Evercade Alpha Review: Epic Retro Home-Gaming

Practically unparalleled arcade gaming experience. Authentic furniture designs. Brilliant surface and controls. Fantastic room features.

No 5-Ghz Wi-Fi support. Slightly dilatory to footwear up. Not suited to immoderate games requiring console controls.

For years now, Evercade has been loudly championing video gaming history. The company's hardware scope is simply a nostalgist's dream, moving carnal cartridges crammed with emulated but officially licensed collections of retro titles, each drafting connected the "golden age" of location computing, aboriginal consoles, and classical arcade machines.

Yet portion the likes of the archetypal Evercade handheld, its evolved, vertical scroll-supporting Evercade EXP successor, and the TV-based Evercade VS-R person each provided captivating portals to the past, they whitethorn each beryllium eclipsed by the caller Evercade Alpha—a miniature arcade cabinet, accurately decked retired with play cladding and boasting high-grade controls and a crisp screen.

It whitethorn beryllium the astir authentic mode to play arcade classics abbreviated of hopping into a DeLorean and hitting 88 mph successful a lightning storm.

Labor of Love

The archetypal happening that strikes you astir the Evercade Alpha is conscionable however overmuch of a labour of emotion it is, made by, and for, radical who genuinely emotion arcade gaming. Its wood-panel casing perfectly recreates the shape, feel, and vibe of ‘80s and ’90s cabinets, conscionable successful scaled-down form.

The Alpha is disposable successful 2 models, each centered connected a Capcom classic, Street Fighter II oregon Mega Man: The Power Battle, with the furniture designs near-flawlessly recreating the full-size arcade versions from backmost successful the day. Cabinet creation is spot on, down to the screens being framed successful character-select creation from their respective spotlight titles and the look buttons reproduced successful the aforesaid colour palettes arsenic the originals.

One of the coolest touches is the light-up marquee, which highlights the games' eye-catching banners with a agleam but mildly diffused glow. Even better, those marquees are interchangeable, allowing for immoderate customization if you prefer, say, a Strider banner to the Mega Man one, oregon person beardown feelings implicit which Street Fighter crippled should person the spotlight. And, wherever the Alpha's size and relation don't let oregon necessitate a period-perfect do-over, determination are clever plan substitutions, specified arsenic the powerfulness fastener mimicking the archetypal coin slot. Everything astir the Alpha conscionable hits right.

The downside is that the antithetic units aren't lone aesthetically different, but each features a antithetic clump of in-built games. The Street Fighter exemplary packs successful Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter II' Champion Edition, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. The Mega Man exemplary (the mentation we tested) has a somewhat much varied selection, with Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters (relative rarities; arcade outings for the Blue Bomber that blended the events of his acquainted level shooters with 2D combatant mechanics), hack-and-slash titan Strider, scrolling brawlers Final Fight and Knights of the Round, and shooter Carrier Air Wing.

Although arcade purists whitethorn beryllium much drawn to the Street Fighter collection—pulling disconnected a Spinning Bird Kick oregon Hadouken connected close arcade controls is ever a delight—the Mega Man portion offers a much divers selection, with much genres represented. Which 1 to spell for volition beryllium down to idiosyncratic preference.

Arcade Upgrade

Whatever your choice, the Alpha impresses arsenic a mode to play these classics. A large portion of that is down to the screen, an 8-inch IPS panel, offering 1024 x 768 solution astatine 60 Hz. Games look fantastic connected it, with incredibly crisp item highlighting the gorgeous pixel creation of the period—classicists whitethorn adjacent deliberation excessively crisp astatine times, compared to the CRT cabinets of old—and bold, agleam colors.

The 4:3 surface ratio adds to the authenticity of playing connected the Alpha, though strategy options let for a fewer show tweaks specified arsenic filters to replicate CRT scanlines, pixel-perfect scaling, optional surface borders, oregon a agelong to afloat screen.

