2021-05-03 03:02:26 (edited by KenshiraTheTrinity 2021-05-15 22:29:04)

A blind gamer's guide to the Evercade: a Modern retro portable console

Changelog

Version 1.1: May 15, 2021.

  • Made text correction to the order of contents in the premium pack description within the "What is the Evercade" section.

  • Added a couple sentences describing what happens when battery is critically low to the "how to use the evercade." section.{[/

  • Added instructions on how to position the micro USB wire when charging the Evercade, just in case.

  • Added the Cancil key to the "How to use the Evercade" section.

  • Added instructions on how to change save slots in the "How to Use The Evercade section.

  • General text cleanup.

Introduction:

Hello, and welcome to my guide on the Evercade, a modern retro portable console for game collectors who want a break from the new way of gaming! While we're all still waiting for a dedicated audiogaming portable, I thought it would be interesting to look at something fresh that capture what made old school games so approachable to begin with. Enter the Evercade, a cartridge-based portable device by Blaze Entertainment. Setup is completely hassle free, with no complicated menus to sort through, or required sighted assistance, and each cartridge is licensed and contains a collection of games from high-profile and indi developers. This means that when you purchase one of these reasonably priced collection cartridges, you legally own a physical copy of the games on it, and the game developers get something from your purchase. In this article, I will give an in-depth  description of the Evercade as it comes within the premium package, and what it does, why it may be worth considering, how to use it, provide a link to what's available to play as well as discuss some collections containing playable games, and conclude with my final thoughts on the device. All prices within this article are listed in US Dollars. If you already have an Evercade and are just looking for some playable games, feel free to skip ahead to the "What's Available to Play" section of this guide. Everyone else, stick around as we take a closer look at the system and learn what it's all about!

What Is The Evercade?

In early 2020, a lot of YouTube gaming content creators started getting the console to preview for their audiences, and their reactions were generally positive. You can search for them and still find those previews today. Not long after, The Evercade was released to the public in two variants, which you can find online. The first is the Starter Pack which goes for 80 US dollars. The package comes with the unit, a micro USB charging cable, and one cartridge, which is Atari Collection 1. The second, called the Premium Pack, which goes for 100 US dollars is similar, but comes with two additional cartridges, Data East Collection 1, and Interplay Collection 1 for a total of 3 cartridges. In addition to these, there were 7 other collections available for purchase at launch, with another 10 that came after as of this writing, each of which contained from 6 to 20 8-bit and 16-bit games, and soon, 32-bit games, all of which cost 20 dollars.

Many of the collection contained multi-player games. Although the Evercade portable does not support multi-player, the console has been enough of a success that a home console version called the Evercade Vs is being developed and will be available to purchase in November of 2021. That one will support up to 4 players at a time, will accept Evercade portables as controllers in addition to its own and other third-party controllers, will accept all but 2 of the cartridges that have already been released, so multi-player support will work on day 1 upon its launch. The developers have also stated that they are going to work on making the Evercade VS work with the adaptive Xbox controller, so they are aware of and taking into consideration gamers with disabilities. Reports indicate that similarly to the portable, there,  will be multiple variants of the home console to purchase, starting at 100 US dollars, with each containing a cartridge not yet on the market. Additionally, the trailer for the Evercade VS hints that arcade games will soon be coming to the Evercade. You will be able to place preorders starting on the 28th of May, 2021, and the slated launch of the Evercade VS console is on the 3rd of November, 2021.

The version of the Evercade portable that I got was the Premium Pack. I chose this version because there were playable games on both the interplay and Data East collections. I'll get into more on that later, but suffice it to say for now that the simplicity of retro games makes them easier for us to play, which means that there will likely be some games on the Atari collection such as Asteroids, pinball and Centipede which we can enjoy. In addition, the Evercade has a very easy to use save-state system which makes otherwise unplayable games playable, and I will also explain how that works later on. For now, I will describe the package I got and what it contains. Afterwards, I will go over the Evercade itself and what it feels like, as well as briefly touch on the cartridge and the case that houses it.

The box of the premium pack is a flat rectangle with an exterior sleeve that has some text and artwork. Once the shrink wrap and sleeves are unsealed and removed, you can use the flap on the front underside of the box to open it outwards towards you, and up so that the box's flap rests away from you on the back side. Within, you will find a booklet which contains brief instructions in multiple languages on how to operate the Evercade. Beneath that, sitting in a plastic cradle is the Evercade itself, which is about the length, width and height of a PSP, which I will describe in further detail shortly. If you remove that cradle, there is another one beneath it. Within are two shrink-wrapped clamshell designed game cases that each hold a cartridge as well as a full-colored manual that tells a little bit about the game company which the cartridge represents, and describes a little bit about each of the games in the collection. Under those is the final game in the package, as well as a micro USB charging cable.

