ABOUT US
With over 30 years arcade experience we know exactly what is needed to re-create the finest, high quality, durable machines that stood the test of time in the 80's and 90's.
The arcade machines of that era were made of many high end components which when put together gave the amazing experiences we had back in the day.
Our knowledge means that we know exactly which kind of these components are suitable and most importantly, which are not. There are many other Retro Arcade options out there however almost all use terrible joysticks, buttons, micro-switches, poor sound etc.
An authentic Punching Dragon Arcade machine is made completely from the ground up with careful thought given to every aspect and component to ensure the end result is of the highest quality you can find on the market.
Fly over to our Why Us! page to see just why we are punching above the rest...
Any questions feel free to email us Hello@Punchingdragonarcades.com
WHY US
INDUSTRIAS LORENZO / SUZO HAPP STICKS & BUTTONS
When most companies say "Standard joysticks / Buttons / Switches" they usually are referring to very low quality units from China / Aliexpress. These MAY just about last any warranty period but for a device which should take some serious, intense action then these should be the last thing you compromise on!. The way these 3 interact are the heart of the machine!. Ask if they are iL, Suzo Happ, Sanwa etc as this makes a huge difference in the Durability, Quality and Responsiveness of the experience. Suzo Happ "style" should also ring alarm bells.
It is a mine field granted and we are here to help you best we can. Joysticks may look the same but there is a huge difference between a bad and good quality 'stick. At Punching Dragon we use the exact same commercial grade sticks that were found in many machines including all Mortal Kombat’s, Killer Instinct’s and it was without doubt the defacto Street Fighter 2 stick. These really cannot be beaten, have a fantastic feel and certainly are NOT the cheaper joystick that come with most other retro arcade suppliers. If you really would like the Japanese style ball-top sticks please let us know and we can happily provide a similar high end Sanwa alternative.
CHERRY MICRO-SWITCHES
Every single action from a button press to a joystick direction is executed by a micro-switch. They are the hidden hero's which can either make or break the experience. We use class leading, highly desirable Cherry switches for the genuine nostalgic feel which lead to faster response times. When working in fractions of a second, these are a game changer.
"These have completely changed my machine!. I have just swapped from Stock e-switches to Cherry micro-switches and the difference is HUGE!. I never knew how sluggish the stock switches were. It is hard to describe but everything feels the way it did all those years ago. Very responsive with a very nice feel about them. These are a must in ANY machine, worth every penny!"
DEDICATED SUB AND SONY HD AUDIO
Over the decades sound quality has drastically improved. From Pacman's single speaker primitive sounds all the way up to the Q-Sound requirements from Capcom. Punching Dragon is one of the only companies that ensure we give you the best sound experience possible. The mid and high end sounds are catered for with a Pair of 60 watt (RMS*) Sony speakers whilst the Bass is handled by a powerful 40 watt (RMS*) subwoofer. All driven by a separate amplifier and connected by industry leading cabling. You wouldn’t think that you could improve on a classic but Final Fight sounds stunning with a bit of bass!.
SAFETY / PROTECTION / DURABILITY
EN 12150 C1 Standard - Typically our competitors use thin sheets of transparent, flexible plastic in front of the arcade screens that can scratch and scuff easily. We use a British Standard Marked sheet of high quality tempered glass (Not Acrylic!). Tempered glass is at least five times as strong as normal glass, and requires a huge amount of force to scratch or break. If this does happen, the glass has been treated in such a way that it will break into small, blunt pieces, making it much safer than the dangerous shards of regular glass. Exactly the same as found in classic arcade cabinets.
Control Panel and Artwork - Our control panels can fend off against a Riot, literally!. We use the same material found in riot shields and over lay this between the buttons and artwork. The material we use offers the highest possible protection against the most demanding gaming sessions. The majority of other Arcade machines again either have no control panel/artwork protection or if they do they use the cheaper Plexiglass (Acrylic!) plastic which not only is flammable but scratches and scuffs easily plus can crack leaving extremely sharp edges which hands should go nowhere near!
GAMES
Believe us when we say that our machines can access everything you need on any system. Please don't fall into the trap of "more games is best-or-better value for money". Often you will find products loaded up with thousands or TENS of thousands of games. There are a number of reasons why you need to ask questions at this point.
Company-X can access 8000 arcade games but Punching Dragon can access "only" 2600. Is Company-X better?. No!. there were only ever circa 2500 arcade games ever released. The extras are simply very messy duplicates, broken, Multi region, bootleg, and 100's of the popular tile based game Mahjong. Our advice is to ask for a games list from Company-X to check for yourself. To put figures into perspective, Galloping Ghost is the worlds largest Arcade based in Chicago and this has pretty much every main classic game from the 80's and 90's. Galloping Ghost has just over 650 games!. We can access EVERYTHING, and have spent 100's of hours perfecting our front end to stop an incredibly messy system. We love Street Fighter just like you but having to trawl through over 150 Street Fighter 2's is not fun. Another thing to check whilst looking at a Games list is are there 1000's of games
We would also advise you question if all games are at least playable. You can rule out 1000s more games from systems such as Spectrum, C64 etc which revolved alot around Keyboards to control them. Even newer systems such as N64 arent possible on a traditional arcade control panel layout due to not having Analogue thumbsticks - Something we provide for all our Gamesmaster Upgrades in the form of Xbox pads.
Our Game packs start with a Pandoras box DX which is the Arcade industry standard. They are very robust and extremely popular. We only use the official DX by 3A, however many cheaper alternatives are available which are best avoided. Above the Pandoras Box come our Full PC Builds. These by far give the ultimate performance, can play every system and every game possible. We would highly recommend these over anything else on the market. There is such a thing called a Raspberry Pi however we don't offer these as they fall under the "Hobbyist" category, have real limitations and don't have the impressive front end experience and wow factor.
FULL CUSTOMISATION
All our machines are hand built from scratch at our workshop so if you have something unique or any kind of branding, someones name "Archies Arcade" for example then please let us know. We can print and install anything you wish all inhouse.
OPTIONS AVAILABLE
SCREEN SIZE OPTIONS
AUTHENTIC SQUARE
27"WIDE SCREEN
32" WIDESCREEN
32"WIDE SCREEN
GAME PACKAGE OPTIONS
CHAMPION EDITION AND GAMESMASTER GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE
ADD-ONS
BLUETOOTH AUDIO
TURN YOUR MACHINE INTO AN IMPRESSIVE BLUE TOOTH JUKEBOX AND TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF OUR POWERFUL SONY SPEAKERS + SUBWOOFER
SAVE MONEY ON HAVING TO BUY A SEPARATE BLUETOOTH SPEAKER
STREAM SPOTIFY FROM A TABLET OR PHONE STRAIGHT TO THE ARCADE
CONVERTS YOUR ARCADE INTO A PINBALL CABINET WITH THE ABILITY TO ACCESS AND ENJOY MANY TABLES!
PINBALL BUTTONS INSTALLED INTO THE SIDE OF YOUR CABINET
LED BASE
CONTROL FROM YOUR PHONE
COLOUR / FLASH / FADE ETC
