Perhaps the best thing about the Evercade platform is that the physical cartridges come in old-school-style cases. The problem with that, however, is that it’s pretty hard to find Evercade carts in the shops.
Why is this? Why must I wait for an unreliable Amazon delivery (it has a poor history with Evercade carts) or Funstock when I could – for any other console – walk or drive to a local gaming shop and buy the latest release?
This is an issue that I am really getting fed up with.
It’s easier to buy an Evercade
GAME, HMV, and others seem to have eschewed stocking game collections for the platform. This is despite selling the physical consoles. GAME in particular has decided to make Evercade cart buying into a seedy, backstreet newsagent experience, forcing Evercaders to ask at the counter like they’re after a dirty video in brown paper bag.
What the hell is going on?
I can go into a store and buy an Evercade VS or EXP, but I can’t buy individual carts? Interestingly, I’ve noticed in the past few months that GAME has been dropping its retro game stock. So, it seems Evercade isn’t alone in being out the door (no longer even a place under the counter). Atari LEDs, palm-sized retro game machines, and the Evercade itself are falling out of favor.
Mario mugs, Pac-Man pants, and cut-price TheC64 Mini boxes are all completely missing from GAME these days.
GAME, why have you forsaken us?
It was fun while it lasted, but it seems that GAME doesn’t take retro gaming seriously.
This is somewhat ironic given 50% of the titles on its shelves are for Xbox One and PS4 and date to the early 2010s.
GAME has decided to make Evercade cart buying into a seedy, backstreet newsagent experience, forcing Evercaders to ask at the counter like they’re after a dirty video in brown paper bag.
Retro gaming, of course, is a sector that can only ever grow, as more gamers get older and revisit titles they missed from their younger days. Ignoring it at a time when there is 40 decades of games to explore is frankly baffling.
GAME has been through rough times in the past, of course, so this might be a business decision. It just doesn’t seem to be a great one. We have two companies in the UK producing retro gaming hardware (Blaze Entertainment behind Evercade, Retro Games Ltd behind TheC64 Mini and TheA500 Mini), and at this point you can’t buy either in the UK’s only dedicated gaming chain.
Evercade carts should be everywhere
What is perhaps most frustrating about all this is the sudden absence of Evercade carts on shelves in GAME. At the very point (three consoles in, 40 plus cartridges) when they should be everywhere, I can’t find a single cartridge in GAME, HMV, or any other major media chain.
Asking results in blank stares, like it’s a make-believe product, or something only special people know about.
And, in some ways, that’s kind of cool. But it doesn’t help me enjoy the fully tangible benefit of picking up a cartridge, reading the games list, buying it, taking it home to unwrap, read the guide, plug in the cart, and be transported to all those new worlds.
Mail order is great, but it lacks the social factor.
That’s why I want to buy Evercade cartridges in shops.
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Christian Cawley is a writer and editor who covers consumer electronics, IT, and entertainment media. He has written for publications such as Computer Weekly, Linux Format, MakeUseOf.com, and Tech Radar.
He also produces podcasts, has a cigar box guitar, and of course, loves retro gaming.