In my Evercade cartridge reviews, I talk a lot about how, quite often, the quantity of games in any given collection can make all the difference. After all, even if only half the titles on a 10 game cartridge are worth playing, you’ve still got 5 decent games, and likely 5 games that are interesting to check out at least, even if they aren’t the best to play.

It’s one reason why Demons of Asteborg/Astebros (as an example) didn’t really do it for me; both games, while competent, didn’t blow me away, and with only two games featured it just felt like a letdown.

The same goes for Xeno Crisis/Tanglewood; as much as I enjoyed Xeno Crisis, it isn’t enough to justify the cost of an Evercade cartridge, given how widely available it is on other formats, and Tanglewood was a beautiful, but ultimately empty, platformer.

Why is this important? Well, Indie Heroes 3 contains one of the very best games on the Evercade, and it’s not even a ‘real’ retro game, just like those others I mentioned. Donut Dodo was an instant classic upon release in 2022; a lovingly crafted throwback to the likes of single screen platformers such as Donkey Kong and Burgertime, albeit with ever-so-slightly modern touches in its animation, colour scheme and frantic, chiptune soundtrack.

Its inclusion on Indie Heroes 3 practically makes the cartridge a must buy on its own, particularly if you have an Evercade Alpha. Donut Dodo is the absolute perfect game to play on the arcade-style Alpha, but of course it’s great on any hardware.

Running natively on the Evercade, it’s fast, smooth, responsive and incredibly addictive. Next to Goodboy Galaxy, it’s my favourite indie  game on the Evercade overall.

Yet as good as it is, there’s also 12 other games on this collection. They’re mostly great too, with another natively coded Evercade title, Bubble Seahorse Adventures, being a standout alongside a varied and eclectic mix of other games.

Cute puzzlers Big2Small and Alien Cat 2: Enhanced Edition are both excellent, the Chu Chu Rocket-style title Chew Chew Mimic (see what they did there?) is another fun title and Doodle World Redrawn is a lovely, deliberately crude-looking platformer.

There’s some really varied action platformers too, such as the superb Thunder Paw, Magic and Legend: Time Knights, the beautifully polished Orebody: A Binder’s Tale and the charming Skate Cat.

I wasn’t overly enamoured with the RPG-esque  The Little Tales of Alexandria, but I can see how it could be appealing if it clicks with you. Likewise for me with Chibi Monster Br4wl which is, admittedly, fun in 4 player mode (and is a great title to play on the Evercade VS).

The only game I really struggled with was puzzler Bone Marrow, which just felt overly obtuse and luck based, even when I kind of grasped what I needed to be doing.

Still, that’s definitely not a bad hit rate, and I can highly recommend getting hold of Indie Heroes 3. Not only is it the best of the Indie Heroes collections, by far, but it’s also one of my favourite Evercade cartridges overall.

You can buy Indie Heroes 3 from Amazon.

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