Well, as it turns out - I judged it prematurely when it was released originally.

For years I was of the opinion the Evercade is a system that was cynically cashing in on the Retro wave - re-releasing games most Retro computer fans already own (or have in an emulator), as a physical cartridge product for profit.

In addition, downloading the old retro games into emulators on computers or handhelds is a dubious legal area, with many classic games still owned by still active companies. It is easy for people to think the retro system software is ALL "abandonware" because the current owners didn't re-release them yet, or no one has been sued for downloading them for free so far. That situation could change very quickly.

Indeed, Nintendo have released most of their most well known classic systems and titles globally in recent years. eg. physical SNES/NES Mini/Game & Watch system releases and via emulation with an annual subscription model to play Gameboy/NES/SNES/Nintendo64 games on Nintendo Switch, Wii U, etc. 

Buying the licenses to own and play the games legally (from the current owners of them) is required for people who don't own the original games and systems. Otherwise you are breaking the law. 

I know some people don't care about this at all, hate being lectured, and will download all the software for all the systems for free anyway, as a "up yours" to the world that they won't pay for anything. The Evercade is clearly not for you - feel free to scroll on as there are no links to copyright software to download for free here.

Creators of any software, music and videos should be paid fairly for their hard work if you want to have it - otherwise there will be no new releases to enjoy in the future. Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that I believe this very strongly. 

That said, people who already paid for and own the original retro games would probably feel it is their right to download titles they already own as a "backup" to run on modern emulators. This is a grey area as software licensing has changed a lot in the last 30 years - the right to "backup" may not apply to games still owned by active companies in your country if they have rescinded those rights in more modern licensing agreements covering their copyrighted software. EA, yes, I am looking at you. 

What pushed me over the line to get an Evercade is the upcoming release of Roguecraft DX and the recently released Goodboy Galaxy and Fully Void games as new physical game releases for Evercade.

For example, The Bitmap Brothers Volume 1 cartridge has classics like Speedball, Speedball 2 and Xenon 2. But none of them is the Amiga version, which is of course the best version of those particular games. You get the (IMHO) lesser ports that were released for the Sega Master system and Mega Drive instead. Caveat Emptor!

Bitmap Brothers Volume 2 games (Cadaver, Gods, Magic pockets, Z) includes the great and well known Amiga versions. Z version is the one released on Playstation 1. 

Team 17 Collection 1 is all Amiga titles (10 of them!). Surprise Surprise, I bought both of them.

The games for Evercade cost around AUD$39 if they are still in stock. Some compilations cost a little bit more than that. 

Out of stock games for Evercade fetch silly money on Ebay - my advice is don't reward the scalpers. Buy the game in stock for the fair price asked, and keep an eye on the upcoming release schedule so you don't miss out on games you want!

There is a definite satisfaction in knowing that some of the money spent is going to the developers of the games in one form or another. (yes I know sometimes it is just the company but you now legally have it)

This is not happening if you decide to download the titles from the internet and run in an emulator...

The cartridges are surprisingly larger than I expected - I guess I got used to Nintendo Switch and PS Vita cartridges in recent times, which are smaller than a normal SD Card.

These cartridges are halfway between a Gameboy Advance and Gameboy original cartridge in size.

For me, I wanted to keep this system inexpensive. Currently (as I write this) the Evercade portable handheld is out of stock in Australia and elsewhere as a new model is coming out soon. 

The Evercade Super Pocket handheld is available locally in Australia, and cost just under AUD$100 to buy from Target online.

There are a few different version of the Super Pocket handheld, each are themed differently and include different games with it. I chose the Atari version, since it was the only one in stock as I write this. So I suppose you could say I didn't choose, it chose me. :-)

It arrived promptly at home:

The system I bought includes 50 Atari games, some Atari Arcade games, some Atari 2600/7800 games, and some Atari Lynx games.

When I compare this Evercade Super Pocket to the Analogue Pocket, this was a bargain. The Pocket was seriously expensive, I also had to pay ridiculous GST + import processing fees for it, and no games were included with it. 

Around AUD$100 is the price you would expect to pay in 2025 for a bit of portable retro gaming fun.

Inside the box is the Super Pocket handheld, a USB-C cable (no charger) and a promo leaflet for some of the many cartridges already released for the Evercade system.

The fact that over 40 cartridges have already been released is impressive, and that more are on the way over the rest of 2025 is also good news.

I have my order in for Roguecraft DX, due sometime in August.

The handheld is very plastic, which makes sense given it is a cheap handheld. It has the usual D pad, Select, Stsrt, Menu and A,B,X,Y buttons.

On the rear of the unit is the volume up/down, cartridge slot, and four buttons for newer games that need and use the additional buttons. They are comfortable to reach when using the handheld.

I don't know if it is just me, but I find the cartridges hard to remove. There is a depression in the cartridge to push on to remove it, but I find I need to get my nails in the bottom where the cartridge meets the body to push it out.

Perhaps with repeated removal/insertions it will become easier? #firstworldproblems

I charged the unit up, and then turned on. Easy to get going - set the language, accept the terms and conditions (yeah, umm, does anyone read these?) and then it proceeds to the main menu:

I am guessing there is probably a firmware update for this system (after all, they all have them these days), but I decided not to bother for now. Let's use it the way handhelds used to be used. Plug in and go.

The system launches straight into the Atari games on the Super Pocket. If you press the Menu button you can return to the main menu to select to boot the cartridge inserted and change display settings to your liking.

