■Evercade The Evercade is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by British company Blaze Entertainment. It focuses on retro gaming with ROM cartridges that each contain a number of emulated games. The Evercade was released on 22 May 2020, and upon its launch, it offered 10 game cartridges with a combined total of 122 games. Announced in May 2024, the Evercade Alpha is a tabletop arcade cabinet that is able to play Evercade cartridges and also has built-in licensed Capcom games.
I recently bought my first Evercade cartridge: Toaplan Arcade Cartridge 4, which includes Dogyuun, Grind Stormer, Knuckle Bash, Pipi and Bibi’s, Snow Bros. 2: With New Elves, and Sky Shark (console version). While doing research, I found out that not all the carts will automatically work with Blaze’s various Evercade handhelds and consoles. I believe most games, if not all, will run on the Evercade Alpha (which is what I own), but just out of precaution, you should check the compatibility list before you buy.
I wanted my first cart to be a Neo-Geo, which should only cost $30, but everyone is selling it at a markup of $40 or $50 – taking advantage of the hype surrounding the upcoming launch of Neo-Geo AES+.
Anyway, going back to Toaplan. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never heard of this company. They were a Japanese manufacturer who mainly produced arcade games. They ported some of their games to Sega Genesis, which is why I’ve never heard of them. I was more of a Nintendo kid, so anything on Sega or Neo-Geo or TurboGrafx-16 are alien to me. The good news is that I am experiencing these games for the first time! Even though I got the ROM on a 7,000 game system I built on a Raspberry Pi ages ago.
Since I love my Gyruss, Galaga, R-Type, etc., these Toaplan’s shoot ‘em up games like Dogyuun, Grind Stormer and Sky Shark, are right up my alley… and these shoot ‘em games are the major reasons why I purchased this cart. Pair this to my joystick of the Evercade Alpha bartop, and it’ll be maximum fun.
Dogyunn and Grind Stormer plays about the same – you hold down the fire button and just try and maneuver around the enemies and avoid being shot down. Loads of fun. I really love Sky Shark because it’s very similar to 1943 or 1944. The graphics looks poor compared to the other two shooters, but I suspect it is because it’s a console port. Still, I love those airplane shooting games, so the graphics are not a concern for me.
Knuckle Bash is a street-style wrestling beat ‘em up. This one is really fun, I only got to play the Elvis character. He does a great electric guitar power move that I totally kept re-using my go-to move. Graphics looks great, I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this game. I’ll have to see if it’s on Steam.
Other games on the cart includes two cartoon platformers Snow Bros. 2: With New Elves and Pipi and Bibi’s. These games aren’t my cup of tea. I’m sure they have their fans.
So now that I have my first game cart… am I going to invest more money in the Evercade system? I love the physical collecting thing. I love the stickers; I love the printed manual. But I also feel like I am overpaying for these really, really old games. That $30 that I spent on an Evercade cart, I could use that money to pay for the new R-Type: Dimension III, that was just released.
The other problem is many of games are out of print on Evercade. Even if I wanted to play a certain game, like Galaga, it’s near impossible. Plus, they don’t have the license to all the games I want to play, meaning some games just won’t come to the Evercade system.
My decision is to leave the Evercade system for now. This is based on those $50 mark-up games, their limited availability of cartridges, and limited game choices. So, sad to say, but the Toaplan Arcade Cartridge 4 is my first and probably last Evercade cartridge. It will leave it plug into my Street Fighter Evercade Alpha bartop… letting it live there forevercade.
P.S. I’ll continue to watch for the Evercade Nexus, but it’s unlikely that I will buy it based on $200 price tag (the only bright side is that it comes with Banjo-Kazooie Double Pack, a $30 value). I already missed out on the limited White Edition, so there’s no rush to get the Nexus.
■ Evercade