That's everything that comes in the premium pack. Let us now look at the Evercade unit. It is rectangular in shape and held in landscape mode. The sides run exactly perpendicular to the top and bottom but have rounded corners. The underside is similarly rounded all along the edges so that it rests comfortably against your hands without any sharp edges or corners as you hold it. The unit has a 4.3 inch horizontal display, with a circular-based d-pad on the left, under which is the rectangular menu button. To the right of the screen are 4 x-box/dreamcast  style face buttons placed similarly to the arrows with a on bottom, x to the middle left, y on top, and b on the middle right. Under those are the select and start rectangular buttons in order from left to right. The menu, select and start buttons are all placed horizontally and align with one another. Beneath those are 3 diagonal slits on each side at the bottom corners of the unit for the stereo speakers.

Around the edge of the unit, starting from the top left is the L button, to the right of that is the on/off switch. Right of that is the cartridge slot. It is rectangular in size and is an opened gap that stretches about an inch across, an half way down the underside of the unit when empty. An inserted cartridge will fill in that gap and mesh perfectly with the underside and top back edge of the unit. To the right of the cartridge slot is a mini HDMI port which you can use to connect the Evercade to a television. To the right of that is the r button. There is nothing on either the left or right edges of the unit. However, moving to the bottom edge along the right corner you will find the micro USB port. To the left of that after a slight inward curve, is a 3.5mm headphone,  jack. Left of that is an outward curve which mirrors the one on the other side of the jack, and beyond that are the rectangular horizontally placed volume up and volume down buttons from right to left. If you turn the unit around so that the back side is facing you, under the cartridge slot you will find embossed letters which spell out EVERCADE. Under that is some additional text that says "Blaze Entertainment" as well as some other stuff.

Thus concludes my description of the Evercade and everything you get in the premium pack. It feels really nice in the hand and only weighs 8 ounces. It is admittedly a little bulky, and the l and r bumpers are a tad sensitive for my long piano accustomed fingers, but the transparent face buttons feel nice, have a decent travel and are of a good size. I've heard other reviewers say that the d-pad is similar to that of some Sega 16-bit and 32-bit controllers, but I've never owned them so I don't know. Regardless, it works better than I had expected it to, even feels nice for fighting games that want you to do specific directional inputs. There are no creaking parts, so the unit doesn't feel cheap at all for as light as it is. My 2ds xl had thinner plastic than this thing, so I'm really impressed with the build quality of the Evercade and quite like it. The speakers are a little small and lack base, but serviceable. If you've ever held a PSP fat, that's what it feels like in the hand, just a tad lighter.

What Makes The Evercade Worth Having?

We live in an age where game distribution and acquisition are mostly done digitally. Even for physical games, the disk or cart that holds it only contains either part of the data, or a game that needs to be patched later on due to unsquashed bugs. Additionally, DLC and a live service full of updates and monetization’ hinder the experiences of someone who's just looking to pop in a game and have it ready to play without any further setup or need to shell out extra money for pieces of a game which they have already purchased. Unfortunately, this means that when a game or console are no longer supported, they lose partial functionality when their online service is taken offline, or are rendered useless when a console can no longer connect to the internet to reach the server in order to verify the license needed to play it. Already, I have had this happen with a couple of the minis that I have purchased off the psn that could only be downloaded directly to either the PSP or ps3, but the tech is too new for the PSP to make use of, and setting up the PS3 is a pain right now, so when the battery in my PSP malfunctioned and signed me out of my account, it rendered all of my games useless without modification, and even that couldn't save my minis which are now useless data save for the ones I was able to transfer to the Vita. Furthermore, a game that has only been distributed digitally runs the risk of disappearing forever when it becomes no longer available to purchase. I'm sure that recent events have brought this to the attention to many game collectors and people who may have missed out on something that they heard of but never had the opportunity to try out.

