#oneaday Day 671: Doki Doki janai

Apparently Doki Doki Literature Club has been removed from the Google Play store. According to its publishers, Serenity Forge, this was because "the game's content violates [Google's] Terms of Service in its depiction of sensitive themes".

Chances are if you are even a little bit plugged into gaming news you know what Doki Doki Literature Club is at this point; if you don't, I did a spoileriffic writeup on it over on MoeGamer back around the time it first started getting attention — nearly ten years ago at this point, Jesus. To summarise for those disinclined to click a link (you know who you are), Doki Doki Literature Club is a visual novel that plays with expectations and tropes of the format to deliver a potent narrative, primarily about mental health but also dealing with subjects such as parasocial relationships with non-existent (or perhaps it would be better to say non-sentient) entities like game characters.

It's a modern classic! Granted, uncharitable sorts might argue it started a somewhat unwelcome trend of western-developed visual novels that felt the need to be self-consciously subversive, insincere and ironic, but it can't really be blamed for what other people did in its wake; Doki Doki Literature Club itself, despite deliberately subverting a lot of classic visual novel/dating sim tropes in the name of telling what is essentially a horror narrative, is a well-written piece of work that makes good use of its medium (and the unique characteristics of that medium) to engage the player and get them thinking about how they are interacting with the characters involved.

Make no mistake, it goes to some dark places — its ESRB M/PEGI 18 ratings are well-deserved, though for those about to make an assumption about it being a visual novel, these ratings are not due to any sexual content. Rather, it gives an uncompromising look at mental health matters, and that sometimes there is no "winning", particularly when you are attempting to support someone else through a difficult time in their life, rather than taking command of your own destiny.

But there's the thing: it's already got those ratings, which make it suitable for worldwide distribution, along with various other ratings from other worldwide ratings bodies, such as CERO in Japan (where, interestingly, it only netted a "C" rating — an equivalent to 15/16 ratings elsewhere in the world) and it is, at this point, widely agreed to be a worthwhile work of art. For Google Play to suddenly decide that it is unacceptable is… bizarre, but not entirely unexpected, sadly.

Those who follow certain corners of the Internet may be aware that there has been a lot of unrest surrounding Visa and MasterCard seemingly interfering with online purchases of late — particularly when those purchases relate to adult (and specifically sexual) content. Naturally, this put sex workers, erotic artists, adult performers and makers of adults-only games in a somewhat difficult position, as it was making it significantly more difficult for them to make a living.

These things always start with porn, because porn is easy to attack. It's the thing that, while people might talk about it openly on the Internet, is still a great taboo in society — and one that is difficult to defend, particularly when you're talking to people who aren't breathing Internet fumes all day. Who wants to be the one standing up and saying that yes, porn is fine and good and should be protected just as with any other form of creative expression? Don't you know that porn is exploitative, and no-one gets involved in it willingly?

While I won't deny that there are parts of the sex work industry — speaking very broadly here — which are exploitative, in the modern day we live in an at least somewhat enlightened age where there are plenty of people who choose to get involved in various forms of adults-only entertainment because they like doing it. Not just because they like having sex, either; consider the artists, who just enjoy drawing naked people because, it turns out, they're good at it — to name just one example.

Why am I talking about porn? Because there are some who fear that Visa and MasterCard's at least partially successful encroachment into determining what it is and is not "acceptable" for people to get their rocks off to in the privacy of their own homes will mean that they will then start looking at what they might consider to be other forms of "unacceptable" media. Media that, say, tells the stories of marginalised groups, or which deals with challenging themes that society would rather we just swept under the rug.

Doki Doki Literature Club is not porn. But it being suddenly branded as "unacceptable" on a platform as big as Google Play sets a worrying precedent — one that people need to stand up and object to, forcefully. Thankfully, the game is still available on a variety of other platforms, including iOS, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and PC — but for how long?

