Utah-based arcade maker Alan-1 is rather busy, and not just with post Amusement Expo stuff. Originally starting off as a creator of reproduction arcade parts, the company is reaching back to those roots with today’s news, while also getting things ready for another expo. Read on.
The Alan-1 Analog Stick
As mentioned, Alan-1 cut their teeth by producing reproduction arcade parts, mostly for classic Atari games. Perhaps the pinnacle of this game in the form of the Alan-1 flight yoke, which was designed not only as a drop-in replacement for Atari’s 1983 Star Wars, but also as a superior replacement for Arcade 1up’s Star Wars cabs.
While the company has been heavily focused on producing new arcade games such as the recently witnessed Soda Slam! and Missile Command Recharged, they are back into the fray of parts with a new analog stick. This will replace the sticks that had been used in Avian Knights, but will also function for future joystick game needs.
One thing that stands out about their analog nature is that these are Hall Effect sticks – aka, they use magnets and are thus contactless. No wearing out of switches and the like. High end game console controllers use the Hall Effect (or if you still have a Sega Dreamcast lying around, those do as well – they still work great on the stick decades later), and various arcade sticks in the past have used them, such as another Atari title from 1983, I, Robot. It also has multiple operating modes, working as a 4-way, 8-way, 49-way, or 360o stick.
Also of note, these are compatible with MAME, so if you want to grab one and put it into your existing MAME machine, it’ll do that too. Pricing hasn’t been revealed yet, but we’ll update with that important bit of info soon.
Alan-1 & Atari @ Midwest Gaming Classic
Among the various shows that I’ve been unable to attend, Midwest Gaming Classic is at the top of the list. Unfortunately, it’s always so close to Amusement Expo that I just don’t have the funds for it. Last year saw some interesting developments, such as Atari’s Food Fight Frenzy making its first appearance, and this year it will see two new Atari games, both from Alan-1.
That will be: Asteroids Recharged and Missile Command Recharged. One good thing to note on MCR is that the software that will be available at the show will be more polished and complete than was seen at AEI. That does NOT mean finished, but certainly it will better represent the final product than what was seen in the video below. That should include the DEFEND CITIES text, no grid, waves, and a few other things. I don’t believe the Big Red Button feature has been added yet (although I’ll note that I didn’t get a chance to play the latest build, so I’m sharing what things I believe were meant to be included in the MGC software):
What do you think about these two bits of news?
Disclaimer: I have been doing some compensated work for Alan-1, but this story was not a part of that compensation – aside from some info I shared thanks to the insight of helping on Missile Command Recharged..
