Evercade Reviews?

[VideoGameCritic]

Anybody tried one of these yet? I'd like to hear your thoughts!

[Retro STrife]

Interesting - hadn't even heard of it. Looks like it just got released. On one hand, my first thought was to write it off as a glorified handheld emulator with the gimmick of slapping 20 old games on individual cartridges. On the other hand, I'm intrigued by the ability to play certain games that might otherwise not be readily available, and the cartridge packaging looks nice. I'll be extra intrigued if exclusive games ever come out for it. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has tried it too.

By the way Critic, if you're looking for a new portable system to do reviews for, you should jump on the N-Gage bandwagon. You'd be surprised - decent number of interesting titles for the system.

[BlasteroidAli]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHOchWVYe-E&t=166s

I was going to order one in the UK this week but they are sold out until the 28th of August. It is sold out on Amazon. The carts I really want are out quarter 3.
They are the lynx ones.
Well I wanted the Data East games. The three game pack in the UK has Atari games 1. That is okay. The Namco collection 1. Now if it was 2 I would be thinking about it. As that has splatterhouse 2 and 3 in it. Then they have the interplay collection. I never bought any of their games and they are not my first choices.
The ten pack of Carts is the one I was getting so I would get the rough with the smooth. Most importantly I would get the titles I most wanted. Burning rubber.. bad dudes... Splatterhouse 2 and 3.
The great thing about the American version is you get the Data East pack

[MSR1701]

Got this preordered for the 3 pack, supposed to arrive this week from Amazon USA if the ETA is right. For the current packs, the one I am most exited for is the Piko pack, as this has several games that I really want to play - Tinhead, Jim Power (more for the music, and to see if I can best the first level...), The Immortals...

I also am looking forward to finally playing Ninja Golf, sitting and enjoying Joe and Mac 2, and the eventual Atari Lynx releases (CHIPS CHALLENGE!!!!).

I am also very exited for the Dizzy collection, both for the collection itself and the possibilities for future releases that it implies.

Not so exited for the Namco releases, as the slightly higher price and the fact that so many games have been released on other compilations over the years. Can't say that of Tinhead, though I hope they remember to use the Genesis game and not the unreleased SNES version.

And who knows? Maybe we'll get old Micro releases from the likes of the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and other classic systems.

[MSR1701]

I received my Evercade over the weekend, and overall I am very happy with the system. The screen is nice and has three selectable illumination levels, the buttons are large and easy to use (the shoulder buttons are a bit clicky), and the D-Pad is surprisingly well designed.

One gripe that has to be brought up immediately is the cartridges and the system; there is a VERY good reason that Evercade's website has advise on their main webpage for removing carts from the system - they fit VERY tightly (allegedly to remain flush whit the system, according to Evercade's explanation. This is an issue the first few times a cart is removed and placed in the system, after a while they begin to remove more easily.

That said, once you have a cart in the system you most likely will not be removing it for a bit, as the current crop of carts have many games per cart (from 6 games to 20 games, depending on the cart), and from what I have played the system handles rather well. There are savestates that can be managed if one desires so, and are quick and easy to use.

The carts come in clamshell cases that make me think of Sega Genesis cart shells crossed with a PS Vita case; small and attractive with mostly good insert art (one of the carts's insert looks to have been blurred on the press) and an instruction manual that gives basic control and descriptions, though some carts with fewer games also give tips and notes for the games.

The system is advertised at 4-5 hours of battery life, though I do not know how long it acutally runs, as I have the system on low illumination and one or two sound settings above the minimum. Sound is very good (Jim Power served as a good test, as I love the artist's music and this is spot-on with what I have heard in this game before).

I have not tried the TV output due to lacking an HDMI-mini cable that would be compatible...

Finally, I would strongly advise getting the 1.1A firmware patch, as there are several games that are helped by the controls reverting to SNES-alignment (the Evercade has an "Xbox" button layout for the face buttons). Sadly, this does not allow customizable controls, and some games (Tinhead) are still awkward to play due to being non-SNES related.

(PS - if you can, splurge the extra $20.00USD for the Premium Pack that comes with Atari Collection 1, DataEast Collection 1 and Interplay Collection 1; For $99.99 you get a TON of greatness; for the $79.99, you only get the system and the Atari Collection 1 cart. Also, the official case is actually pretty good)

[VideoGameCritic]

Just got my deluxe edition today. It's a lot smaller than I expected, especially since it contains three collections (and yes, their boxes are included).

Although the box says "ready to play" I'm currently charging mine because it recommended you charge it fully for the first play.



The collection boxes are only 4" x 5.5". They looked huge in the pictures on the internet. The manuals are colorful and glossy, but tiny. I will be needing my good reading glasses!

At least I don't have to worry about this taking up much space!

[VideoGameCritic]

I'm kind of surprised that this system is one-player only considering a lot of games are geared to multiplayer, like Clay Fighter or Steeplechase. Seems to me if you could plug a second controller into the system that would give Evercade another stream of income.

[VideoGameCritic]

Now fully charged. Just jammed the Atari cart into it (with much difficulty).

Hold on to your butts...

[VideoGameCritic]

Well I need to buy a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable to play on the TV.

I tried Centipede and it played well. Unfortunately there's no high score save. You'd think they'd figure out how to do that by now. Next I played Adventure and noticed there's no way to toggle the difficulty switches. Seems like they are permanently set to B.

I'm having a lot of mixed feelings right now.

[MSR1701]

Well I need to buy a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable to play on the TV.

I tried Centipede and it played well. Unfortunately there's no high score save. You'd think they'd figure out how to do that by now. Next I played Adventure and noticed there's no way to toggle the difficulty switches. Seems like they are permanently set to B.

I'm having a lot of mixed feelings right now.

Looking forward to your reviews. The Piko collection has almost never left the system thus far, though the Interplay n Data East carts have fames I am intrested in.

And I have to say, after hearing for years that Ninja Golf was worth a play...they were right. Quite interesting, especially the random bosses at the green.