Blaze Evercade Is a Console Game System That Is Redefining Cool
The new gestalt of cool has become svelte and sleek as miniaturized retro consoles manifest as what is hot with current ‘upcycled’ culture. Usually, these new consoles offer built-in titles that gamers can enjoy with none of the cartridge fuss. Hopping on that trend, Evercade not only jumps–but also flips the script by bringing back cartridges to this era of multi-Terabyte thumb storage options.
The Blaze Evercade is a nice throwback to portable gaming and features a broad array of classic games that are officially licensed, going back to the 8-Bit and to the 16-bit scenes. The appeal in the Evercade is not just in its handheld nature, even if this makes it stand out– because it offers an array of cartridges instead of a hard-coded stable of game that just limit the flexibility of many other retro consoles.
But, that said, don’t get this confused with the offerings you may be used to from decades past. The Evercade offers collection-based cartridge choices, letting users swap out from collection to collection as their gaming habits and desires dictate.
The offerings are rather impressive and include the work of Atari, Interplay, and even Namco, who have all released collections of games that come on collection cartridges. Beyond these, lesser known players such as Technos and Mega Cat are contributing their own stable of games for the Evercade.
The collections that are available each come with between six to twenty or more games, and cost less than $25 each. The Evercade console itself will include the Namco Museum Collection as a bundle and will cost $79.99. If that is not enough gaming history for you, then Evercade will offer a $99.99 bundle that includes three cartridges, versus just the one.
Given this, and dependent on your gaming choices, the various options for the Evercade should help gamers get their retro gaming fix.
Designed to Play
Throwing out a comparison to other popular new handhelds like the PSP gives fresh players something to judge this against. Unlike the classic PSP, there is an obviously noticeable absence of analog sticks to thumb onto– but the system does still have a nice and comparably sized 720p 4.3-inch screen; the system also has enough hand feel and weight to be comfortable and not toy-like. Beyond that, the rounded edges of the system are nice when gripped and everything rests naturally when held.
Notably, the Evercade skipped the concept of an all-black case and, instead, mixes up the styling with a sleek red trimmed white body. We agree that works for the Evercade, giving it an homage vibe similar to the classic Atari Lynx or maybe a Sega Game Gear. The colors help stick that classic or retro feel while allowing the handheld to stand out among the pack a bit.
The Evercade also sports quad-face buttons that copy the Xbox layout for X, Y, A, and B– somewhat of a peculiar choice, given many Evercade games first appeared on Nintendo systems, but it is what it is. That said, the buttons are responsive and carry a nice push depth– though the shoulder buttons are more mouse-like with a distinctive click quality — out of place but they’re seldom used.
The d-pad is an eight-direction switch and has a bit of play before it engages, but that can be said about many controllers so it’s not a deal breaker outright by itself. The control inputs delivers well, that said, and even if there are no analogue sticks, gamers should not be surprised as old-school games really were not developed for them. This actually matters as none of the games appear to have been optimized past getting them to run faithfully on the gaming console itself.
There are volume buttons on the bottom of the portable console itself and they are unobtrusive enough that gamers should have no issues in bumping them. Evercade also has a 3.5mm headphone jack, mid-center next to their Micro-USB port used to charge the device. Speaking of charging, you can expect a nominal 4–5 hours out of the included 2000-MAH battery.
Flip the device over and you’ll see a mini-HDMI port for hooking the handheld to your TV — handy to have when you want to game on a bigger screen.
Built to Perform
We are happy to report that the games we tried run flawlessly on the Evercade. While there are plenty of less optimized emulators out, we are glad this handheld lacks any of the ghosting or artifacts users might expect to see, especially if hooked to a TV.
The games are played in the classic 4:3 ratio but, if you prefer, you can switch over to 16:9 in the system menus whenever you want– allowing you to use the Evercade screen as it is intended to be used. We will warn, going from 4:3 to 16:9 will cause some screen stretching that changes the game’s intended visuals.
Though, no matter which screen size you choose, retro games are still often highly challenging and unforgiving regardless. It is because of this that we are thankful to see that the Evercade offers save state ability to save a snapshot of the game as it is whenever you choose– sure, you wont gain more lives or continues, but you do get the chance to save and load before extremely challenging game moments, perhaps saving players from some of the more notorious ragequits.