"[Doki Doki Literature Club] is widely celebrated for portraying mental health in a way that meaningfully connects deeply with players around the world, helping them to feel heard, understood and less alone on their journey," says creator Dan Salvato. "Managing to achieve that — making a truly meaningful difference by using the power of fiction to connect to others — is what I'm most grateful for. It inspires me every day to keep making cool new things, things that can really reach others, especially those in need of connection."

It's an important piece of work that does not deserve to be silenced, so I sincerely hope Salvato and Serenity Forge are able to get the situation resolved as soon as they can — without having to compromise on the work they have created.

Want to read my thoughts on various video games, visual novels and other popular culture things? Stop by MoeGamer.net, my site for all things fun where I am generally a lot more cheerful. And if you fancy watching some vids on classic games, drop by my YouTube channel.

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#oneaday Day 670: Too Much Game

Apparently No Man's Sky has had another big update, bringing with it some sort of monster-training metagame to add to all the other things that game already does. With every new addition to that game, I feel myself less and less likely to ever return to it. Because it's just too much. There is too much game there.

This is an unpopular opinion, I know, because people love how much work Hello Games has put into No Man's Sky since its rather tepid launch ten years ago (which I rather enjoyed!) and from certain angles, this outlook probably looks a tad ungrateful, particularly as the last ten years of updates to the game have all been completely free rather than paid expansions or DLC.

I'm not denying that it is an admirable thing that the team behind the game have done — and to be honest, I'm most impressed that they've been able to make continually updating their ten-year old product somehow if not profitable then at least sustainable, with the studio only releasing one new game in the meantime — but… it's just too much.

No Man's Sky was already a sprawling, expansive sandbox game when it first launched. No, it perhaps wasn't quite what had been promised in the initial hype cycle, but it did have value, and it did feel like it had a clear artistic vision behind it; just one that wasn't particularly well appreciated. With every new major update, though, I feel like the game just gets more and more unwieldy — and, more to the point, potentially impenetrable to anyone either starting it for the first time, or anyone coming back to it after a long break.

This is where I am. I like the idea of No Man's Sky. I like the idea of a modern sandbox space sim. But I think you can put too much game in your game. If I were to boot No Man's Sky up now — and I could, I own a copy on Steam! — I would have absolutely no idea what I was supposed to be doing, what systems I was supposed to be engaging with, what was worthwhile doing, what was outdated and not really worth bothering with. And the game wasn't exactly forthcoming with a coherent sense of "this is what you're supposed to do in this game" from the outset.

You can probably say the same for any game that has evolved and changed over the course of a long period, of course. I tried Phantasy Star Online 2 when it first launched in English, and found it completely unapproachable, because the English version launched with a good 10 years of Japanese updates and additional material already loaded into it from the outset. Likewise, I'm sure Final Fantasy XIV probably seems rather daunting to anyone considering joining it for the first time now — though I will note that FFXIV has always been quite good about trickling out your access to its various features according to your progress through the main story, rather than immediately throwing you in at the deep end and bombarding you with a thousand possible things to do from the very beginning. (Final Fantasy XI is another matter, mind.)

To be clear: I don't begrudge anyone their apparently ongoing enjoyment of No Man's Sky, nor do I wish any ill on Hello Games for continuing to support what has turned out to be their flagship release. I'm just saying that I find it completely and utterly overwhelming, and I'm not sure I'm ever going to return to it at this point.

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#oneaday Day 669: Historic times

When you say you're living through historic times, you generally hope it is not for bad reasons. Unfortunately, it has become abundantly clear that the 2020s are going to go down in history as a particularly terrible period, for a variety of reasons ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to the Idiot-in-Chief of the United States threatening that "a whole civilisation will die tonight". Unfortunately that last part is not an exaggeration:

Donald J. Trump posting on Truth Social: "A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!"

And, as Defector puts it, at the time of writing, I guess we're just waiting around to see if this demented psychopath kills everyone.

Skeptics will cite "TACO" ("Trump Always Chickens Out") but I'm not so sure this time around. After all, he started an utterly needless war seemingly on a complete whim, and the result has been complete destabilisation of the worldwide economy, thanks to his incredibly smart picking on a country that controls a vital shipping route for the fuel that we are, regrettably, still rather dependent on, along with anything else that needs to come that way around the world.

