Evercade EXP: From Heist to Heroes Documentary and Review

this isn't just another evercade exp review this is an exploration of the history of the device and how it went from Simply an upgraded handheld to the subject of a heist to finally arrive in the hands of what Blaze would call its Heroes after months of waiting the wait is over and we will discover if the weight was worth it for the evercade EXP limited edition this is evercade exp from Heist to Heroes [Applause] [Music] hello I'm Davey postanski and this is the geek battle gaming YouTube channel if you haven't done so I'd appreciate the support so please smash that subscribe button and let's get on with it the avocade a range of handheld and home consoles produced by Blaze that would offer gaming fans a unique gaming experience for the 2020s that is a retro themed handheld and later a Home console and then an upgraded handheld where games come primarily in the form of physical cartridges games would also be in compilations and come fully licensed to support game developers and Publishers in a time where emulation devices and ROM sharing is so commonplace that we frequently see them sold alongside official Hardware as times change and Nintendo Sony and Microsoft move further and further towards an all-digital future where we subscribe to play games rather than own them the cheap cartridge collections were a breath of fresh air to gamers the what was once old idea of owning your games on physical media was becoming new again the evercade game Library Grew From strength to strength of the addition of arcade and home computer collections to promise an ever-expanding game Library joining the original handheld consoles in late 2021 was the evercade vs Home console which made multiplayer become a reality that also introduced online connectivity features in 2022 Blaze announced an updated handheld that would replace the original with a range of improvements the improvements announced include a better screen internet connectivity improved internals for better performance the addition of L2 and R2 shoulder buttons which bring it in line with the controller of the evercade vs and perhaps most notably the introduction of Tate mode which allows you to play games vertically for games that were originally designed that way initial response to the announcement was mixed within the everkay community some fence sitters who had been holding off getting into the evercade saw these improvements as a reason to jump on board there are also many evercade collectors who buy any and every evercade related release and already had multiple editions of the original handheld and the vs in limited edition standard and purple editions these players were generally pleased even if the introduction of more new hardware may start to strain the wallet for collecting consoles as opposed to just collecting games then there were some who were less than pleased I know this because I was one of them I'd only just got my evercade vs Home console it was still fresh out of the packaging my worry was and still is that Blaze may continue to release new versions of the evercade every year as they have done so far for the first three years of the Brand's existence [Music] my initial reaction was that the EXP didn't offer enough that was new that there was talk that in the future that some of the carts may not be optimized or fully compatible with the original handheld If released after what would eventually become what is said to be the final update for the original handheld I'm a supporter of the evercade and my concern with new hardware each year is that it will lead to players being left behind and dropping off the bandwagon if next year we get the evercade 64 Advanced and the year after that we get the evocade 360 series X but after my initial concerns about the announcement of the XP I decided that I would keep the faith and be a supporter and pre-order the limited edition black exp console I've enjoyed my time with the evercade console so far and enjoy making videos and podcasts about them so accepting the EXP as reality I opted to get on board with it and see the benefits of the revised handheld the EXP is probably the handheld Blaze wanted to make in the first place a better screen would offer a better experience sharper graphics and a better viewing angle the internet connection will also make delivering system updates much easier and this alone will save a lot of issues players have who find the update process of the original handheld a hurdle that they have to jump over something as simple as this will be the difference between the word of mouth about the console being that players are saying that it's all positive and works fine because it's easy to update or that they find that there are issues that probably could be easily fixed with an update but they just don't bother to update it because it's a little bit of a faff to do so also being able to connect to the net will allow for the previously evercade vs exclusive Indie Heroes game of the month series to come to the handheld Tate mode probably is something Blaze all players thought would be cool along the way and so when they had the opportunity to revise the system they added it in as a neat feature [Music] probably true that the evercade was Niche enough that at the point that they decided to announce the EXP they could foresee that any players who may be disappointed by the announcement of an upgraded handheld would quickly become a minority amount of players compared to all of the new owners that the newer system would get this may sound like the original and most loyal evercade owners weren't the priority but I can understand that for the future of the brand and the console line it would be better to have the best possible version of the console as the one that most people can go out and buy now Blaze may or may not have expected the reaction to be as mixed as it was but if they weren't they should definitely have been prepared for the reaction to their next big announcement Capcom games would finally be coming to the evercade but and there is a but they would be built into the system instead of being available as a cartridge collection whatever the finer points of the deal Blaze made with Capcom may be the bottom line of it was that Capcom at this stage were only willing to see their games come to the evercade if they were baked into the system this would make the game similar to the Plug and Play experience where you would get a device with a set number of games that are built into it and that's all you can play on it the good news is that with the evercade