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Blaze Entertainment continues to its Evercade ecosystem of devices with new cartridges, supplementing the library of licensed retro games with even more weirdness! We’ve been able to check out the 10 latest releases, so we can let you know what’s worth checking out and why!

The heavy hitters: Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain 6b1v2a

Tomb Raider has served as Blaze’s cornerstone release of the year, with the collection of three PS1 games included in the bundles for both the EXP-R and VS-R hardware revisions. Lara Croft might be the most recognizable mascot character it could hope to license, and even the earliest games in the franchise are more sweeping adventures than have been available in the Evercade’s quick-fun-focused selection. (It also probably didn’t hurt that Tomb Raider began its life at British studio Core Design; Blaze has shown a lot of love for its home.)

Blaze connected with Crystal Dynamics a second time, too, licensing Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver for a dual-pack. Of all five of these games, action-platformer Soul Reaver definitely holds up best for first-time players. The late-’90s theming that tries a bit too hard aside, the traversal and combat controls work totally fine today and it’s worth a play for Evercade owners! These two releases are the start of the “Giga Cart” line for the company. Essentially, these are cartridges with a slight price bump in exchange for higher storage capacity. That seems fine with us! Though we’re sure these games weren’t the cheapest to license either, and maybe that helps bring more publishers to the platform.

Japanese publishers redux: Sunsoft and Data East Collections 1jrh

Sunsoft Collection 2 arguably bests the first release’s lineup, starring NES platformer Ufouria: The Saga and Game Boy Color gem Blaster Master: Enemy Below. It even throws in some Evercade-signature weirdos, like head-to-head fighter Galaxy Fight and surprisingly compelling Game Boy puzzler Pri Pri Primitive Princess!, which in aggregate we think outweighs the first’s Mr. Gimmick.

We spent a lot of time playing Ufouria on this collection — it’s a great game — and were reminded how PAL games can cause some display issues due to their different resolution. As it stands, they’re stretched wider than they should be, and we wish there were a display option to force 4-by-3 and remedy this. Seems doable in a firmware update, right, Blaze?

Data East Arcade 2 offers a handful of fun Tate Mode options, as well as some great co-op beat-’em-ups. Edward Randy is a blast with unlimited credits, and stars an action hero that definitely isn’t Indiana Jones and why would you even bring that up? Trio The Punch brings a different sort of feel to the genre, with lots of super-short levels. Joe & Mac Returns tries a single-screen take on the caveman game, and can be fun to work through with a friend.

We have games at home: Piko Collection 4 1m4x62

Piko Interactive has embraced its niche of picking up licenses for games that feel like store-brand takes on big releases. But on Evercade, where their first-party siblings are likely never going to appear? That’s kind of appealing. Without Mario Kart, you may actually want to play Street Racer. Without a big-name puzzler, it doesn’t hurt to have Mermaids of Atlantis on the menu. Star X may be missing that F and O you’d want in the title, but it’s as close as you’re going to get here.

The centerpiece of this cart is Glover. We have a soft spot for the N64 platformer, and this version got a bit of development attention to make sure it works okay on the Evercade. It’s definitely a game that you want to play on the VS with a third-party controller so you can use an analog stick, but thankfully the system s that through an in-beta menu option.

Tate Mode showcases: Toaplan Arcade 3 and 4 486o2h

One of the coolest features of the Evercade EXP handhelds is the Tate Mode toggle, allowing you to play games vertically on the display. So it’s good to see some more Toaplan collections with a bunch of Tate Mode-friendly options. There are, of course, shooters — Batsugun, Truxton II, Dogyuun and more — but we’re particularly interested in games that use a vertical display and still offer genre variety.

Ghox is a take on the Breakout formula, with the sort of flash and intensity you’d expect from a developer that usually makes shooters. There are tons of collectibles falling at you, and it even starts with two balls to juggle by default! There are also Out Zone and FixEight, which are arguably still vertically scrolling shooters but on foot rather than flying around. This subgenre, perhaps most popularized by Pocky & Rocky or Shock Troopers, offers its own sort of fun and the ability to control the pace a bit more.

Old computer weirdness: Thalamus and Bitmap Brothers Collections 3ad3r

The selection in the Evercade library has always been tinted by the company’s UK origins, and nothing makes that clearer than the wide array of old computer game representation. Thalamus Collection 1 includes 11 Commodore 64 games from the late 1980s and 1990s. In our experience, the C64 library is a sort of “you had to be there” experience, with “there” meaning “Europe in the 1980s,” and it’s not the easiest to encounter for the first time today. Still, we did have some fun with action-shooter Retrograde.

The Bitmap Brothers Collection 2 offers a selection of Amiga games, which are certainly also quirky but a bit more palatable to modern sensibilities. The Cadaver games are isometric adventure games that take a bit of time to learn to control, but they’re charming. The Chaos Engine 2 is the top of the bunch for us, a top-down action game designed for co-op. And platformer Gods is worth it for the title screen music alone. Added to the collection, perhaps confusingly given the cart’s blue-line categorization, is a console game! The PlayStation port of real-time strategy game Z also makes the cut after missing out on the first, red-line compilation.

New-retro showpieces: Metal Dragon / Life on Mars 18682d

We’re on record saying that the greatest value of the Evercade is in giving modern retrogames accessible cartridge releases, so we’re happy to see that continue with the latest dual-pack. Metal Dragon is an ‘80s-inspired run-and-gun game that unfortunately makes the number-one mistake in games: falsely thinking it’s extremely funny. We wanted to enjoy its action levels and modern approach to controls, but its writing — a Metal Gear spoof seemingly penned by an “edgy” teen boy in detention — is pretty much insufferable.

