THE EVERCADE EXPANDS
Blaze reveals new games and a brand-new handheld in its Evercade range
» There are only six games on the incoming Irem collection but they’re absolute bangers.
As everyone was preparing to celebrate the Queen’s jubilee, Blaze had its own plans.
It used the two-year anniversary of its original Evercade to reveal two new game packs (Irem and Toaplan) as well as a brand-new handheld, the Evercade EXP. The Evercade EXP (priced at £129.99) will not only greatly improve on the original handheld, which will now be discontinued, but will also give owners the ability to play certain games in TATE mode.
While a few handheld owners are disappointed that their system will soon be obsolete, Andrew Byatt, Blaze’s managing director, assures us the original Evercade won’t be forgotten. “In terms of long-term support, the original handheld will get one more quality-of-life firmware upgrade in 2022, and from then onwards we will only look to update it if we encounter any major bugs,” he says. “There will still be long-term customer support for this product and to be clear, all cartridges, both current and future, will be playable on the original device with that final firmware release. Older firmwares will not have guaranteed or tested compatibility.”