Evercade Alpha Bartop Arcade Review - The Best And Most Versatile Home Arcade Machine

The dream of having an arcade inside your home is considerably more realistic these days thanks to the proliferation of consumer-grade cabinets, led by Arcade1Up. But unless you have a plethora of open space and the disposable cash to buy a bunch of cabinets, bringing the arcade home means maybe one or two machines. And unlike arcades, you're usually locked into a specific lineup of games; you can't take your quarters elsewhere when you have the urge to switch things up. Multiple cabinet manufacturers have tried to solve the space and boredom concerns by becoming arcade platforms. It hasn't really worked yet, but that could change with the arrival of one of the best pieces of gaming hardware in years: the Evercade Alpha Bartop Arcade.

Officially licensed by Capcom and created by Blaze Entertainment, the Alpha offers an authentic arcade experience with full-size controls in a compact form factor for $250--a $20 discount is available if you complete your purchase before the Alpha's November 28 release. Two models, each with six preloaded games, will be available at launch: Mega Man: The Power Battle and Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. But what makes these superbly realized bartop cabinets so exciting is support for the 535 (and counting) games in the Evercade library.

Evercade Alpha Street Fighter Edition

$230 (was $250) | Releases November 28

Evercade Alpha Mega Man Edition

$230 (was $250) | Releases November 28

For those unfamiliar with the brand, Evercade is a line of cartridge-based hardware that debuted as a handheld in 2020. Today, there are multiple iterations of the handheld as well as a home console. All Evercade devices share the same game library, which means the Alpha is launching with a massive catalog of over 60 cartridge collections featuring arcade, home console, and handheld classics.