That said, many of the games are still going to challenge you, likely reminding you with great acuity why older games were more challenging, even with the minimal amounts of system memory available.
Mostly, the games will perform exactly as you remember them, but you will see some trouble with the games emulated from Mega-Drive, mainly due to the fact that the layout of the main buttons do not sync well with the retro ABC buttons. That is a bit frustrating, given the in-game options for Mega Drive are on-screen and you will have difficulty matching everything up. We bring it up because they could have easily set up some on-screen mapping options that were universal on the handheld itself. Having to press Y on platformers just feels off, hopefully the designers fix that issue through an iterative update. Fingers crossed, literally.
Speaking of firmware updates, we want to mention the Evercade does not have any online capabilities– all of the updates are done via the website itself using the USB port. This requires a bit of fiddling with the folders but it’s manageable and works.
While we are mentioning small gripes, we want to mention that the Evercade does not come with a Mini HDMI cable for the Mini HDMI output, something we would have liked to see. Though, realistically, the TV output is only needed when gamers want to show off for a group– playing 8 or 16-bit games on a big screen can be a bit hit or miss depending on the upscaling.
On a current UHD TV, with nice upscaling, the experience of the Evercade is pretty good. But, if you remove the HDMI cord while the system is on, it will actually soft reset the Evercade– which means, unfortunately, any small bump while playing is potentially a system resetting event.
Caveat emptor.
Oodles of Games
Depending on your age, and the amount of your childhood you recall, the nostalgia will be strong with the Evercade. Anybody who started to game back when, during the Commodore 64 days and then jumped forward into the Genesis world will feel right at home with many of the games offered. Some people may prefer the 16-bit games, others may remember the 8-bit titles fondly, but both will have something to offer depending on the gamer.
No matter who you are, there is something on the Evercade you can find to enjoy; this includes a broad array of systems which include the NES, SNES, Genesis, Atari 2600/7800, etc– games like Earthworm Jim, Splatterhouse 2, Alien Brigade, Titan, multiple Double Dragons, Burning Force, Phelios, Ninja Golf, Pac-Man, Centipede, Yar’s Revenge, Galaga, Boogerman, and Two Crude Dudes are just some of the options that you have.
Beyond this, if you really want to take a trip down esoteric lane, you can catch some truly niche games in the Piko Collection, as it features many games which never made it over to the western world.
Who Does Evercade Suit?
Evercade is understandably a system mostly for gamers who have a soft spot for retro gaming; people who have memories from childhood they want to relive or people who enjoy the retro vibe or feel of 8 to 16-bit gaming. The only part of the equation that might not be ideal for gamers is the need to juggle cartridges if you only prefer some or even one specific game on a cartridge.
But, if you really enjoy retro gaming or even are curious about checking out gamer history, the Evercade is an awesome option to feel out. Each of the cartridges that Blaze offers comes with a nice color manual with a few pages on each game plus a background and mapping for the controller.
Another cool little tidbit is that there is a number on the spine of each box offered, something that might intrigue game collectors out there. Beyond that, expect Evercade to release more cartridges over time and deals to crop up.
While the retro arcade emulator scene is alive and well still, gamers who want to simply use emulators should know that they will not get the full experience by doing so– emulators are not all alike and, considering what you get alongside the emulation (a controller, screen, battery, portability), you will miss out on trying to just wing it on a phone or PC.
The games Evercade offers are higher quality ports, they do proper emulation and achieve professional standard– unlike ports which are on grey tier ROM markets.. We appreciate the labor of love in home brew emulations, but we also understand things do not always work so well when homebrewed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4GbtStt-Dw
While there may be some nitpick gripes to complain about, the Evercade delivers a high-quality experience for retro gamers looking to enjoy a solid gaming experience. The Evercade passes the old-school vibe check and the curated collections mean you always have many options of solid performers to enjoy as you play. Give it a chance and we think you will be surprised.
I originally wrote this article for retrocides at: https://retrocides.com/blaze-evercade-is-a-console-game-system-that-is-redefining-cool/