The first Indie Heroes cartridge for the Evercade was an excellent collection of ‘new retro’ games by modern designers, originally released on classic hardware by small, often one-person devs/publishers.

It was a little heavy on the platforming, but overall it offered a great selection of excellent titles, in an extremely convenient format; that is to say, the Evercade – with all of its save states and the lack of having to even switch a cartridge over to play another game!

Can the trick be repeated with a second collection of independent, small and self published titles?

The good news is that it absolutely can – and has been!

Perhaps my only – or biggest – criticism of Indie Heroes Collection 2, much like the first cartridge, is that platformers are a little over-represented, though there’s a good deal of variety here even when it comes to platforming games.

With 12 games overall – two of which are ‘trilogies’ of games, so technically that makes 16 games included – there’s plenty on offer.

What have we got then?

Those two aforementioned trilogies – The Cowlitz Gamers Adventure Trilogy and The Gruniożerca Trilogy are both excellent.

The former are a selection of hardcore platformers and the latter puzzle-based platformers, but both are really compelling and offer a great deal of longevity.

Gelatinous: Humanity Lost is an OG Game Boy puzzle platformer in which you work your way around a maze-like world as a blob of goo, unlocking new abilities as you go. It’s good, but it’s incredibly tough!

Nix: The Paradox Relic feels like Metroid for furries; it’s really nicely designed and plays beautifully.

Yeah Yeah Beebiss II is a weird in-joke of a game that gives us a sequel to a NES cartridge that never existed. Perhaps due to a weird quirk in translation, some retailers listed a NES game named Yeah Yeah Beebiss in their video game magazine ads – but there was never a game for the console that went by this title!

At least until now. Yeah Yeah Beebiss II is an excellent single screen platformer with a great, chiptune classical music soundtrack.

Next up is a sequel to a game that actually existed – and which was included on the first Indie Heroes cartridge!

Anguna: Scourge of the Goblin King is a top down RPG in an impressively open world; it feels nicely non-linear and expansive, particularly for games of the 8-bit era, which this one apes in its aesthetic, but not its more contemporary design elements.

Beer Slinger brings speech and a tiny more complexity to its homage of arcade classic, Root Beer Tapper. Customers request their drink, which you must pour and serve without keeping them waiting too long. A great, pretty pure arcade style experience.

Another platformer, Eyra, The Crow Maiden is a superb hack and slash game, in which you can use your crow to attack enemies.

It has shades of underrated NES game 8-Eyes (which appears on Piko Collection 1 for the Evercade), but is a technically superior and more modern game in terms of its design, as is the case with many of the games featured on Indie Heroes 2.

Lunar Journey is a further exploration based platformer for the monochrome Game Boy, this time with a gentler challenge than many of the more hardcore games on the cartridge.

Yet another platformer, Nessy the Robot is another nice tribute to the 8-bit titles many of us older gamers grew up with.

Reknum Souls Adventure is an action RPG with serious Link’s Awakening vibes, given that it switches between a top down overworld and some side scrolling 2D sections underground. It’s excellent.

Lastly, Tapeworm Disco Puzzle is the undoubted star of the show, a characterful, appealingly designed puzzle game that sees you in control of a worm that emerges from a cassette tape to collect stuff, rescue fleas (it’s a companion piece to the excellent Flea! from Indie Heroes 1) and avoid deadly traps.

Overall, this is a wonderful collection with an awful lot of appeal and longevity; it really speak to the quality of the Evercade’s curation team that they’ve been able to put together a second collection of excellent indie titles.

Though you may feel a little less enthusiastic is platformers aren’t your thing, considering the cost of the cartridge, there’s still enough on here to ensure you should get your money’s worth.

You can purchase the Indie Heroes Collection 2 cartridge from Amazon here.

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