Initially announced back in May, Blaze Entertainment's Evercade EXP looks like a natural progression of its original Evercade handheld, showcasing a streamlined design with a solid glass-covered 800x480 pixel 4.3-inch IPS screen and built-in Wi-Fi for firmware updates, along with a USB-C port and improved 1.5Ghz chipset.
Our friends over at Time Extension have managed to go hands-on with the new Evercade EXP and came away feeling immensely positive about the upcoming launch later this year. During the session, it was also confirmed by Blaze that the handheld will come bundled with 18 classic Capcom games - a handful of which have appeared on the likes of the NES and SNES - making a prospective purchase all the more tempting for Evercade fans and newcomers.
Here's a list of all Capcom games included:
- 1942 (Arcade version)
- 1943 (Arcade version)
- 1944 : The Loop Master (Arcade version)
- Bionic Commando (Arcade version)
- Captain Commando (Arcade version)
- Commando (Arcade version)
- Final Fight (Arcade version)
- Forgotten Worlds (Arcade version)
- Ghouls ‘n Ghosts (Arcade version)
- Legendary Wings (Arcade version)
- MERCS (Arcade version)
- Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting (Arcade version)
- Strider (Arcade version)
- Vulgus (Arcade version)
- Mega Man (8-bit)
- Mega Man 2 (8-bit)
- Mega Man X (16-bit)
- Breath of Fire (16-bit)
Along with the bundled Capcom games, the Evercade EXP will also come with IREM Arcade 1 cartridge, which includes R-Type, In The Hunt, Moon Patrol, 10 Yard Fight, Battle Chopper / Mr Heli and Lightning Swords. It will launch on November 24th, 2022 at a price of £129.99 / $149.99 and pre-orders will open on September 6th.
Are you interesting in grabbing the Evercade EXP? Share your thoughts on the new system in the comments below!
[source timeextension.com]
Comments 48
Cool. Not interested though.
Breath of Fire makes this very tempting. I still have my SNES copy, but being able to play it in handheld would be awesome.
I wasn't expecting much for something that was being billed as "bonus content" but capcom games built in is a pretty good pack in. Not that I needed another excuse to play megaman 2 and X again.
I was already excited to get this but this really does push it over the edge for me. Fantastic pack in and i hope they bring this to the VS in the future. With Capcom now on board i wonder if we could see a Sega collection next.
@Gitface you can play BoF handheld…with NSO, much cheaper than this ridiculous $149.99 price tag too
Thanks for the heads up on the EXP name folks; this has now been fixed.
Moon Patrol is poggers.
Capcom games: cool
But it seems they won‘t be available as a cartridge, so they are not playable on my Evercade VS!? First the Namco games, now Capcom, that‘s not cool!
4 or 5 of those Capcom games speak to my inner child. which happens to spend most of its time in the outside.
@nymbosox Evercade has a bunch of cartridges already, so this device can play a lot more than just Breath of Fire and other Capcom games. Some of them are somewhat niche (Indie publishers, retro computer compilations etc), but there are big names too like Namco, Technos, Renovation and Irem too.
Besides, Evercade at 150$ is still cheaper than Switch with online subscription. Not that it matters, they're both great consoles for different purposes.
How many of these pointless emulation craps, riddled with input lag, do they plan to release ?
You either get a MiSTer, the original PCB if you want proper game-play or you just emulate with retroarch on your phone or your pc or your Switch or whatever is convenient to you if you dont care about inputlag. Maybe difficult for normie zoomers and hipster imbeciles to figure this out.
@Gitface You can play BoF portable right now on the Switch’s SNES online service
I'll stick with my Switch and carts, thanks.
I would love a pocket PC with that kind of form factor though.
Will they release these games on their own cart in the future?
Looks nice, but would be a bit redundant for me, seeing as I already have the 'ol Switch.
