Evercade’s New Cartridge-Based Arcade Machine Is Up For Preorder At Amazon

One of the best and most versatile home arcade machines is in stock at Amazon for the first time in over six months. Amazon is taking preorders for the Evercade Alpha Taito Bartop Arcade for $260. Themed around Bubble Bobble and preloaded with 10 games, the Taito edition is the third Evercade Alpha. The miniature countertop cabinet originally launched last November with Mega Man and Street Fighter editions. But the two Capcom-themed models disappeared from US retailers in early 2025 and have remained sold out since. As such, if you’re interested in the Evercade Alpha, you may want to secure a preorder ahead of the new edition’s November 12 launch.

Here’s the list of preloaded Taito games:

• Bubble Bobble
• Puzzle Bobble
• Space Invaders
• Cadash
• Rastan
• Elevator Action
• The FairyLand Story
• Growl
• The Legend of Kage
• The New Zealand Story

Over a dozen additional digital games can be unlocked in the Evercade OS Secret menu.

While we imagine many arcade gaming enthusiasts would prefer the Mega Man or Street Fighter themes and games, the Alpha’s preloaded game library is an appetizer. When you buy an Evercade device, you’re getting a platform not unlike Switch 1/2, PS5, and Xbox–albeit on a much smaller scale, of course. The Alpha is a cartridge-based device with support for all 75-plus carts across the library’s three lineups: console, arcade, and home computer.

At this time, there are 20 arcade collections on Evercade, including four upcoming carts focused on Taito and NeoGeo. In total, there are over 150 arcade games on the Evercade platform. The console series is much larger–48 cartridges and over 400 games–and the home computer lineup is the newest of the three with 10 cartridges and over 100 games. Most Evercade carts retail for $30 these days and are themed around specific retro publishers, platforms, and franchises. Roughly 20% of the library focuses on contemporary indie games with retro-inspired visuals and gameplay. New Evercade cartridges release regularly. For instance, there are seven upcoming collections you can preorder at Amazon, including the Rare Collection with Battletoads, Battletoads Arcade, Conker’s Pocket Tales, and more. The Rare Collection launches just two weeks after the Taito Bartop Arcade. It will be accompanied by the first Activision Collection and a Llamasoft Collection with 27 games.

Evercade Cartridge Collections:

The Evercade Alpha’s sprawling game library is a big part of what makes it so great. We haven’t tested the Taito model, but it has the same specs and form factor as the Mega Man and Street Fighter models. The only noticeable difference outside of the theme is the arcade stick. The Taito model has a ball-top stick, whereas the Capcom editions have bat-top sticks.

The build quality of the Evercade Alpha’s Capcom editions is superb, so we’d expect the Taito version to look and feel great, too. The Alpha’s 8-inch IPS screen produces a crisp and vibrant image, and the stick/buttons are nicer than any other arcade cabinet we’ve tried in this price range. The custom Evercade OS is clean and easy to use. Thanks to its extremely lightweight design–the Alpha is roughly 13 pounds–it’s easy to move to different places in your house. You can even use it comfortably on the couch by propping the cabinet on your lap.

Since the Evercade library has hundreds of console and handheld games, you may want to use a regular controller sometimes. Out of the box, the Alpha only supports wired USB controllers. If you want to use a wireless controller, you’ll need an adapter. With the 8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2, you can use a wide variety of Bluetooth gamepads, including PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch controllers as well as most of 8BitDo’s Bluetooth controllers. Numerous third-party arcade sticks (wired and wireless) are also compatible, so both players can use traditional arcade controls for multiplayer games.

For more on the Evercade Alpha, we’d recommend reading our in-depth review of the Mega Man edition published last year.

Evercade handhelds & home console

If you’re interested in the Evercade game library but don’t want to spend $260 on the Alpha, Blaze Entertainment also has multiple Evercade handhelds and a home console for lower prices. Amazon recently restocked the Evercade EXP-R handheld and VS-R home console. Both systems retail for $130 and are bundled with Tomb Raider Collection I (the original trilogy).

Upcoming Evercade Cartridge Collections

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