you can add other games into it via a cartridge just you can't take the Capcom games out the better news is it meant that Blaze could add the likes of Street Fighter 2 Mega Man and Ghouls and ghosts to their lineup but whilst this was a big win it also added some bumps to the road for Blaze and the evercade players who decided to stick with the original handheld wouldn't be able to get some Mega Man action players who perhaps had only just bought an evercade vs would have to accept that two-players Street Fighter 2 wouldn't take place on the evercade Home console that seemed a perfect fit for Ryu vs Ken from my perspective I took Blaze on their word if this was the only way they could close the deal to get Capcom on the system then I'd much rather it was there than not if taking this step helps see the collection released physically in the future or another Capcom collection or even helps the fortunes of the brand to secure more sales or other elusive Publishers then I am all for it but I understand original handheld players would now have to upgrade if they wanted the Capcom games the still shiny new vs consoles wouldn't get Street Fighter as well as not being able to have Pac-Man and the rest of the Namco games which Namco vetoed from being able to be played on a Home console because remember the Namco collection was only originally meant to be a handheld game and they didn't allow it to also work on a Home console I'm afraid in this instance it's the case that with every Silver Lining comes a cloud for me even though I was initially not happy with the announcement of the EXP I quickly decided if I can't beat them join them so when it was later announced that all exp owners would get 18 shiny Capcom games built right into the system I was stoked these were exactly the games I always thought would be great on the system and now I was going to get them all I had to do was wait until the console released in December 2022. and then it was announced by Andrew bayat on the evercade blog that the entire stock of evercade exp limited edition consoles due for released in the UK USA and anywhere in the world outside of the EU were stolen they were stolen in suspected targeted robbery oh my God this sent shock waves through the evercade community delays happen defects happen even theft happens and these can all happen that can affect the ability for gamers from enjoying a console launch for when it was intended but never in history has there been a time when an entire stock of a console that is due to release just vanishes into thin air was the in the entire limited edition stock that was due for the UK which is Blaze's home turf and for the USA which you have to believe is up there as the most important market for the console I can't say how many of the 5 000 limited edition consoles were due to be sent to France Germany Spain Belgium Portugal and such like but you have to imagine it was relatively few per country and that the majority of the 5 000 consoles were now in the hands of criminals Blaze must have been reeling from this a console launch must be a combination of Highly exciting and highly stressful rolled into one and with the launch just a few days before Christmas this would surely have been a huge lump of coal in the stocking for Blaze and it would also be a huge lump of coal in the stocking for many players all around the world discovering that their limited edition consoles would not be arriving in time for Christmas and at best guess would be months away before Blaze could get new stock for the limited edition sorted out and shipped players was made worse by the fact they would have been the most loyal of players who pre-ordered the black limited edition consoles so now the most loyal and excited evercade players would be the most disappointed reaction online was once again mixed I understood that Blaze were the victims of theft here the players were also victims of this theft and I knew it put Blaze into a very difficult position where they would need to act fast communicate with players whilst also dealing with the police and insurance and everything else that probably they never imagined they would have to deal with right on top of launch week many players showed understanding and support and others just vented frustration the internet being what it is meant that some reactions were a little Beyond civil with angry reactions and conspiracy theories of inside jobs and alien abductions are plenty despite this unfortunate situation Blaze had to continue onwards and the standard White edition of the console launched as planned and players in the EU got their shiny new limited edition consoles as if there had never been the great exp Heist of 2022 some players without their limited edition exps and this once again being the internet decided to play sleuth and you started emerging on popular evercade social media pages of sightings of stolen stock on Facebook Marketplace and on eBay these listings were reported back to blaze and to the police and other authorities and whilst a lot of these units seem to be located in the north of England it's in the hand of the police to investigate as much as the players wanted to help for the most part we just had to sit wait and watch and at the time of writing as far as we know no arrests have evidently been made the theft of the evercade EXP limited edition consoles certainly were the icing on the cake of a bumpy road to the release of this console but the console did release limited edition buyers who were affected by the theft could choose to get a refund or they could choose to wait until more stock could be created of the limited edition variety even if it was now slightly less limited edition even though Blaze weren't at fault as the thieves are the ones who were wrong here Blaze still took steps to recognize the disappointment of the players if players kept their pre-order they were given a screen protector for the EXP a 20 voucher for a future purchase on the fun stock website and their name could be added to a future update of the console on a list recognized as Heroes who stood by the evercade brand at this time of trouble but this story of the evercade EXP launch is not yet over the heroes waited patiently until the new stock of the limited edition black exps would finally reach them towards the end of March 2023 and in the waiting time they just had to watch as other players enjoyed some Capcom goodness players wondered how we would be able to tell the difference between stolen limited editions and the new batch as it turns out the actual system itself is identical but for what