Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

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Turrican
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Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

https://funstock.co.uk/products/evercad ... tion-white

https://youtu.be/hHOchWVYe-E

https://youtu.be/x0hYb9_U6oE

Fully licensed software, on handheld programmabile console (not dedicated). In 2020. Launching with a software lineup of 115 titles or so. At a glance, a gamer' selection: the Double Dragon are carefully chosen for example. Has a Data East cartridge at launch, but also Piko Interactive and Mega Cat ones.

Discuss.
Last edited by Turrican on Tue Feb 04, 2020 11:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by pablumatic »

The name of the handheld implies arcade games, but it seems most/all of the cartridges are console ports.

Thats about all the opinion I have of it now. If it got arcade ports like the Nintendo Switch, but on cartridges, it would be a more interesting device to me.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

Despite clashing with its name, I think to focus on console ports works in favor of an handheld. Visually, console ports had often a lower, less detailed resolution which works better on a smaller screen. Moreover, a great majority of early arcade classics used non-standard input modes that never work really well in emulation environment.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by BryanM »

I can understand that. Playing Ikari Warriors always gives me crabclaw. Setting up Super Hang-on is always a pain and leaves it impossible to do soft turns. But even so, they're still a dozen times better than their ports.

It's nice this thingy has TV output. Been a standard feature since the Neo-Geo Gold, right? It's too bad The Man hobbled the Switch Lite just to keep a more expensive product model on the shelves.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Marc »

A few more carts like the Data East one and I'll bite at that price. The console ports so far are middling at best.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

Marc wrote:A few more carts like the Data East one and I'll bite at that price.
The pricing seems good, yes.

I've seen the Data East has Joe & Mac 2 but not the first... If they're smart they'll use the Eden Genesis port on the next volume. Not that Joe & Mac Is a good suit for a strictly single player device, mind you.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by XtraSmiley »

I'm just glad they went with such a nice 16:9 screen, you know, for those retro games they are selling...

I bet our favorite YouTubers who got free ones will be talking up this device soon!

EDIT: Oh crap, you literally linked to two YTers who got these free talking it up...
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

XtraSmiley wrote:Oh crap, you literally linked to two YTers who got these free talking it up...
Well, It was the first hands-on video available and I think they're being honest about their piece which is basically shill paid unboxing, not certainly critic review.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by XtraSmiley »

Yeah, you're right. MJR I can understand, his audience seems to be just the right one for this device, the other guy though, I don't know.

I think the colors and the looks of it are ugly, but I'm not against it b/c it's emulation. I like that the books are color and it's licensed.

That screen though... I wonder if 4:3 LCDs are just too expensive to buy.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by XtraSmiley »

I just noticed there is a black one, much better looking IMO.

I'll say I also don't like the game cases either. Too similar. I wish they had the budget to do specialty art.

Still, I guess if it works and they haven't stolen anyones emulator, it's cool for what it is.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

So far I think they haven't disclosed the guts of it... I'm not holding my breath for it to be anything different than most clones out there, but I think all the extra budget they had was spent not on powerful hardware, but on setting up the license system. That makes It sort of interesting for what It is; and also the fact that they got Piko and Mega Cat is intriguing.

The 16:9 choice of screen is odd though.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Sumez »

XtraSmiley wrote:That screen though... I wonder if 4:3 LCDs are just too expensive to buy.
I'd assuming 4:3 LCDs of that size simply aren't being produced.
Stuff like this will always be based on mass produced off-the-shelf components, anything else would be absurdly expensive.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by GoukiKain »

Turrican wrote:So far I think they haven't disclosed the guts of it... I'm not holding my breath for it to be anything different than most clones out there, but I think all the extra budget they had was spent not on powerful hardware, but on setting up the license system. That makes It sort of interesting for what It is; and also the fact that they got Piko and Mega Cat is intriguing.

The 16:9 choice of screen is odd though.
I heard one of the youtubers saying that he spoke directly with the devs and they plan to release real arcade ports in the future.
For arcade vertical shmups the 16:9 ratio definitely makes sense. I guess we just have to wait for the next cart releases.
What they are offering, albeit a little weak for now, is still exciting. I'd say it's a good start!
As for input lag... it's seems some is present but is not all that perceptible?? :?
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

Yes, and i'm sure the late gunpei yokoi would approve.

The novelty of the item is clearly its licensing deal with third parties. If you think about this, you can see they're setting a precendent of sort here. They have a lot of Famicom and Super Famicom roms, but they carefully changed all the covers removing any link to the original hardware, and I definitely think they will have to change in-game copyright headers as well.

This kind of software has not been distributed legally online on a non-nintendo system before. A lot of these roms have been on Wii, 3DS or Switch of course but playing in Nintendo's courtyard made changes unnecessary.

