The Evercade is a handheld retro console released in June 2020, differing from the average retro-compilation handheld consoles you can find on Aliexpress or eBay by holding official licences for their games and distributing them in cartridges like consoles from major companies.
The project was officially announced in July 2019
, created by an independent UK company who licensed the rights to titles from famous companies like Atari and Bandai Namco Entertainment (specifically the Namco Museum brand), as well getting defunct titles from Technos Japan (part of Arc System Works), Interplay Entertainment (including some games from Titus Software, bought by Interplay in the 2000s) and Data East (part of G-Mode). And if that wasn't enough, Evercade also got independent games from companies like Mega Cat Studios, Piko Interactive (40 Winks), Bitmap Bureau (Xeno Crisis) and Big Evil Corp.
Evercade works just like the old and known handheld consoles such as the Game Boy, Game Gear or Neo Geo Pocket: it's a fully portable video game handheld with interchangeable cartridges. No internet connection required, no virtual consoles, no Downloadable Content. Just a cartridge with video games and that's all. Evercade was created with a specific Target Audience: retro-gamers who want a console to play and collect. Every cartridge comes with more than one game, being from 2 games to 20, all of them with collectable boxes with their exclusive manuals. The handheld itself has a retro design that evokes the Nintendo Entertainment System (colors and design) and Sega Genesis (the button system). The battery lasts for 5 hours.
The games come from consoles of The '80s and The '90s, like Atari (2600 and Lynx), NES, SNES and Genesis. This includes indie games and ports released for those consoles more than 10 years after being discontinued.
A console version, called the Evercade VS, was released on November 2021. It supports two simultaneous cartriges, four player multiplayer, and internet updates which include additional hidden games.
An updated version of the Evercade handheld, Evercade EXP, was released on November 24, 2022, meant to be a successor to the original. In addition to being compatible with existing Evercade cartridges, it contains some new features, most notably the option to play games in vertical screen orientation, with two buttons below the D-pad (or to the right of it, when the EXP is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise for this mode) to accommodate. It also features 18 Capcom games installed on the system itself; these games are exclusive to the EXP and cannot be purchased in Evercade cartridge format.
On October of 2023, Hyper Mega Tech, a division of Blaze, released the Super Pocket, with two versions; one with built-in Capcom games, and one with built-in Taito games. Despite not being officially marketed as an Evercade device, it's compatible with Evercade cartridges. At first, Cathedral (2019) was incompatible, but an update fixed that.
The Evercade's main page cane be found here, featuring more information, videos, the game library and where to buy in your zone (if you are from US and Europe, of course).
- Big Evil Corp.
- Bite the Chilli
- Bitmap Bureau
- Broke Studios
- Elden Pixels
- Izma
- John Roo
- Lowtek Games
- MegaCat Studios
- Nape Studios
- The Oliver Twinsnote
- Piko Interactive
- PSCD
- SJ Games
- Tuxedo Games
- Alwa's Awakening/Cathedral Collection
- Atari Collection 1
- Centipede
- Adventure
- Alien Brigade
- Asteroids
- Missile Command
- Crystal Castles
- Food Fight
- Desert Falcon
- Motor Psycho
- Canyon Bomber
- Gravitar
- Double Dunk
- Ninja Golf
- Steeplechase
- Night Driver
- Tempest
- Video Pinball
- Aquadventure
- Yar's Return
- Swordquest
- Atari Collection 2
- Basketbrawl
- Yars' Revenge
- Solaris
- Centipedenote
- Asteroidsnote
- Demons to Diamonds
- Desert Falconnote
- Haunted House
- Sprint Master
- Radar Lock
- Millipede
- Submarine Commander
- Planet Smashers
- RealSport Tennis
- Wizard
- Air-Sea Battle
- Bowling
- Street Racer
- Dark Chambers
- Human Cannonball
- Atari Lynx Collection 1
- Scrapyard Dog
- Basketbrawl
- Super Asteroids/Missile Command
- Awesome Golf
- Crystal Mines II: Buried Treasure
- CyberVirus
- Dracula the Undead
- Gordo 106
- Ishido: The Way of Stones
- Jimmy Connors Tennis
- Loopz
- Malibu Bikini Volleyball
- MegaPak
- Power Factor
- Remnant
- Super Sqweek
- Xump
- Atari Lynx Collection 2
- California Games
- Todd's Adventures in Slimeworld
- Electro Cop
- Gates of Zendocon
- Zarlor Mercenary
- Blue Lightning
- Chip's Challenge
- Checkered Flag
- Codemasters Collection 1
- Sensible Soccer - International Edition
- Cannon Foddernote
- Tennis All-Starsnote
- Mega-Lo-Mania
- Big Nose the Caveman
- Cosmic Spacehead
- Psycho Pinballnote
- Bee 52
- MiG 29 - Soviet Fighter
- The Ultimate Stuntman
- Super Skidmarks
- Boomerang Kid
- Linus Spacehead
- CJ’s Elephant Antics
- F-16 Renegade
- Stunt Buggie
- Data East Collection
- BurgerTime
- Fighter's Historynote
- Midnight Resistance
- Bump 'n' Jump
- Karate Champ
- Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the tropicsnote
- Side Pocket
- Magical Drop 2
- Two Crude Dudesnote
