Evercade Evolution Issue 5 review

The fifth issue of Evercade Evolution was released a few weeks ago and, after ordering the physical copy directly from Amazon, it turns out that the team have done it again - 64 pages (excluding covers) of handheld gaming goodness!

As per the previous issues, the magazine is well laid out and packed with both text and imagery. The star of this issue is the 50th anniversary of Atari. To cover that, the team have reviewed the Atari Collection 2 and Atari Arcade 1. Other features include a trip down memory lane for Vaughan Anscombe, a chat with YouTuber Thunderm00se, and a tremendously informative and fun interview with former Atari employee Scott Rhoades. The usual news and high score sections are also present. 

I may have said it before but I really like the way the reviews are laid out in the magazine. Each cartridge gets an overview review, with separate scores from some of the other team members too, then each title gets its own page, again with a second opinion to add context to the scores. It's a format that works well, especially considering the nature of the collections - there may be a dozen or so titles per cart but there will be some stinkers amongst the selection. 

For example, Atari Collection 2 contains decent titles such as Yars Revenge, Haunted House, Solaris and Asteroids (the 7800 version). It also has less... "good" entries like Air Sea Battle, Human Cannonball and Street Racer. As always, nostalgia will only get you so far, and it's good to see that the reviews do highlight this. The good thing with Evercade carts is that there is always enough wheat in the chaff to warrant a purchase.

The same goes for Atari Arcade 1, and the inclusion of Asteroids and Crystal Castles more than offsets the inclusion of the turd that is Canyon Bomber. 

Evercade Evolution issue 5 is another well written edition that is very much an essential purchase for fans of the Evercade family of devices (the original handheld, the VS home console and the recently released EXP handheld). The £7 physical copy is as good as you can get from Amazon publishing for the price and you don't even have to go physical if you don't want to - the Kindle version costs £2 and even then, there is also the free .pdf copy available directly from the Evercade Evolution website. Given the options available, there's no reason at all not to give it a read! 

Evercade Evolution - Magazine Review

Long time readers will know that I've been a fan of the Evercade handheld since it was first released. The idea of a portable console using cartridges is both suitably nostalgic and well implemented in the Evercade and it has grown a steady following. This inspired several people to get together and publish an unofficial magazine for the machine: Evercade Evolution.

Starting off as a free pdf file, you can also buy physical copies produced via Amazon, and it was these I purchased a couple of weeks ago. Issue five is being talked about online so hopefully we'll see that soon, and it was pleasing to see that issue 4 has a lovely note stating that all profits from that issue in April 2022 were being donated to charity. 

As I have said above, these issues are printed on demand by Amazon, which offers high quality binding, good colour reproduction and a decent feel to the magazines. Issue one comes in at 50 pages including the covers, with later issues coming in at the mid-sixties range. 

What is apparent from a general read through is that the team behind the magazine believe in the meaning of the title, as each issue amends and improves the formula. Layouts and content balances change and it's a positive thing to see them alter their approach as the nature of the Evercade market changes too, especially with the addition of the TV-connected VS machine and the Arcade collections. 

Issue one sets the tone with a short news section which is followed by a game-by-game review of the Atari Collection 1 cart. Each game gets looked at and marked (out of five stars) for Graphics, Audio, Gameplay and Fun Factor. A final score out of ten is then awarded, and some games even get a second opinion. After that, we get a "traditional" review of the cart, taking in all the games in a two page piece (by a different reviewer to the individual game section), before finally putting the cart to bed by having a page dedicated to three of the crew scoring it for Game Variety, Game Quality, Play Time and Replay Value - then giving the whole thing a score out of ten. Now I quite like this approach, as you get one person's views on each game, another's of the cart as a whole, then the round up. It makes sense given that this cart alone contains 20 titles and whilst some play reasonably well, others (with their 40-year plus age) most definitely do not, and the team is not scared to say so where needed. 

A small high score section appears before an article on the type of Winter/Christmas titles the team would like to see on the Evercade. James Pond 2 seems to be the popular choice, and I am not one to disagree with that. The next four pages are dedicated to the background of the magazine and the creation of the physical edition, a further page delves further back in to the history of the magazine, and then there's a look at the Fairchild Channel F console. I really did like the approach that last one took too.

Two pages are dedicated to a (then) new TV show based on the game Frogger (I know, but hey, the trailer looks fun), before the last article proper,  a one page interview with Classy Gaming Fun (aka Pete, aka, OEB Pete) of YouTube renown, leads us to the sign off.

Issue two ramps things up with more news pages, and expanded high score section and an interview with Blaze Entertainment's Andrew Byatt. The Namco Collection 2 gets the full review treatment and there are a good few features that a worthy your time (you'll need to read the mag yourself to find out - and remember, it's a free pdf online if you don't want a physical copy...).

EE The Third covers the Evercade, the home console variant of the format, the Data East Collection 1 is the review cart of choice and, once again, the features are a good mix and well written. The most recent issue (as of this post) doubles down on the reviews, with two carts (both of the Interplay Collections) as well as a review of the new Technos Arcade collection. 

I really like this magazine. It's a fan-based publication that not only hit the ground running but also dared to improve itself over the issues produced so far. They've nailed the design and it reads very well. If you're an owner of any of either the Evercade or VS (or have pre-ordered the new EXP handheld (so tempting it is too...), then this mag will have you covered for your reading needs. I know I will be picking up issue 5 when it's available and add it to the other issues in my collection. You can check out the magazine for free here, and buy the physical copies from Amazon here, as well as the Kindle version too. Also check out their Twitter feed for news and announcements.