Evercade Retro Handheld

[Sabertooth 2,186]

The Evercade is a new, cartridge-based retro gaming handheld from Blaze (UK). Apparently, the emulators are on the carts and not the machine itself. Each cart has from 2 to 20 games. The idea here is that the carts provide curated collections add an element of collectability to an emulation handheld. 

Personally, I'm somewhat interested. I like the look of it. Early reviews are generally positive and it has HDMI out. Also, I agree with the premise that it's easy for good games to get lost in a sea of rom files on sd cards and hard drives, so curated collections are welcome.  So far these collections are a bit underwhelming but two Lynx carts are planned, one of which includes a Songbird release. A few collections also contain modern homebrew for retro consoles. 

Prices range from $80 - $100 for the console. Carts are $20 each. The $100 bundle comes with 3 carts including collections from Atari, Data East and Interplay. That seems to be the best value. 

Is anyone here jumping in on the Evercade? Other thoughts? 

Edited June 4, 2020 by atarilbc

[RickR 14,372]

I have not heard of this, but it looks intriguing.  Is it out now?

 

[Sabertooth 2,186]

@RickR It seems to be shipping in the UK and delayed Stateside. Apparently, their release was scheduled in May but set back because of supply chain issues due to COVID-19. The company has been posting updates about stock. Here's more info on the console. 

https://www.evercade.co.uk/

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by atarilbc

[DegasElite 998]

Man, that is a bummer. Well, here's to hoping that everything gets worked out. Thanks for the link. :O)

[TrekMD 2,260]

I got my shipment notice today. 

[TrekMD 2,260]

For anyone with an Evercade...

We are pleased to announce that new Firmware is now available for the Evercade. This update covers the following changes and improvements:

• Button mapping options in specific games (See the list at the end of this post).
• Brave Battle Saga on Piko Collection 1 – Crash condition is fixed.
• Little Medusa on Mega Cat Collection 1 – Crash condition is fixed.
• Menu “Bloop” sound can now be turned off.
• FW version added in the Main Menu.
• More robust save states function for when the unit is turned off.
• Note: This update includes all 1.1a button mapping fixes.

New Firmware 1.2.0

[nosweargamer 7,912]

So I decided to make the Evercade my first new system purchase in nearly 10 years. The big reason was the price mixed in with all the cool compilations. $99.99 for a system with 3 cartridges containing 36 games is pretty hard to beat. I didn't mention this anywhere else, but I got an even better deal. I found a guy on eBay selling a new premium pack on ebay for asking for $85.  He said he already had one and was given a second as a gift, hence why he was selling it. I was hesitant, I prefer buying new systems from retailers, but I sent him an offer for $75 and he took it!

 

Today I finally opened up the box. You can see all the contents here:

 I plan to do more Evercade reviews in the future, and even have more games on the way.

[Sabertooth 2,186]

Welcome to the club @nosweargamer!  That's a steal for a premium pack. 

I ended up grabbing one last Summer and have all carts currently available.  The Lynx collections alone are worth the price of entry for those that do not have a Lynx. 

[nosweargamer 7,912]

Look what came in the mail! (not including the 3 games that came with the premium pack)

I was extremely blessed to find someone selling all the 11 games I was missing in a lot on the bay. They ended up costing around $15 per game, which was a great deal considering that they normally go for $20, some of the games are currently unavailable on Amazon, and for some reason the Namco games are now going for $30.  Originally I was just going to buy the games one at a time. Now I can start reviewing them, starting with cart 01, and working my way through the library.

So far I am pleased with the system. I also noticed Evercade gave away a black system, so I wouldn't be surprised if they started selling the systems in black.

[1Littlebeast 33]

On 1/12/2021 at 5:37 PM, nosweargamer said:

So I decided to make the Evercade my first new system purchase in nearly 10 years. The big reason was the price mixed in with all the cool compilations. $99.99 for a system with 3 cartridges containing 36 games is pretty hard to beat. I didn't mention this anywhere else, but I got an even better deal. I found a guy on eBay selling a new premium pack on ebay for asking for $85.  He said he already had one and was given a second as a gift, hence why he was selling it. I was hesitant, I prefer buying new systems from retailers, but I sent him an offer for $75 and he took it!

 

Today I finally opened up the box. You can see all the contents here:

 I plan to do more Evercade reviews in the future, and even have more games on the way.

The Evercade is a great system I got it for Christmas on sale and have all the current cartridges out for it. I use it a lot on breaks and stuff its a lot more portable than my switch and the games aren't as involved if that makes any sense more pick up and play. I'm really enjoying it right now I'm playing the Tanglewood and Xenocrisis cart as well as the Atari Lynx Cartridges since I never got to experience the game for the handheld. The genres id love to see more of is RPGs, Simulation and possibly more point and click adventure style games like Dracula for the lynx. Some of the ideas I had were Sierra Games cart 1, Bethesda Games cart 1 (The old dos elder scrolls games), MicroProse/Sid Meier Cart 1 assuming they could get the rights and button mapping for them i think it would be cool. ive never been able to figure out dos so if they could get it to just load into the game that would be amazing for me lol. I forgot to mention my favorite part of the system though has to be the included manuals.

Edited January 30 by 1Littlebeast
left something out

[nosweargamer 7,912]

I've reviewed cartridge 01, Atari Collection 1, if anyone is interested. At the end of the video, I put short clips of all the games on the cart so you can see the emulation quality.

 

Edited February 8 by nosweargamer

[nosweargamer 7,912]

An Intellivision Collection has been announced. It will have 12 games, with Astrosmash, Frog Bog & Night Stalker being confirmed so far.

 

[nosweargamer 7,912]

My latest Evercade game review is up covering cartridge 02, Namco Museum Collection 1. At the end, I show clips of every game to give you an idea of the emulation quality.

 

[HDN 1,655]

On 2/8/2021 at 4:36 PM, nosweargamer said:

I've reviewed cartridge 01, Atari Collection 1, if anyone is interested. At the end of the video, I put short clips of all the games on the cart so you can see the emulation quality.

 

This game compilation seems really quite lazy to me. They didn't even bother to emulate paddles in a few games? How shoddy!

[RickR 14,372]

That Namco Collection review is well done.  But isn't it weird that they chose NES/SNES/Genesis ports instead of the arcade versions?  For example, the "Namco Museum" games on DS/PS2/XBOX all do the arcade games.  On the other hand, those non-US games make it pretty cool.  Maybe they should make a "Non-USA Console Games Collection" instead.