When the Evercade first launched, its entire collection of games were compiled and made up of titles from home consoles.

Some of the games were ports of arcade titles that were ambitious and well received in their day, but – with the power of the Evercade making it a doddle for it to emulate 80s and 90s arcade games – there was a desire for the original versions to make an appearance.

Blaze solved the issue of having competing versions or collections of games by separating them into different libraries.

The original, red box Evercade library would retain its numbering and continue to feature either original console titles that were released during the original lifespan of numerous 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit platforms, or ‘new retro’ titles that have been made more recently, yet have also been released on cartridges to work with original, retro console hardware.

Blue box Evercade cartridges feature collections of games that were originally released on home computer platforms (such as the Commodore 64 or Amiga) and purple box cartridges contain original arcade titles.

Having completed my coverage of every single red box Evercade cartridge so far (and I’ll continue to cover them as they’re released; you’ll find the complete, up to date list of articles here), I thought it was time to make a start on covering the purple and blue box ranges too.

So here we are, with cartridge number 1 in the purple-boxed arcade range: Technos Arcade 1.

The Technos Collection 1 cartridge, an early Evercade release, was one that I picked up eagerly and with great excitement – so it was extremely disappointing to find that many of the games included have aged badly, even in light of the scrolling beat ’em up renaissance that’s happened in the last few years.

Back when you’d only find arcade machines like Double Dragon when you went on holiday to the seaside, having them on 8-bit platforms like the Master System or NES made it feel like the arcade had come home with you; however, these days the flaws and limitations of these ports – of what was then a pretty technically impressive game – unfortunately stick out very obviously.

The thing is, however, that the reason most of these games disappointed is because these ports just couldn’t compare to those arcade versions and overstretched themselves, not because the original games were bad (the original console titles such as River City Ransom were designed with the NES hardware in mind – and are much stronger for it, however).

So it’s great that Blaze, perhaps recognising this, went straight back to the Technos well for the first in their separate line of arcade cartridges.

It’s a more eclectic mix than the very beat ’em up heavy Technos Collection 1 cartridge, too – which is good to see. As with many of the Evercade’s cartridges, regardless of whether they’re console, arcade or computer games, often the most interesting stuff happens to be the hidden gems you’ve never heard of (or never played, at least) before.

Naturally, the series most people think of when they think of Technos – Double Dragon – is here, though it feels wrong not having the first game on here.

Instead, we get the weaker Double Dragon 2: The Revenge (still a decent game, however) and the frankly awful Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone, in which you can buy items with extra credits. Though that was a particularly egregious feature in the arcade, designed to part eager, gullible or addicted players from their cash, it’s rendered laughable on the Evercade – when you just have to press Select to enter as many coins as you want!

Another beat ’em up is present in the form of The Combatribes; it’s a little janky, but I found it to be pretty fun nonetheless.

Block Out is a slightly too ambitious 3D take on the Tetris formula, which, despite its flaws, is still well worth playing.

Mania Challenge is a wrestling title featuring cheeky pastiches of 80s wrestlers; I didn’t really get on with this one, but it may just be because it’s got quite a steep difficulty curve (and my patience for that sort of thing is dwindling these days – not a great start for arcade games designed to be super challenging, I know!).

Talking of challenging, the top-down vehicle shooting action of Battle Lane Vol. 5 is another game that’s absolutely rock hard in terms of its difficulty, but it’s definitely worth perservering with – if you have the patience.

Mysterious Stones is an odd maze game/collect ’em up with some decent features – it’s another that’s worth checking out, particularly as you’re unlikely to have seen it (or anything much like it!) before.

Lastly, there’s the almost Donkey Kong Jr-esque Minky Monkey, in which you have to try and complete the instructions given (by a monkey!) on which fruit to take up or down – while the eponymous Minky is competing to get there before you do. It’s an excellent, single screen title that looks very dated indeed, but plays really nicely (though that pesky monkey of the title could do with being a bit less proficient at obeying orders!).

It’s a pretty decent cartridge, with numerous games that I hadn’t heard of, let alone played, before.

It’s also great having the original arcade versions of Double Dragon 2 and 3; though I don’t find them as enjoyable as the first game (and in the case of the third game, I’m not a fan at all), they’re at least streets ahead of their console ports – and this cartridge is just better at showcasing a wider range of Technos games altogether than the extremely beat ’em up focused Technos Collection 1.

Something that’s also worth noting is that four of the eight titles on the Technos Arcade 1 cartridge also make use of the Evercade EXP’s TATE mode, so you can play them in their original, vertical orientation.

Those titles are: Battle Lane Vol. 5, Mania Challenge, Minky Monkey and Mysterious Stones.

Battle Lane Vol. 5 in particular really benefits from having the larger screen space when vertically oriented, but it’s a great feature to have for the other three games too.

If, like me, you frequented arcades in the 80s and 90s, finding them to be absolute technological utopias, this cartridge will provide you with some very nostalgic sights, sounds and experiences.

They’re not all perfect games by any means, but it’s a nicely eclectic collection and one which I’d recommend to anyone wanting to be transported back to the glory days of the arcade.

You can purchase the Technos Arcade 1 cartridge from Amazon here.