The lone downside to the surface isn't successful show but alternatively the protective integrative movie that comes plastered implicit it. This is meant to beryllium removed but required loosening front-facing screws to get it disconnected entirely—slightly concerning, arsenic those screws didn't look arsenic though they were meant to beryllium loosened. Proceed with caution.

Matters are likewise awesome connected the dependable front, with amazingly almighty stereo speakers built in, pumping retired rich, bass-heavy audio from either broadside of the cabinet's wood paneling. If you're not up for a thundering arcade instrumentality blasting retired ’80s chiptune, a discrete measurement rocker connected the front, tucked nether that beauteous coin slot powerfulness button, allows for speedy adjustment. Plus, if you're connected a vintage gaming footwear into the wee hours and don't privation to disturb others, the Alpha packs successful the astir retro diagnostic of all: a 3.5-mm headphone jack.

The carnal controls of the furniture are great, with a azygous full-size sheet consisting of a joystick and six look buttons—perfect for Street Fighter's legendary power strategy of kicks and punches successful light-medium-heavy combinations—plus a trio of strategy power buttons.

While dual controls would beryllium nice, they would besides travel astatine a outgo of either shrunken down components, ruining the authentic feel, oregon a portion truthful large it stops being a mini cabinet. That doesn't mean autochthonal two-player gaming is simply a no-go though—two USB-A ports connected the beforehand let outer controllers to beryllium plugged in, and controls tin beryllium mapped arsenic needed. Incidentally, this is wherever the Mega Man portion whitethorn person an edge, arsenic Knights of the Round tin enactment up to 3 players.

For those who privation an adjacent higher-end at-home arcade, Evercade is besides producing a "Deluxe" exemplary Alpha, which comes with upgraded Sanwa controls, a afloat acceptable of six interchangeable marquee headers—one for each of the games connected either system—and an Evercade controller successful an exclusive Alpha-themed colour palette. It's those Sanwa controls, considered 1 of the champion arcade constituent manufacturers, that whitethorn beryllium the biggest lure for arcade obsessives, but the modular model's controls don't disappoint.

The default instrumentality is responsive, with a robust outpouring backmost to its neutral position, portion the look buttons are perfectly spaced. Everything feels satisfyingly clicky too, with the conscionable close magnitude of recoil.

Despite the Alpha's comparatively diminutive stature—41 cm (16.5 inches) tall, with a 31.6 x 24.4-cm (12.4 x 9.6-inch) footprint, making the furniture conscionable the close size to instrumentality pridefulness of spot connected a table oregon barroom top—there's a bully heft to the unit, sitting securely connected 4 rubber feet and not moving nary substance however vigorously you slam the joystick around.

Emulation Nation

First-time set-up is simply a breeze—the Alpha comes with a two-meter USB powerfulness cord, with plug adaptors for UK, US, and EU sockets. Plug in, power on, play.

The lone insignificant hurdle is the Wi-Fi settings—entering your transportation details with a joystick isn't the astir elegant process. Wi-Fi for an arcade instrumentality mightiness dependable odd, but it allows for strategy updates improving wide show and for Evercade's free, downloadable Game of the Month, usually a caller fresh indie title. It’s a spot disappointing that the Alpha lone supports 2.4-GHz connectivity though, but astir updates are little than 500 MB successful size, truthful it doesn't precisely request lightning-fast download speeds.

The Alpha isn't the quickest to footwear up—we timed 40 seconds, adjacent aft each updates person been done—but erstwhile it has, it's nicely responsive and easy navigable with the arcade controls. Anyone who's utilized different Evercade instrumentality volition find the Alpha instantly acquainted astatine a strategy level. Evercade's firmware is present unified crossed each its devices, meaning the UI is identical successful quality and function. Units person a enactment of strategy themes to take from to customize the "desktop", with 1 tailored to either the autochthonal Street Fighter oregon Mega Man appearance.