I tell you, as someone who thought people were overreacting a bit the first time Trump was elected to power, it doesn't feel great to see that the doomsayers may have had something of a point. Not because it feels bad to be wrong, but because I didn't want them to be right. I'm not sure anyone did. But it's hard to look at the recent happenings in the United States and come to any conclusion other than the fact that this is a country in deep, deep trouble. And, by extension, it's easy to feel extremely worried about what comes next.

Is this going to escalate? Is Trump actually going to perform some sort of mass destructive, genocidal act this evening? At this point, I don't think we can really say in good conscience that "nah, he probably won't", because things have already gotten well out of hand — and they absolutely have the potential to get significantly worse. And what happens if they do? Are all the politicians currently wringing their hands and trying desperately to ignore what this absolute fuckhead is doing actually going to step up and present the current US administration with any sort of consequences and sanctions for what has been occurring? Are we looking at the possibility of global conflict against a country that decades of media has been desperate to position as "the good guys"?

Right now, I'm kind of at a loss as to what to say, think or do, and I feel powerless. I fear for my friends and family who are in the United States. I fear for the people of Iran. I fear for the people of the world if this hitherto-unchecked lunatic continues to hold these extremely dangerous reins of power. And I sincerely hope, from the bottom of my heart, that this entire situation can be resolved in a way that doesn't result in any further bloodshed — and which does bring those who have orchestrated this situation to swift and unforgiving justice.

I think I'm just going to go and play some retro games and try not to look at the news for the rest of the evening. I suggest you all do something similar.

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#oneaday Day 668: Russell's Chair of Eternal Disappointment

There are many people that, since my university days, I have lost contact with, and I often wonder what many of them are up to. One of them that particularly comes to mind any time I get in the mood to think about such things is a chap called Russell, who seemed to vanish off the face of the Earth long before we all finished university, and I think that was a shame.

Russell was a member of the university theatre group. I forget exactly which production he was involved with — it was possibly the chaotic production of Twelfth Night I was left directing (with zero experience) after my co-director decided to fuck off on a skiing holiday for two weeks during the main bulk of our rehearsals ahead of the production coming together. It doesn't really matter.

Russell was — and I'm aware writing it like this makes it sound like an obituary, but I honestly have no idea what happened to him — one of those people who could make people laugh completely effortlessly. Everything that came out of his mouth was hilarious. And it wasn't in an overblown "I'm going to spout one-liners" or "I'm going to quote Blackadder endlessly" way — he was just a naturally funny person. He would have a quip for every occasion, a comment for everything, and he was always a shining beacon of fun in any room he was present in.

My enduring memory of Russell is at an aftershow party for the production in question. We had all been drinking a fair bit ever since the curtain had come down on the final performance of the show's run, and we'd bundled around someone's house, as was tradition. This person had one of those weird chairs that was like a big circular bamboo frame with some cushions splayed over it. Russell immediately made a beeline for it, assuming it was the most comfortable chair in the room — but it was not.

"Oh," he said. "Oh."

"What's wrong?" we asked.

"I appear to have sat in a very disappointing chair," he said. We laughed. He did not get up. From thereon, the chair in question was known as the Chair of Eternal Disappointment, and Russell's initial opinion of it was backed up by anyone who managed to sneak into it while he went to go and refill his drink. He usually found it unoccupied on his return, as I can confirm, it was an exceedingly disappointing chair.

I never saw Russell again after that particular production, and I don't think any of the rest of Theatre Group did, either. We often commented on that one particularly memorable night, and the Chair of Eternal Disappointment remained a running joke among any of us.

I wonder what Russell is up to now. I wonder if his own chairs are to his satisfaction. And I sincerely hope that wherever he is and whatever he's doing, he's still making people laugh and smile by virtue of his very presence.

