Evercade - Irem and Toaplan collections, TATE handheld

[Turrican]

I was pleasantly surprised by the VS gamepad

Another advantage the VS surely has compared to the portable cousins: It supports several arcade sticks (8bit do, Hori Mini etc) and mapping buttons Is quite easy.

[Jonpachi]

Here's pics of the "mini interviews" included with the Evercade Toaplan Collection 1.

[Turrican]

So, how's the general feeling on these? Any hands-on impressions?

[Jonpachi]

I got the EXP about a week before the holiday break, so I've had some time with it now. As an upgrade to the previous Evercade handheld, it's a fantastic 2.0. The overall feel and quality are much improved, and the built-in Capcom collection is a great little bonus. The d-pad and buttons are leagues ahead of original, and the screen (though not OLED) is damn crisp and bright, with great color and decent black levels.

Then there's that Tate mode. It's... a really nice thought. It's amazing to think that after all these years of sideways, claw-hands PSP gaming, Flip-Grip joy-con woes, and so many other little wannabe band-aid solutions to handheld vertical gaming, that we finally have a real, dedicated piece of hardware specifically built JUST FOR THIS. It's like, "Wow guys, I feel seen."

And then you play it, and realize that while the EXP is an upgrade in nearly every way, it's also quite heavy for such a little unit. That would be fine except that their Tate solution was simply to put an extra A and B button next to the d-pad



All the upgrades to the EXP system seem to have come at the cost of WEIGHT, and all that weight then becomes a massive problem as you try to coddle the thing and find a finger placement that allows you to still use the now-awkwardly placed d-pad and buttons. It's simply not something you'll actually be able to spend real time with, as you'll soon have numb fingers and tired wrists from this tedious balancing act. At best, it's a gimmick that you'll maybe find a little bit of fun with at first but absolutely not something that you'll be dedicating any real sessions against.

This leads to a series of sad revelations, and highlights the major issues with the console's design choices:
1) Tate mode is a neat gimmick, but awkward d-pad and button placement mean it's too top heavy and uncomfortable for extended/real play time.
2) With only two buttons available in Tate mode (A and B) they have effectively knee-capped its ability to extend the library out into more complicated games. Two buttons is fine for a LOT of shmups, even more modern ones, but I cannot understand why there's not just 4 (or some sort of back panel or side button solution.
3) TATE MODE IS LOCKED TO THE HANDHELD - At some point you'll grow tired of the gimmick of the sideways Gameboy and want to just play these games on the TV. Hey, that's the whole USP right? It says right on the game boxes that they will play on the OG handheld, the VS console or the EXP... But no, there's no Tate mode in the options and no way to play any of these games as they were intended to be played outside of the EXP. So, yes, you have a physical cart with a copy of Cybattler on it, but you're stuck playing it in hyper-letter-boxed mode if you want to boot it to a TV.

Overall, as a base upgrade it's a high quality handheld with a pretty deep library of B-tier console (and now some A-tier arcade) games to mess around with. As a portable TATE solution, it's just a toy.

[Bassa-Bassa]

You can't say you weren't warned. They didn't want to even learn of something as old as the Wonder Swan, which did that better by sacrificing symmetry and by using a non-wide screen (who wants a wide screen for 4:3 games, I wonder. Is it for the new retro stuff?)

The no-TATE output is more unexpected, I guess, as it seems hard to justify. At least, it's something they can add post-release if they want to. Good luck, but likely they want more than a few petitions.

[Yoshi]

Then there's that Tate mode. It's... a really nice thought. It's amazing to think that after all these years of sideways, claw-hands PSP gaming, Flip-Grip joy-con woes, and so many other little wannabe band-aid solutions to handheld vertical gaming, that we finally have a real, dedicated piece of hardware specifically built JUST FOR THIS. It's like, "Wow guys, I feel seen."

The Lynx had this in 1989. It was ahead of its time in many ways.

