And, it has to said, the result is worth the wait in several surprising ways. Evercade delivers a legit retro gaming portable experience with some 125+ games at launch across highly-collectible 10 carts. If you're interested in the concept you'll have read all the reviews and heard about the foibles with the button mapping (fixed through a firmware update, you connect the Evercade to a PC for a 2 minute patch job!).
Immediately, Evercade feels like the gadget to be collecting games for. Certainly, if you don't have the original consoles like the Atari VCS, Atari Lynx, SNES, NES or Mega Drive, or the money to pay top dollar for original carts. Evercade's £15-£20 price tag per cart is perhaps its greatest move in a world of ever-costlier games.
What's in the box?
Breaking it out of the top-notch box and packaging, the Evercade feels solid enough, borrowing the red-and-white look of the original Nintendo Entertainment System. It is an all plastic affair and the screen lacks a glass front, but nothing looks particularly cheap or feels likely to fall apart. It is well balanced and very comfortable to hold. That said, definitely recommend the neat case to keep it safe for transport.
On the rear, there's the only slot, a snug-to-tight fit for the cartridges. There are four face and two shoulder buttons to provide SNES or Mega Drive button mapping with three menu/settings buttons and a single LED for charging and on notification. It charges through USB and offers 720HD TV-out through a micro HD port (a separate purchase if you don't have one to hand).
The £80 Premium Pack comes with three cartridges, each with a hat-full of games from the classic Atari, Namco and Interplay eras. They span the 8-bit and 16-bit home console world in a chunky little cart, and joy of joys, a paper manual. (Individual cart reviews coming very soon).
In action, turn the Evercade on and there's a Blaze logo followed by a suitably 80's Evercade attract screen. One that could easily come from a Saturday night VHS tape, highlighting the production company ahead of the latest Arnie movie.
Seconds later you're lost in a world of retro brilliance.
Bring your daughter to the gaming slaughter
At this point, I lost control of the Evercade. My daughter picked it up, having seen Dig Dug on the box, something she'd come across watching Stranger Things as part of our family lockdown viewing.Her review is so much more voluble than mine...
"I over-inflated that dragon, and it exploded" (much laughter)
"I just launched a cow, I'm so happy!"(Earthworm Jim)
"I was killed by actual fruit, what the heck?" (Food Fight)
"Why is that spider screaming at me? Too much noise" (Centipede)
"I'm good at this game... take that, Blob!" (ClayFighter, cue many "thwok" sounds)
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| And I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for those pesky kids! |
A few filler titles aside, the joy in these 30-ish-year old games for someone so young was worth the £80 alone, and most unexpected. When I finally got it back, I raced through some favourites and discovered some new ones. The good games do feel timeless, even if they aren't the arcade originals (yet - Evercade has plans). And as for the poor ones, you can skip over them and go play something else in a matter of seconds, with the save state feature to store your progress or high score.
That's probably my one big gripe about Evercade, the underlying Linux system should be smart enough to save games when a high score is recorded automatically. Sure, manual saves for complex games, but since it will lose any unsaved data when turned off, a little automation here would be helpful.
Resolution, baby
Others have dived into the high quality of the emulation that Evercade delivers through its 4.3" 480x272 screen. The stretch mode to widescreen might not be ideal for purists, but either works well for most games, and I haven't tried the TV mode yet.
The long wait for the Evercade hardware has proved worth it. Now, there's the courier-gazing for more games, and the slow-drip release of planned and many unannounced carts. Based on the initial rosters, I trust in Blaze to try their best to deliver, rights issues aside (let's face it, we are never getting Nintendo or Sega properties).
I'm also keen to see what else they can push through the Evercade hardware, recent tweets suggest a wide range of sources, from retro-modern to homebrew releases. Until then, I would wholeheartedly recommend you start collecting. £60-£80 for a new system is a great bargain.
I'm also keen to see what else they can push through the Evercade hardware, recent tweets suggest a wide range of sources, from retro-modern to homebrew releases. Until then, I would wholeheartedly recommend you start collecting. £60-£80 for a new system is a great bargain.