@pilonium64 What makes Evercade interesting is that they release licensed games on cartridges (compilations at least so far). If you don't want to pirate games and don't own a large library of games, RetroArch or MiSTer won't do much good.
This is great news for the Evercade. I don't have one and don't plan on getting one but with something like Capcom titles maybe more people will consider looking into it. Don't forget though, all these games are already on the Switch. (And just about everywhere else; usually on the cheap)
I was just thinking, remember the early '90s when the joke was that Capcom didn't know how to count because they kept making so many SF2 games with SF3 seeming to be nowhere in sight?
Capcom was already not understanding time progression with the 1942 series.
1942 was released in 1984, 1943 came out in 1987, then I think 1941 came out in 1990. Wasn't 1944 released in 2000?
I think there was also 19XX in 1995, when they just forgot numbers completely.
I also remember watching a video review (was it Ashens?) about that huge CAPCOM logo arcade stick console.
One of the complaints was that the menu would take so long to load, the player would get frustrated and mash buttons and unwantedly select 1944, having to reset the console. A new kind of Loop Master!
Fun Fact:
The Evercade’s ports of these games are often better and more accurate to the real thing than stuff available on the Switch. This is something the folks at Blaze take extra time with and it’s been pretty well documented.
Fun Fact 2:
Mega Man X is a dump from the rare 1.1 version.
Fun Fact 3:
These Capcom games won’t delete themselves from your EXP down the road.
@LP09 Well, I haven't noticed any emulation issues with Capcom Arcade Stadium. Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 is fine too (come to think of it, I think it's the only Legacy Collection made by Digital Eclipse), but Mega Man X Legacy Collection has horrible input latency. So I can at least imagine Mega Man X playing better on Evercade.
I am actually excited for this, got the black version pre-ordered. I was actually not sure at all about Evercade originally, I thought it would probably fail or something, but seeing how long it has lasted, and how they're making this follow-up handheld, has assured me that it's successful enough to be worth getting into. Now I've already got a whole collection of games for this.
Kinda expensive, especially when people can't make rent or take a shower, but als kinda cool
there is talk about chip shortages, global recession and all that sh*t and yet, so many redunant sh*t is being thrown out as we breathe
Wow Evercade just took things to the next level. Some great pack in games there damn I might have to get this.
What a bizarre move. They tweeted that it was the only way they could bring Capcom games to everyone. I'm dumb, I thought that was by releasing games on the Evercade everyone already bought. Odd. Yeah, it's a nice little collection. Yeah, it's a nice bonus. Yeah, it's a dick move for the Evercade Vs faithful.
Shame they didn't stick to their original mission statement.
HOLY CRAP! They actually remember the breath of fire series exists!
@HollowSpectre
They remember, there’s been a mobile game and merch recently(in Japan). They’ve just not been using the franchise very well.
With that being said I’m down to try it out at this price
@nymbosox Where on earth are you getting a switch with NSO for much cheaper than 149.99??
It has wifi for updates but no store. IF they had a store for Legal ROM's this would be absolutely amazing
@Abes3,
The point of the Evercade (at least until now) was mostly to appeal to collectors and people wanting good, legal emulation available on physical media (for preservation and stuff).
Having an online store on the Evercade would be like having a Wifi connection with Spotify on a Turntable. It doesn't make a lot of sense, given what the thing is all about.
I'm a bit torn on the Evercade EXP. At first, I was excited, but now with this announcement, having those games not being on cartridge kind of defeats the purpose. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to play these on the EXP, but these games being tied to the console's internal memory, on a console that is all about physical cartridges, feels like a company not knowing what their customers want. They probably felt like this would drive sales of the EXP, or make owners of the original handheld buy into the upgrade, or owners of the VS console get it as a portable player for their current library.... Or... maybe it was the only way for them to get Capcom to grant them a licence. Who knows?
