Arcade1Up's new Rampage cabinet lets you swap its artwork for Joust

Arcade1Up has announced a new Deluxe arcade cabinet that includes 14 Midway games and interchangeable artwork. You can physically swap the marquee and control deck overlay to switch the machine's branding between Rampage and Joust.

The original Arcade1Up Rampage machine came out in 2018. It was part of the company's very first wave of scaled-down cabinets. That early model had a cramped three-player control deck and exactly four games on the board. It also suffered from early manufacturing quirks, like control deck art that would rub off after a few weeks of heavy play.

This new Deluxe edition takes a different approach. It drops the three-player layout in favor of a standard two-player setup and expands the game list.

A wardrobe change for your arcade

The main draw here is the physical customization. If you get tired of looking at the giant ape and lizard on the Rampage artwork, you can change the cabinet's entire identity. You slide a new Joust marquee into the top of the cabinet and place a fitted Joust overlay directly over the control deck.

It is a clever solution to a common problem for home arcade collectors. People eventually run out of floor space, but they still want the visual variety of different classic machines. Giving owners two distinct looks in one box makes the cabinet much more versatile. The Deluxe build also includes a dedicated speaker grill and a replica coin door with light-up buttons for adding credits.

The Midway catalog

The machine has 14 classic Midway games built into its software. The list covers the standard Midway lineup that Arcade1Up has used in recent Mortal Kombat cabinets. You get Rampage and Joust, along with the first three Mortal Kombat games, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Gauntlet, Defender, Paperboy, Bubbles, Klax, Toobin, Wizard of Wor, and Rootbeer Tapper.

Having 14 games is a massive upgrade from the original 2018 release. Rootbeer Tapper and Paperboy are excellent additions that benefit from dedicated arcade controls. Defender is notoriously difficult to play without its original button layout, so it will be interesting to see how the controls map to a standard six-button fighting game setup. You just have to decide which game gets the honor of being the physical marquee on any given day.

The Basic Fun era

This release comes during a transitional period for the home arcade manufacturer. Toy company Basic Fun bought select assets of Arcade1Up in late 2025 following rumors of financial trouble at the company. Tastemakers originally founded Arcade1Up, but Basic Fun stepped in to acquire the brand, patents, and manufacturing pipelines.

This Rampage and Joust cabinet is one of the first new designs revealed under the new ownership. Basic Fun has already promised to release new XL-sized cabinets and continue supporting the existing community. Collectors will likely scrutinize the build quality of this machine to see how the new parent company handles the actual manufacturing.

The addition of swappable acrylic panels and control overlays suggests the company is willing to try new physical gimmicks to get people to buy another cabinet. You will need a safe place to store the extra marquee and overlay when they are not attached to the machine. If you can manage that, it beats trying to find floor space for two separate wooden boxes.