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#oneaday Day 667: Happy Easter

A happy Easter to anyone who happens to be floating past this page on this day. We don't really celebrate Easter in a particularly meaningful way — though I did buy us a couple of chocolate eggs to enjoy — but it is nice to have the extra-long weekend from Good Friday up until Easter Monday. Time with no commitments and no obligations is nice.

We're having a day off the diet today to celebrate the return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus H. Christ, then back on it properly tomorrow. Technically speaking we also had yesterday off due to HeroQuest being accompanied by party food, Pringles and some dangerously addictive little cake bite things from Tesco. But yes. Tomorrow it is back to counting the calories and doing things properly, because it seems to have been working for the both of us.

I've not done much of note over the last couple of days, as I was in need of just a break from everything. It's been a really hectic, chaotic time at work of late, and being able to just step away for a bit is exactly what I needed. The end result of all this chaos is going to be well worth it; it's just been a lot of stress getting to the point we're at so far, and I suspect there's more still to come. But we're ready for it and we're going to kick it's ass.

We had all our windows and exterior doors replaced this week. We've got a new front door that is much sturdier than the old one (the entire front fascia would bend and flex when you used the old one!) and patio doors that open like doors instead of slidey doors. Andie's also finally finished the catio to add a little tunnel from the cat flap in the back of the house into the catio proper, so once the cats figure out that the cat flap is there (which I suspect will take a little while) they will be able to go outside when they please without having to get us to open the doors for them. I suspect they will still ask us to open the doors, but it will be nice for them to be able to go outside on their own initiative.

Anyway, we're currently awaiting our 7bone burger for our Easter dinner treat. Then I might give Resident Evil 7 a go in VR after dinner… I am totally brave enough, yes I am.

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#oneaday Day 666: Togetherness

I sometimes wonder whether I should try and get "into" a multiplayer game. All the positive buzz around Marathon at the moment has me mildly intrigued, but at the same time, it's an extraction shooter; a type of game in which the main point of things seems to effectively be bullying other players, and thus I'm not convinced I would actually enjoy it.

There was a bizarre piece on Rock, Paper, Shotgun earlier desperately attempting to convince fans of single-player games — and particularly stealth games — that they should give Marathon a go. I found it rather unconvincing. While I sort of get the core conceit — that you can play solo, and that you can treat the other players as if they are particularly intelligent "enemies" — it just rang hollow to me, and it bothered me a bit.

Thing is, I often tend to find I like the idea of multiplayer games more than the actual execution of them — because more often than not, I've found that out of necessity, multiplayer games have to cut out things that I specifically like about single-player games, like, say, lengthy story sequences. Final Fantasy XIV eventually had to make certain cutscenes non-skippable to prevent impatient players racing ahead while others were trying to enjoy key story moments, for example — and many other multiplayer games simply eschew ongoing narrative altogether, lest the people you're playing with get bored waiting for you to watch a cutscene.

I just haven't found a game that really clicks with me, other than my early years with Final Fantasy XIV a while back. And so many of them are designed to be timesink "lifestyle" games that are desperate to be the only thing you play. Battle passes, experience levels, lootboxes, all that junk — all of it's designed to keep you playing that game and that game alone, and honestly, I get to a point where I find repeating the same thing over and over again, which is what you end up doing in a lot of multiplayer games, to be rather tedious.

And yet I still feel like I would enjoy playing something together with a like-minded group. I still feel like it would be nice to have a group of online friends that I can enjoy something alongside. I just don't really know what that game would look like at this point, because I suspect the sort of thing that fulfils what I'm looking for — something reasonably social, not based on bullying, and which doesn't demand you make that game your entire personality if you want to have a good time with it — doesn't really exist.

Oh well. It's not as if I'm short of single-player things to enjoy. It'd just be nice to find something I enjoy that would help me make some friends — or indeed be able to have fun with my few remaining existing friends.

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#oneaday Day 665: Restlessness

I'm having one of those days where I feel, I don't know, restless and sort of dissatisfied with existence. It's a long weekend, and times like that tend to be prone to such feelings, because when you're given a nice block of time off from the day job, the natural thing — for me, anyway — is to wonder how (or whether) you can spend that time in a vaguely "productive" manner, doing something that adds some sort of "value" to your life.

