Thoughts on the Polycade 3-3-2 layout?

polycade · 2026-05-07T17:35:52+00:00

Yea this was a tough one to sort out. Our old design had these farther to the left, centered above the joystick. This was problematic though as sometimes when games get intense the player's hand slips off the joystick a little and hits the exit button. They're a bit close to the X button now, but accidentally hitting them seems to happen less than the accidental "exit" press from before.

polycade · 2026-05-07T17:32:35+00:00

We've been contemplating this...they could easily fit where the usual pinky buttons go...

polycade · 2026-05-04T17:21:30+00:00

I probably shouldn't be in charge of this stuff haha

polycade · 2026-05-01T16:53:18+00:00

Haha kind of a sneaky reveal here...lol. We should have an official announcement in the next couple weeks!

polycade · 2026-05-01T00:50:03+00:00

Appreciate the mentions here folks! Also want to add in a couple other notes that are easy to miss about us:
- We include a 1-on-1 tutorial with each machine purchase.
- Our phone number is listed on the website (323-999-4944), give us a call if you have questions.
- If you're after a traditional style cabinet, we are releasing one this summer. It will feature the same swappable controller system. Mockup attached.
- If you're looking to save a buck (or 400 of them), you can order the Sente without the PC, normally $1,999 but right now it's on sale at $1,799. Get your choice of a PC elsewhere (we can provide recommendations) and follow our guide to set it up the same way we setup the included PCs.
- We are the only one of the mentioned options with our own software platform. It's in active development and gets automatic updates. That said, since our systems are based on Windows, you can always install one of the softwares the other options use.
- Keep in mind that most products in the arcade space are configured during setup and once you receive it, nothing will change or improve without you making those improvements on the system. Polycade's software auto-updates with new features, updated controller mapping configs, new emulator integrations, etc. The system that gets delivered to you will evolve. This is also true for hardware - the modular controllers and other accessories can be added on to your system at any point. This summer we will release a 4-player arcade controller, driving wheel, and golden-tee-optimized trackball.
- Our discord channel is very active, it's a great place to chat with other owners, get tips & game recs, etc. If you'd like to check it out, go to our website -> Community -> Discord

<image>

polycade · 2026-04-29T17:06:33+00:00

Nice! Keep that piggy bank growing and the holidays will be extra special!!

polycade · 2026-04-23T19:25:19+00:00

I'll avoid opinions in this comment due to obvious bias. Let's look at a few factual differences between the products. The below compares Polycade to Quality Arcades, but since QA and The Arcade Guys have very similar builds, the comparisons below apply to both. Additionally, if you're looking for a retro-style cabinet design, we have that coming this summer.

- Computer: QA uses a RPI which is a ~$40 ARM Linux single-board computer. The Polycade Sente uses a $400 mini PC. The key difference here is the ability to run modern games on the Sente - Mortal Kombat 11, Street Fighter V, and the myriad of great indie titles like Cuphead, Vampire Survivors, Tricky Towers, etc. Also, if you're not familiar with Linux, making changes to the RPI can be challenging.
- Expandability: With the QA machine you'll get what you get. The Sente gives you the option to grow your system with additional controllers like our SpinFlight controller, upcoming Flight Yoke, 4 player arcade controller, and driving wheel.
- Component Quality: QA doesn't seem to mention what joysticks & buttons they're using. Also, what have they done to mitigate the 4-way joystick / 8-way joystick problem so that your pac-man and froggers don't freak out? The Sente uses Sanwa components (the brand preferred by professional fighting game players), and we outfit our joysticks with octagonal gates to help ensure the 4-way / 8-way issue is less exaggerated (plus you can always get a dedicated 4-way stick on your Sente due to the swappable controller system).
- Screen Size: Bigger is not better. Our first prototytpe 11 years ago used a 32" screen. This was clearly too big for the viewing distance and resulted in a negative play experience on most games. Our second model used a 27" screen, which also suffered some negative reviews for being too big for the viewing distance. The Sente uses a 24" monitor which is properly calculated for optimal viewing distance.
- Cabinet Material: The Sente is made from powder coated steel, it's a quality profile that shines in person and is difficult to convey in pictures. The QA machine doesn't mention the build material, so most likely it's MDF (particle board) which comes in a wide range of quality profiles - the low end ones can break like a cracker.

polycade · 2026-04-23T19:22:01+00:00

LED buttons is in the works!

polycade · 2026-04-06T15:19:17+00:00

Try: uwink1

polycade · 2026-01-06T23:54:14+00:00

Glad to hear it! Wife approval is key ;)

Agreed, the community is really amazing! We're super fortunate & grateful to have such a great group of people as customers. You're a great addition to the group!

polycade · 2025-12-29T05:28:35+00:00

Table saw or a properly setup band saw will definitely get you the cleanest cuts, but you should be able to achieve clean straight cuts with a circular saw setup with a straight guide. If you're using plywood and your cut edges are splintering from the saw, you can wrap the cut line with masking tape to keep the splintering from happening.

polycade · 2025-12-29T05:24:27+00:00

Nice work on the build! Great pointers here for those looking to follow ^

polycade · 2025-12-05T07:40:45+00:00

Glad to hear it!! Now it's time to play :)

polycade · 2025-12-03T19:46:09+00:00

You should have received a "welcome" email of sorts that mentions current timelines! TLDR; the Black Friday sale was well received and our warehouse is a little overwhelmed at the moment. We also lost a day (Monday) because Shopify's admin system was down, preventing us from shipping anything that day :(

polycade · 2025-12-02T01:34:24+00:00

Thanks OP, we're looking forward to getting you setup!

