MLGG: Pop Culture News, Reviews and Interviews

It’s mid-February 2023 and, thanks to some organised thievery, I still don’t have my limited edition, black Evercade EXP console.

I’m not bitter though. Well, maybe just a little.

In other bad news that will affect plenty of current and new Evercade owners, there’s a number of cartridges being removed from the console’s line up.

This has been really disappointing, especially as someone who’s been fully on board with the Evercade ecosystem as a way to preserve and spotlight old games that deserved another chance.

The dream of preservation is once again faltering in the face of the reality of, presumably, costly licensing and restrictions.

So the current list of collections in the Evercade range that are now classed as ‘Legacy’ (ie discontinued) is as follows:

Namco Museum Collection 1 (02)
Namco Museum Colllection 2 (06)
Piko Interactive Collection 1 (09)
Technos Collection 1 (10)
The Oliver Twins Collection (12)

What’s especially irritating to myself, as a collector, is the fact that cartridges are numbered. What happens when a new Evercade owner seeks to complete their collection and finds that numerous numbered cartridges are impossible to get hold of?

It’s an irritation that I may well be placing too much importance on, but it does seem as if it’s a situation that shouldn’t be happening.

It’s especially annoying for genuinely brilliant collections such as Piko Interactive Collection 1 and The Oliver Twins Collection, both of which are absolutely essential for any Evercade owner.

Of less importance is that the original Evercade handheld is now also a Legacy product, but given the improved functionality of both the Evercade VS and Evercade EXP, I’m only a little bit sad to see the original, much cheaper handheld disappear.

It does – or did – provide a really cost effective way of getting on board the Evercade train, but with much improved consoles on sale, it’s not a great loss. I tend to play on the Evercade VS much more these days in any case.

Better news is here too, thankfully; with the superb Game of the Month feature making a return in April 2023, with each month’s game being pulled from the upcoming Indie Heroes Collection 3 cartridge.

With the Evercade EXP having WiFi connectivity, the Game of the Month will no longer just be available to Evercade VS users either. So that’s good too!

Over the next year, the plan from Blaze is to release at least 14 new collections for the Evercade; we only have details of a few – April’s The C64 Collection 2 and Toaplan Collection 2, plus the aforementioned third Indie Heroes in Feb 2024 – but exciting things are promised with at least two arcade cartridges, two more indie focused collections and even collections from publishers who’ve not been part of the Evercade range so far. Oh, plus an Amiga collection too!

So despite the negatives, there’s a lot to look forward to if you’re an Evercade owner. Those aforementioned Legacy cartridges do still seem to be available at retail too, so if you’re new and thinking of jumping on board, do get your hands on those discontinued collections as soon as you can!

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