Here we have something like Namco retaking their own stuff, scrubbing off FC copyrights, and making them available again. Legally.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

An eleventh cartridge has been unveiled, giving spotlight to 17 Atari Lynx games:

https://evercade.co.uk/atari-lynx-colle ... cartridge/


Scrapyard Dog
Basketbrawl
Super Asteroids/Missile Command®
Awesome Golf
Crystal Mines II: Buried Treasure
CyberVirus
Dracula the Undead
Gordo 106
Ishido: The Way of Stones
Jimmy Connors Tennis
Loopz
Malibu Bikini Volleyball
MegaPak
Power Factor
Remnant
Super Sqweek
Xump
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by BrianC »

Turrican wrote:An eleventh cartridge has been unveiled, giving spotlight to 17 Atari Lynx games:

https://evercade.co.uk/atari-lynx-colle ... cartridge/


Scrapyard Dog
Basketbrawl
Super Asteroids/Missile Command®
Awesome Golf
Crystal Mines II: Buried Treasure
CyberVirus
Dracula the Undead
Gordo 106
Ishido: The Way of Stones
Jimmy Connors Tennis
Loopz
Malibu Bikini Volleyball
MegaPak
Power Factor
Remnant
Super Sqweek
Xump
I guess they couldn't get the rights to the Epyx, Atari Games/Tengen, or Midway stuff? A couple decent choices, but a very underwhelming list. Gordo 106? Really? CyberVirus is the most interesting game on the list, but I'm not sure if I prefer it over Battle Wheels. Last I checked, Lynx emulation isn't as far ahead as other systems either. Too bad Battlezone is currently owned by Activision.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

Yeah it definitely feels like a list that has to avoid specific licenses.

What's so bad about Gordo 106 though? At least it has LX Rudis on it :)

Another thing to keep in mind is: like the other evercade collections, this bears "vol. 1" on its name. If they ever plan to release a second Lynx collection, it may be wise not to include all the heavy hitters in the first volume.

Now crossing fingers that emulation is good...
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Udderdude »

This looks pretty neat and it seems like the team really cares about it. Waiting on that "developer" cartridge, though. :lol:
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

Udderdude wrote:This looks pretty neat and it seems like the team really cares about it. Waiting on that "developer" cartridge, though. :lol:
Which would only make this a rather underspec and unattractive alternative to the several dozens out there like RG350, Analogue Pocket and so on. :?
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by BrianC »

Maybe I should give it a try, but I generally heard bad things about Gordo 106. Watched a video and it at least has some nice music.

Gordo 106 has been acquired by Songbird, who also aquired a license to Battlezone 2000 from Rebellion. Since there are a few others licenced by Songbird, it's possible for Battlezone 2000 to be in pack 2. I have Super Skweek on cart and liked what I played of it. Odd how the GG version of the first game was renamed to Slider for the west.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

Yeah, good finding about Songbird rights acquisitions, although I wouldn't keep hopes too high for Battlezone (on the website they say "rights limited to Lynx").

Overall, it's an interesting launch lineup, that the least you can say of it. I would love to meet the guys behind the selection. I mean, with the exception of the two Atari collections, which largely play by the book by offering everything that we had already seen in the Atari Flashback Classics, plus a couple of 7800 fan favorites, the other collections all seem to have something that tries to escape the norm.

Especially the Namco ones, where the risk of rehash from the endlessly repeated Namco Museums was high, avoided that "same-old feeling" with stuff like Libble Rabble, Star Luster, Quad Challenge and Metal Marines. Warp Man, Weapon Lord, the Famicom version of Dragon Spirit... They managed to make these two volumes quite interesting and they haven't even had to include calibers like Rolling Thunder(s) yet. Not bad.

Of course, besides the big names like Atari and Namco that everyone pretty much expects to see in a project like this one, it's peculiar what else we're getting so far, mainly thanks to the Piko release:

-four games from Autralian Beam Software (Way of Exploding Fist, Nightshade, Power Punch II, Radical Rex);

-three titles from taiwanese Chuanpu (Brave Battle Saga, Water Margin, Canon)

-Infogrames' Drakkhen and its eastern sequel Dragon view;

And while everyone on their channels is shouting about getting Taito, Capcom, Konami what do they do? They present you with an almost complete lineup from Lynx's almost forgotten Handmade Soft. Kudos to them.

