Evercade

The Evercade was developed by Blaze Entertainment Limited of Great Britain, Blaze began development of the Evercade in 2018, with the intention of creating a console superior to plug-and-play devices. before being delayed to 20 March 2020. The release was later pushed back to 22 May 2020, although this was expected to be delayed up to two additional weeks in some areas because of shipping delays, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The console retailed for £60/$80 with a pack-in game cartridge, while a premium edition retailed for £80/$100 and included three game cartridges. Andrew Byatt, the Evercade's development director, hoped to sell hundreds of thousands of units within the first year. ==Hardware==

The Evercade has a 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 processor, and has a horizontal 4.3-inch LCD screen, and supports high-definition upscaling on all games when the console is connected to a television. The console has a rechargeable 2,000-mAh battery that lasts four to five hours. A 3.5 minijack Unlike modern handheld consoles, the Evercade does not have a touch screen or Wi-Fi connectivity. The layout of the four action buttons was determined after Blaze conducted an online poll, which found that 68 percent of people wanted a layout like those used on modern game controllers. However, this created confusion, as in-game prompts never match the buttons (a player may need to press "B" when prompted to press "A"). As the console launched, Blaze released a firmware update for the layout issue, Two-player games converted for the Evercade retain the multiplayer function, with the intention that future hardware will allow two players. The addition of Bluetooth had been considered as a way to add multiplayer, but the development team scrapped this idea because of cost and complexity, which did not go well with the console's focus. At the end of 2019, before the Evercade's release, Blaze was already working on a second version with multiplayer capability and a possible, easier alternative for connecting the console to a television. ==Games==

Games for the Evercade are distributed on multi-game ROM cartridges, each one usually containing between 5 and 20 games, a modern feature not usually present in older games. The Evercade's use of game cartridges was considered unique, as most retro handheld consoles used built-in or downloaded game ROMs. Cartridges contain recreations of existing games through emulation, and Evercade developers worked with the original software developers to ensure accurate game recreations. Each Evercade cartridge contains games unique to their respective publishing company. Blaze Entertainment held discussions with game licensees and requested specific games for release on the Evercade. Such games were usually well known or rare. Games from Japanese studios were also sought for release on the Evercade. Byatt said that many games were turned down for consideration: "We've gone for quality over quantity, in our view. We don't want to be a console that has 3,000 games." Other games could not be licensed for an Evercade release because of lost paperwork that was necessary to prove who owns the rights to such games. The Evercade runs emulators that have been licensed by Blaze or custom-built in some cases. The console is capable of playing games originally released for the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari Lynx, NES, SNES, Mega Drive, PlayStation and Neo Geo. and a collection of Atari Lynx games. Home conversions of arcade games, such as Asteroids and Pac-Man, have also been released. The original arcade ROMs were initially not used because of issues concerning the aspect ratio, as some arcade games use a vertical screen that would not display properly on the Evercade's horizontal screen. The collection has 11 games, including Wonderland Dizzy. A cartridge of Jaleco games was released in 2021, along with another cartridge containing games from the Worms series. Other cartridges included collections of indie games, as well as Intellivision games. In July 2022, Blaze announced a cartridge featuring Commodore 64 games, the first with ROMs from a home computer system. Cartridge cases are different in color: red for console, purple for arcade, and blue for home computer. Each type is also numbered separately. In addition to those available on cartridges, hidden games can be unlocked from menu codes, button combo codes, and certain combinations of cartridges inserted into the Evercade VS together. On 14 November 2023, Full Void by OutOfTheBit became the Evercade's first single-game cartridge release. It was released in a standard edition and a limited-run special edition, the latter selling out within a few days. The special edition included a blue-coloured cartridge, stickers, a poster, the same comic featured in the standard edition, an art book, and an exclusive cart inlay—all in one cardboard sleeve. Full Void is also notable for running natively on Evercade hardware rather than through emulation. Blaze reached an agreement with SNK to release new products starting in 2025, including a cartridge containing six Neo Geo games. ==Reception==

Reviewers praised the console's emulation of classic games. Andrew Liszewski of Gizmodo stated that the games worked flawlessly: "There's no stutter, no dropped frames, no screen tearing artifacts, and no issues with sound sync. They just all work and let you immediately jump into what's important: the gameplay." Adam Patrick Murray of PC World rated the console four and a half stars out of five, and also praised its size. Liszewski praised the Evercade for its simplicity. Andrew Webster of The Verge stated that the Evercade "straddles the line between modern and retro in a way that's very satisfying", while writing that the game cartridges "strike a nice balance of well-known hits and more obscure releases." Nick Thorpe of Retro Gamer praised the inclusion of Atari 7800 games, which are lesser-known and more difficult to acquire. Will Greenwald of PC Magazine rated the Evercade 3.5 out of 5, but was also critical of the home-conversion arcade games. McFerran praised the cartridges for their inclusion of popular games, but wrote "you really have to buy all 10 carts to get all of the best games, and some of the collections are padded out with filler that you'll play once and forget about." Reviewers praised the controls, but criticized the layout of the action buttons. Linneman was critical of the limited aspect selections. ==Subsequent systems==

After the original Evercade, Blaze has developed and released a number of updated and additional Evercade products. Evercade VS In April 2021, Blaze announced a home console version known as Evercade VS. It is backwards-compatible with most games released for the handheld Evercade, with an output of 1080p. Unlike the handheld console, the VS has multiplayer functionality for up to four players. In addition to its own controllers, the handheld Evercade can be plugged into the VS and used as a controller. The VS was released in December 2021. A cheaper redesign, the VS-R, was released in August 2024. The console is held horizontally, but can also be positioned vertically for arcade games. and includes 18 built-in games by Capcom. Compared to the original console, the EXP includes additional buttons and a slightly altered button layout. Although the screen is the same size as the original handheld, the EXP plays in higher resolution at 800x480. It has a mini-HDMI port for connection to a television, with output at 720p. The EXP uses a 1.5 GHz processor and has 4GB of RAM. It offers Wi-Fi for software and firmware updates. although some critics were disappointed by the lack of Bluetooth. A redesigned version, the Evercade EXP-R, was released in November 2024, at a lower retail price, while the original EXP was discontinued. The redesign excludes the mini-HDMI port and the 18 built-in games. Super Pocket In July 2023, Blaze Entertainment unveiled its new line of Super Pocket handhelds to be produced under the company's new HyperMegaTech brand. The console featured a smaller design at a lower price along with built in games by Capcom and Taito, depending on edition. Despite not being officially branded as an Evercade console the Super Pocket does feature a cartridge slot and is compatible with all Evercade games. Preorders for the console began in July 2023 with units expected to ship in October of that year. Evercade Alpha Announced in May 2024, the Evercade Alpha is a tabletop arcade cabinet that is able to play Evercade cartridges and also has built-in licensed Capcom games. ==References==