some may call a silver lining to the delayed arrival of their exps some players noted that early cartridges from the evercade library were getting stuck in the new exp consoles and that the cart slot was slightly too tight Blaze have taken steps to see that the new run of systems including the limited edition consoles all have a slightly larger card slot in this sense I'm glad to have got the delayed release are there any other changes to the actual system apparently not but it wouldn't surprise me if there was some physical or firmware change which has been kept secret from the public so that the authorities can identify stolen stock if need be outer box of the consoles have been updated with different art that include the evercade official seal of quality symbol which isn't present on the stolen units so if you are looking to pick up one of these on eBay look to see if the console is the stolen unit or the new stock but now the console is finally here what are my thoughts has this been worth the wait how does the console rack up compared to the original should you get the EXP if you have the original should you get the EXP if you have the evercade vs and what does the future hold for the evercade let's deep dive head first in and find out first thing I noticed about the EXP is it feels slightly heavier in the hand compared to the original this may be negligible or it may be an illusion based on the slightly different form factor but it definitely feels heavier the console also has a more premium feel to it with texture on the back not dissimilar to the modern PS5 and Xbox controllers the EXP is slightly wider whilst the original is slightly taller and thicker than the new one the screen appears the same size the screens however are not the same when you use them the EXP screen is a much much better screen than the original the EXP has an 800 by 480 screen resolution compared to the 480x272 resolution of the original and the viewing angles of the new console are vastly improved whilst capturing footage for this video I was stunned to see how much better the viewing angles were on the new machine the cart slot of the revised limited edition has a noticeable extra millimeter Gap around the carts which guarantees the carts will all fit sight and shape of the d-pad and buttons are different on the new exp and whilst I'll get used to them I do feel this is an area that so far has not been the Improvement I'd hoped for having played some frantic Street Fighter 2 action I started to notice that the d-pad felt a little bit sharper on the edge of the directions than was ideal I had to adapt the way I was pulling off special moves as my usual roll of the thumb to throw a fireball it just felt uncomfortable in the end the diamond configuration of a b x y buttons are slightly smaller more like you'd find on the switch and these are just fine I wouldn't be able to say either way if they are better or worse than the original the L1 and R1 buttons are a definite improvement over the slightly odd dipped in Originals the first evercade handheld didn't have L2 and R2 buttons as these were introduced in the vs Home console and whilst these feel quite nice there is again a slightly Sharper Edge feel to them than on the vs buttons and whilst not much of an issue so far I did notice The Sharper Edge in my grip whilst in Tate mode speaking of which there is now a tate mode button on the bottom of the console and for some reason when testing carts for this video I noticed a lot of games just automatically started in Tate mode which really didn't make much sense to me it's a great feature to have but using it does mean you'll be holding the console right down at the bottom there really isn't a solution to this with the size of the screen but I'm happier that it's there rather than not any game seems playable in Tate mode but unless you want to hold the console with your right hand pressing buttons above the screen whilst you move the d-pad with your left at the bottom of the screen it's not the most natural experience the Tate mode gives you additional A and B buttons next to the d-pad to use and this does create one issue where I think the original was better on the original console this position was saved for the menu button with the start and select buttons being on the other side of the console with all three being in a straight line on the EXP the three buttons are now in a vertical row on the right hand side of the system and with horizontal start and select buttons on both the original and the vs this felt a bit strange and took some getting used to I think I also preferred the on off switch of the original compared to the power button of the EXP but both work just fine the home menu and interface of the EXP is better than the original in my XP variants although as a disclaimer I'm one of those people who have never bothered to update my original handheld now the final update is out I may or may not choose to do that just so that I can see how the old firmware holds up with the future releases [Music] the new exp interface is very similar to that found in the evercade vs with a side menu to choose between cartridge games settings and the EXP menu which is where you can choose between Capcom games Hidden games and a coming soon space which I assume is where the Indie Heroes games of the months will live one thing that stood out to me and much to my surprise was when I tested the EXP and the original side by side switching them both on at the same time I found that the original got the home screen quicker [Music] thank you and it also seemed to load games faster as well it's a difference of a couple of seconds only but it was noticeable I'll save a proper review for the evercade Capcom collection for another day but should take a moment to note that there are many games built into the system which absolutely is a factor you should consider when picking up the console the EXP features 18 Capcom games and five hidden games the five hidden games a fun Little Indie Games and whilst a nice distraction you should manage your expectations with them as being system sellers I forget if these are the same games that are available as hidden secrets on the vs home system but I think they may be the real big deal here are the Capcom games you have the trilogy of Shoot Em Up 1942 1943 and 1944 games you then have Bionic Commando Captain Commando and Commando the legendary Breath of Fire RPG game Mega Man Mega Man 2 and Mega Man X you also have Ghouls and ghosts legendary Wings Strider vulgus wolf of Battlefield mercs and then you have final fight and of course Street