I wouldn't be against a retro-oriented console platform having an online store dedicated to old games (I'd actually buy into it!), but that's not what the Evercade was supposed to be, and that's not why buyers invested in its ecosystem in the first palce.
@RushDawg Yeah, I know, but I am one of those weirdos that likes owning thing as opposed to paying for subscriptions. 🙂
If mister and analogue pocket didn't exist I would get one of these.
@KingMike Ashens is still my favorite YouTuber 😀
I thought pre-orders already opened for this? Or was that only the special black edition
@Gitface There have been/are legitimate portable ways to play.
I can do the same thing on my Steam Deck. I'll pass.
@Aventurier What does this have to do with people who can't pay their bills? They obviously shouldn't and probably wouldn't be buying a game console. No one's forcing anyone to buy this. Pretty weird statement.
I have the black limited edition ordered and I’m delighted with this brucie bonus extra. I have original and vs and had fun with both. I also own other devices that I can hoist the jolly Rodger on and the evercade still has appeal.
@GrailUK I’m not sure if you are being serious or not. When they say it’s the only way - they mean negotiating with capcom having the games built in was the only deal they could get them to sign. They have said they are still talking to capcom and hope to get a deal for carts/other games.
So I’m not sure why this is against their original mission statement.
@Antraxx777 just the black so far
@Stocksy Sigh. You can't get folk to buy into a console for collecting carts then instead of making that system's library as good as it can be, go off tangent and expect folk be grateful they have to buy another console for their Evercade collection. It is bonkers. If you are ok with it, then fine. I'm not angry about it or anything, I would just feel like an idiot if I was clapping my hands about it.
Odd how's this related to Nintendo Switch and Switch software.
@BinaryMessiah Nah, very normal statement. Just a bad climate for such a niche thing to release at that price.
@KoopaTheGamer
cart or not, still riddled with input lag, therefore, completely pointless.
And since the said carts are just flashcards stuffed with rom dumps with a nice sticker, they have 0 value in a coomlector point of view. Zoomers and hipsters are glad to pay as long they get a new trendy retrogaming gadget, they don't care about authenticity. Most were not even born when these games got released.
@pilonium64 The input lag on Evercade is very reasonable. I'm sure real hardware is a bit more responsive of course, but I'm pretty sure that the lag caused by emulation is way smaller than the lag caused by using LCD panels on modern televisions instead of CRT.
As for the collecting aspect, yeah, these carts aren't valuable (unless you get the full set and wait 20 years or so). But that's not really the point. In my opinion the biggest strength of Evercade is bringing these old games to new audiences that didn't have the opportunity to play them back in the day or don't even own the hardware to play them.
Also there are many games that I would consider hidden gems, games that I would've otherwise overlooked. There's no way I would've ever played Intellivision games, but now that is an option on Evercade. Or how about some modern Indie games made on retro hardware like Tänzer, Xeno Crisis or Tanglewood? Well, Xeno Crisis is at least available on modern platforms as well (great game).
If you have a library of retro games and the hardware necessary to play them, then of course you will not need this system. But the platform is far from pointless. It's just probably not for you.
@Aventurier But that's the thing. It's niche. They need to make up the cost somehow. They aren't going to sell 100 million of them. And any climate is technically a bad climate.
@pilonium64
I'm neither a Zoomer or a hipster, I'm a 45 year old that WAS around when these were first released that enjoys having a physical collection of carts released at a very decent price point. The Capcom games are just a nice bonus. I own both Stadiums on Switch already, but this device is far more convenient for out and about. And 'riddled' with input lag is a huge overstatement, I'm guessing you've never bothered to play this particular platform. Finally, I prefer to support things like this in the hope of more, licenced releases, rather than just pirate ***** willy nilly.
@SpringDivorce I'm pretty sure you replied to wrong person, but yeah, I agree with you about the input lag, convenience of Evercade and supporting devs/publishers.
@KoopaTheGamer
I did indeed, edited!
More rpgs and I'd buy one.
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