Blaze Entertainment announced a new handheld Evercade device during the retro gaming brand’s anniversary. The sleek mobile device, dubbed Evercade EXP, will offer new features not found in the original Evercade. Notably, Evercade EXP will have a TATE mode, which allows players to rotate the handheld device and play supported games in a vertical orientation.
Evercade EXP will be available in two versions: Limited and Standard. The Limited Edition is an all-black mobile device that comes with bonuses like a carrying case, double-sided sticker, art cards, keychain, and a Certificate of Authenticity. It also comes with two new arcade cartridges, the Toaplan Arcade I and Irem Arcade I. It will be available for pre-order starting tomorrow, 1 June, for £180 (~$227) from UK retailer Funstock. A limited edition US release has not been announced, but Funstock ships worldwide.
The Standard Edition will be available for pre-order in September and costs $150 / £130 / €150. It will be available in the US at participating retailers and comes with the Irem Arcade 1 cartridge. The Standard Edition has an all-white color scheme.
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Evercade EXP will support all existing Evercade cartridges that you can currently play on the original Evercade and Evercade VS home consoles. For those unfamiliar with Evercade, it is a family of cartridge systems that play combinations of classic consoles and arcade games, which are often hard to find and expensive these days. We reviewed Evercade VS earlier this year and liked it very much, and the portable Evercade is a great device as well.
Although EXP retains a similar form factor to the original mobile device, the button layout and design are slightly different. The face buttons are now slightly recessed and contain embossed lettering instead of the transparent look of the original. The menu button is now located on the right side above the start buttons and the portrait orientation selection.
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On the left side of the mobile device you will notice additional A and B buttons. Games that support TATE (portrait orientation) mode can now fill the entire screen by rotating the console 90 degrees and using the D-pad along with the additional A and B buttons. Blaze also added R2 and L2 triggers – the original Evercade handheld device that only included A pair of shoulder buttons.
The Evercade EXP internals have also been upgraded to be compatible with the Evercade VS main console. It has a 1.5 GHz processor and 4 GB of RAM. Although it retains a 4.3-inch screen, the EXP features a high-resolution IPS display with a resolution of 800 x 480 (the original Evercade was set at 480 x 272). The EXP replaces the micro USB charging port with USB-C, but still has a mini-HDMI port for connecting the mobile device to a TV/monitor for 720p playback.
Evercade’s library now includes more than 30 cartridges and 300 games. New gigs – Toaplan and Irem – will add 14 arcade games to the library, including R-Type, In The Hunt, Lightning Swords and more.
Blaze has also teased “bonus content” for EXP that will be announced in September.
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