The original Evercade is something we have a soft spot for here at the xstreamed.tv website. The machine is a handheld console which lets you play hundreds of officially licensed retro games on the go from collections which come on physical media. You can even hook the device up to your TV for some big screen play.
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The Evercade VS meanwhile is a new home console which takes all the games that have previously been released on the Evercade, and let’s you play them on your TV. But since the original Evercade already let you connect the machine to your TV, the big question is whether the home console version is worth it?
Does the Evercade VS add anything new? Does it improve the experience? And most importantly should you buy it? We’ll answer all these questions and more in today’s review as we breakdown the Evercade VS!
Today we’ll be looking at the Evercade VS Premium pack which comes with two controllers and two game cartridges; Technos Arcade Collection 1 and Data East Arcade Collection 1. For the purposes of the review, we’ll be focussing on the Evercade VS hardware and will review the games individually elsewhere on the site.
Take a seat and enjoy the big screen experience
The biggest difference between the original Evercade and the Evercade VS is that the new VS system isn’t a handheld, and is designed for play on your TV. Now, it is obviously a big advantage in the favour of the original Evercade that that machine is a handheld which you can play anywhere. The new VS system is a home console, so if you want a console you can play on the go, it is definitely the original machine that you’ll want.
Also as mentioned, the original handheld can be connected to your TV, but requires a mini HDMI cable to do so. This is an extra purchase as a mini HDMI cable doesn’t come with the system and isn’t the standard HDMI cable which comes with most consoles, Blu Ray players etc.
The advantages for the VS begin in that the experience you get to play games on your TV are better in almost every way. The graphics display on your TV in 1080p resolution with the VS compared to 720p on the original when hooked up to a TV. Of course, the games are all retro games so this doesn’t make the biggest difference in the world when you’re playing Adventure which was originally on the Atari 2600.
You also have the benefit of being able to use gamepads with the VS where as on the original you’ll be holding the handheld device to use as the controller and there is sometimes the risk that you’ll accidentally pull on the mini HDMI cable and disconnect the machine from the TV. In my experience this could actually cause the system to reset which was a pain.
And perhaps the biggest advantage of the VS is that it can take up to four controllers for couch multiplayer. The original device wasn’t designed for multiplayer games and to my knowledge there is no link cable or way to enjoy 2 or more player games on the original machine. The Evercade VS allows four controllers to be plugged in via USB and so you can play multiplayer games right out of the box.
Design
The Evercade VS takes it’s inspiration form a few sources in terms of it’s design. Primarily, the console has a red and white colour scheme (unless you have a founders edition) which is a call back to the Nintendo Famicom. More than that though, the Evercade VS takes a cue from the Nintendo Entertainment System. The front of the console features a NES style flap which opens up to allow cartridges to slide in flat like the NES, which is also like a VHS player.
It’s also great that the VS allows you to insert two cartridges at once which means you can access two collections worth of games at once, but mor eon that later.
There is an air vent on the top and taking a dash of the N64 and Dreamcast, there are the four controller ports which run under the cartridge slots, but also above a LED light which can glow white, blue and red depending on what the console is doing.
The machine features a power button which has to be held down for half a second to power the console on. I genuinely thought I had a bricked machine when I first tapped the button and expected the console to start up. This is an interesting choice which I’m sure is there to prevent the console from accidentally being switched on by mistake, but maybe they would have been better to go with a SNES and Evercade handheld style power switch.
The Controller
For this review I had the Evercade VS Premium Pack which comes with two Evercade gamepads, and whilst this controller does continue the Evercade’s theme of nostalgia, in this instance it isn’t necessarily a good thing. The control pad is far from a bad control pad, but it’s a long long way from being a great one.
Design wise it looks to be the missing link between the NES and Super NES gamepads. It’s mostly rectangular in shape, but does feature curves which hint towards the rounded beginnings of grips as seen on the SNES. Button wise, the face of the controller features the same diamond configuration of ABXY as seen on the SNES which was also used on the handheld. This makes the controller perfect layout wise for any games which were originally on the SNES or PlayStation, but truthfully there are perhaps more games available to play on the machine which date back to the pre-SNES era of the NES, Atari, or were on the Sega Mega Drive which featured 3 and 6 button layouts.
Still, the diamond layout is the modern standard as seen on all major consoles so you can’t blame them for leaning in this direction.
The D-Pad is a big circular disc and although not the prettiest of console D-Pads is actually comfortable enough in practice. The design does make it feel like the D-Pad will be a dirt trap over time however.
