All this MAME talk is making it really hard not spend $150 on something my wife will be pissed about!
Original Pac-Man might still be my all-time favorite.
One thing cool about being there from the very beginning you'd get all of the pioneer games of the
various genres - space/racing/1 on 1 gaming/maze/shoots and ladders style (donkey kong) - before
the dozens of imitations/variations immediately followed.
To this day I still think the original PONG is the best and most fun 1 on 1 style game.
And +1 on scanlines.
Don't piss off the wife lol! I'm lucky, my gf is a fan of
some vintage games, Mario Bros, Ms Pac Man, Galaga, etc. She's cute tho, she'll send me a pic of where she's knocked my initials off a high score with hers lol. Of course I usually return the favor (except Frogger, she owns Frogger, can't beat her). You gotta get your wife interested in that type of quality time haha - then you can purchase the legit controller!
Pong was probably the first vid game for many, me too, but eventually it got upgraded to games like Breakout and Arkanoid (I LOVE that one), which is one reason I needed this controller, to properly play those paddle and trackball games too! Crystal Castles, Centipede, Marble Madness, Pole Position, Tempest, Missle Command, Golden Tee, etc, all so much more fun with this new toy now.
The MAME scanlines feature, I love it. It may not be 100% crt like the good old days, but it's mighty close and blows away the blotchy, zero lines crap you see dudes posting on YT, etc...not sure how anyone can play these old games looking like that.
Here's a couple more pics for fun (not sure if the scanline effect shows in the pics)...