The world is certainly not short of retro video game hardware these days. We have the array of official Mini consoles released by Sega and Nintendo, and then there are the very much unofficial handhelds by companies such as Anbernic, that will play thousands of games – as long as you don’t mind about the shady legality of homebrew emulators and downloadable rom files. With its Evercade series, however, British company Blaze Entertainment is taking a different approach, producing solidly built gaming machines that run fully licensed versions of games from the original creators. And, even better, the games come on cartridges.
The Super Pocket is the company’s miniature handheld games machine, much smaller and lighter than its EXP device. Designed quite literally to fit in your pocket it has a crisp 2.8in (7cm) LED screen, cute front-facing speaker (as well as a headphone port) and lots of carefully positioned buttons including a range of shoulder buttons on the rear. It uses a rechargeable battery and a USB-C charging cable, so it’s quick to fill up with juice and it’ll last around four hours.
The design is really strong, better I think than the previous Evercade products. It’s solid and chunky so you don’t fret about how safe it is in your coat pocket, but there’s also real design flair, especially in the coloured plastic surround, nicely curved corners and coordinated d-pad and button hues.
There are now two licensed versions available – Taito and Capcom – both of which come packed with games by the respective manufacturers. On the Taito version, you get 18 titles, including Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble as well as some lesser known stuff such as scrolling brawler The Legend of Kage and action puzzler Volfied. On the Capcom version, there are 12 titles, including fighting game legends Street Fighter II and Final Fight, plus the ever popular platformer, Mega Man. Importantly the supplied carts are removable and the Super Pocket will play any Evercade cart, giving you access to hundreds of titles from various home computers and arcade machine makers.
What really matters, though, is the quality of the game emulation, and Blaze has done an excellent job here, ensuring its carefully curated range of games all run faithfully to the original code. Every game has display options allowing you to opt for scanlines and scaling adjustments to get the nostalgic experience you want, and playing the likes of Street Fighter II and Rastan, slowdown and button input lag were kept to a bare minimum. It’s not going to trouble the Analogue Pocket for sheer accuracy, but for £50, it does a lovely job of representing classic games in a digestible accessible format. The carts also allow players to save their progress in each game – a vital addition in the emerging retro hardware sector.
As someone who unashamedly owns a whole room of original retro consoles, as well as most of the new versions and many slightly dodgy emulator handhelds, I’ve found the Super Pocket an unexpected joy to play. It accompanied me on lots of long journeys over December, reminding me of classic titles, but also expanding my knowledge of Taito’s back catalogue. It’s also given me the chance to try some games from cult manufacturers such as Gaelco whose Evercade arcade compilation carts are fun to dip into on the go.
As ever, the proviso with these things is that there are emulators available for your smartphone and PC that will give you access to thousands of games like this for free – if you know where and how to find and download them. What Blaze says is that it’s providing a curated experience with each cart using specific, tested emulations to ensure a smooth, agreeable experience. And look, for the cost of one PS5 or Xbox Series X title, you get at a lot of fun in a dinky little console that, to borrow an Apple phrase, just works. If that appeals to you, the Super Pocket will make a delightful purchase, and a dogged travel companion.
• The Super Pocket is available now, £49.99.