[Steven]

I heard this thing doesn't have autofire. I imagine that can probably be patched in somehow, but no autofire on a console-style controller = do not want.

[Turrican]

I was kinda looking more about impressions on the two new cartridges (Irem & Toaplan). My interest for the new EXP hardware is really low. I don't think tate really works in a portable setting, and even without it, the VS with its four USBs and arcade sticks mapping support sounds clearly like a winner in comparison.

The DLC-only Capcom stuff... has really been milked to death by now. in particular, memories of the PSP Capcom Remixed & Reloaded really contribute to the feeling of "been there, done that".

[Jonpachi]

I was kinda looking more about impressions on the two new cartridges (Irem & Toaplan). My interest for the new EXP hardware is really low. I don't think tate really works in a portable setting, and even without it, the VS with its four USBs and arcade sticks mapping support sounds clearly like a winner in comparison.

The DLC-only Capcom stuff... has really been milked to death by now. in particular, memories of the PSP Capcom Remixed & Reloaded really contribute to the feeling of "been there, done that".

The collections are, as always, bare-bones but very solid. There's nothing more than a rom running on a cart, but the emulation is good and they feel generally about on par with a Hamster ACA release. Pretty hard to be mad at any part of them for the $20 asking price. Toaplan set comes with a nice little poster (just the box art blown up, but it's a cool image) and some "mini interviews" in the manual that I posted above.

I also wouldn't sleep on the Jaleco Arcade 1 set. Cybattler is a gem, and an Evercade exclusive for now.

[Jeneki]

I think Avenging Spirit was the exclusive, but has since been released on other consoles by City Connection as a stand alone release. Cybattler is on Arcade Archives. If there's one thing I'll give current-day Jaleco/City Connection credit for, they're licensing team is spreading the love.

I'd agree Evercade has a nice price, considering it's a physical cart with a case and color manual.

[BrianC]

Tate on Switch with a 3D printed holder and a skull & co. pad overlay for the arrow buttons is glorious.

[Jonpachi]

I missed the console release of Cybattler? I don’t know how this got by me. Thanks!

[Turrican]

Toaplan 3 is a thing, with Batsugun, Outzone, Vimana and Truxton II among others.

[Jonpachi]

Toaplan 3 is a thing, with Batsugun, Outzone, Vimana and Truxton II among others.

Link?

[TransatlanticFoe]

https://evercade.co.uk/cartridges/toaplan-arcade-3/

Woof.

Dogyuun and Grind Stormer are the only major titles absent from Evercade after this - unless they're bonus games should you combine the Toaplan carts in a VS console. There's not really enough left to justify a Toaplan 4 - unless they dip into regional variants and Toaplan adjacent stuff like Twin Cobra II, Gekirindan and Air Gallet (which would be amazing but seems unlikely).

[Jeneki]

Data East arcade 2 also announced. B-Wings, Last Mission, Super Real Darwin, Midnight Resistance, some action platformers. Edward Randy is an interesting pick.

[Jonpachi]

The lack of Tate or Auto-fire is really killing these Evercade releases. Those are all amazing sets to have. Who knew the thing could run Batsugun? But it's gonna be letterboxed, and button-mashing hell for most of these. So frustrating. I love the Evercade, but they need to do a few updates. Just give us an auto-fire control option, and let us Tate without the EXP system gimmick.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Evercade VS has had a tate option for a while now.

Autofire is in beta and available for some select titles:

https://evercade.co.uk/evercade-feature ... er-2023-2/

Likely to be expanded upon at some point, button remapping started as a beta function.

[Jonpachi]

VS has Tate? Whaaaat? How do you enable it?

[TransatlanticFoe]

It's in the main Settings menu, under Display

[RiverRaider]

Pretty damn slick! For the $20 USD these generally go for, these will be an absolute steal...

