Evercade Alpha arcade machine review – Sometimes size does matter

From the SEGA Astro Mini to the Taito Egret II, I’m a big fan of bite-sized arcade machines and the retro games found within.

Needless to say, I’ve had my eye on the Evercade Alpha arcade machines since they were announced all the way back in June.

Priced at £229 each, both come with half a dozen built-in games from Capcom. There’s a Street Fighter-themed device, as well as a Mega Man version with a different colour scheme and artwork.

The Street Fighter Alpha comes with Street Fighter II Champion Edition, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors’ Dreams, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and the superb Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo.

The Mega Man Edition contains more of a mixture of games, such as Mega Man: The Power Battle, Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, Final Fight, Knights of the Round, Carrier Air Wing and Strider.

Both devices also come with swappable marquee panels that light up when plugged in.

While I think the Street Fighter series is more iconic, I do prefer the variety you get with the Mega Man version, although you really can’t go wrong with either.

It’s just a shame you can’t buy dedicated Capcom Evercade cartridges to nab the games from the other machine. Same goes for the games available on last year’s Capcom Super Pocket, which are also locked behind that particular device.

The £229 price tag is also a little off-putting, at least until you actually see the device and go hands-on with it.

Dwarfing the likes of the Egret II and Astro Mini, the Evercade Alpha feels less like a novelty and more like a serious gaming device.

While I’m usually the first to insist that size doesn’t matter, in the case of home arcade machines, it kind of does.

The Evercade Alpha is just about light enough to move around (unlike a full-sized arcade machine), but big and heavy enough not to slide around when you plonk it down somewhere. 

It’s also comfortable to use, as well as practical. Unlike the dinky miniature arcade machines, you can actually rest your hand on the Evercade Alpha while playing, and without fear of accidentally pressing the wrong button.

It may not sound like a big deal, but the additional real-estate means you can adopt a different stance depending on what you’re playing. There’s enough space to hold the joystick between your fingers if you’re playing a shoot-em-up, for example, or grip the top for beat-em-ups and the likes.

The 8-inch IPS display is more than double the size of the Astro Mini and significantly bigger than the Egret II, which means you don’t need to plug it into a TV to efficiently use it. (Not that you could, because there’s no HDMI port.)

While the 4:3 aspect ratio isn’t the ideal set up for vertically-scrolling arcade games, the Evercade Alpha’s display is big enough that you can comfortably play vertical shooters.  It’s a far cry from Sonic Boom on the Astro City Mini, which was borderline unplayable on that tiny 16:9 display.

Another thing I like about the Evercade Alpha is that unlike a lot of retro gaming devices these days, it actually comes with a mains plug and USB-C cable. The recently released Spectrum, on the other hand, just comes with the cable, but no plug.

However, the thing I love the most about the Evercade Alpha is that it’s compatible with all of your Evercade cartridges.

Instead of coin trays at the base of the device, you actually have two slots to insert additional Evercade cartridges.

Needless to say, the Evercade Alpha excels when it comes to arcade games. R-Type from the Irem Collection is an absolute dream to play, while Edward Randy and Super Burgertime are both worth checking out from the Data East Arcade 2 Collection.

Despite being vertical shooters, Out Zone, Truxton 2 and Batsugun look and play great on the Alpha. (In fact, the Toaplan Arcade 3 Collection might be my favourite cartridge yet.)

For the most part, the Evercade Alpha is also the perfect machine to play all of your old 8-bit and 16-bit favourites from the SEGA and Nintendo era. Likewise, home computer games are more than playable on the Evercade Alpha. You may occasionally need to bring up the onscreen keyboard, but the same is true of any Evercade device, including the handheld and plug-in console.

However, with Evercade increasingly bringing 32-bit games to the system, it’s probably worth buying a USB controller for PSOne era releases.

While the Evercade Alpha comes with a joystick and six face buttons, some 32-bit titles utilise all four trigger buttons, as well as the face buttons.

A second controller also means you can play multiplayer games on the device, which is another reason to make the investment.

These USB controllers are generally pretty inexpensive, but it’s something to consider nonetheless.

Other than controller compatibility and the hefty price tag, there’s really not a lot to dislike about the Evercade Alpha, which is my new go-to device for arcade gaming.

The design, build quality, games and presentation are all top-tier, and proof that occasionally size does matter. 

VERDICT: 4.5/5