A while ago I noticed that I was missing an Evercade cart in my collection. Where was number 21?! I had 1 through 20 and 22 through 29 (at that time), but number 21 was missing. Aaaargh!

Number 21 is the IntelliVision Collection 1. After a while, I slowly started to remember that I indeed hadn’t ordered that one. After the disappointment that was the IntelliVision Collection 2, I hadn’t felt the need to buy the first one. I’ve never had an IntelliVision, so I didn’t feel nostalgic about it. I felt that the controls were poorly optimized for the Evercade and I just didn’t feel like spending enough time to learn them. It just didn’t vibe for me.

But now that I have a complete original Evercade cart collection from 1 through 31 (yes, I have the latest one also), I was having a severe case of FOMO. I also had to have number 21. I notice that other people are starting to mention that they are buying these things, but not playing them. And I am starting to feel the same way. I’m buying these carts, while they are not so great as most of the early ones were.

Of the last ten carts, only two were actually good: Alwa’s Awakening and Cathedral, and Indie Heroes 2. Of those I only liked Alwa’s Awakening and not Cathedral and Indie Heroes 2 was not as good as Indie Heroes 1. I guess Sydney Hunter is okay, but only one game on the cart leaves any impression at all. And Piko 3 had some entertainment value. But the fact that they included Sword of Sodan was testament to me, that nobody at Blaze hadn’t actually tried to play the game. It’s that bad! That realization alone does detriment to my enjoyment of being an Evercade supporter and by extension, playing their games. They are supposed to offer a curated selection. And in my book, that means good, whether I like the genre or not.

I guess I’m doing Morphcat Games a disservice, because those games are actually good, but I just didn’t enjoy them that much, or at least not long enough. My most recent purchase of number 31, Sunsoft Collection 1 seems to fit right into the mediocrity of a lot of other carts like Gremlin, Renovation and Bitmap Brothers. But I’m probably to blame for that, because I’m just no invested enough into shumps, mediocre platformers or sports games including Speedball…

I’m curious to see if I like the IntelliVision Collection 1 better than the second collection.

In the mean time, I also bought the Delphine Collection. It’s the first home computer classics carts for the Evercade I got. I didn’t buy the C64 ones, because I already have a The C64 Maxi, and I found the games on the carts not to be the ones I wanted. The same went for the Team 17 collection, although I don’t have a an A500 Mini, and I might get the cart in the future.

The reason I got this one is because I have wanted a physical copy of Another World and Flashback for a while now. Earlier I was eying the collection of both games for the PS4, but the Evercade actually seems like a much better platform for these games. Now I can just savestate on every segment. Although I don’t know how this is handled on the PS4. Maybe a similar functionality is in there, and I’m not talking about the code system, but I was sorely disappointed by Toki on the PS4. That game didn’t have any form of convenience for getting through the game, which ment I didn’t get very far. I remember liking the game in the arcades and actually completed it by throwing in enough coins. I was very upset about the PS4 experience! The fact that Future Wars and Operation Stealth or on the cart, doesn’t do anything for me, because I don’t think playing those games on the Evercade would be a fun experience. Those games are best played with a mouse.

So, I’ve got another three carts for the Evercade and I’ve got mixed feelings about it. Which doesn’t deter me from getting excited about buying the upcoming carts for Evercade though… Is that weird?