This is not necessarily a good way of thinking about things, of course. Obsessing over whether what you're doing is "worthwhile" can lead to grindset nonsense, and those people are soundly mocked by well-adjusted individuals with good reason. But all the same, I do, at times, feel myself wanting to… I don't know, it's hard to even express. Achieve something, I guess?

I've had this conversation with myself before. I do achieve things in my daily life and with my day job. My contributions to my workplace are a critical part of the entire process of bringing actual physical, tangible products that are worth money to market. Shouldn't that be enough? Isn't that enough of a "legacy" to leave behind?

Well, perhaps. But I'm sure many of us have had grander plans in the past. Plans to write a book, make a game, compose an album of music, all those sorts of things. And, as we get older, it becomes easier and easier to tell ourselves that we "don't have time" to do those things — when, in fact, many of us probably have pretty much the same amount of free time as we did when we were younger.

I think with me, a significant part of it is loneliness. When I was younger, I would fill many of my days spending time with friends and enjoying the things I loved together with them. I can still sort of do that via the Internet, but enthusing about something over a chat application is a very different feeling from having them in the same room with you, reacting in real time to the things that are happening, discussing things as they happen and, you know, laughing and having fun with one another.

I guess I'm a bit sore because it's coming up on my birthday, and for several years I hosted an event with friends around that time where we got together, ate food, enjoyed drinks and played games together as a fun little competition. Last year the response I got to such an event was rather rude, and it upset me a great deal, following a few other things that had frustrated me in past years (including one occasion where I bought a prize for the event and ended up with it returned to me), and I've not heard a peep out of the people involved for nearly a year at this point, so I guess that's that.

Still, at least I have a game of HeroQuest to look forward to tomorrow, and a trip to The Cave towards the end of the month (around my actual birthday date!) so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. Now I think I'll go see if I can finish off Resident Evil 6, and stop worrying about whether or not I've spent the bank holiday "correctly".

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#oneaday Day 664: Visual novels!

I've been getting back into visual novels of late thanks to Path of Mystery: A Brush With Death (which I wrote more about over on MoeGamer recently, if you'd care to check it out) — and it hasn't taken me long to remember exactly why I enjoy this type of experience so much. I have been once again trying something that I did a while back with some success, which is to replace watching a TV show or YouTube videos over lunch with a visual novel on auto-play, and it's a fine way to enjoy the unfolding story. In fact, I've often found that the bit of time I get to enjoy some of the story at lunchtime makes me more inclined to want to continue after work in the evening.

Following Path of Mystery: A Brush With Death, I've started a VN that's been on my shelf for a very long time, but which I've not yet got around to. It's called WorldEnd Syndrome, and it's by the same company as Path of Mystery: A Brush With Death. In fact, it supposedly unfolds in the same narrative "universe", though exactly what that means is so far not clear; the main setting and core cast are different, so I suspect it may just be a case of the two games having a similar overall vibe.

One of the things I really like about visual novels is the fact it feels like you're really getting to spend some quality time with a (hopefully) interesting cast of characters — characters who you will doubtless have an initial reaction to, and may well change your opinion of over the course of a complete story that involves them. This was certainly the case with Path of Mystery: A Brush With Death, which has an excellent ensemble cast who have a lot of chemistry with one another, and plenty of interesting things to learn about them. The only unfortunate thing is that the concluding hours of the story are very much setting up a sequel and possibly a larger series of multiple games, and so I was left rather wanting more at the end of proceedings!

As someone who has often suffered loneliness, and who has difficulties with self-esteem and confidence when even contemplating socialising with real people out in the real, three-dimensional world, visual novels have always provided a certain sense of comfort. By their very nature, they include you in a close-knit group of people, and give you a sense of "belonging" — even if the way their narrative is constructed makes it clear that you are not the protagonist yourself; you just happen to be riding along in their head, able to hear their innermost thoughts.