The games are tiled for selection, with the original system displayed in the bottom right corner of each game title image. I spotted Checkered Flag for Atari Lynx is on there, so naturally I started with that!

I used to own an Atari Lynx in the 1990's and this was a game I played quite a lot on it.

The display is clear and easy to use. I have no complaints.

The controls work well in game - at least for this game!

The game itself runs perfectly, with no slowdowns or graphic glitching - which is great.

You can press the Menu button at any time to access a menu that allows you to save the game state - very handy when on the go. Most of these older games didn't have a save game feature, so this makes the games much easier to play and continue where you left off. Perfect for portable use.

If you are into scan lines and retro feel, you can adjust the display settings accordingly from the menu options:

Personally, I thought CRT displays for computers sucked in the 1980's and 1990's. They were noisy, bad for your eyes, tiny and rounded edged displays, unless you had a high end one. Very few people did have a high end one at that time - I certainly didn't. 

As the screens got older in the late 1990's, I had noisy flyback transformers in my Commodore monitors that emitted a seriously irritating high pitched squeal every time you turned it on until you turned it off again. I lack the skills to repair CRT displays.

I invested in VGA/AV scandoublers and migrated to TFT screens in the early 2000's and got rid of almost all my CRT screens. I have only one CRT display today - the Triple-sync monitor for the FM Towns, as there is no way to replace it (yet) with a TFT screen - these screens only support two of the three resolutions the FM towns uses.

I know these days retro fans buy high end Bang & Olufsen, Sony PVM, WEGA and Trinitron CRT displays and TV's to get their retro fix because these models were the best of the bunch. 

I don't miss those screens at all. The larger displays were VERY heavy, bulky, and need adjustments made regularly so the picture displays correctly. 

Handheld displays of that era were also impossible to read, grainy and low resolution. I remember buying magnifying attachments and lights for the Gameboy and original Gameboy Color just to be able to see the display. The display on the Gameboy original especially was so bad - when you played scrolling shooting or platform run and gun games it was so hard to look at - so blurry. 

Nowadays people spend a fortune replacing the original handheld screens (like the Atari Lynx, Game Gear and Gameboy) with modern IPS displays to make the old systems playable. Good luck to you if you are one of those people - I have no time or the necessary soldering skills for that!

I have no interest in reliving that aspect of 1990's gaming - the old screens and displays were the limits of technology at the time and we had no choice but to live with it back then. The CRT may make old system games "look better" due to their low resolution, but these old displays just suck compared to what we have today, and in my view should be left in the past. There is a reason no one makes CRT displays anymore - no one wants them. Supply and demand. 

In my view, I  think the Checkmate Display nicely fills this niche for those who want a new 4:3 modern display functionality that still works and looks good with the old tech.

That said, if you still have the old screens and still enjoy using them - great, please enjoy them! We are not all the same - that is just my opinion.

It is pleasing that the Atari arcade games are included with the Super Pocket - Super breakout anyone?

Personally I would have included the Arcade version of Tempest, rather than then clearly inferior Atari 2600 version.

Maybe there are licensing reasons for some of the game platform choices for the Evercade. I don't know. But it seems clear to me that you would choose the best version of whatever the title is for release.

It is a big potential let down for customers to buy a cartridge thinking it has their favourite game and then find out it is the worst version released of that game.

Check carefully which versions are included on the cartridge before you buy it.

As mentioned earlier, you can access the main menu of the Evercade from the menu options button. This allows you to choose "Evercade" to boot from the cartridge inserted in the handheld rather than the Atari games included on the Handheld.

Goodboy Galaxy is an awesome game, and it was worth every penny.

An exploratory platform game, you get new tasks to do to move forward, and ultimately get to explore other worlds once you get the spare parts to repair your ship.

The game is easy to get into, the music and graphics are great:

Time to take off and go to the next planet:

If you are curious about the photo backdrop, I am quite a fan of watching live streamers playing the game called "Among Us", and I picked up the last very warm Among Us blanket from developer Innersloth before they recently shuttered their online store. 

Keeps me nice and warm in the lounge room in winter (it is winter now in Australia) while watching TV, or playing the Evercade handheld! :-)

You also collect Friendship cards as you do tasks for people along the way. I really got into this game.

The other game on the cartridge is Witch N Wiz, a C64 8 bit puzzle game.

Moving to the Bitmap Brothers Collection 2 cartridge next, I can enjoy some of their classic Amiga games on the Evercade Super pocket handheld - Cadaver, Gods, Magic Pockets, and Chaos Engine 2:

As above, you can see Z for Playstation 1 is also included on the cartridge. The rest are all Amiga games.

I quickly got into playing Gods and Magic Pockets - both run perfectly, with all the original music intact (yes, I am still upset the remastered version of Gods released for PC on Steam and Switch didn't include the original music).

BTW I didn't know that Magic Pockets was finally released on the Mega Drive recently! 

I do of course prefer and love the original Amiga classic version provided on this cartridge, with the classic Betty Boo "Doin' the Do" soundtrack:

I hope this has given you some insight into the world of Evercade. I am personally glad to own a Evercade Super Pocket and look forward to Roguecraft DX and Fully Void when they arrive!

In the meantime I have a few other cartridges to enjoy now too. So if you'll excuse me I will go and play a bit more of Goodboy Galaxy now :-)