Fighter 2. now I'm still playing through these although in my experience they all run as I would expect them to other than that my exp seems to start most things in Tate mode which I can easily switch back from so I'm not too fussed these Capcom games were some of the most requested games to come to evercade eventually and now they are and Mega Man Breath of Fire Street Fighter 2 and final fight alone being enough for what would have been one of the best cartridge collections on the system oh and I should mention that when you buy an evercade exp you also get the Iram arcade 1 collection and if you've got the limited edition you also got the TOA plan arcade one collection irm gives you r-type Moon Patrol battle Chopper in the hunt lightning swords and 10-yard fight whilst Tower plan gives you tiger Healey Alcon flying shark snow Bros Tech High pakkai truxton zero wing and guardian once again I'll save reviews for these for a separate video for later on but as every exp owner will currently get the irem cart as well as the built-in games it means that every new EXP the owner will start off with a library of 29 games which is not too shabby by any standards the Wi-Fi connection was easy to set up and worked fine so far and it's worth noting that the EXP uses a USB type-c cable unlike the original which had the less common these days micro HDMI both consoles can be connected to a TV to play on the big screen with a mini HDMI to HDMI cable this is not a standard cable so you'll probably need to get one but it's well worth doing if you want to play on a big screen without the evercade vs and especially if you want to capture any gameplay footage like I do battery life is said to be about four to five hours and so far I'd agree with that so should you buy the evercade EXP if you have the original I can say that if you do have the original you'll only want to make the upgrade currently if you want the Capcom games to be able to play in Tate mode and want to Future proof yourself as I'm sure in about a year's time we'll start to see some games that don't play on the original or don't function quite as well I don't know that for sure of course but for now I'm sure that Blaze will want everything to work on both the OG system and the EXP to keep everyone happy but once people have had enough opportunity to get the EXP I'm sure some games will start to leave the old system behind it's unfortunate as it probably wouldn't be necessary but such is the nature of old Tech not getting new updates that take time and resources to make happen in terms of the controls and screen quality I'm happy enough still with the original although the screen is much better on the EXP I think it will take me longer to get used to the buttons on the EXP but as it is I do kind of prefer the originals should you get the EXP if you already have the evercade vs well the same logic applies if you want to play Capcom games although it's worth noting there are already a million ways to play Street Fighter 2 and final fight so if you would only want to double dip on evercade consoles for Capcom games you could consider if there are other alternative ways to be able to give you those games that might also provide extra content than just those Capcom games it's also worth noting that the evercade vs doesn't allow you to play the two Namco cartridges so if you want both Namco and Capcom it certainly is worth having the EXP even if you only have the vs the Namco cards do of course work on the original as it was a licensing issue that prevents them from being used on the vs hopefully in the future this will be resolved but who knows so should you get the EXP if you already have both the vs and the original that will depend on you and how into Advocate you are or you want to be for the foreseeable future the only games you'll be missing out on are the Capcom games and the features of the Tate mode and the quality of life features like the better quality screen and as noted earlier there are some players who already will have the original evercade the original limited edition the original purple and then have the limited edition and standard edition of the evercade vs if you are one of these then congratulations you most likely already have both the standard and limited edition exps so keep enjoying your seven nearly identical systems go you if you're still on the fence and haven't got an evercade at all yet I'll definitely say to get one if you enjoy retro games it's a fun way to play a curated list of games and get into collecting Niche Retro Gaming stuff certainly there are other ways to play pretty much all of the games you'll find on the evercade but if you want to support the Publishers with these license releases it's a great way to discover games that you may or not have tried before there are about 400 Games available to play on the evercade across the 30 plus cartridge Collections and generally the collections have all been cheap and great value for the hours of games on there if no other games were ever released on the system I can say right now that the library is already one I'd be satisfied with to be able to have a great library of retro games but with no end in sight it currently looks like the evercade and the EXP have a very bright future indeed so that is the story of how the evercade ex he had a bumpy road to see its release but it's a happy ending or to badly quote Churchill this is not the end it's not even the beginning of the end but after mixed emotions from a passionate fan base and a heist to make the plot of Ocean's 11 seem Bland this may in fact be the end of the beginning [Music] have it the story of the bumpy road towards release for the evercade EXP and my verdict on whether it was worth it in the end now I think this is a great little console and I really do look forward to exploring some of the games and features and new stuff that's coming to the world of evercade as well as all of the other retro stuff that I cover on this channel so if you haven't done so already it would mean an awful lot if you would smash that subscribe button at www.youtube.com forward slash at geekbattlegaming and until next time ciao for now boom and I'm off the air [Music] hey [Music] hey [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Geek Battle Gaming

Views: 1,839

Keywords: Evercade, Evercade EXP, Evercade VS, Capcom, Street Fighter 2, Tate Mode, Evercade EXP Limited Edition Theft, Final Fight, IREM Arcade, Toaplan Arcade 1, R-Type, Strider, Mega Man, Mega Man X

Id: GyhB9XSBOyo

Length: 29min 58sec (1798 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 21 2023