X-Arcade Trackball Mouse Review

The 1980s were the golden age of arcade games. To the majority of people, most of these games in upright cabinets were either too expense or just too large for someone to have in the basement of their home. Over the past few years, due in part to development of the PC, the Internet and MAME, those favorite retro arcade games from the 1980s have made a surprising comeback.

With the release of game packs such as Midway Treasures and Atari Anniversary Edition and the Internet distribution MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) and game ROMs, new gaming hardware and peripherals have slowly become available. One such peripheral in high demand is the arcade trackball.

For arcade enthusiasts playing trackball games with a joystick or keyboard just doesn't cut it. The X-Arcade Trackball Mouse from Xgaming is the latest peripheral for use with classic arcade favorites such as centipede, asteroids, and missile command just to name a few. It replicates both the look and feel of an arcade style trackball by using the same components and materials used in the design of real arcade games.

"Built Like A Friggin' Tank". This description, taken from the X-Arcade Trackball website, could not be more accurate. All of the X-Arcade Trackball's components, eight game buttons, and one trackball, are housed in a sturdy and durable "box" that replicates the controls of a full sized arcade game. The eight game buttons include two flipper buttons on the side and three buttons in a dual layout for both left and right handed players.

Both the trackball and buttons are high quality and more than up to the task of taking the repetitive use arcade games can see. It's highly unlikely that you'll come close to this volume of use, so there's a good bet you'll never have to replace any of the components. If by some chance the controls do breakdown spare parts can be purchased from the Xgaming website and are relatively inexpensive. There is a Lifetime Warranty on the X-Arcade Trackball aside from normal wear and tear.

Included with the X-Arcade Trackball Mouse is Atari Anniversary Edition Volume 1 and 2 (both on one cd-rom). This compilation contains authentic arcade hits from Atari's huge library of games. Included are some of the most famous trackball games; Centipede, Missile Command, Crystal Castles, twelve games in all. The Anniversary Edition can be played directly from the CD-ROM or by installing to your hard drive. I would recommend installing the games to your hard drive for optimal performance.

One troublesome note, the Atari Anniversary Edition included with the trackball I reviewed would not install both volumes on my PC. (P4, 2.4GHz Win XP). Each repeated attempt to install the Volume 2 portion of the CD-ROM caused the installation program to crash. I will chalk this up to either defective software or issues with my PC rather than hold it against the X-Arcade product. The games I was able to install played flawlessly and aside from the awkward location on my desk the game play of the X-Arcade Trackball on one of my favorites, Centipede, was as good as the real arcade game.

The wide availability of MAME (Mutli Arcade Machine Emulator) has also fueled the demand for classic arcade peripherals and the X-Arcade Trackball is fully compatible with this. The set up was a little more challenging than that of the Atari Anniversary Edition, but it wasn't rocket science. Anyone the least bit familiar with using MAME should have no trouble. In the play of ROM games through MAME the X-Arcade Trackball again proved flawless.

The X-Arcade is compatible with any computer game that uses a conventional mouse and can be used on golf games such as Tiger Woods PGA Golf, Golden Tee Golf and more. Both PC and Macs do recognize the X-Arcade Trackball as a mouse device. However, using the trackball in this capacity is a bit unrealistic due to the size of the peripheral (Dimensions approx: 16"x 10" x 5").