Evercade

[Wonderm]

Whats the screen quality like in comparison to RG350, does anyone have both? 

[strider]

18 minutes ago, Wonderm said:

Whats the screen quality like in comparison to RG350, does anyone have both? 

I've no idea but most are favourably comparing it to the PSP.

[AceGrace]

Well, mine has just arrived. Got to wait until after work to have a look though. Boo!

[cassidy]

Mine hasn’t shipped yet.  Post pics later please @AceGrace

[Rex Grossman]

I don't even want one but I can't wait for you all to get yours.

[strider]

They're now saying that the initial stock of Evercade all in one packs at Funstock have sold out. I hope I've not been pushed back to the new August slot
Glad it's proving popular, but 

 

Panic over, I didn't read the bit saying if you have an existing preorder it will be fulfilled 

That was a fucking rollercaster 

[cassidy]

1 hour ago, strider said:

They're now saying that the initial stock of Evercade all in one packs at Funstock have sold out. I hope I've not been pushed back to the new August slot
Glad it's proving popular, but 

 

Panic over, I didn't read the bit saying if you have an existing preorder it will be fulfilled 

That was a fucking rollercaster 

I'm having that exact same thought process myself tbh and I knew about that existing preorder bit. Currently having the what if they miss my order panic. 

 

Still saves my brain from focusing on the deadly virus and the inherent racism blatantly on display across the world and the rise of the right wing mindset. So swings and roundabouts and all that. 

[AceGrace]

I'll post pictures tomorrow. I did have a moment. Looks like the box is generic and shows the white console. Had a panic then noticed the colour on the side had a black disc on it.

 

Phew!!!!

[strider]

2 hours ago, AceGrace said:

I'll post pictures tomorrow. I did have a moment. Looks like the box is generic and shows the white console. Had a panic then noticed the colour on the side had a black disc on it.

 

Phew!!!!

Are you the same AceGrace who bought my Amiga 1200 off me? I just noticed your name and something clicked.

[Dudley]

The packaging is top notch for both the consoles and more crucially, for the games which is a good sign.

[Dudley]

Yeah first impressions for this thing are top notch.  the packaging is great, the buttons are great, the machine has the right amount of heft and that dpad, at least for the driving and platformer from Piko I quickly tried at 1am is basically perfect.

[strider]

9 minutes ago, Dudley said:

Yeah first impressions for this thing are top notch.  the packaging is great, the buttons are great, the machine has the right amount of heft and that dpad, at least for the driving and platformer from Piko I quickly tried at 1am is basically perfect.

Nick said it's the best d-pad he's used on a new system for years.

Can't wait for mine to ship but what will turn up first? The Evercade of the nine PlayStation shmups I just ordered

[Dudley]

One thing though, one the Namco Museum 1 cart they've rather ruined what could have been the first really decent little handheld release of the original Pac-man by for some reason recolouring 2 of the ghosts to be "Brown" and "Slightly darker brown".

 

Playing Pacman relies on knowing the ghost's AI, and it's different for each of them, when it's now impossible to tell two of them apart quickly you make mistakes, just like in the original mono game boy version.

[cassidy]

1 hour ago, Dudley said:

One thing though, one the Namco Museum 1 cart they've rather ruined what could have been the first really decent little handheld release of the original Pac-man by for some reason recolouring 2 of the ghosts to be "Brown" and "Slightly darker brown".

 

Playing Pacman relies on knowing the ghost's AI, and it's different for each of them, when it's now impossible to tell two of them apart quickly you make mistakes, just like in the original mono game boy version.

So it’s the NES version isn’t it so is this new to the emulation or true to the original game?

[Dudley]

If it is that makes sense and it's not new but I think it's worse.

 

 

This is classic arcade pacman

 

This is NES

 

 

This is a bad photo pic on Evercade.  It's not done much for the darker brown one but you get the point.

 

They're supposed to be red and almost yellow.

The NES makes them Red and Orange but at least they're still distinct.

 

On this version at speed you're just seeing "brown".  You could fix it enough by just making Inky properly red.

 

Not too much of a biggie and not the machine's fault but someone's made a very weird decision there.

 

[Camel]

So which version is it? And why are the colours different?

[spanky debrest]

NES pallettes are all over the place. There is no 'correct' look - only preference.

 

If enough people raise this as an issue with Blaze they may use an alternative / more vibrant NES palette for the next run of this cart.

[Dudley]

Yeah, and to be honest they are recognisably different, just not to me on a first play when used to the "normal" colour , I'd get used to it if I were playing it a bit.

 

That said, if that's all I can find to dislike on the thing.

 

No wait, maybe one more thing, the volume control is a little bit weird.

[gone fishin]

How does the emulation work, are they built into the cartridges themselves? Currently it looks like it supports NES, SNES, Megadrive Atari 2600, 5200 (I think?), 7200 and Lynx are there any plans to expand it out to say arcade/mame? It is a bit annoying that the Data East, Namco  and Tecnos collections look like they’re the console ports instead of the arcade originals. But I’ll probably pick up the home console version when it’s released.