You'll beryllium capable to browse either unit's included Capcom games nether the "A" menu, and those moving from Evercade carts successful a paper beneath that. The Alpha accommodates 2 carts astatine erstwhile for perchance dozens of games accessible astatine a moment's notice, which tin beryllium browsed and sorted by merchandise year, title, oregon which cart slot they're in. There's besides a Star paper lodging the Game of the Month and the Hidden Games menu—one of Evercade's neatest tricks, a postulation of other games that tin beryllium unlocked done strategy trickery oregon combining definite cart combos successful the dual slots.

Games themselves are typically overmuch quicker to motorboat than the strategy itself is, whether pre-installed oregon moving from an Evercade cart. Being emulated, it's besides imaginable to make prevention states for immoderate game, saved to the cartridge itself, allowing you to motorboat close into the mediate of a lengthy arcade tally you couldn't quite finish. While that decidedly changes the quality of playing arcade games, it's besides imaginable to play successful Competition Mode, selected from a game's settings paper earlier launching, which prohibits saves. It's arsenic adjacent to playing these games arsenic they were primitively intended arsenic possible, with each the challenges that entails.

One neat caller system-level diagnostic unsocial to the Alpha is Demo Mode. Leave the Alpha untouched for 2 minutes, and it volition commencement moving 1 of the installed games’ “attract modes” from the existent arcade machines backmost successful the day—those captivating bursts of gameplay that would lure players over, tempting them to portion with their coins by showcasing the flashiest, astir breathtaking parts of the games. Is it meaningful? Does it “do” anything? No, but it's different loving motion to gaming history.

And that's Evercade's concealed weapon—it's not conscionable a mode to play older games, it's a solemnisation of them and your experiences with them. Like different consoles successful the hardware ecosystem, Alpha is an adjacent portion virtual museum, each crippled coming with a small vignette astir wherefore it was important, what crushed it broke, wherefore it was beloved (or sometimes wherefore it wasn't). A room paper logs which games you person entree to, expanding with each Evercade cart you slot in, and your play clip and stats are logged per title. It's a treasure trove that expands the much you enactment into it.

Universal Appeal

That trove is Evercade's different concealed weapon, arsenic each crippled cartridge is compatible with each its hardware (almost—the Namco Museum collections aren't compatible with the TV-based Evercade VS oregon VS-R consoles).

Given however overmuch of the Evercade room consists of arcade collections, that makes for an abundance of retro riches. From Atari classics dating to the earliest days of the arcade to scrolling shooters made celebrated by the likes of Irem's R-Type, oregon niche fighters similar Dragon Master, the Alpha is simply a phenomenal mode to revisit them—or brushwood them for the archetypal time.

There is 1 caveat, though, regarding immoderate of Evercade's much caller releases from its console collections, chiefly the Legacy of Kain and Tomb Raider releases. Both of these carts—collecting the archetypal PlayStation versions of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, and the archetypal 3 Lara Croft games, respectively—are technically compatible with the Alpha, but lone insofar arsenic the furniture volition tally them. The six-button layout of the Alpha replicates the A, B, X, Y, L1, and R1 buttons of the modular Evercade controllers, but lacks immoderate L2/R2 inputs. Given these games required those buttons backmost connected PS1, they can't decently beryllium controlled present without plugging successful an outer controller (or an Evercade handheld console to usage arsenic such).

However, successful our experience, some of these collections froze up erstwhile an outer controller—a wired Xbox pad—was connected, requiring a strategy reboot to clear. That's somewhat frustrating, of course, yet not truly a deal-breaker for the Alpha. Those games were ne'er intended for an arcade anyway—it would conscionable beryllium a bully gimmick to beryllium capable to effort to play them that way. Still, it's thing to beryllium alert of for anyone with an expansive Evercade collection.

That astir feels similar quibbling, though. For an at-home arcade offering, there's precise small to responsibility the Alpha. Short of full-size archetypal cabinets oregon arcade boards, it's 1 of the champion ways to acquisition a important chunk of gaming's bequest successful the astir morganatic mode possible.

With its fantastic design, superb screen, and a beardown postulation of games included connected some models, this is Evercade successful its finest form.