Hat tip to PGM members rexershow and HollywoodPolo – both shared this. Rexer and PDubs also shared pics in MCAP’s Corner Arcade Discord of the Unico unit with PDub’s shared pics above.
Let’s lead with the important info: it comes with no games and no pricing, preorder date or availability — as of this writing — have been officially announced from Unico (https://www.unico-usa.com/) for its Nova Blast Candy Cab. Unico-US is known for bringing out the MVSX, a 3/4 scale version of the Neo Geo arcade. Always thought that looked cool and was more interested in that than most of the Arcade1up offerings, but alas, never pulled the trigger.
Now onto mostly speculation and opinion and will finish with FOMO percentage.
Retro Ralph first had a community post on his YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@RetroRalph), then made the following video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXbgvlbrBnQ) on some exciting Unico news:
After watching Ralph’s vid (liked!) definitely am more interested in this than the Polycade Sente (0% FOMO – Polycade Sente To have Smaller Screen Than Lux Because They Think it “feels better to play). One, the screensize, which is a little larger (26″) and the fact that this can be rotated to tate mode for shooters/shmups. The Atgames Legends Arcade Mini (ALUM) launched with this capability. Add to this, the whole Japanese candy cab design is much cooler to me than the wallcade Polycade design and I’ve played several actual candy cabs at the 2023 Northwest Pinball & Arcade show.
In fact, there were a bunch of candy cabs at that show and they were constantly being played. These candy cabs were a big hit with folks at the show and our grandchildren (pictured above, our grandson playing a candy cab). They had the candy cabs setup in barcade mode (Ed. to clarify: these units are really low height, and you sit in like picnic table chairs to play them sitting down, they are in very small upright mode, if you will, as if they are the base to be put on a table, but they do come with a stand, only it’s smaller height) and they offered a wide variety of games: fighting, mostly. They have SANWA arcade controls, just like the Nova Blast is rumored to have. This Nova Blast is looking like an arcade option, with its ability to have JAMMA board support.
It does not bother me that the Nova Blast doesn’t come with any games, as adding them via JAMMA or other options appear to be available. I know, I know, not a ton of specific details here, but what is mentioned by Ralph is encouraging. Ralph guestimates the price to be between $1,000 and $1,500 which would be of interest to me at that price. I can’t give an accurate FOMO % on speculation, but if the price is closer to $1,000 than $1,500, I’m at FOMO 60-70% for this. Could see it being a really cool addition to the home arcade.
What do you think? Are you interested in this, based on the speculation? Will update this article below and/or in a new article when more concrete information is known. Let us know in the comments what you think of the Nova Blast.
UPDATE 11/19/2023 6:00 AM PST: Occured to me after publishing, that some might want to play a candy cab. Round1 Arcades around the United States have candy cab arcade machines that can be played. See if a Round 1 location is near you here in USA here: https://www.round1usa.com/locations
I am not sure if I will invest in another arcade cabinet, but this looks interesting.