That's where the Evercade comes into play. It addresses all of the issues outlined above, and also provides an affordable alternative for people who want to collect and legally own games that they can play, without having to shell out hundreds and thousands of dollars on obscure consoles and individual games. Due to the simple nature of the Evercade User Interface, it is extremely easy for someone without sighted assistance to use, and at its price range, is totally affordable which solves the problem I was having while I was on the market for a third-party portable retro console that looked, sounded and played well. Everything else I looked at either preloaded their roms in such a numerous amount in so many folders to sort through in a silent menu, or provided the bare minimum, leaving you,  to update the firmware, acquire the roms yourself and figure out how to put them in addition to seeking sighted assistance to get some kind of functional screen reader up and running.

When I saw an early preview of the Evercade and heard that chirp as the previewer was sorting through the games in the out of game menu, I knew instantly that this was what I wanted to have in the near future. This was at least a year before my PSP accident, and before Sony made the announcement to discontinue the PS3 and PS Vita online stores which they later reversed. Those experiences have only served to fuel my desire for one of these for the sake of preservation, collection, and so that I could give developers their due, without having to resort to piracy in order to enjoy their games. It also gives me an opportunity to own something that I never got to play as a kid. Some retro gamers reading this article will know that we didn't have a lot of money to spend on every new release, and many of us were stuck with 1 console per generation, which meant that we probably had to go to a friend's house to get to experience what was available on other hardware at the time. Thus, I saved up what I could so I could be a part of the Evercade experience, and now it is here for me to present to you all, so I do hope you find this article informative in case you are into retro gaming and want to relive those old days again.

How to Use the Evercade:

The instructions are really quite brief, though the booklet is deceptively thick because they are written in multiple languages. Of important notes are the cautions to avoid letting the Evercade run down to 0 percent, to not let it charge for over 12 hours, and to dispose of it responsibly when you're absolutely done with it. The battery indicator for the built-in 4 to 5 hour rechargeable battery is supposed to be displayed on one of the top corners of the screen while in one of the menus, but I haven't had much luck picking it up with the text-reading software on my phone. When the battery is critically low, whatever you're playing will stop functioning and you will be taken to a seperate screen. Pressing any button at this prompt will produce the same sound that is present on the out of game menu. I recommend powering off the unit and charging it straightaway in compliance with the warnning in the instruction booklet that came with the unit. Plug the thin end of the USB Micro wire into the Evercade with pins pointing upward, and the other side into a standard USB charging brick to begin charging.

About the menus, they are really quite simple, though a future firmware update will add more options to it and bring it up to par with the Evercade VS when it is released, but I do not expect it to complicate things when it comes to finding games to play. I will update the article on how to update the firmware and the new options made available when it is finally release. There is nothing to do if you turn on the unit without a cartridge. It'll just ask you on screen to insert a cartridge after playing the audio and visual Evercade startup sequence. Turning on the unit with a cartridge inserted will take you straight to a list of games that you can navigate from left to right with the arrows after the boot sequence. The menu does wrap around, but you will always be taken to the first game on the list when you turn on the system, and exiting a game will leave you right on the what you were just playing. While on a game in the list, you will be shown the game name, year of release, and the game's genre.

There is a chirp for every button press performed in the menu and submenus of the out of game portion of the UI. Even the volume keys will give a chirp to show the volume level, which I thought was pretty cool. In both the out of game menu, and the in-game menu, the A button acts as the confirmation key, while the B button acts as the cancil key". If you press the menu button while here, you will be given,  some options to set the display size as well as the option to change the language, though more options will appear here in a future update.

Pressing the A button while on a game will launch it straightaway. Pressing the menu button, or in some cases, start and select while in a game will bring up the in-game menu. This is a vertical menu, while totally quiet, does not wrap so is fairly easy to figure out. In order from top to bottom the options are, resume game, select save slot, save state, load state, settings, and quit. While on Select Save Slot, you can use the left and right arrows to choose your save slot. This left-right portion of the menu also does not wrap. You have a ton of save slots so don't worry about making multiple saves. Slot 1, which is the left-most slot, is your default, so pressing A on save state will instantly save your game and resume gameplay. Because the curser does not reset when you return to the in-game menu, you can simply press down after entering the menu to reach Load State, then pressing A will load your save for the current slot and resume gameplay. If you love abusing save states to cheese your way through a difficult game, this method makes it incredibly easy to do so. In Settings, you can set the screen size and change button arrangement for some games among other things. I will update the article when I've explored it some more. That's all there is to navigating around and within games. It's really quite simple compared to the instructions I wrote for the previous console. The rest depends on how familiar you are with whatever you’re playing.

What's Available to Play, and how do they play?

