Though both Burger Time and Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja appear on one of the Evercade’s very first cartridges – Data East Collection 1 – the arcade versions included on Data East Arcade 1 are so much better.

It’s important to remember that these conversions are from a time when even the most technically impressive arcade games were being ported to all sorts of platforms, regardless of their suitability or capabilities; back in the 80s, it would have been so cool to play these games at home, but having them side by side really shows just how much better the original versions are.

Both of those games are still excellent too; the classic, single screen arcade action of Burger Time and the OTT action movie-style, beat ’em up shenanigans of Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja – in which some, er, ‘bad dudes’ are enlisted to rescue ‘President Ronnie’ from the titular ninja clan – are an awful lot of fun.

There’s more than that here though – and there’s a much higher hit rate here than there is on the first game in the Evercade arcade range, Technos Arcade 1.

In fact, the disappointments here are few and far between; though the horizontally scrolling, Mad Max-esque vehicle shooter BreakThru (not to be confused with the similarly themed, vertically scrolling Battle Lane Vol. 5 on Technos Arcade 1) just felt too cramped and too fast to be much fun, but I’m willing to put this down to me just not being very good at it.

I had similar issues with the vertically scrolling shoot ’em up Darwin 4078 – which gets its name from the fact that your ship can evolve into a bewildering number of different forms – basically, I just found it too tough to progress very far and consequently, didn’t find it to be particularly enjoyable.

Block matching puzzle game Chain Reaction is a fun, colourful and mechanically unique title; it’s more than just a Puzzle Bobble type title.

Lock ‘n’ Chase is a Cops and Robbers themed take on Pac-Man that brings plenty of its own innovations to the maze game genre; despite a few issues, I really enjoyed this one too.

The rest of the games here are fantastic – and really push this cartridge into the realm of must-have status.

Gate Of Doom (also known as Dark Seal) and its sequel Wizard Fire (Dark Seal II) are both pseudo-isometric takes on dungeon delving that do a great job of bringing hack and slash fantasy action to the Evercade. Neither were games I’d seen or even heard of before, so their inclusion is definitely welcome.

Sly Spy is a hilariously daft, blatantly (and shamelessly) plagiaristic James Bond style run and gunner, with an impressive number of different level styles – I’m so glad it’s been brought to the Evercade in its original arcade form.

Lastly, Tumblepop is a single screen platformer in the vein of Bubble Bobble or Snow Bros; except instead of being armed with bubbles or snowballs, your character has a vacuum cleaner. Its cutesy graphics and excellent levels have aged beautifully – and again, just goes to show why this cartridge needs to be in your Evercade library!

Despite a few weak titles that other arcade fans may appreciate more than I did, this is a cartridge loaded with excellent experiences and more than a couple of absolutely timeless classics.

You can purchase the Data East Arcade 1 cartridge from Amazon here.