Spanish arcade developer/manufacturer Gaelco have been responsible for an awful lot of titles that you’ve probably never heard of, let alone played.

Six of their titles feature on this cartridge – and it’s emerged as the unlikely hero of the first few releases in the Evercade Arcade cartridge range.

Part of the appeal is discovering unfamiliar titles, but that wouldn’t mean anything if the games here weren’t actually any good.

Though they’re far from perfect, there’s a good amount of variation in the genres represented here and some genuine hidden gems in this selection too.

Alligator Hunt is first up – and it’s a ‘target’ shooter; if you’ve heard of the much more well-known game Cabal, it’s along similar lines. That is to say that it sort of feels almost like a light gun shooter, except you control both a target reticule and a character onscreen too. Despite its name, it’s actually a sci fi shooter featuring your teenage humans defending the world from reptilian invaders. It’s really fun, even if the unusual mechanics take a little while to get used to.

Biomechanical Toy is a mid-90s run and gunner with a weirdly overstuffed visual design, which makes it feel like tons of random elements thrown together. Nonetheless, it’s got some lovely graphical effects; it’s just a shame that its aesthetic doesn’t feel particularly consistent. However, it plays really well – and this is another hidden gem that’s well worth playing.

Thunder Hoop is another run and gunner, with a much more consistent look and feel than Biomechanical Toy. It’s not quite as fun to play, but it’s a decent experience nonetheless.

Snowboard Championship and World Rally, despite featuring different sports and overall aesthetics, actually feel remarkably similar in gameplay – both being overhead view, pseudo-isometric racers with a great sense of speed. At times, they can feel a little too fast – and each has time limits that are very punishing! Despite this, if you can overcome that steep challenge, both are excellent titles.

Lastly, there’s the weird Glass – a single screen game with shoot ’em up elements that sees your ship trying to remove every section of glass in a stage by flying over it. This was the star of the show for me; I’ve hugely enjoyed getting to know this odd little game, which features either scantily clad women or men, depending on the version you choose to play (hey, it may be slightly smutty – but it’s equal opportunities smut at least).

Despite there only being six games included on this collection, each one is worth checking out. Your mileage may vary when it comes to which ones you like the most (Glass is my pick of the hidden gems here), but they’re all definitely worth your time.

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