Evercade Nexus is out now: a $199.99 cartridge handheld with dual sticks, a 5.89-inch screen and Banjo-Kazooie in the box

Blaze Entertainment's newest Evercade handheld, the Evercade Nexus, went on sale on October 30 across the US and Europe at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Funstock and other Evercade retailers. It costs $199.99, £169.99 or €199.99, and every box includes the Banjo-Kazooie Double Pack cartridge with Rare's Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. You can find it on Amazon.

What's new for Evercade

Evercade has always been about officially licensed games on physical cartridges, and the Nexus keeps that: it plays every existing Evercade cart, a library Blaze puts at more than 80 cartridges and 700 games since 2020. What changes is the hardware. It's the first Evercade with dual analog sticks, aimed at the N64 and 32-bit games the platform now carries, and it has the biggest Evercade screen yet. The headline feature is EverSync: two Nexus consoles link directly, without Wi-Fi or internet, and both players play the same game on their own screens from a single cartridge. You do need a second Nexus. TATE mode for vertical arcade games, scanline and aspect options, the cartridge library tracker and wireless updates all return.

Specs

• Screen: 5.89-inch 840x512 IPS, over 500 nits
• Processor: quad-core 1.5 GHz; 512 MB RAM, 4 GB storage
• Controls: dual analog sticks, D-pad, face buttons, rear bumpers and triggers
• Battery: 5,000 mAh, rated 5+ hours; USB-C charging at 5V 2A (no wall adapter in the box)
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 6 for updates, wireless headphone support
• Size and weight: 215 x 111 x 34 mm, 410 g, black with a customizable RGB logo

Who it's for

The Nexus isn't an open Android handheld like the Retroid or AYN devices we usually cover: it only plays Evercade cartridges, and that's the point. If you want a legal, plug-in-and-play retro handheld with real carts and manuals, or a gift for someone who doesn't want to set up emulators, it looks like Blaze's most capable machine yet, and early reviews quoted in the press release are positive. If you want to play your own game library across many systems, an Android handheld from our buying guide gives you far more for similar money.

Sources: Blaze Entertainment press release (Games Press), Evercade Nexus official page, Inven Global. Facts verified against the original reports; written by Overclocked.