I’ll be honest, I did not see this coming from Evercade (even if its literally in their name), and I couldn’t be happier. Today Evercade has officially revealed their latest piece of hardware, combining their love for physical cartridges and the classic arcade cabinets from the past.
They are calling it Evercade Alpha, the first Evercade-compatible bartop arcade machines which come in two officially licensed designs from Capcom, featuring 6 built-in games from the much loved developer.
Just like their Evercade EXP handheld you can change up which games you want to play without having the need to stick to the pre-installed games, and if you’re an Evercade fan, you’ll know that they have hundreds of licensed games to choose from, allowing us nerds to relive the magic of buying and collecting their cartridges, like the good old days, heck they even have manuals too!
These cartridges have been incredibly popular over the last few years, so popular in fact that they have sold over 1,000,000 cartridges so far, which is absolutely nuts! Now gamers can use these cartridges on the upcoming Evercade Alpha arcade cabinets.
The two editions you can choose from come with 6 unique games, and unique artwork across the arcade itself. If you’re not a fan of the marquee design (which lights up too), do not fear, Evercade will add two different designs in the box for you, allowing you to switch it up how you please and even allowing you to make your own should you be DIY-savvy! There might even be some extra designs you can buy separately too.
The Street Fighter edition Evercade Alpha comes with the following pre-installed games:
- Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
- Street Fighter: Alpha Warriors Dreams
- Street Fighter: Alpha 2
- Street Fighter: Alpha 3
- Super Street Fighter II Turbo
- Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
The Mega Man edition Evercade Alpha comes with the following pre-installed games:
- Mega Man: The Power Battle
- Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters
- Carrier Airwing
- Final Fight
- Knights of the Round
- Strider
The Evercade Alpha comes with competition-grade arcade controls for one player, allowing you to really sink some hours into this thing without having to worry about low quality controls, because we all know there’s nothing worse than a cheap joystick!
You might be thinking “Brandon, can I play with friends?”, yes absolutely, although it only has one set of controls, it does in fact have two USB ports, allowing you to hook up your controllers to play two player! If you have the Evercade VS you can use those controllers too.
Evercade Alpha Specifications
- 8″ High Resolution IPS 4:3 Display
- Competition-Grade Joystick & Buttons
- USB-C Charging
- 3.5MM Headphone Jack
- Stereo Speakers
- x2 USB Ports (for controllers)
- WiFi (for system updates)
- H-410mm X W-244mm X D-316mm
The overall design looks great, and because it’s 41cm in height it can perfectly fit in your games room, or in your office on display without taking up too much room. The Evercade Alpha features dual cartridge slots too so you can load up a multitude of your favourite games and take it with you around a friends house without needing to take more cartridges.
I love the fact that they have kept the insert coin button as the on/off button at the front, and the coin retrieval part of the cabinet has been converted into the cartridge slot, this shows you how much effort has been spend on making the product feel as nostalgic as possible.
Evercade Alpha Release Date & Pricing
The Evercade Alpha has an early bird price of £199.99/$229.99/€229.99 for those that pre-order before release. Pre-orders open up on the 4th June 2024. The normal price will raise to £229.99/$249.99/€249.99.
The Evercade Alpha will officially release in November 2024.
Evercade Alpha Deluxe Editions
Evercade are also launching Deluxe Editions of this product, featuring more upgrades and accessories in the box. These will come with Sanwa arcade stick controls pre-built into the units, the ones that feature in some of the best home arcade machines around.
It will also come with exclusive branded controllers, all of the possible marquee designs, a poster and a certificate of authenticity, making it collectible in nature. These deluxe editions will be exclusively available through Funstock and costs £249.99/$289.99 before shipping.
