Review of the Replicade 1/6th scale Tempest cab...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Recently got the latest Replicade 1/6th scale Tempest cab in to compliment the initial Replicade 1/6th scale Centipede cab release. The mini Tempest cab (upon calling up the options screen menu doesn't allow the end-user to adjust the LCD screen brightness settings whatsoever -- with the mini Centipede cab, you had 11 different brightness settings to choose from at hand. Nor are there any dipswitch settings to adjust the game difficulty, initial lives at the start of a serious Tempest gaming session, 1up scoring parameters prompts, etc. -- you'll have to make do with the default lives given and the 20,000 pts. to earn an extra life + the default difficulty setting seems to be set to "Medium".)

The initial brightness and glare from the LCD screen of this Replicade Tempest cab is quite noticeable (A suggestion of a firmware upgrade to allow the end-user the opportunity to adjust the brightness setting would be nice). New Wave Toys decided that it'd be cool to endow the vector graphics of Tempest with a slightly thicker vector overall vibe -- there aren't any user adjustable screen filters (to simulate a real CRT vector monitor setup with that usual vector glow/vibe going on).

The end-user is given two different sized rotary knobs to choose from when playing a session of Tempest -- use the default one that is installed at the factory if so desired. The actual rotary knob spinner setup clicks when spun and isn't anything like how the original Atari Tempest upright cab's ultra-smooth arcade spinner controller operates (of course, the arcade cab version of Tempest uses an optical wheel encoder setup and would actually spin for a really long time if spun "hard 'n' fast" back in 1981 when it's made it's official debut in the American arcades). I think if New Wave Toys had reverse-engineered or closely mimicked the slick Taito DS Paddle controller (for use on the Nintendo DS handheld) to make it work with the current Replicade Tempest cab setup, that type of minature arcade spinner controller setup would be the best and ideal setup to play a serious gaming session of Replicade Tempest bar none. (How Taito managed to replicate the weight and overall feel of it's minaturized paddle controller for the NDS platform is amazing -- you spin it quickly and it'll spin a bit before coming to a stop.)

The Tempest marquee signage can be backlit or turned off if so desired.

https://newwavetoys.com/products/replicade-x-tempest

It's a given that Atari did produce Tempest in a full-sized upright cab, a mini caberet cab and a sit-down cocktail-table styled cab variants back in 1981 indeed.

On the original arcade game of Tempest, if you score 999,990 points and score that extra 10 points to increase it to a million, the score will "roll-over" back to zero -- it's a given in this day of age.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~