Life on Mars fares significantly better, thankfully. It’s a Metroid-style exploration platformer, set on a Martian base where all the robots are attacking you as you land to re-establish communications and find out what happened. We wish the controls were a bit tighter — jumping in tight spaces can be particularly irritating — but there’s enjoyment to be found here.

Most of these Evercade cartridges are available now. The Metal Dragon/Life on Mars dual pack and Toaplan Arcade 4 are slated for release in December 2024. For more of Siliconera’s Evercade coverage, check out our archive.

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Blaze Entertainment has always positioned the Evercade as a sort of ecosystem, home to lots of hardware variations that could all play the same cartridges. And it’s continued to revise and update the handheld and TV-based options! But… perhaps there are more sorts of things? It feels like it was this line of thinking that led to the Evercade Alpha.

The Evercade Alpha is a tabletop arcade machine, designed to evoke its larger brethren and tailored primarily for solo play. It’s honestly a bit larger than we expected, occupying a space about halfway between the Arcade1up machines of the world and micro-cabinets like the Taito Egret II Mini. It’s just over 16 inches tall with a 12-by-10 base, and the screen clocks in at an eight-inch diagonal. The result is functional but not quite so evocative, a comfortable experience for one with multiplayer treated as the ancillary experience it should be for a screen this small.

As long-time fans of the Neo Geo MVS, an arcade cabinet with two cartridge slots does give us a bit of enjoyment just as a concept! The power button is decorated to look like a coin return, which is a nice touch. There are other nice accents, like a light-up swappable marquee and a headphone jack. A note about the headphone jack, though: if you think you’re using it to play quietly but you’re still using the arcade controls, you might still be disturbing those nearby! Those things are clacky, as they probably should be.

Speaking of those controls, Sanwa buttons are available on the deluxe model, but the standard model we're reviewing has a totally serviceable set. Can we tell the difference? Yeah, occasionally. But any arcade game worth its salt designed around the controls wearing out, so these seem fine enough to us! Also: no one should be trying to use an Alpha at Evo.

The Alpha is available in two models, both centered around built-in Capcom games. The version we’ve reviewed is the Mega Man Edition, which showcases that franchise’s two arcade releases. Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters turn the console action platformer into a boss rush, with selectable paths through them built around bosses from particular games. You can fight as Mega Man, Proto Man and Bass, and if you plug in a controller, you can play co-op too. (The sequel also adds Duo. Are there Duo fans out there?)

Also included are Final Fight, Carrier Air Wing, Knights of the Round and Strider. This selection of games offers a variety of genres, which is nice! It makes it feel more like a classic arcade experience, wandering around and playing the different games you find. The other model, Street Fighter Edition, includes Street Fighter II’ Champion Edition, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, and the three Street Fighter Alpha games. That’s obviously great for fans of Street Fighter, though it leans pretty heavily on Puzzle Fighter (or your Evercade library) to provide some variety.

The Evercade compatibility means the Alpha can play a whole host of other games too, and this might be especially appealing for the company’s purple-box line of arcade titles. With the horizontal display and button configuration, it feels most at home with ‘90s releases! Our top recommendations: In the Hunt from the Irem 1 cart and Snow Bros. 2 from Toaplan 4. It’s also a good display for 16-bit games with more of an arcade sensibility, like the Renovation and Sunsoft carts. In general, that era of saturated pixel art just works best. (Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage of the latest Evercade cartridges soon!)

Still, you can play any Evercade cartridges on this thing! And to do so in multiplayer, you just plug in a controller. Blaze sells its own, largely designed for the Evercade VS, but scrappy community have found that many other controllers will work, too. There’s even for two three-player arcade games by using both controller ports: Knights of the Round and the Technos Arcade 1 cartridge inclusion The Combatribes. We can confirm that they work! We cannot, however, confirm that three people standing around an 8-inch screen are going to have the best time.

Before checking it out for ourselves, we’ll it: we thought the Evercade Alpha would be more like the category of arcade-looking desk toys than a legitimate way to play games. After spending time with it, though, we think it’s just barely big enough to enjoy as a solo experience, and the Evercade library access patches up the biggest weakness of home arcades that leads to them quickly collecting dust. (But yes, it’s also for looking cool.)

The Evercade Alpha releases November 28, 2024 for $249.99, and a pre-order discount is available until that date.

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Blaze Entertainment announced its new Evercade Alpha tabletop arcade cabinets that both come with Capcom titles and use Evercade cartridges. The two launch models debut in November 2024 and will cost $249.99/£229.99/€249.99, though the pre-order price when orders open on June 4, 2024 will be $229.99/£199.99/€229.99.

Both of the Evercade Alpha cabinets are designed to sit on top of a table, and each one features six games built into it. The Street Fighter variant includes Street Fighter II Champion Edition, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. The one billed as the Mega Man model comes with Carrier Air Wing, Final Fight, Knights of the Round, Mega Man: The Power Battle, Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, and Strider. 

The cabinets have 8”IPS screens that a 4:3 resolution. USB controllers are ed for two-player multiplayer. The marquee bar lights up, and the cabinets each come with three different ones that can be placed in. You can also use headphones with it. Not to mention, there is a slot for Evercade cartridges, so someone could play additional games.

Here’s the launch trailer for the devices.

And here is the official art for each cabinet.

The Evercade Alpha cabinets will launch in November 2024, and those with Evercade cartridges can use them with the tabletop units.

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