Also on the front are vertically stacked Start and Select buttons and a Home button which is used to access the UI to return to the home menu and save/load your save states.
The most interesting thing about the Evercade VS controller is that it features 4 shoulder buttons compared to the original handheld’s 2 shoulder buttons. This brings the control pad in line with the amount of buttons on the original PlayStation gamepad before the introduction of the first DualShock controller. This will be interesting to see how these are used in the future as any game that is programmed to use the extra L2 and R2 buttons also need to be able to be playable on the handheld which doesn’t have these buttons.
So, the controller is OK and whilst not the best feel, it does it’s job. What is great though is that you can use other USB controllers on the Evercade VS. I tested Xbox One, Stadia and Nintendo Switch controllers on the machine and found that the Xbox One and Stadia pads worked fine, but that the Switch controller didn’t. Maybe I needed to charge the Switch controller, or maybe it just isn’t compatible. I’m not sure, but for me it didn’t work.
The Xbox and Stadia pads worked great, although I did notice that I couldn’t use the analogue sticks in place of the D-Pad. Trying to do this sent the games a bit haywire as if it didn’t understand the analogue stick’s inputs. Just using the D-pad was fine and using either the Xbox One or Stadia pad made for a much more comfortable experience than the VS pad.
User Interface
When you boot up the Evercade VS you get to see a simple menu of the games which are plugged into the system. As mentioned you can plug in two carts at once and when you do this the two collections of games will all pop up together on screen. You also have the option of just seeing the games form either cart or muddling up their order in various ways.
One thing I wish they had done with this interface is have the option to display all the games from all the collections you had ever inserted into the VS. This could show full colour box art images of the games currently inserted and faded images of games not currently in the system. To me this would be like on the Switch where it will show icons for games not inserted or not currently downloaded just to act as a reminder that you do in fact have these games. If nothing else this would satisfy the collector in me.
Beyond displaying the game icons, there are also various menus where you can change the borders to show at the side of your games, add scan lines and change the picture to things like pixel perfect mode or full screen.
The system can also be connected to the internet which is something the original handheld can’t do. This is a handy feature which allows you to update the system, unlock secrets using a secrets menu to find bonus games and will eventually allow online play.
Anything Else?
Well, let’s start with the bad. The Evercade VS doesn’t allow you to play the two Namco Museum Collection cartridges. The licensing rights for these games is apparently ending and Namco didn’t allow permission for these games to be compatible on the home console version of the Evercade. This is odd as it is just a type of backwards compatibility, and I’ve never known of a company not allowing a cart or disc based game to be compatible on later hardware which is otherwise backwards compatible. It would seem that the rights were only for a handheld experience and things couldn’t be worked out. Pity.
In terms of good, as mentioned, the VS allows for two carts to be inserted at once and doing so can unlock some bonus hidden games if you have the right combination of titles plugged in at the same time. How this works I’m not sure, as either the bonus games were already in the carts, or they are hidden in the memory of the VS console, but either way, Blaze are making you get two games to access a bonus piece of software.
So, should you buy it?
To answer this question, you’ll need to decide on a couple of factors for yourself. Do you want to be able to play handheld games on the go? If so, the Evercade VS isn’t the machine for you. Also if you want to be able to play the likes of Pac-Man and Galaxian, or any of the Namco collection titles you will need the handheld machine.
If you don’t think you’d play the Evercade library of games in handheld mode often and if you prefer using actual gamepads and the option of multiplayer then the Evercade VS is definitely the choice for you.
But what if you already have the original handheld Evercade? Is it worth getting then? Well, if you like the idea of bonus games, options to use your Xbox or other USB pads, and want multiplayer games, then yes I’d suggest you do pick up the Evercade VS.
The VS allows for a better picture quality on the TV, but make no mistake, it doesn’t make the games run faster or have improved graphics beyond resolution. It does add 2 additional shoulder buttons, but I’m not sure as to why just yet.
At the end of the day, if you can afford the VS and think you primarily will want to play the Evercade library of games on your TV then get the VS. Having both does give you the convenience of being able to whip out a cart and continue play on the go Nintendo Switch style, and it has the added benefit over the Switch that when you take the handheld away from the TV to play on the go, you do still leave the home console still fully playable for other users to play other games whilst you take the handheld on the go.
Conclusion
The Evercade VS is a great piece of hardware to match the great job of the original handheld. The loss of gaming on the go will be a factor based on your own preference, but for what the machine is, the VS is a great machine for modern gamers who love to play and collect retro games.
The included controller could be slightly better, but being able to use modern pads with it helps this situation.
