The AtGames Legends Ultimate (ALU) Arcade released back in 2020 as an all-in-one home arcade solution with the bonus of officially licensed content ready to go out of the box. As we know all to well in these parts though, capable hardware can take you only so far in emulation.
The addition of the community created Legends Unchained takes the AtGames hardware and imbues it with R-Cade, a fully customizable emulation and media center solution to make the most of your game room.
Some Background
Loading R-Cade Legends Unchained on the ALU
Just a few short years ago, before the emulation handhelds we know and love took over the world, emulation was still relegated to PC’s, modded consoles, Famiclone type multi-systems, and the like. For a dedicated few enthusiasts, though, a MAME cabinet was the ultimate gaming accessory. Building your own cabinet was complicated, though, and pre-built options were often priced at several thousand dollars. Even once the hardware was together, getting a front-end and ROM collection working, along with mapped controls, etc were all annoyingly complicated in their setup.
Enter the AtGames Legends Arcade. Finally, a home arcade solution that was ready to go out of the box. Two player arcade goodness that includes classic solid controls, a trackball, and even two spinners.
The original MSRP was $599, but I scored mine not long after release during a sale at Sam’s Club for only $349. They regularly appear at around that price point, and if you hunt your local marketplaces you can probably do even better. In the years since the Legends release, AtGames have produced a mini version and a console-only option, and if you follow the steps below with the community images designed for them, there options to upgrade those as well.
Why You Might Want To Upgrade to R-Cade Legends Unchained
This Simpsons romhack turns Tapper into Moe’s, with awesome bezels to boot
Besides just unlocking access to dozens of available emulators via Emulation Station, you get all the capabilities that come along with the running a something very similar to the ROCKNIX community release we know from emulation handhelds (the ALU uses the RK3328).
In fact, this version of R-Cade also has releases available for the Anbernic RG556 and RG353 series handhelds available on their Github page. So, if you’re curious how this might run on one of your other devices, it’s well worth checking out.
Kodi turns your arcade cabinet into a full media center device
- Import your ROM collection via USB3 storage and massively expand your arcade library
- Run PortMaster and all the ready-to-run and imported game ports from your collection on the arcade cabinet
- Full theme control, including custom bezels and overlays
- Full KODI media center functionality. Use your arcade cabinet as a jukebox at parties or stream to your local media library. The Legends cabinet actually has some fairly decent speakers.
- Full access to hardware controls of the Atgames device to tweak settings and configurations to your heart’s content.
- It’s a massive upgrade in user experience. The AtGames platform has always been so-so at the best of times, and as we know here at RH, a good piece of hardware is only as good as the community created custom operating system supporting it.
- Regular updates to the project with increasingly expanding options, including emulator support for “over 100 retro-gaming systems”
How-To Install Legends Unchained
Depending on the model of your Legends Arcade, you may have to factory reset the device and downgrade the factory firmware in order to install Legends Unchained. Please note that this, along with any hardware modifications are done so at the risk of the user and may result in ending your cabinet warranty with AtGames.
Any official firmware 5.68 or earlier should be compatible, and you can ignore these steps.
Factory Reset
For some models, the factory reset may be done using a specific combination of buttons. This is generally more common for performing resets on devices without a touchscreen interface.
- Turn off the System: Make sure the system is powered off completely.
- Press and Hold Specific Buttons: With the system off, you may need to hold down a combination of buttons, such as the “Menu” button and another button (often “Player 1” or “Player 2”), depending on your model.
- Turn on the System: While holding the button combination, turn the system back on.
- Wait for the Reset to Complete: The system should display a message or signal that it’s resetting to factory settings. Hold the buttons until this is confirmed.
- System Reboots: The system will restart, and once it comes back online, it should be in its factory state.
Downgrade Firmware
- Grab the Firmware: The downgrade file to 5.68 can be found here. Be sure to grab the release that corresponds to your ALU 1.0 or 1.1 product version.
- Format Storage Device: Take your USB stick drive and format it to FAT32 from your PC.
- Extract: Take the files contained in the downloaded image file and extract them to the newly formatted USB stick.
- Prepare the Arcade Cabinet: Shutdown the ALU and insert the prepared USB stick in the blue USB 3.0 slot on the ALU.
- Boot: Turn on the ALU and ignore any prompts about available online updates.
- Update: Navigate to Settings –> Device Update –> USB.
Install R-Cade
Do not touch
Now, you can go about this two ways. You can either install the R-Cade base package, and build out your library entirely as you see fit from your collection, or go for a pre-loaded image. I will not link to any other collections other than the official base image in this article, but a few choice terms from this article into your favorite search engine might yield some results…
- Head to the Retro-Center Github
- Locate the RCade-Full-HA8801 download. This is the version for the ALU. If you are using another AtGames device, check the corresponding releases.
- Write the downloaded image file to your USB storage device of choice using Rufus or USB Image Writer. I used a 256G Samsung for my build, but you can cater it to your needs.
- Power down the ALU and insert the newly imaged USB stick into the blue USB 3.0 port on the cabinet. You should see confirmation that R-Cade is now installing on the device.
- Wait a while, because unpacking this new OS will take some time.
- Load games and enjoy!
Closing
So there you have it. Another fun community project to take your already capable hardware, and making the most of it with CFW. The ALU is a fantastic value for someone looking for a way to add an arcade experience to their home, especially if you can manage to land one on sale.
With the addition of R-Cade Legends Unchained, you can enjoy this entertainment addition to its max potential. Happy Gaming.
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