Densha De GO!! HD arcade cabinet overview, assembly, and first play! IT'S HUGE

I've been waiting a few months for this container to arrive, mainly so I could set up and play this. It is the first time we've been able to buy this game, and the first privately owned cab to enter our shores! There was a full-size at IAAPA in 2018, and currently there is a compact model on location test in TX. I'm really excited to have this over here!

First off, it's as big as it looks. I was kind of thrown off, because I thought it'd end up being a bit smaller than you think, but nope. It's HUGE. Because of this, the cab most likely won't make it to most events. It cannot be transported intact, the space it takes up aside. However, the assembly was easier than I expected. I figure with 3 people who know what they are doing, it might take 30-45 minutes to assemble and tear down.

Unfortunately, for most people, the game will probably be something of a novelty to enter, push buttons, be amused, and walk away. It'll have to be a special request for me to bring this one out. I might buy a compact model for events, though the size/experience of the enclosed cab is the real wow factor.

Speaking of wow factor, it's all size. The cabinet itself is very simple compared to Starwing Paradox. It has 4 monitors connected to a single NVidia GeForce 1080. I originally thought it was 2 1080s, but I was wrong about that. 3 ports are able to drive 3D graphics, the last is not; that is used for the touchscreen. In terms of cables between the parts of the cabinet, there was very few. The seat portion only has one connector for speakers/seat shaker, and each of the side monitors only has power cable and DVI cable. The monitor remotes were disconnected, since I believe they probably route to the front service panel; I left those disconnected because we probably won't be needing them, and it's an extra setup/teardown step. On top, there is one connector to the intake fan, and one to the lights. The fan is to provide air circulation in the closed space.

The game itself is gorgeous. As mentioned earlier, the seat has a bass shaker in it for some extra immersion. Gameplay is very simple, essentially start/stop on set speed limits, using the touchscreen to confirm acknowledgement of things/turn on wipers/headlights/etc, stopping on-time and gradually at stations as not to disturb your riders. The pedal activates the horn. The game is hyper-realistic; TAITO worked with JR to produce a simulator that would be very accurate, including acceleration and breaking quirks of each model train, and weight based on how full the train is with passengers. Everything is very simple, and when you break it down, there isn't very many inputs. The cabinet only draws around 500W, probably mostly from the monitors. It runs pretty quiet, and the PCB doesn't seem to get really hot like Starwing Paradox did.

As I thought, the mode to play older version games has the first two only. The third one moved towards PS2 architecture, and the cabinet is much more expensive than the first two. That being said I kind of figured 3 wouldn't be playable on the HD cabs. This mode makes 1 and 2 pretty much obsolete, though I did buy one of each of those as well. It actually boots up in an entirely different container, in that it needs to exit the game and start another application. At first I couldn't get it to start, but realized that it won't let you switch unless there are zero credits inserted because you would lose your credits while switching between the two. I'm not sure why they did this; it would have been better to integrate both together. Regardless, the mode is gorgeous, they made full use of the HD cab to create a great experience. The side monitors are used to mock an old TAITO arcade, complete with cabinets playing various TAITO games, and arcade sounds playing. The touchscreen has a mock-up of the original control panel from the game. Very neat!

For all the space it takes up, I'm happy to have it here. I tend to like to push the envelope of what is expected, and interesting games like this fit my overall goals, so whenever they become available, I tend to go for it, regardless the consequences. I won't regret this one though, for sure! Look forward to a much shorter video later of the Densha De GO!! 1 and 2 cabinets that came on the same container!