Sure, I know on the labels this stuff is advertised with Earthworm Jim, Pac-Man and Double Dragon. That's the magnet and it's okay, but at the end of the day they're gonna sell on shelves stuff like Dracula The Undead, 8 Eyes and Nightshade. Can you go more niche than that?
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

https://www.evercade.co.uk/atari-lynx-c ... ZmiqYXFg9E

More Lynx portable goodness in a second cartridge with eight titles:

California Games
Chips Challenge
Checkered Flag
Todd’s Adventures in Slimeworld
Electro Cop
Gates of Zendocon
Zarlor Mercenary
Blue Lightning

https://youtu.be/IwozJMggTIQ

In other news, pros and cons in this video from Digital Foundry. Pros: Genesis seems to run under BlastEm, which is reassuring... Cons: quite unbelievably for a system that launches with a hundred emulated games, they have opted for no configurable button layouts. A deal breaker for many, I guess.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Jeneki »

Agreed. As soon as I saw the reviews with no button config I decided to wait and see if it gets patched in.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

I guess It's time for some hands-on impressions of the handheld that no one seem to care for.

It's solid, sturdy and feels about right in size for my hands. Buttons have a better grip than their reflective look might indicate.

After getting the unit it's basically mandatory to execute a firmare update that remaps buttons in the only conceivable way: Nes a&b are swapped correctly, super famicom are mapped as intended, and megadrive lets you freely remap everything. The damn thing won't offer an ounce of enjoyment before this necessary step.

The mini-hdmi to TV mode still needs some improvement, (garbled audio when exploiting savestates; some emulation can improve vertical scrolling) but they'll get there eventually, I guess.

As for the cartridges, or rather the games... Well, the majority of us know them by memory, of course so not much to be excited except perhaps being surprised when a cart offers a good genre variety in its selection, which It usually does. As expected perhaps, the Namco volumes take the spotlight for sheer playability and importance of IPs inside.

The gizmo keeps its stance as an incredibly hard sell, something which caters to nostalgia of an idealized 8 and 16 bit period, but at the same time cannot (presently) do with any real staple of that period.
Imagine your beloved snes or megadrive collections stripped out of Mario, Sonic, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Gradius or Castlevania.
They're all present there in spirit, if you will... So you dabble in a quirky not-Mario, as could be Claymates; then you're up for some exciting not-Street Fighter, maybe Data East Fighters History. The inclusion of 8 Eyes quenches your thirst of not-Simon's Quest. As for not-Gradius, the recently announced Jaleco collection will provide the lovely Super EDF...

That's not to say It's just wannabes. Double Dragon, Splatterhouse, Earthworm Jim are unmistakably there, as well as Pac-Man and a good chunk of the Atari legacy; and most carts find a reasonable balance between fillers and genuine hidden gems.

I guess what's still missing in the general public's view are: Mame compilations which would bring the thing closer to its chosen name "evercade". That, and It rests to see if Lynx emulation will be good, and just how many carts besides the Lynx will justify the choice of a 16:9 panel.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by WelshMegalodon »

You didn't link to the best review!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUNDlyIcy8w

Eight months and they still haven't fixed the HDMI issues?
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by BrianC »

ugh. Sound issues on the Data East pack. I disagree on the AC Crude Buster being better, though. MD version is much more fun than the cheap AC version.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

WelshMegalodon wrote:You didn't link to the best review!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUNDlyIcy8w

Eight months and they still haven't fixed the HDMI issues?
Gamesack? I thought that was discussed before: didn't he make a later statement that he was sent a test unit, and had problems with his own capture device? Because I haven't heard of one customer experiencing the severe issues on the video. They addressed controls first, of course. At least playing in handheld mode is painless now.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by WelshMegalodon »

Quite the opposite, actually. Here's what Joe had to say on the matter:
There is no correction to be made as the problem 100% exists. Evercade even sent me a response e-mail saying that their engineer had experienced the issue in the past but the PR guy was unaware of this. Then they asked me to try playing it directly to the TV without a capture device in the middle (they asked me today, after the video was released). It is not my job to troubleshoot their hardware. It is their issue if they can't implement HDMI correctly, which seems to be the case. The only other time I've had an issue with HDMI was with the Neo Geo X which (surprise surprise) was designed by Blaze. I have had no issue with any other HDMI connections other than that. Again, I review what they send me and if they send me stuff that doesn't work in one area or another, I'll mention it. The problem is theirs, not mine. EDITED FOR CLARIFICATION.
They made no claim to me that it was an unfinished device. The only thing they mentioned was that the included documentation claimed 1.4Ghz when it's actually 1.2 Ghz.
These are from the comments he made on his own video.
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Marc »

I keep eyeing this up, even though I've got half the AA series on Switch. Must resist....
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Re: Official Evercade thread, or: cartridge porn in 2020

Post by Turrican »

Don't get me wrong, I agree with you that his was the best review, because It wasn't just a hype piece, and it helped to keep expectations low and things in perspective.

It is however a piece that basically has two issues with the whole thing: not configurable buttons and audio issues (he might have mentioned that these occur in TV out only). The first of these issues is solved for good, which makes his video quite obsolete now, since all he does is basically cycling through each rom very quickly and commenting them with just three catchphrases: 1) damn that's not the arcade version 2) shit, controls are all messed up 3) I boot this and audio is garbled.
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