- Bad Dudesnote
- Duke Nukem Collection 1
- Duke Nukem Remastered
- Duke Nukem II Remastered
- Duke Nukem 3D: Total Meltdown
- Duke Nukem Collection 2
- Duke Nukem: Time to Kill
- Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes
- Duke Nukem Advance
- Indie Heroes Collection 1
- Ploidnote
- Uchusennote
- Kubo 3note
- Super Homebrew Warnote
- Fleanote
- Chain Breaknote
- Quest Arrestnote
- Twin Dragonsnote
- Doodle Worldnote
- Foxylandnote
- Debtornote
- Deadeusnote
- Alien Cat 2note
- Angunanote
- Interplay Collection 1
- Earthworm Jimnote
- ClayFighternote
- Boogermannote
- BattleChess
- Incantationnote
- Titannote
- Interplay Collection 2
- Earthworm Jim 2note
- Clayfighter 2: Judgment Clay
- The Adventures of Rad Gravity
- Claymates
- Prehistorik Mannote
- The Brainiesnote
- Jaleco Collection 1
- Bases Loaded
- Astyanax
- Rushing Beat series
- Rival Turf
- Brawl Brothers
- City Connection
- Earth Defence Force
- Super Goal! 2
- Totally Rad
- Operation Logic Bomb
- Ignition Factor
- Mega Cat Collection
- Multidude
- Super Painter
- Coffee Crisis
- Little Medusa
- Tanzer
- Old Towers
- Creepy Brawlers
- Almost Hero
- Log Jammers
- Justice Duel
- Namco Museum Collection 1
- Pac-Man
- Galaxian
- Dig Dug
- Xevious
- Star Luster
- Libble Rabble
- Mappy
- Mappy Kids
- Battle Cars
- Metal Marines
- Quad Challenge
- Namco Museum Collection 2
- Galaga
- Pac-Attack
- The Tower of Druaga
- Phelios
- Dragon Spirit
- Dig Dug 2
- Burning Force
- Weapon Lord
- Warp Man
- Splatterhouse series
- Splatterhouse 2
- Splatterhouse 3
- The Oliver Twins Collection
- Dizzy series
- Treasure Island Dizzy
- Dizzy The Adventurer
- Panic Dizzy
- Wonderland Dizzy
- Mystery World Dizzy
- The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy
- Go! Dizzy Go!
- BMX Simulator
- Super Robin Hood
- DreamWorld Pogie
- FireHawk
- Dizzy series
- Piko Interactive Collection 1
- Brave Battle Saga
- Water Margin
- Magic Girl
- Dorke and Ymp
- Switchblade
- Way of the Exploding Fist
- Nightshade (1992)
- Top Racer
- Tinhead
- Radical Rex
- Jim Power – The Lost Dimension
- 8 Eyes
- The Immortal
- Dragon View
- Drakkhen
- Power Punch II
- Power Piggs of the Dark Ages
- Iron Commando
- The Humans
- Canon – Legends of the New Gods
- Piko Interactive Collection 2
- Power Football
- Hoops: Shut Up and Jam
- Hoops: Shut Up and Jam 2
- Summer Challenge
- Winter Challenge
- Beast Ball
- Eliminator Boat Duel
- Full Throttle All American Racing
- Top Racer 2
- Soccer Kid
- Football Madness
- World Trophy Soccer
- Racing Fever
- Technos Collection
- Double Dragon series
- Double Dragon 1
- Double Dragon II: The Revenge
- Super Double Dragon
- Kunio-kun series
- Super Spike V'ball
- Double Dragon series
- Worms Collection
- Worms
- Worms Armageddon
- Worms Blast
- Xeno Crisis & Tanglewood
Tropes:
- Artifact Title: Even when the console has it as part of the Portmanteau title, all of Evercade's Arcade games are the console versions, mostly from Atari consoles, NES, SNES and Genesis. This was since averted by the end of 2021 when cartridges with arcade ports arrived at the same time the Evercade VS home console was released.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Evercade boxes are typically red. Compilations with arcade games are colored purple.
- The Super Pocket has different color schemes based on which version you got; the Capcom version has a blue and yellow color scheme, while the Taito version has a green and black one. Considering the two have different built-in games, this is very useful to tell which one has the games you want.
- Compilation Re-release: Every cartridge has more than one title on it (20 in the Atari Collections).
- Denial of Digital Distribution: Invoked. The point of the Evercade ecosystem is that the games released for it, barring the 18 Capcom games pre-installed on the EXP, are in physical cartridge format only, just like games for most pre-PS1/N64/Saturn era consoles. While some of the games might be available on other systems in digital format, you aren't going to see digital-download games for the Evercade line.
- Indie Game: A great surprise of the Evercade is the inclusion of indie companies who made titles for old (and discontinued) consoles, even having their own compilations by company. Initially, there were four companies onboard, and the Evercade's creators do not discard that other companies will join their game library.
- Licensed Game: The big difference between the Evercade and all of the bootleg handheld consoles is this one has the official company licenses.
- No Export for You: Evercade has been released for European and American markets only.
- Portmanteau: A word game between the words "Ever" and "Arcade."
- Revival by Commercialization: Even when companies like Atari and Namco have their classic games for a multitude of consoles, other companies like Technos, Interplay and Data East (all of them defunct) now get a second air thanks to this new console that revives old times.
- Target Audience: The console was made for retro-players who miss the 80s-90s era.
- Unperson: Of a sort. SEGA and Nintendo games have the company's logos and copyright screens edited out.
