Retroblast! Contributor Bryan "VonBlade" Waters has sent us a mini-review of his recently purchased customized tankstick:

Arcade controls for the home is always a minefield for those of us attempting to dip our toes in the water for the first time. The internet is awash with sites dedicated to building your own or modifying old cabinets and a multitude of opinions about how to do it and what is "best".

You may or may not be familiar with the term “Famiclone”.      Basically it’s any third party console capable of playing original      Nintendo games. These have been available for several years, and by      several different manufacturers. But just last year, we saw another      jump in Famiclones, with some of the Super Nintendo patents expiring.      This is where the FC Twin comes in. It’s truly one of a kind.      It can play both 8-bit Nintendo and 16-bit Super Nintendo games. To      be more specific it uses what’s called a NOAC (Nintendo on a Chip)      for NES games, and a Ricoh or compatible processor for SNES games [Wikipedia: FC Twin]. 

A very few of you know of my former “spinner knob habit,” my collection of practically every after market arcade spinner knob. With all of the spinner reviews that I've done I suppose it was inevitable that I'd start collecting knobs, but I finally broke that habit this year, giving away my entire collection. That was that, I told myself.

Do you remember what it was like to walk into an arcade?  No, I mean a real arcade straight out of the 80's?  The games, the competition, the friends, seemingly endless supplies of quarters being fed into machines at near light speed, and of course the sounds... 

With the advent of MAMET and the pursuit of loyal hobbyists one can easily replicate a cabinet or two or maybe even half a dozen, but the experience just isn't the same.  Sure we can add art, lights, beverages, and even the quarters if we really wanted to.  We can invite over our friends for some competition, but still something's missing...  Our game rooms just don't seem to have the proper and complete arcade atmosphere until... Now!