[Lorfarius]

1 hour ago, gone fishin' said:

How does the emulation work, are they built into the cartridges themselves? Currently it looks like it supports NES, SNES, Megadrive Atari 2600, 5200 (I think?), 7200 and Lynx are there any plans to expand it out to say arcade/mame? It is a bit annoying that the Data East, Namco  and Tecnos collections look like they’re the console ports instead of the arcade originals. But I’ll probably pick up the home console version when it’s released.

 

It's all on the cartridge so should run most retro things. There's loads of arcade stuff due with talk of a couple of carts a month going forward once everything's settled.

[cassidy]

New cartridge announced

 

Oliver Twins collection. 11 games, 7 dizzy games included and Super Robin Hood. 

[Lorfarius]

New cartridge announcement! Oliver Twins game/Dizzy collection

[gone fishin]

34 minutes ago, Lorfarius said:

New cartridge announcement! Oliver Twins game/Dizzy collection

 

Except they're the shitty NES versions... not the original Spectrum or Amstrad ones! I get it that it's easier to emulate the NES console on a handheld (with the controller layout), but that's what annoys me with this whole retconning of retro gaming, like the only consoles that existed were the NES or Master System and completely forgetting the Spectrum, C64 or Amstrad.

 

Quote

Evercade quoted:
“When we first put this project together, we had a shortlist of titles that were genuine influences on our gaming lives and Dizzy was firmly on this list. We have been fans of the Oliver Twins for as long as we can remember, not just for their quality games, but for their legendary status in the video games industry. It has been an absolute pleasure putting this together and we genuinely cannot wait to release this cartridge. It is also great that through this project, we can give back to the gaming community with all of the profits going to the National Videogame Museum” 
– Andrew Byatt, Director of Blaze Entertainment

 

What, by completely ignoring the systems that people actually played them on?? Pfftt.

[Dudley]

To be fair, most of the ones on the cart never had a Spectrum version, a lot of them are the rediscovered ones that were never released.

[Anne Summers]

Very cool that this is a charity collaboration thing - nice to see that the Olivers and the Darlings have presumably come to an agreement over this.

[Dudley]

Well the Darlings don't own any of Codies and I thought Dizzy was 50/50 Codies/Olivers so surely they don't have a say.

 

But yeah Codies are in, there's a quote in the press release.

[Lorfarius]

1 hour ago, gone fishin' said:

 

Except they're the shitty NES versions... not the original Spectrum or Amstrad ones! I get it that it's easier to emulate the NES console on a handheld (with the controller layout), but that's what annoys me with this whole retconning of retro gaming, like the only consoles that existed were the NES or Master System and completely forgetting the Spectrum, C64 or Amstrad.

 

 

It's not straight forward to just stick an 8Bit computer game on a cart, companies don't want to be messing about with code. Most won't even know how to fiddle and they can't release modded versions or fan hacks as it opens possible legal issues. Lots of those original games are filled with key presses that would have to be stripped out and screens changed which means hiring a person to do the work on what's most likely a small seller. If you have the same game in console format as a company and want to make some easy money you'd just release that.

[Anne Summers]

1 hour ago, Dudley said:

Well the Darlings don't own any of Codies and I thought Dizzy was 50/50 Codies/Olivers so surely they don't have a say.

 

But yeah Codies are in, there's a quote in the press release.

 

I think Dizzy is 100% Codies. I've just been reading a lot of 80s computer mags recently so basically still think of the Codies as "The Darlings". 

[MagicalDrop]

For me it's more of an issue that what appear to be classic arcade games are in fact home conversions of indeterminate origin. 

 

I just took a look at the packaging for Namco Museum Collection 2. Galaga has been brilliantly implemented on Switch, it's clearly the arcade version and has a TATE mode. I might be inclined to expect similar from the latest iteration but it sounds like I can expect the NES version. 

 

See also the PacMan discussion earlier. 

 

Certainly for the Namco offerings the product seems little better than those plug and play joysticks from 20 years ago in terms of what's advertised versus what's delivered. 

 

If the packaging actually makes this clear I take it all back 

 

[Camel]

59 minutes ago, Lorfarius said:

 

It's not straight forward to just stick an 8Bit computer game on a cart, companies don't want to be messing about with code. Most won't even know how to fiddle and they can't release modded versions or fan hacks as it opens possible legal issues. Lots of those original games are filled with key presses that would have to be stripped out and screens changed which means hiring a person to do the work on what's most likely a small seller. If you have the same game in console format as a company and want to make some easy money you'd just release that.

 

Taking the easy route for easy money was kind of his point though. 

 

I hate Dizzy,  but if these are unreleased games that's pretty cool though right? gone fishin' I know you like to moan about, well, everything retro, but releasing recovered Dizzy games has some merit surely?

 

I'm slowly getting on board with this thing after my initial reaction and can see me getting one eventually

 

ffs