Evercade is teasing two new cartridges with 21 total games

Blaze Entertainment is announcing two new Evercade cartridges next week, opening pre-orders for a pair of collections containing eight and 13 games. Evercade confirmed the game counts and the May 15 timeline in a brief social media teaser on Friday.

The Evercade ecosystem has expanded heavily since the original handheld launched in May 2020. Blaze now supports the multiplayer-focused VS home console, the EXP handheld, the Alpha tabletop arcade cabinets, and the upcoming Nexus handheld slated for October 2026. The platform's library currently sits at over 60 physical cartridges. These contain more than 600 officially licensed retro and indie titles. Standard cartridges typically retail for $20 to $25 and include full-color manuals, a detail that has helped the system maintain a dedicated audience of physical media collectors.

Indie heroes and home computers

I have a few theories about what these two upcoming carts might be. The 13-game collection immediately makes me think of the modern retro scene. It has been a while since an Indie Heroes collection has been released. Blaze usually packs those cartridges with a dozen or so brand-new games developed for classic hardware like the Game Boy, NES, and Sega Genesis. Giving modern homebrew developers a physical release has always been one of the platform's strongest selling points.

If the 13-game cart is not an indie compilation, possibly an Apple II collection? Evercade has been steadily expanding its home computer offerings over the last few years. We already have multiple cartridges dedicated to the Commodore 64 and Amiga, complete with virtual keyboards and custom button mapping. Bringing Apple II classics to a controller-friendly format would fit the 13-game profile perfectly.

Digging into the SNK catalog

The eight-game cartridge points toward larger arcade ROMs or a specific handheld library. I am wondering if we will see another Neo Geo collection. SNK has a massive back catalog of fighting games, sports titles, and run-and-gun shooters. An eight-game count aligns perfectly with how arcade titles are usually bundled to manage storage limits on standard Evercade cartridges, especially before Blaze introduced their higher-capacity Giga Carts in April 2024.

Alternatively, this could be a Neo Geo Pocket Color collection. The NGPC had a phenomenal, highly concentrated library of portable fighters and puzzle games. Titles like SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium or Metal Slug: 1st Mission are highly regarded by handheld enthusiasts. SNK previously released a selection of these on the Nintendo Switch and PC, but getting them on a dedicated physical cartridge for the Evercade EXP would be excellent.

Avoiding the usual suspects

Ultimately, I am hoping for a collection that is not easily playable elsewhere yet. The retro gaming market is flooded with the exact same familiar Namco, Atari, and Capcom compilations across every modern digital storefront. Evercade is at its absolute best when it rescues stranded games, licenses obscure microcomputer titles that never received proper console ports, or champions independent developers. We will find out exactly what Blaze has planned when the official reveal drops next Friday.