Why Polycade?
Wondering how Polycade differs from that $250 all-in-one multicade with 50,000 games you found on eBay? Read on.
| Polycade | Most Other Arcade Products | |
|---|---|---|
| Materials | The Polycade is made from sheet steel that's then powder coated in a durable, easy to clean matte finish. Polycades have seamless, continuous edges for an ultra-clean look. | Nearly all other arcade machines are made with laminated MDF (particle board). The edges are wrapped with T-molding (essentially a rubber bumper). |
| Fabrication | Polycades are laser cut out of sheet steel, formed by CNC brakes, and welded together by professionals (a few parts are welded by robots). It's impossible to build the Polycade without literally millions of dollars of specialized equipment. | Many other arcade machines are made in a garage with as little as a jigsaw and a drill. We're not knocking this - we started here too! These methods simply limit the materials, seamlessness, and end quality that can be achieved. |
| Controls | Polycade uses Sanwa Denshi buttons and joysticks, the same ones favored by professional Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat players. Sanwa's buttons and joysticks are tested to 1 million pushes, and for this reason they are used in brutal environments like the ever-popular public arcades in Japan. | Most other arcade providers use knock off Sanwa hardware made with cheaper materials and processes. These knockoffs typically cost 1/5 the price and fail in just a few months of usage. |
| Computer | Polycade uses a modern gaming PC, capable of playing the latest 3d games at excellent graphics settings. See our specs here. | Other arcade machines take one of 3 different approaches: 1. Embedded systems These products are loaded with specific games, and are non-expandable. Traditional arcade machines fit into this category. 2. Raspberry Pi (or similar single board computer) These products are based off of extremely inexpensive computers (usually around $35). Because of their low power, you can only run games from roughly year 2000 and before. They're expandable, but typically require tech savvyness to do so. If you want to change anything or something goes wrong, you'll need to use the Linux command line to fix it. 3. You'll occasionally see a PC powered arcade machine. The PC cost can range from $100 to thousands depending on the specs of the hardware. If you want to play the latest hits like Street Fighter V, avoid any product that does not openly list it's PC specifications. |
| Upgradeable Computer | Polycade's PC is mounted into our custom open-frame chassis in the same modular fashion you'd see inside a PC tower. This means each Polycade is future-proof, and you'll be able to swap out the components for the latest future hardware. You can also think of this feature as a warranty of some kind: if PC parts fail in your Polycade 10 years down the line, rest assured you'll be able to find a current, generic component to replace it with. | Most other products use a 3rd party "front-end" software. While these can be powerful, they're very complicated, require extensive configuration, and tend to be more limited in what game sources you can use with them. |
| Software | Polycade has it's own proprietary software interface, designed to be as easy to use as possible while providing power users with flexibility never before seen on an arcade machine. We're in constant development on our software, and releasing new features all the time! | Most other products use a 3rd party "front-end" software. While these can be powerful, they're very complicated, require extensive configuration, and tend to be more limited in what game sources you can use with them. |
| Games | Polycade allows you to play both retro classics as well as the latest modern arcade titles like Street Fighter V and Mortal Kombat 11. The Polycade software achieves this by allowing you to merge games from a variety of sources. These sources include: - The Polycade Game Store - Steam - GOG - Itch.io - classic arcade games - nes - snes - genesis - mastersystem - turbografx16 - gameboy advance - atari2600 - and more! | Other arcade machines take 3 different approaches: 1. Fixed with the same games (non-expandable) 2. Horrible hacked versions of games 3. Retro games, but no modern games (or PC specs too low to run most modern games). Additionally, avoid any product that touts thousands of games. Not only are these titles pirated, but the maker of the machine hasn't taken the time to map controls, remove duplicates, and otherwise provide a good user experience. Not to mention, thousands of games are just going to get in the way of the games you actually want to play! |
| Curation | The world of video games is vast today, and finding the best titles is expensive and time consuming. Polycade does the work of bringing you the best arcade titles from the past, present, and future. We want you to love our product as much as we do, so we'll only bring you games we will stand behind. We believe in quality over quantity. | We haven't seen any other arcade machine or company that's interested in quality modern games. |
| Support | The Polycade support team is standing by to help make sure everything is working for you. We're available weekends as well! | Most other arcade machines don't offer support of any kind. |
| Software Updates | The Polycade software receives regular feature updates, ensuring that your Polycade just gets better with time. | Nearly every other arcade machine uses static software with a basic feature set that never improves. |
| Community | Polycade has both online and offline communities that you can participate in! Use our online forums to discuss games, learn about mods, or just get support pushing your system to the limits. We also run regular arcade meetups in the Los Angeles area! | Most other companies just want to sell you a product and never hear from you. |
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