(Tagged as a review, but these are essentially impressions after a 30 hour period with a retail Evercade Nexus 64 Edition console. That’s 30 hours since it arrived. Actual usage time is 2-3 hours)
I stumbled into the Evercade eco-system around 18 months ago. The Neo Geo Super Pocket had been announced, and for £49.99 a dinky handheld device with some classic Neo Geo games to play on the train felt like a solid deal. And unlike some of the other handheld devices I have, having a small number of curated games felt like a great way to avoid the inevitable choice paralysis I often face when picking up the Analogue Pocket, or DS.
From there I started to pick up additional cartridges. Each with a set of anywhere between 2 and dozens of games from a particular company. And every cartridge fits into every device, whether that’s the tiny GameBoy like Super Pocket, or even the console like VS-R. For people who don’t own original hardware, or even just like the tactile experience of cramming a cartridge into a slot, it’s honestly a fantastic way to play some retro games.
The Evercade Nexus arrives as a brand new handheld, which still plays all the same cartridges you may already own. But it’s much more expensive (the Evercade Nexus 64 Edition which comes with the bonus goodies of a cartridge containing Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, a special case, and a slightly different colour of device compared to stock) device which you’d hope would deliver a more premium experience. And, for me in my short time with it so far, it does exactly that.
Size wise it’s very similar to a Switch light. It’s right on the border of portability for me. Moving it around my home and playing in bed, on the sofa, or at my work desk is likely to be my main use case. Personally I prefer something smaller when I’m travelling. Your mileage may vary. I’ve never been a fan of carting the Steam Deck around taking up half my travel space, but if you could handle that then you’ll likely appreciate the smaller nature of the Nexus
The device itself certainly feels more premium in your hands than the tiny Super Pockets (I can’t compare with the Evercade EXP-R as I’ve never actually owned or played with one) but I’d argue a step behind the real sort of premium experience you get with a Steam Deck or a Nintendo Switch 2. Which considering the price point of this is far lower than those, could arguably be expected.
To hold, I appreciate the slightly textured areas on the back of the device where your hands will sit. Handhelds can start to feel slightly slippy after some extended play, and this so far has avoided any of that kind of concern.I would have appreciated some sort of curvature in the same sort of area though. Right now it feels like I’m holding the device in an ever so slightly unnatural way. I don’t necessarily mean something as pronounced as the Steam Deck and its huge handholds, but something in between the two might make longer stints of play more comfortable.
The controls feel pretty much what I’d hoped they’d feel like. My experience with the VS-R controller which I really didn’t gel with meant this was an area I felt mildly wary of. The circular d-pad is nicely raised and feels like it’ll withstand the battering it’s inevitably going to get over the years. Is it the greatest d-pad I’ve ever used? No. But it’s good enough. Same with the face and shoulder buttons. They’re not perfect or have the super premium feel of the more expensive handhelds, but they feel like they’re going to do a solid job. Obviously time will tell. But this initial burst has raised my confidence levels a huge amount.
The analogue sticks I really like. I’ve only used them for a relatively short period of time with Banjo-Kazooie, but I’m a fan. They feel pleasant on my thumbs and nicely accurate. Because they’re both at the bottom of the device, it does make holding and playing analogue stick based games ever so slightly more awkward. It’s not a deal breaker, but I’m not sure I could see myself playing Banjo-Kazooie for multiple hours in a row without a hint of cramp. I could be wrong, I’ll need to test things for a more extensive stint to figure that out.
The screen, while it is a shame it’s not an OLED, is a big step up from the Super Pocket. Colours feel more, well, colourful. There’s less of that slightly muted feel that the Super Pocket has in my experience. Most importantly games themselves, especially the shorts of shmups I love to play recently, are so much more enjoyable with the bigger screen. The usual options of adding a scanline mask remain and I highly advocate for making use of that option.
The included case feels solid, and the screen protectors (two were in the box, which I always appreciate in case an application goes a bit wrong) certainly feel like they’ll keep that lovely screen safe from scratches. You get a charging cable, but no actual plug as is now the norm with these sorts of things. But chances are like me you’ve got seventeen options stashed away already.
I guess to sum all this up, so far it feels like a really nice inclusion to the Evercade family. It’s a premium feeling handheld to go with it’s closer to premium price. And for those of you like me with a huge stack of cartridges all ready and waiting, it’ll give a whole new lease of life to those hundreds of curated games. I’ll try and revisit this with additional thoughts in a few months time, but right now I’m pretty pleased I picked this up.