Unico Nova Blast U2/U4 now supports shipping to Ireland

PaulPriest · 28-11-2025 09:51AM #1

I've been nagging them since their Black Friday sale started and they finally sorted it last night.

Shipping/VAT makes it a hefty 1699 EUR all in, or 1799 with a pair of stools (the control panel is higher than a normal Sega candy so I'd hope the stools are a bit taller too).

I was looking for something more modern than the Blast City/NACs I'd got rid of. Smaller, Higher res screen and not having to worry about maintaining a CRT. Will be sticking the MiSTer, and retro consoles in it as well as the odd JAMMA board.

It's a bit cheaper for Black Friday. Anyone else considering one? They are looking for a local distributor, but I don't fancy doing a group buy…

https://www.unico-usa.com/products/nova-blast-combo-bartop-and-base

o1s1n · 28-11-2025 12:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058429114/unico-nova-blast-u2-u4-now-supports-shipping-to-ireland

Have you ever considered an LCD cabinet like a Vewlix, Namco Noir etc?

There's a Noir currently on adverts for €1300. Far cheaper than the Unico and a legitimate cabinet too rather than a hobbiest recreation.

https://www.adverts.ie/arcade-retro/namco-noir-tekken-6-arcade-cabinet/37506202

PaulPriest · 28-11-2025 07:46PM

Yeah, back in the day I considered a Vewlix/Chewlix or Noir. However, I'm more looking for something compact but relatively sturdy. Bigger than an Arcade1Up. 4:3 is important to me. Also, that Noir would need shipping on top. The Unico also has HDMI in, USB/XInput out for the controls. It's new (and I tend to like things minty).

In many ways I regret selling the Blast for a steal! but it was a beast to lug around.

I will take a look at the Noir, wasn't expecting to find anything like that here.

unky chop chop · 04-12-2025 12:14AM

Urghhhh what the hell is that montrosity😬

80s Synth Pop · 05-12-2025 07:30AM

Hello Paul. I bought a cps2 game from you a few years ago from the marketplace here. I remember saying to you at the time not to tell that beauty of a cab!!!

I would recommend a nice oled monitor with high 240hz variable refresh. If you set the lowlatency paramater in the ini file, Mame now supports the actual exact refresh of the game you are playing. With a nice crt filter on top it's really good.

bugs · 06-12-2025 12:05AM

That blast gave up in the end, ended up going to scrap. Was nice while it lasted.

PaulPriest · 06-12-2025 12:14AM

@bugs Whaaaa?!

The CRT (Nanao MS-2933) packed in? It had a bit of divergence but was otherwise good. Probably in need of a re-cap. I had it for over 10 years it had never given me any trouble. I'm sure someone would have taken the rest of the cab, even if it was just to stick an lcd in it…

bugs · 06-12-2025 12:18AM

Just kidding. It's still mint 😊

PaulPriest · 06-12-2025 12:22AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124046584#Comment_124046584

Ya bastard. Had me going there. Are you actually using it now? You had it in storage…

bugs · 06-12-2025 12:36AM

Not nearly as much as I'd like. I recapped the PSU and gave it a noctua fan. Put a mister and a jammaizer in it. Cracking machine.

PaulPriest · 06-12-2025 01:25AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124043715#Comment_124043715

I have a Samsung G7 which does 240Hz, 1440P for gaming, and a gaming PC and Mister with variable refresh/g-sync. Plus various arcade sticks. This is just something dedicated and 4:3.

I'm going to ignore all the haters :-)

I'll post a pic when it's assembled. It's on a slow boat from China…

80s Synth Pop · 06-12-2025 02:20AM

Ah you ordered one? Very nice! Leave a review here if you can - You will be a trusted reviewer who knows what they are talking about being a former blast cab owner.

PaulPriest · 21-02-2026 09:13PM

This arrived a week ago, and I'm pretty happy tbh. It was well packaged, arriving in 3 boxes on a palette weighing 120kg -base, bartop, and stools.

Assembly took me about 5 hours. The base is just flatpack steel sheets and brackets. One of the brackets was badly mangled and I had to hammer it back into shape…

The good:

Overall it does feel like a candy cab once assembled.
The screen is big, bright, and fairly high res at 1440x1080. I added a custom Windows res
It has proper Sanwa controls, and a Sega shaped control panel, so can be swapped easily
It has handy buttons for coins, a volume knob, and headphone jacks on the control panel.
It has castors (2 lock), and adjustable feet, and 4 handles for moving
The controls include a pair of GP2040-CE USB encoders ,which are open source and highly configurable - that said, they both default to XInput and Windows will arbitrarily enumerate them so your conrrols will swap - solution is to switch to USB Hid for at least one

The meh:

It's really for home use. You can dismantle it from the outside with some allen keys. The coin mech is plasticky, and the provided locks aren't even pinned (but can be replaced)
The LCD could use glass in front of it, rather than some acrylic. If you out pressure on it it touches the lcd
Overall it's clearly not going to feel the same as a big Sega candy - you don't get the flipup control panel, and the back panel could really use a hinge
The marquee light unit isn't as bright as a flourescent tube

PaulPriest · 21-02-2026 09:45PM

Overall, it was obviously pretty pricey. There's not too many options for brand new full-size metal/fibreglass cabs. It includes a lot of features (jamma, vga, hdmi inputs. usb or jamma wiring for controls). The lcd 'just works' at whatever resolution, but if you want it sharp you need to get it 1440x1080 and adjust to fill the display.

The biggest downside is you can't avoid the fact that it looks like a bartop mounted on a box. Because it is…

They have a UK distributor now, who will even assemble it for for you (good idea…) but we're worse off as usual in ireland.

There's some Astro City repro stickers available now should you wish to go that route, but I've had the real thing so no desire to ape it and let this thing be enjoyed for what it is…

Unico Nova Blast U2/U4 now supports shipping to Ireland

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