A lot of visual novel writers are clearly wise to this particular appeal element of the medium, too, as many of them are set up with characters designed to be varying degrees of relatable, dealing with real-life issues that anyone can understand — and that is comforting. Although the people involved are not real, knowing that someone is aware enough of feelings that you have had to be able to compose a story that involves and acknowledges those feelings — and perhaps even provides some suggestions on how to cope with them (or how not to cope with them) — is reassuring and, in its own way, helps counter some of the loneliness the modern age brings with it.

I'm looking forward to seeing how WorldEnd Syndrome unfolds. I'm only a short way into it so far — still in the introduction, very clearly — but it's already intriguing, and from what I understand, this one does some interesting things with narrative structure. So I might just go and read a bit before bed, now…

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#oneaday Day 663: Ten of my favourite Evercade cartridges

I've got a relatively ambitious Evercade-related project in my mental "to-do" pile, but I haven't yet found the time to kick that off. So in the meantime I thought I would spend some time talking a bit more about the thing I spend my days working on.

There's a weird sort of culture a lot of people have about not talking about where they work. I understand it to an extent — if people know where you work, that can open you up to harassment as a result of something your workplace did or announced, plus people can (incorrectly) assume that anything you post on a personal account or site is you somehow acting as a "spokesperson" for that brand. In less enlightened workplaces, too, management can spy on the things you do in your free time and inevitably make the least charitable interpretation of the things you say possible so that they have ammunition to treat you like shit at work.

Thankfully I have not suffered the latter for a good few years now, and I am using this paragraph to make abundantly clear that although I work for Blaze on the Evercade project and related products, this post is my opinion only and does not, in any way, reflect the opinions, values and anything else about my employer. I am writing this post 'cause I love Evercade, and have done since I took a chance and splashed the cash on that "All-In" bundle back in 2020.

Anyway, what I want to do today is pick 10 Evercade cartridges I particularly like and share them with you. There may be some cartridges in this list that are no longer available due to the expiration of licensing agreements between Blaze and the license holders, or all manner of other circumstances, and I make no apologies for this; something good doesn't stop being good just because you can't buy it as easily any more.

With all that in mind then, let us begin:

Namco Museum Collection 1

Although both Namco Museum Collection cartridges for Evercade have not been available for a while due to Namco deciding to be extremely weird about releasing their stuff on physical media these days, they remain highlights of the Evercade's launch lineup — and since they formed the part of several launch bundles, there are a fair few copies out there to be found relatively easily.

I have a tough time picking a favourite out of the two, but on balance I think it has to be the first one, which features some all-time classics and favourites, plus some interesting curiosities. On the classics front, you have good versions of Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Xevious and Mappy, while on the lesser-known front you have the excellent (and surprisingly accessible) strategy game, Metal Marines, plus the awesome space sim Star Luster. And this is just my personal favourites from the cart; there's also Mappy Kids, Libble Rabble, Battle Cars and Quad Challenge, too, making it a well-rounded and fun collection.

Data East Collection 1

If there's one cartridge I feel like I plop in the Evercade more than any other, it has to be Data East Collection 1, for two main reasons: Burnin' Rubber and Midnight Resistance. Both are truly excellent games for very different reasons, but they do have one thing in common: great music.

That's not all that Data East Collection 1 offers, though. There's the beat 'em up action of Bad Dudes and its spiritual sequel Two Crude Dudes, a good version of BurgerTime, the excellent (if totally unrealistic) pool game Side Pocket, the manic puzzler Magical Drop 2, the colourful platformer Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics and the one-on-one fighters Karate Champ and Fighter's History. All of these games have something worthwhile to offer in 2026.

Jaleco Collection 1

Jaleco is one of those publishers I feel people often forget about, but when you look at their library of stuff you realise they've actually put out a lot of bangers over the years. Jaleco Collection 1 features some stars from their console lineup, including the beat 'em ups Brawl Brothers and Rival Turf!, the firefighting action-adventure The Ignition Factor, the sci-fi top-down run-and-gun Operation Logic Bomb and more.

