If you’re a classic gamer and like to collect items based on the amazing gems from yesteryear, you'll want to put RepliCade’s products on your radar. The company will bring the classic arcade title Tempest back in a big (but still totally little) way. Specifically, it’s coming back as a miniature arcade cabinet from New Wave Toys. If that sounds awesome, wait until you see it in action.
The RepliCade X Tempest arcade miniature is licensed by Atari and will be a 1/6-scale of the original arcade cabinet with spinner controls and a copy of Tempest that actually works. Yes, you’ll actually be able to play the game on the teeny-tiny version of the original arcade cabinet. Technology is amazing. The cabinet already broke through its planned $20,000 funding goal via Kickstarter and has even surpassed $160,000 at the time of this article. That means it’s not only going to be built, but it’ll be a hit, just like the last release from New Wave Toys.
Previously, the company released a similar cabinet in the form of the RepliCade X Centipede cabinet, the first release in the long line of the RepliCade Amusements line. The plan is to release several different downscaled arcade cabinets, each with their own copy of the original game ROM via Atari. They’re all created with wooden frames and the original artwork you could see on the full-size cabinets during their heyday.
This particular miniature version also features a 3.5-inch LCD screen and LED backlighting to help you game in the dark. And to keep the party going, a micro USB-charged lithium-ion battery will let you game non-stop for up to four hours.
If you’re interested in snagging one, you’ll need to have pledged at least $90 for the RepliCade X Tempest via Kickstarter at the lowest tier you receive the machine. You won’t see the tiny cabinet until August this year—RepliCade X Centipede buyers aren’t getting theirs until April—but that should give you plenty of time to figure out where to display them. You should probably dedicate an entire knick-knack cabinet to these bad boys.
