Fans of retro arcade gaming will most certainly want to hear about Polycade. The Los Angeles-based company is on a mission to bring arcade to your home and the best part about it is, you have several options when it comes experiencing home arcade gaming.
The first is through the newly announced Polycade Arcade Gaming Software (Polycade AGS). Polycade AGS is a free software that will turn any PC into a Polycade video game system.
You can use your Xbox controller, but Polycade also sells controllers – a SNES-styled classic controller called eZpZ controller and Arcade controller – for added authentic retro gaming experience.
The software has a game store baked into it with access to curated games from virtually every era. The software is free to download and will work with any Windows 10 machines.
However, if you find staring a modern laptop or PC ain’t authentic or retro enough, there are couple of hardware options too.
The first is the Polycade 2600, a PC gaming console designed for the living room. It is plug-and-play and the PC disguised as console hardware is preloaded with Polycade AGS.
Packed inside the minimalist powder coated steel case is 8 GB of RAM, 240 GB SSD as standard, 5 GHz WiFi, multiple I/Os, and powered by AMD Ryzen 3 3200G CPU. Each unit comes with a pair of Polycade eZpZ controllers, featuring Bluetooth connectivity, rechargeable battery, and support for additional platforms like Switch.
For those who desire a full-blown arcade experience, there is the Polycade arcade machine. Polycade arcade machine is a modern take of the traditional arcade machines with small footprint to no footprint at all.
The Polycade arcade machine is available in 2-player – The Polycade Wallcade Lite or Lux, or 4-player model, The Squadcade.
The Polycade Wallcade Lite shares the same innards as the Polycade 2600 console, but further boasts Radeon Vega 8 GPU, built-in 2x 30W speakers, a 27-inch FHD 1080p monitor with 2 ms response time and adaptive brightness, LED backlight, and Sanwa buttons and JLF joystick.
The Lux model, on the other hand, has everything the Lite model has, but with a more powerful AMD Ryzen 5 3400G CPU, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, and a beefier GPU, Radeon RX Vega 11.
Finally, the Squadcade is everything the Wallcade Lux version is, but with a larger 32-inch FHD 1080p monitor, a monster 400W sound system, and four sets of buttons + joystick controls.
If you are enamored by Polycade’s propositions, you may pre-order them on Indiegogo. As far as hardware goes, Early Access + eZpZ Controller sells for US$25 while Early Access + Arcade Controller goes for US$199.
The Polycade 2600 is US$599 (with Early Access) and the Polycade arcade machines start at US$1,299.
The campaign is on Flexible Goal, which means it is a pre-sale campaign which Polycade will fulfill from February 2021 onward.
Images: Polycade.
