
Taito is helping to expand the Evercade range this year, thanks to the addition of a Taito-themed Alpha bartop arcade and two new Taito Evercade cartridges.
Like the two Capcom variants released last year, the unit will feature dual controls and a bunch of pre-loaded games. It will also have two cartridge slots, so you can play Evercade carts on it. Swappable marquees will be included, along with stereo sound and an 8” high-resolution IPS screen.
The pre-loaded games are:
- BUBBLE BOBBLE
- CADASH
- ELEVATOR ACTION
- THE FAIRYLAND STORY
- GROWL
- THE LEGEND OF KAGE
- THE NEWZEALAND STORY
- PUZZLE BOBBLE
- RASTAN
- SPACE INVADERS
The Evercade Alpha Taito Bartop Arcade will be available to pre-order for £199.99 / €229.99 / $259.99 from May 30th, 2025. When it launches in November, the price will rise to £229.99 / €249.99 / $279.99.
As for the cartridges, Taito Arcade 1 and Taito Arcade 2 will include the following games:
Taito Arcade 1
- BUBBLE BOBBLE
- CHACK’N POP
- COLONY 7
- DON DOKO DON
- GROWL
- SPACE INVADERS
- PIRATE PETE
- RAIMAIS
- THE LEGEND OF KAGE
Taito Arcade 2
- ALPINE SKI
- THE ELECTRIC YO-YO
- ELEVATOR ACTION
- KIKI KAIKAI
- LIQUID KIDS
- RASTAN
- OPERATION WOLF
- THE NEWZEALAND STORY
- VOLFIED
Each cart will be available for £19.99 / €24.99 / $29.99 and launch this September. Pre-orders open on July 31st, 2025.
Comments 17
The constant lack of love for Rainbow Islands is a little frustrating!!
@mr_benn Exactly what I was going to say. No Rainbow: no deal!
Where... WHERE IS MR DO!?
Raimais is going to be just the American/Overseas version, isn't it?
LordBBH has repeatedly praised that game, but only for the Japanese version. Something about the English versions patch out the level warping function which I suppose makes the game a little lengthy but there's some secret stuff that becomes broken in that process?
It's great that Evercade gets another Alpha and more cartridges, although I'm not going to get them with an Egret II Mini already in my collection.
What I find surprising is that they release an Alpha and 2 carts containing its games almost simultaneously. Weird move.
But it also means that if Capcom is less stubborn someday we could see a Capcom cart. Fingers crossed.
@Moroboshi876
Guess it hess less Power to convince People to buy as Megaman and Street Fighter^^
A shame not to include Operation Thunderbolt with Operation Wolf. Maybe there will be a volume 3 that will include it, along with Rainbow Islands and Chase HQ
Let us (existing alpha owners) buy the marques!
@Moroboshi876 the taito were already a year ago in the hypermegas i think
@romanista Yes, I know, but they're putting the games on the most mainstream and proper Evercades now. Until now they were trapped inside the Super Pockets.
@Moroboshi876 yup, hope they liberate more.. btw I read on Redding puzzle bobble was on the new alpha but not on the carts..
Hmm... A (sort of) competitor to the Egret II Mini... But without any Darius games, no rotating screen... Hell, barely any shmups at all!
Still not sure if its worth it compared to the E2M, but I do like the look and feel of the cab itself.
@romanista Yes, I guess they have to keep some games exclusive to the Alphas, although a lot of games overlap with the 2 cartridges.
@gojiguy it has the toaplan carts with nice smup.. no rotating screen, but the 8 inch screen works quite nice for vertical shmups, e.g... the playable part is bigger than the sega mini V 's Tate screen .. I love playing batsugun on my alpha..
@gojiguy no output to tv via HDMI is another one up for the Taito Erget 2 Mini v the Alpha.
@mr_benn My only guess is that the in-game music is an issue.
I was down for the Taito Alpha till I realized I would need to double dip on games, getting the Taito carts. I really think they should include the 2 Taito carts like they did with the VS. They also restrict cart buyers by making Puzzle Bobble and Cadash exclusive to the Alpha. Kinda screwed both ways.
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