During today’s short and relatively sweet Evercade Showcase, a total of five announcements were made. Specifically, three new cartridges and two new Super Pocket handhelds.
The first announcement was of the peculiarly titled Windjammers, Karnov & Friends – which includes the two titular arcade games along with the shooters Atomic Runner Chelnov, Vapor Trail: Hyper Offence Formation and Rohga: Armor Force.
This five game cart is out in June for £19.99. It’s definitely pleasing to see Windjammers join the Evercade scene, almost justifying this cart’s existence alone.
The second reveal was for Gremlin Collection 2, featuring four PS1 games – an amount we haven’t seen on a single cart before. Included are Loaded, Reloaded, Hogs of War, and Buggy.
Hogs of War – a 3D take on Worms, more or less – is something of a cult classic.
This will also hit retailers in June, priced £24.99.
Lastly for new cart announcements, there was the anticipated NeoGeo Arcade 1 – the first of several SNK collections due. This six-game cart will include METAL SLUG, THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2000, SHOCK TROOPERS, MAGICIAN LORD, SENGOKU and IRONCLAD.
It’s due out in July for £19.99, set to launch alongside a yet-to-be-announced cart.
We can also expect two new Super Pocket handhelds. Super Pocket NEOGEO Edition features black casing and includes 14 built-in games, such as Metal Slug X, Last Resort, and Mutation Nation. The full list can be found here.
Super Pocket DATA EAST Edition meanwhile will have 18 games built in, with titles including Joe & Mac, Crude Buster, and Burger Time. Take a look at the full list here.
Both handhelds will cost £49.99, with the NeoGeo Edition gaining a limited (3000 units) red MVS variant through Funstock for £59.99.
All of these handhelds are compatible with standard Evercade carts.
Super Pocket NEOGEO Edition
Super Pocket DATA EAST Edition
While there are lots of quality titles on their way, the fact that we aren’t getting a dedicated Metal Slug collection is disappointing. The first NeoGeo cart only featuring six titles is a bit of a blow too, with the game total for previous arcade collections usually 8-10. The quality is there though, and that’s what matters the most.