The first Bitmap Brothers Collection for the Evercade was one of the biggest disappointments in the console’s first few years of releases. Not only did each game make an appearance in their inferior console incarnations, but of the five games it included, three were Speedball titles. And only one of those has aged well, in all honesty (and everyone knows that’s Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe).

At the time, the Evercade’s firmware didn’t allow for Amiga emulation, but a lot has changed in the last few years for Blaze’s ever-expanding retro gaming platform. So now that we’re well into the blue boxed, home computer range of Evercade games, it’s definitely the right time to unearth more Bitmap Brothers titles. And this time, the majority of them are in their original Amiga form too!

There’s a much better sense of variety in The Bitmap Brothers Collection 2 compared to its predecessor. Here we have platformers Gods and Magic Pockets alongside RPG-style adventures Cadaver and its sequel-sized expansion Cadaver: The Payoff, plus top-down 2-player competitive blasting and exploration in The Chaos Engine 2, and finally, the PS1 version of RTS title, Z.

Gods is a good place to start; it’s got that very distinctively Bitmap Brothers visual style, as well as an excellent soundtrack (also characteristic of the Bitmap Brothers!). Though its controls can be a bit fiddly, and the level design feels oddly claustrophobic, with sprites that feel a bit too big for the stages, it’s a pretty enjoyable game overall.

Cadaver and Cadaver: The Payoff are both enjoyable adventures with plenty of puzzling and excellent pixel art visuals. Some objects can be difficult to see in the busy environments, and the puzzles can sometimes feel a little obtuse, but they’re both fun games if you have the patience to get into them.

The Chaos Engine 2 feels, unfortunately, like a step down from the satisfying co-op action of its predecessor. It’s just not as much fun to play competitively against another player, and the difficulty level is ramped up if you’re forced to play against a computer controlled player; of course, that’s the only way to play on the Evercade handhelds.

Z feels punishingly brutal; though its RTS gameplay is beautifully straightforward and stripped down, the computer opponents just don’t give you a chance to breathe, and it can be a frustrating experience.

If you’ve got the patience to overcome the initial harshness of its opponents, however, Z is a really good game in general. It’s just a shame that, like many games of its era (especially from the Bitmap Brothers themselves!), it doesn’t ease you into the experience at all.

Finally, Magic Pockets is a typically eccentric British take on the mascot platformers of the early 90s, with unusual mechanics, an unappealing main character and a fantastic soundtrack featuring the music of the then-in vogue pop star Betty Boo. It’s actually really good fun, and like just about all of the games on this collection, and from the Bitmap Brothers in general, its audiovisual design and presentation are superb.

So, though not perfect, The Bitmap Brothers Collection 2 is much better than the first cartridge, and it’s a worthy addition to the library of any Evercade gamer. As long as you have a bit of patience when it comes to the difficulty level and sometimes obtuse mechanics or objectives of these old school games, you should find a lot to enjoy here.

You can buy The Bitmap Brothers Collection 2 from Amazon.

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