGames also offers the QuadPlay Control Panel HD ($300), which offers four eight-way digital joysticks (P1 and P2 get six action buttons, P3 and P4 get four), but you lose the spinners and trackball. I did get this to test, but so far I’ve been unable to get it working for four players (I’m still speaking to support). It’s an expensive extra, and many games don’t support four players anyway. Most folks will be fine with the regular two-player controls.

Games Galore

You get around 300 fully licensed games installed on the Legends Ultimate, some classic, some crap. Here’s the full list. These are also subject to change, presumably when licensing deals run out. My review unit did not have all of these titles. The arcade gems are best. Bubble Bobble, RC Pro-Am, and Operation Wolf immediately jumped out at me. I also had fun with unfamiliar games like Night Slashers, and there are plenty of old-school classics like Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Lunar Lander. Sadly, most of the console games are filler from the Atari 2600 and have not aged well.

Emulation is decent, and there’s a rewind button and the option to save your progress, which is very handy for some of these unforgiving titles. Some games were a bit slow to load. The software interface is quirky and not always intuitive. For example, every game I loaded said “Solo mode” only, but I eventually discovered I could add a second player by pulling down on the joystick while hitting the P2 button.

The AtGames Legends Ultimate HD Arcade can connect to your Wi-Fi, enabling you to download firmware updates, leaderboards, and new game packs with five or six games, but they aren’t cheap ($25). Confusingly, some of the packs seem to contain games that are already included on the Legends Ultimate. Most of them are pinball, and you can buy the Legends Pinball Kit ($50) to add flipper and tilt buttons to the sides of the arcade machine. (AtGames also sells pinball machines.)

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.

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.