I think a better comparison would be the, There are plenty of replica Ferrari's, Lamborghinis, Cobra's, Ford GT's, Lancia Stratos etc and many take those to show off at events and I'm sure most would sooner have the real thing but they don't have the money to buy them, so it's the next best thing
Difference is, you have to make a replica car to be able to drive it, you can play an old Arcade game on pretty much any computer, tablet, phone. When we were in the Arcades years ago, I didn't care really what it looked like, it was what was on the screen that mattered, certainly didn't stand watching the Shinobi Demo thinking, wow that's some nice chipboard, wonder what make the joysticks are, has it got any original artwork on the sides, all I was interested in was Graphics on the bonus stage throwing Ninja Stars
Yeah the Sega Deluxe cabs, that's different as they were amazing looking things
Sure, I agree lots will want an original outrun machine and I totally understand why, even I was still tempted to get Upright because that's what I played it on when it was first out so that's my memories of it, found using the brake wasn't easy on them so remember using gears to slow down more but just because you then have an original machine doesn't mean you'll play it any more than on mame and if you don't have 1-2k there are other options. along with what Colin has been doing and if you want to play it running original hardware then there are options for that also
All depends what is most important, playing the game itself or having an original machine to look at and impress your friends, if both are important then get an original cab
Was happy myself playing it on PC with wheel/Pedals but main reasons back then for wanting original machine and hardware, emulators for outrun weren't perfect, the gears you couldn't use properly because the PC wheels had return to centre type, The system16 emu it ran on was pretty good other than the Shifting issues and like some board faults, it has some of the sounds missing, someone even added Force Feedback, I'd forgot after 14 years that the wheel shook side to side but to have that added was still amazing to have feedback when you crashed
now the emulation of it is almost perfect.
If you have have issues running outrun on a pc with wheel and pedals, look at the interface your using as the setup I've tried it with recent that uses 5k pots, outrun is as good as real machine, no issues with it at all I can see
Same with Sega Rally, I had Twin machine, played it for a while, better fun when mates round and two are playing, but didn't take long before your completed the courses, then I tried on Emulator and thought wow, this plays pretty much perfect so time to sell the Twin, get Twin sega driving cabs, Empty ones that is, put in PC and Use original pedals, happs mech with feedback. You can play Sega Rally on it and it's as good as owning original cab, well it will be when I've sorted the Manual H Shifters plus you can play all the other Driving games in it along with all the PC ones
It's not all roses with Original machines, when I used to play Chase HQ, was perfectly enjoyable with my Wheel/Pedals on my desk and comfy chair, was playing it quite a lot, thought it would be much better having original machine, kept looking at uprights, tempted to bid on local one to me but thought know, if I get one it's got to be sitdown, still had one in chippy near me then. I assumed these classic arcade games would all have feedback systems like outrun, spoilt with sega I guess. So when you actually play Chase HQ in real cab, I'm thinking where's the feedback, is it broken, you always remember or think stuff was better than it is.
Upright Chase HQ not even got Brake pedal, at least sitdown has but then it's only got one speaker. Then when you find out the pedals are only switches I was so disappointed, again like outrun I didn't ever imagine an Arcade Driving game would have switches like my home made pedals and Steering wheel i did in late 80's so could play Lombard RAC Rally on Amiga for more of an Arcade Experience, really wanted to do it analogue but games wouldn't have support for it anyway, so was just Switch each end of wheel when turning and same in both pedals but was still better, never thought in million years these super cool looking sitdown driving machines in Arcades would be nearly the same
After playing Afterburner in the Star Wars cab, even though no sound and buttons missing from control stick, it felt right sitting down playing that in enclosed cab, prefer it much better than original Upright even though its in Star Wars and when I've sorted a few things out and can get to the Afterburner Upright, that machine will be going for that reason and also I do need to sell some machines to fit in other stuff bought and yet to rebuild
sure, same again with Afterburner, some here it's there most wanted game, I understand that, not my most wanted game, would of liked a sitdown moving one though, just adds more fun but having played It sitting down now with analogue Stick and Throttle that works perfect, I enjoyed it more than I've ever done before, speakers right behind your ears and getting the stereo effect and under the seat, thought actually this is a pretty good game
Don't think I could play Space Harrier much if it wasn't Deluxe Moving one either, first played it on sitdown standard machine at Neils and found it Dull to be totally honest
I'm not saying any of this to burst anyones bubble or wind anyone up, just telling you my honest thoughts over the time I've been buying machines. Standard type games with Joystick and Buttons I don't have many, can play them in any Jamma cab with original boards or on mame
Games I really liked BITD, had to have those dedicated cab if poss like Double Dragon, even though it would of been Jamma cab I played and probably bootleg pcb, other than DD, Street Fighter, Kung Fu Master, Rampage, Pac-Man and Track & Field, all the games I got are ones with special screens, controls, shooting games, driving games mainly because Emulators didn't work right, need the controller or 3 monitors so no other way to play them properly
Was even disappointed when playing Op Thunderbolt in Skeggy, realised the guns are just joysticks when entering name, with Op wolf being Light Gun I assumed all these years that was same, it put me off buying one, but I guess it works ok and when found about the Smaller ones I had to get one, That was a mamed cab when I got it, it was sold because it didn't seem to work properly on PC, I didn't try it though but again it's probably just down to setup, just ripped it all out again and converted back to original hardware though, still great to play and very fond memories on the Amiga
Just got back from the Powder Coaters so I can get my project cab finished, it's one of the only machines I've got without original hardware, but from how much I've enjoyed doing the work on it and testing games on it so far, can see this being one of my favourite machines even though it's Emulators