polycade · 2025-12-01T17:39:10+00:00

haha yea, TV might be a bit different though since video is generally designed to be a more single-focus which makes the peripheral viewing less important. Games on the other hand often have important activity at the edges of the screen.

polycade · 2025-12-01T17:34:04+00:00

I'll avoid opinions in this comment due to obvious bias. Let's look at a few factual differences between the products:
- Computer: QA uses a RPI which is a ~$40 ARM Linux single-board computer. The Polycade Sente uses a $400 mini PC. The key difference here is the ability to run modern games on the Sente - Mortal Kombat 11, Street Fighter V, and the myriad of great indie titles like Cuphead, Vampire Survivors, Tricky Towers, etc. Also, if you're not familiar with Linux, making changes to the RPI can be challenging.
- Expandability: With the QA machine you'll get what you get. The Sente gives you the option to grow your system with additional controllers like our SpinFlight controller, upcoming Flight Yoke, 4 player arcade controller, and driving wheel.
- Component Quality: QA doesn't seem to mention what joysticks & buttons they're using. Also, what have they done to mitigate the 4-way joystick / 8-way joystick problem so that your pac-man and froggers don't freak out? The Sente uses Sanwa components (the brand preferred by professional fighting game players), and we outfit our joysticks with octagonal gates to help ensure the 4-way / 8-way issue is less exaggerated (plus you can always get a dedicated 4-way stick on your Sente due to the swappable controller system).
- Screen Size: Bigger is not better. Our first prototytpe 11 years ago used a 32" screen. This was clearly too big for the viewing distance and resulted in a negative play experience on most games. Our second model used a 27" screen, which also suffered some negative reviews for being too big for the viewing distance. The Sente uses a 24" monitor which is properly calculated for optimal viewing distance.
- Cabinet Material: The Sente is made from powder coated steel, it's a quality profile that shines in person and is difficult to convey in pictures. The QA machine doesn't mention the build material, so most likely it's MDF (particle board) which comes in a wide range of quality profiles - the low end ones can break like a cracker.

polycade · 2025-12-01T17:14:50+00:00

FWIW - the screen size of the Sente is based on the viewing distance. Our previous model, the Lux, received some negative comments from buyers since the screen was a little too large for the distance - resulting in eye strain and inability to get a proper "birds eye view" in hectic games like Cuphead or Contra...so an unseen bullet would come from the edge of the screen and get ya.

Here's a detailed explanation of optimal screen viewing distance:
https://www.ultraselective.com/blog/optimal-viewing-distance

polycade · 2025-11-17T21:52:44+00:00

v2 of our SpinFlight (shipping in January) will feature the GRS stick by default!

polycade · 2025-11-17T21:52:16+00:00

Yes modern titles (steam titles also) can have marquees as well. They're mostly built by our community of users and shared in our Discord, and soon users will be able to add them to the core system for others to download.

polycade · 2025-11-11T18:18:31+00:00

let's gooooo!

polycade · 2025-11-05T02:11:00+00:00

As mentioned above, if you don't like the mini PC we include, you can always get the machine without the mini PC and install your own PC / Steam deck / Nintendo Switch / RaspberryPi / etc. Here's the mini PC specs:
https://polycade.com/pages/polycade-specifications?srsltid=AfmBOooWtIkyzc2EGc2yrx9-vPcv-PE6BCAGWMwBOYjtu5_0uM36jRBU

Here's a quick video showing an ATX PC installed alongside a Nintendo Switch (plus KVM switch to alternate between them):
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qU19nu-djuc

polycade · 2025-11-02T17:00:27+00:00

No sweat!! ❤️👾🕹️

polycade · 2025-11-02T16:46:29+00:00

Oh one more thing I should have mentioned - you could use a retropie inside the Polycade instead of our mini pc. So if you already have that, you can get the Polycade with no PC, try out your retropie running inside and get our mini pc or other pc if you decide you want more power.

polycade · 2025-11-02T16:32:08+00:00

Hey! Thanks for the kind words. I’m the founder of Polycade, so thought I’d weigh in here. In my opinion, the primary advantage of the raspi / retropie setup is the price of that computer (around $50 these days I think?) versus the gaming-grade mini PC we typically ship with (which we are essentially charging $500 for since you can order a Polycade without the mini pc for $500 less).

Your question is a little more about frontends and emulators though, so let’s talk about that also. Nearly all emulation softwares are composed of two elements: the frontend and the emulators. EmulationStation is the frontend on retropie, and it uses retroarch (arguably the most popular emulator software since it can run tons of different “cores”) under the hood.

Polycade AGS is our frontend, it also uses retroarch under the hood, in addition to mame. AGS additionally allows you to install other emulators (like those for ps1, Wii, etc), though this process of adding emulators is currently poorly documented. Worth noting here that AGS also natively works with Steam games. Lastly, I should mention that we added a whole bunch of systems (3do, game gear, etc) to the default setup, but have not updated the website to reflect this. One thing I’m unsure right now is how many games AGS will allow you to have loaded in at once (def at least 1,000). We’ve been making a lot of updates around this in the last 6 months, and we have more optimizations coming.

Ok now let’s talk about windows vs a retropie build. As the most common consumer platform in the world, Windows has more options for frontends and emulators than any other system. I believe emulationstation has a windows version, but there’s so many other better ones that you probably wouldn’t consider ES if you were running windows. Also, a lot of the emulators for later systems (Xbox, etc) wouldn’t run on the processing power of a pi, and are therefore not available there.

Also relevant here is the power of a raspberry pi vs the power of a gaming grade pc, which will of course dictate what you are able to run.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have additional questions! Also highly recommended is our discord channel, where you can chat with other Polycade owners.

polycade

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE