Blaze Entertainment Evercade Alpha review: flexible bartop retro gaming

We’ve had handheld Evercades, plug-into-your-telly Evercades, and not-called-Evercades-but-actually-tiny-Game-Boy-like Evercades. Do we need another? Blaze Entertainment thinks so. Which is why we now have Evercade Alpha, the bartop arcade cabinet Evercade.

I was sceptical of this one. Despite being a fan of the Evercade ecosystem, a bartop felt like a step too far. So (spoiler alert) I was surprised to find it was way more compelling than I expected – even if it’s more limited than other Evercade hardware in certain ways. Let’s dig into whether the Alpha can top the high-score table.

Design & features: Cab, innit?

The Evercade Alpha doesn’t feel at all like a toy, being double the size of an Egret or Sega Astro City Mini V and with a solid build. I appreciated thoughtful touches like the coin-slot power button and the swappable light-up marquee – although changing the game it shows gives the bartop an identity crisis. The artwork is well designed and printed, although I can’t vouch for the durability of what’s on the control deck.

Blaze reckons the alpha has ‘competition grade’ controls. The buttons lack resistance but are responsive, and I had no complaints with the paddle stick, whatever I played. The bartop form factor can be uncomfortable, since it’s hard to rest your hands, but that’s unavoidable. You can plug in (and map) a USB controller, but playing like that felt weird.

Some mini bartops have weedy screens and speakers. Not this one. The Alpha’s 8in display is pin sharp, and at 4:3 it’s well-suited to the majority of the Evercade catalogue. However, I did at times pine for a rotating display, like on the Taito Egret II Mini. The big surprise: audio. The stereo speakers pack serious oomph. I was also happy to see a 3.5mm headphone port, so I could avoid annoying the neighbours.

There are two hot-swappable cart slots at the front (this is an Evercade, after all). All Evercade carts work with the Alpha, but not all games work well – see later. Still, legally extensible licensed bartops are rare. Blaze gets kudos for fighting the good fight there.

The lack of difficulty options might leave your ego in a heap, but the Alpha does have save slots. Also good: quick-access control overviews and scanline effects, even if the latter don’t emulate a CRT’s curves. I appreciated the free monthly game over Wi-Fi too, and found the built-in cart list (which tracks what you plug in) amusing. It’s part ad, part useful, part massive FOMO.

Performance: Game time

The Alpha comes in two versions: Street Fighter and Mega Man. There are also pricier (50 bucks extra) ‘deluxe’ variants with Sanwa controls (plus a bundled USB controller and more marquees). I received a standard unit for review.

The Street Fighter edition comes with Street Fighter II Champion Edition, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha – Warriors’ Dreams, Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Street Fighter Alpha 3. The Mega Man edition includes Mega Man – The Power Battle, Mega Man 2 – The Power Fighters, Carrier Air Wing, Final Fight, Knights of the Round and Strider.

The Street Fighter edition will likely appeal to more people. So ever the contrarian, I requested the Mega Man edition for review, because of Strider. That game is superb on this bartop, but I also enjoyed playing meathead brawler Final Fight and horizontal shooter Carrier Air Wing. Less so the two Mega Man games, which are deep-cuts – weird sort-of fighting games rather than platformers.

The emulation throughout was solid, but I wasn’t thrilled that Blaze has split 12 games across two cabinets. Also, you can’t buy the ‘other set’ on cart (for which, I assume, blame Capcom). That means Blaze continues to erode the ethos behind Evercade, following the bundled-only Capcom games on the EXP and pre-loaded-only fare on the Super Pockets.

I tried some (not all – there are loads) existing Evercade carts and games with the Alpha. Vertical titles were sub-optimal, because they take up so little space. Play them on an EXP in TATE mode instead. Arcade-oriented 4:3 titles worked best, bar anything expecting a second D-pad. (So Xeno Crisis looks fantastic on the Alpha, but is awkward to play.) The lack of L2/R2 scuppers Tomb Raider on the unit too – unless you use a gamepad.

But I was in my element with (among others) Old Towers from the first Mega Cat Collection, Sensible Soccer from the Codemasters cart, and even the exploratory Goodboy Galaxy. Although, notably, always playing solo; while the Alpha supports multiplayer via its USB-A slots, having someone peering over your shoulder at an 8in display isn’t much fun.

Blaze Entertainment Evercade Alpha verdict

I wasn’t expecting to like the Evercade Alpha as much as I did. But it’s a good size with great controls. There are niggles – notably the lack of HDMI out and internal battery – but neither unduly bother me.

What most sets the Alpha apart is extensibility. Sure, the Egret has that too, but each SD card of ten games costs $55/£45 if you snap one up during the five nanoseconds it’s on sale. Evercade carts cost under half of that – with games from multiple publishers. That’s because this is an actual platform, not a one-hit nostalgia exercise.

That said, this bartop does feel spendy. Out of the box, I’d have preferred more games. Something like the Taito Super Pocket’s 18 would have been magic. Heck, even the Capcom Super Pocket managed 12. As it is, the Alpha might be a tough sell to newcomers, who are arguably better served dipping their toes into the Evercade ecosystem via a Super Pocket or an EXP. But that’s not me – and it might not be you. If you’re keen to bolster your games collection with carts and fancy a decidedly arcade-oriented bartop, the Alpha shines.

So, yes, it’s the most niche of Evercades; but for pure arcade indulgences, it’s the best. Now let’s hope Blaze can secure licenses for more cracking arcade titles to play on it.

Blaze Entertainment Evercade Alpha technical specifications

Screen	8in 1024x768px IPS screen
Connectivity	Wi-Fi, USB-C power, 3.5mm headphone, 2x USB-A, 2x Evercade cart slots
Processor	1.5Ghz
RAM	512MB
Dimensions	244mm (W) x 410mm (H) x 316mm (D), about 5kg