I don't think I've ever loaded up Bases Loaded but I believe it's a relatively well-regarded baseball game from the 8-bit era, and likewise for soccer with Super Goal! 2. Super Earth Defense Force is a solid scrolling spaceship shooter, Astyanax and Totally Rad are decent 8-bit platformers, and City Connection is a really fun arcade-style game that only really suffers due to its excruciating music. There's not a bad game in this bunch, so I come back to this cart frequently.

Gaelco Arcade 1

The two Gaelco Arcade cartridges are some of my all-time favourites from the Evercade library, but I think the first one just about has the edge in terms of the number of games I keep coming back to. My personal standouts are the brilliant World Rally, which has possibly the best handling of any isometric racer of the era; the unusual gameplay of Glass; and the wonderfully silly run-and-gun action of Biomechanical Toy.

If you're unfamiliar with Gaelco — and I'd forgive you if you are, since I'd never heard of them prior to us putting this cart out — this is a great way to get to know them. Expect polished visuals, challenging gameplay and some truly excellent digitised guitar noodling.

Renovation Collection 1

This one won't come as a surprise to anyone, as it's an oft-cited favourite from many longstanding Evercade fans. Featuring an extremely cool range of 16-bit games, many of which have an awesome anime style about them, there's a ton of value on this cart. Highlights for most are Valis and Valis III, El Viento and Arcus Odyssey, but there's plenty more to enjoy here, too.

Gaiares and Sol-Deace are good (if very tough) shoot 'em ups. Granada and Final Zone are great multidirectional shooters. Dino Land is a fun and quirky take on pinball. Traysia is a solid RPG if you go into it with the appropriate expectations (it's channelling Ultima, hard). Beast Wrestler is the weak link for many, but I bet you can find some fun there if you try hard enough.

TheC64 Collection 1

In the absence of some good Atari 8-bit cartridges — we haven't yet got a commercially licensable Atari 8-bit emulator we're happy to work with just yet — I will have to satisfy myself with its great rival, the Commodore 64. Fortunately, the three C64 collections we've put out to date include some of my all-time favourite games, and while I will always prefer the Atari versions in most cases, the C64 versions are good, too.

My personal highlights in this collection are Lee (originally Bruce Lee but now not for hopefully obvious reasons), Jumpman and Gateway to Apshai. There's a really broad mix of games in here, including some real legends (Impossible Mission!) — plus the two "Games" games are great with friends. I know home computer games are a hard sell for some people who grew up with consoles, but honestly, the three C64 collections plus the Thalamus cartridge are a great in-road for the curious.

Duke Nukem Collection 1

It felt like we'd finally hit the big-time with this cartridge. Duke Nukem is a huge license to land, and the fact we got the excellent Duke Nukem 1+2 Remastered as an exclusive was, for me, the moment we had really got a proper "killer app" for Evercade.

Duke Nukem 1+2 Remastered is, of course, great, and probably the best way to play these shareware classics today. Duke Nukem 3D: Total Meltdown has its detractors, particularly as there are more recent ports of Duke3D that run more smoothly and control a bit more elegantly with a controller, but it's one of those things where if you take it on its own merits and consider that it was running on a platform that, despite having a 3D focus, was still just a little underpowered, is actually perfectly competent and enjoyable. The exclusive levels are a hoot, too — if extremely tough!

Sunsoft Collection 2

Sunsoft is one of those developers that, again, I suspect few people would count among their absolute favourites, but they have a really solid back catalogue of titles to draw upon. This second collection of their games is my personal favourite, primarily due to the presence of the excellent Ufouria: The Saga, which is a truly great exploration platformer.

I'm also a big fan of Pri Pri Primitive Princess!, which is an interesting puzzle game that very much feels like it may have been a home computer game at some point in the past. By this I mean that it's clunky but creative, and if you come at it with the right mindset you'll be well and truly hooked.

