Having a flick through Kickstarter again today , and we see yet another concept arcade design, and to be totally honest I have to confess I love the look of this one…. Like most of the projects the actual price puts me off, especially as being a hardcore Arcade builder I would want to do something very similar with a bit more gaming choice – BUT – that being said this is PERFECT for your average retro enthusiast.
THE RETRO ARCADE OF THE FUTURE
The arcade is the ultimate casual gaming experience. Arcades are social, low commitment, and perfect for either playing solo or competing with friends. Sadly, due to their failure to evolve with the times, arcades are becoming a rarity.
The classic arcade has a few problems. It only plays a single game, it’s heavy and takes up a lot of space, and it doesn’t fit aesthetically into many home or business spaces. I built the Polycade to solve all of these problems, and I realized that there are likely others out there who want the same thing: an elegant, minimalistic arcade that plays multiple games.
Polycade features include:
- One 4-directional joystick for classic titles
- Two 8-directional joysticks for multiplayer
- At ⅓ the size of a standard arcade machine, the Polycade fits nicely in any home or office
- The Polycade ships with over 90 games, and is capable of playing thousands more! (see list below)
Building the first Polycade took almost a year of design, research, and testing. I even ended up writing a script to manage files and scrape metadata. Throughout this process, it became clear to me that even for those who have the technical skills to build something similar, the needed investment of time and money keeps the arcade out of reach. Also, most people assume the only way to have a home arcade is to have a dedicated room filled with vintage machines. I want to change that.
GAME LIST
The Polycade will ship with the following games:
- Pac-Man
- Ms. Pac-Man
- Galaga
- Dig Dug
- Galaxian
- Pole Position
- Rolling Thunder
- Rally-X
- Bosconian
- Dragon Spirit
- Sky Kid
- Xevious
- Mappy
- 1942
- 1943: Battle of Midway
- 1943 Kai
- Bionic Commando
- Commando
- Exed Exes
- Final Fight
- Forgotten Worlds
- Ghosts’n Goblins
- Gun.Smoke
- Legendary Wings
- Mercs
- Pirate Ship Hingemaru
- Section Z
- SonSon
- Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
- Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
- Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting
- Super Ghouls’n Ghosts
- Trojan
- Vulgus
- Asteroids
- Asteroids Delux
- Battlezone
- Centipede
- Crystal Castles
- Gravitar
- Millipede
- Missile Command
- Pong
- Super Breakout
- Tempest
- Warlords
- Golden Axe
- Altered Beast
- Comix Zone
- Ecco The Dolphin
- Gain Ground
- Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
- Vectorman
- Sonic The Hedghog
- Crack Down
- Space Harrier II
- Ecco Jr.
- Fatal Labrynth
- Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
- Bonanza Bros
- Super Thunder Blade
- ESWAT: City Under Siege
- Kid Chameleon
- Ristar
- Golden Axe 2
- Galaxy Force II
- Columns
- Sonic The Hedghog 2
- Bio-Hazard Battle
- Columns III: Revenge of Columns
- Sword of Vermillion
- Virtua Fighter 2
- Ecco: The Tides of Time
- Alien Storm
- Decap Attack
- Flicky
- Sonic 3 & Knucles
- Sonic Spinball
- Landstalker
- Shining Force
- Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
- Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
- Streets of Rage
- Streets of Rage 2
- Alien Soldier
- Light Crusader
- Sonic 3D Blast
- Gunstar Heroes
- Shining Force II
- Shining in the Darkness
- ToeJam & Earl
- ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funktron
