Taito Arcade 3 brings nine classics to Evercade – including Football Champ – but some will look familiar to Super Pocket fans
Blaze has announced Taito Arcade 3, the latest addition to its growing line of Evercade arcade cartridges, arriving in February 2026 — and for fans of late-’80s/early-’90s coin-op brilliance, this one’s a treat. Even better: Football Champ, one of my all-time favourite arcade football games (and, let’s be honest, much more fun than Sega’s Virtua Soccer), is finally getting the physical-cart Evercade treatment.
The collection brings together nine TAITO arcade titles, each reproduced with the usual Arcade Archives-style authenticity. That means save states, display options, difficulty tweaks, and all the comforts Evercade owners now take for granted.
What’s on the Taito Arcade 3 collection?
The games included in this collection are:
- Cadash
- Cameltry
- Crazy Balloon
- The Fairyland Story
- Football Champ
- Lunar Rescue
- Puzzle Bobble
- Qix
- Zoo Keeper
It’s a varied mix: action-platformers, puzzlers, maze games, sports insanity, and one of the most addictive ball-tilting games ever created (Cameltry deserves more love, people tell me).
A quick note for TAITO Super Pocket owners
If you’ve got the HyperMegaTech! TAITO Super Pocket, a few titles here will look familiar. Based on publicly available listings, four of these games were included as pre-installed titles on the handheld:
- Cadash
- The Fairyland Story
- Football Champ
- Puzzle Bobble
That still leaves five games making their physical-cartridge Evercade debut — Cameltry, Crazy Balloon, Lunar Rescue, Qix, and Zoo Keeper — so the collection isn’t just recycling the old handheld catalogue.
And of course, even the repeated titles benefit from being playable on Evercade VS/VS-R systems, big screens, and with Evercade’s save and control options.
A nice preservation win
TAITO Arcade 3 continues Evercade’s mission of treating arcade game preservation like an archiving project rather than a novelty. A full-colour manual is included (yes, a real one — still feels weird in 2025), and the cartridge works across all Evercade and HyperMegaTech! systems.
The compilation launches February 2026, and pre-orders are open now.
If you’re an arcade nut — or if Football Champ once ate all your pocket money — this is one to keep an eye on.
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Christian Cawley is the founder and editor of GamingRetro.co.uk, a website dedicated to classic and retro gaming. With over 20 years of experience writing for technology and gaming publications, he brings considerable expertise and a lifelong passion for interactive entertainment, particularly games from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.
Christian has written for leading outlets including TechRadar, Computer Weekly, Linux Format, and MakeUseOf, where he also served as Deputy Editor.
When he’s not exploring vintage consoles or retro PCs, Christian enjoys building with LEGO, playing cigar box guitar, and experimenting in the kitchen.