The Evercade was designed to play retro games up to the 32-bit generation. In addition to rereleasing old games that are hard to find and obscure hidden gems whose cost may have gone up over the years at an affordable price, the developers have expressed a desire to make retro-inspired games created in the modern day available to play on their platform as well, and so they have. In this section, I will provide a link to a webpage with all of the available collections to purchase, as well as each game that is available for that collection. You can also use that page to download pdf manuals for some of the games within each collections. There are various YouTube channels dedicated to previewing and reviewing the content of Evercade cartridges as they are released, so I encourage you to check those out for further general information on each collection. As promised, Here is where you can find a list of most of the collections, its games and many pdf manual scans.

I still only have the first Interplay, Atari and Data East collections and have spent a decent amount of time with each. Audio Volume seems to vary across cartridges, with the Interplay one being a little low, Data East being somewhere in the middle and Atari being the loudest. In the Atari collection, start seems to be the Reset switch and Select seems to be the mode select switch for 2600 games. For NES games, b is a and a is b, while x is turbo b and y is turbo a. Genesis/megadrive games seem to vary in buttons, while snes button layouts are as you would expect for a snes controller, with a as b, b as a, x as y, y as x, and the L/R bumpers representing their snes L/R counterparts. I've owned or played several of the games across all 3 compilations. Most of the games in the Atari collection 1 are also on Atari Flashback classics for ps4 xbox1, Vita and Switch.

I used to own the Snes version of Clay Fighter on the Interplay Collection, but gave it to a friend who promised to play the entirety of one of Beethoven's songs during a talent show, so I was happy to have it back in this collection, and it still plays as well as I remember. For as much crap as people gave Clay Fighter on the Snes, I still thought it was ok, lots of memorable characters with personalities, and the Snes,  version had such a cheesy but cool voiced theme song as its intro. When I was still in college, a buddy of mine and I took my brother out to a local Nickel City, and among the many arcades, some of which were free to play, I walked up to a random arcade with a 6-buttn fighter layout similar to Street Fighter not knowing what it was. I pressed Start and had a solid session with Fighter's History. Finally, after all these years, I have my own copy of the snes version of the game within the Data East collection, along with another nes game I used to own but never beat, which was Bad Dudes.

The data East collection also includes one of the 16-bit versions of Side Pocket, whose gameboy counterpart I demoed for the forum in late 2020. Having never played the Evercade version before, I'm happy to have discovered it and will likely come back to it when I feel like shooting a few random rounds of pool. This ties in with what makes this platform so appealing to me. I love compilations, and I love discovering things I've never known about. There are still games I need to investigate further within the compilations I have, and each game's cheap 20 dollar price tag makes them perfect for an impulse buy. There are likely many other games within the various collections that some of you may have grown up with. Right off the bat, I can recommend the Technos Collection 1, which has the NES version of Renegade, Double Dragon 1 and 2, and Super Double Dragon on the Snes. Namco Museum Collection 2 has both Splatterhouse 2 and 3, which makes it worth owning for me.

I also want to try out the Mega Cat Studios collection 1, since it has some promisingly playable games, and I look forward to seeing what other compilations Blaze Entertainment pumps out. If arcade games are in fact coming to the platform, and if the Evercade can run 32-bit games well, that makes me all the more excited to see what these guys have in stored. Personally, I would love to see a collection of Capcom and SNK games, including a Neo Geo Pocket collection of sorts. Whatever else is coming, Blaze Entertainment is off to a banger of a start, with most of the games playing as they should. Indeed as I was playing, there was no input lag whatsoever, and really the only games that suffered were the old 2600 games that used a dial controller. Otherwise, everything else plays amazingly, and I commend them for their effort.

Conclusion:

I hope that this article is informative for those looking to revisit retro gaming in the near future. If you are interested in buying, some retailers in Europe and North America do carry the Evercade, and they ship worldwide if you decide to buy it online. I got mine off of Amazon, and will likely purchase additional cartridges the same way. A carrying case for the Evercade is also available for as much as a cartridge costs if you have a good collection going and need a place to store your stuff. That brings me to the end of my presentation. Thank you for reading all the way through. Should you have any questions or comments on the console or collections, feel free to shoot me a message via the PM link at the end of this article. Alternatively, Follow this link which will take you to a thread where we can discuss the console publicly among the community so that those interested can congregate and collect data on what all we can play. Within that thread is one of the video reviews I spoke of earlier for the console if you want an audio and video demonstration. This is Kenshira The Trinity, signing,  off!

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