Looks like Batsugun is only attraction number 6+7 here.
For me the bunch of 5 is THE reason
to buy a new console.
Edit: unless Out Zone + FixEight + Ghox are announced by M2 for Switch before that…

TOAPLAN ARCADE 3

Batsugun
Batsugun Special Version

Out Zone
FixEight
Truxton II
Vimana
Ghox

Available 28/11/24

[TransatlanticFoe]

Toaplan Arcade volume 4 coming in December:

https://evercade.co.uk/cartridges/toaplan-arcade-4/

Dogyuun
Grind Stormer
Knuckle Bash
Snow Bros. 2
Pipi and Bibi's
and.... erm....
The awful NES port of Flying Shark for some reason.

Mops up the last Toaplan games likely to see the light of day but damn if you were going to pad it out with console games NES Flying Shark would be bottom of my wishlist.

Probably some bonus games for having two Toaplan carts in the Evercade VS - thus far there's just the MD Twin Hawk for having the first two volumes. I wonder if they'll do one per cart combo and unlock more MD ports?

[jigenbakuda]

Dogyuun
Grind Stormer
Knuckle Bash
Snow Bros. 2
Pipi and Bibi's
and.... erm....
The awful NES port of Flying Shark for some reason.

Mops up the last Toaplan games likely to see the light of day but damn if you were going to pad it out with console games NES Flying Shark would be bottom of my wishlist.

I can see how that's disappointing, but the nes version of flying shark does have its fans, including me. The primary reason for my love of the game, was I owned it in the 90's and Tim Follin's OST.
That OST is worth putting up with so much crap in my opinion, and the NES version was included in M2's hishouzame masterpiece. So, I know that is a throw away title for most, but Its really a selling point to me. If I bought an evercade, I would double dip because I can afford it.

[TransatlanticFoe]

The OST that replaces the brilliant Toaplan one? Not for me thanks. It is in keeping with Evercade's spirit of including stuff for the sake of nostalgia rather than necessarily good quality. It's just.... a very small pool of nostalgia given it was a US exclusive. I'd much rather they put something awesome on there instead - MD Kyukyoku Tiger, Slap Fight, Fire Shark. Hell even MD Zero Wing for the meme value would've made more sense. They're all fun to play, NES Flying Shark is just not very good.

[Jeneki]

I wonder if they ran out of arcade games they were allowed to add. Quality of NES Sky Shark aside, this is still labeled as an "Arcade" cart. This seems like the sort of game better suited as a secret unlockable.

[Turrican]

Secret combo games are being ditched lately. Too bad, given that the system's geared towards compulsive collectors determined to own all the "spine numbers", It was a nice idea to add a freebie and make It feel a bit special.

Combo games aren't even listed in the system's library when you boot It. Surely the Nes Flying Shark belonged to this category. Oh well.

A very, very strained fourth toaplan volume which looks all the more puzzling as the Data East 2 launches in the same time frame with double the titles. They could have done a ten titles Toaplan 3.

[hamfighterx]

FYI, I ordered all four Toaplan volumes from Funstock.uk together, and they all shipped yesterday (I can see the package in transit with tracking). A little bit early, nice to see.

[Turrican]

FYI, I ordered all four Toaplan volumes from Funstock.uk together, and they all shipped yesterday (I can see the package in transit with tracking). A little bit early, nice to see.

Cool! Let us know how much Pipi and Bibi is butchered.

[Turrican]

A very, very strained fourth toaplan volume which looks all the more puzzling as the Data East 2 launches in the same time frame with double the titles. They could have done a ten titles Toaplan 3.

Ok, I'm reversing my stance here, which came off a little on the dismissing side. The four volumes are actually a pretty solid presentation of the Toaplan's oeuvre. I guess they sweetened the deal with three hidden games which is nice (Megadrive Daisenpuu, Famicom Tiger Heli and Famicom Snow Bros. unlock on the VS when you combo the carts).

You surely seem to get more bang for your bucks than going the Gog.com route or the retrobit Megadrive reissues.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Well I'm now disappointed that the combination games are just two NES titles when they could've gone with more of the excellent MD ports instead. At least the best ones are already on M2's packages, I guess.