Toaplan Arcade 3

I knew I wanted — no, needed — to include a Toaplan Arcade cartridge in this list, and after much deliberation I settled on this third one, primarily for Batsugun and its variant, Batsugun Special Version. Out Zone and FixEight are a hoot, too, Truxton II is just as punishing as its predecessor (but fun once you get into its groove), Ghox is a weird but cool take on Breakout, and Vimana is probably the company's most accessible shoot 'em up.

Toaplan's arcade games are among some of my favourites in the Evercade library, and this is an excellent cartridge full of some of their best titles.

The Turrican Collection

Despite being a home computer gamer in the '80s and early '90s, Turrican is a series that completely passed me by. I always saw gushing praise for it in magazines of the era, but never actually got around to playing it myself. I don't think I ever even played a demo for it. This is a shame, because with The Turrican Collection I've discovered that I like Turrican a lot.

I've also discovered that, unsurprisingly, those who criticise it for having sprawling, meandering levels in which it's easy to get lost were exaggerating somewhat; there's always a clear path forwards, and whether or not you go exploring for goodies is up to you. Plus as the series goes on, it settles into a more "Japanese-style" linear formula, culminating in the technically gorgeous Super Turrican 2. Absolutely banging soundtrack, too.

And there we are. Ten of my favourite carts. Ten of my favourite carts. They might not be yours. But they are mine. And, honestly, if you asked me on another day, I could probably pick out ten more favourites, and repeat the process many times over. In fact, I can find something to love on every single Evercade cartridge — and I'm not just saying that 'cause I work on them. I really am thrilled to do what I do — and I hope that comes across in my contributions to the products in question!

Now after all that, I think I'll go boot one of these up and have a nice retro evening…

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#oneaday Day 662: Nexus announcement day

I get to talk a bit about the day job today! I say "get to" like someone hasn't been allowing me to do so. What I mean is: we had a big announcement today, and I'd like to talk about it!

That announcement was for Evercade Nexus, a new Evercade handheld featuring a much bigger, brighter screen, significantly louder speakers, dual analogue sticks and a host of other cool features. You can see the trailer here:

Evercade has always been a platform that plays a wide variety of retro games — the library actually covers six different decades (from the 1970s up until today) — but Nexus has been designed with a bit of a '90s flavour, hence the somewhat different look and feel to the new trailer. The dual analogue sticks are designed to complement 3D games from the 32-bit era that we already have in the library (and have planned for the future), as well as our upcoming brand new native ports of 64-bit legends like Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, and these games all hail from the '90s, so it makes sense for the branding to reflect that.

You can still play classic Atari games on it as well, though, (plus, of course, all the other classic consoles the Evercade library covers!) and the bright colours found in your average old-school pixel art title will look lovely on that screen — plus with the all-new extra-loud speakers, you can subject everyone in the vicinity to the sound of Pitfall Harry and/or Lara Croft falling to their death for the umpteenth time.

I've said it before, but I'm super proud to work on Evercade. Ever since I first went for the "All-In" bundle of the original handheld back in 2020, which came with the first 10 cartridges released for the platform, I knew it was something special — and hoped that one day I would be able to be part of it. Well, now I am part of it — I have been for some time, and will hopefully continue to be for a long time yet — and it's a delight to be able to look at a product like the Nexus and think that I played a part in that, along with every cartridge release we do.

It's an interesting feeling to have lived long enough to remember these games from first time around vividly enough to still be excited about helping rerelease them on a new device. I never stopped loving games like (Bruce) Lee, MegaMania, Checkered Flag and myriad others — it's a genuine privilege to have been part of making official rereleases happen. Right now I'm working on the Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie double pack that is bundled in with Nexus, and it's hard work, but also immensely rewarding when I think about how good this release is going to be when it's finished.

And there are many more exciting games coming down the road — including a bunch more of my all-time favourites. I can't wait to share them with you all, and if you're new to Evercade, I hope you'll consider jumping on board with Nexus or one of our other devices! Preorders for Nexus open tomorrow — you can find out more here.

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