Great gameplay never dies. That's precisely what my kids and I learned after the Evercade entered my household.
It's an $80 handheld, retro console that can play a curated selection of emulated games from the likes of Atari, Namco, Data East, and many others, mostly from the 1980s and 1990s. These collections are playable on cartridges you insert into the Evercade, each housing about 20 games and costing $20. Very much like the Nintendo Switch, the console can even plug into your TV for big-screen gaming, though you need to supply an HDMI–to–mini-HDMI cable.
The Evercade runs the classics beautifully, and for the past few weeks I sidelined my PlayStation 5 in favor of some 8-bit and 16-bit action. Not every game is a winner, but it stirred some long-forgotten memories and proved to be a surprisingly big hit with my 11- and 8-year-old.
Thoughtful Retro Design
Photograph: EvercadeThe minute you take the Evercade out of its box, you'll be hit with a wave of nostalgia if you grew up playing on consoles and arcade machines in the '80s. The rounded, white plastic and red trim help give it that retro feel.
