We finally made it to the end of March 2025, and as Blaze Entertainment has been teasing for months, they’re finally ready to show us what they have up their sleeve in regards to SNK and the NEOGEO! Today they presented their Evercade Showcase Volume 3, so let’s get started!
To help us discuss what they shared, here’s a brief listing of their major announcements,
- Gremlin Collection 2
- Windjammers, Karnov & Friends
- NEOGEO Arcade 1
- NEOGEO Edition of the Super Pocket
- Data East Edition of the Super Pocket
- Other Announcements and Final Thoughts
By the way, when at a section, click on the header to go to the page about it at Evercade’s or HyperMegaTech’s website.
Gremlin Collection 2
One of the first cartridges that Blaze Entertainment unveiled was their next Giga Cart featuring four titles from the PlayStation 1. These are,
- Loaded
- Re-Loaded
- Hogs of War
- Buggy
Pre-orders open on April 1st, with the cart scheduled to ship on June 26, 2025.
Upon first seeing this list, I was pleased to find another cult hit from the PlayStation 1 library. I’ve never played Loaded, but I remember the famous advertisements and I know that it is a popular game. If I was looking for a bloody overhead shooter, I’d really like to play it and its sequel, Re-Loaded. I’ve never heard of Hogs of War, so I don’t have any opinion about it, but I am curious about Buggy.
Outside of the games, I was happy note that this collection includes 4 games on a Giga Cart, making it be the first release of that format to have more than 3 games on it. Although this collection isn’t for me, this is a good start to the showcase! I am excited for fans of Loaded to be able to play the first two games again. I just won’t be buying it because I rarely play gory games.
Windjammers, Karnov & Friends
The next cartridge is one of the most surprising collections of games that have been produced for Evercade hardware. It almost seems like the games on this cart have been randomly chosen! The titles being included are,
- Windjammers
- Karnov
- Atomic Runner Chelnov
- Vapor Trail: Hyper Offence Formation
- Rohga: Armor Force
Pre-orders open on April 1st, with the cart scheduled to ship on June 26, 2025.
A number of these are the arcade versions of games that were previously playable on home console systems. These include Karnov, Atomic Runner Chelnov, and Vapor Trail: Hyper Offence Formation. The latter two being ported to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. This assortment of games seems to be best for those who like a little faster-paced titles.
Atomic Runner Chelnov is a somewhat little-known action shooter hybrid, while the last two games are shmups. Vapor Trail’s most noteworthy aspect is its rockin’ music; I’ll link the Genesis OST here as posted by Dustin O’Dell on YouTube so you can get a taste! The surprising inclusion of Rohga: Armor Force doesn’t make much sense, unless you realize that it is the sequel to Vapor Trail! Finally, there is the iconic Karnov and the popular sports game, Windjammers.
The former of which is often difficult to deal with legally. Even though the character is allowed to be featured in both arcade and NES versions of Bad Dudes, the game that has his name in the title is not owned by Data East. In the case of the one sport game. It is really popular, and not available on Steam, so its inclusion is welcome. Feel free to check out the sequel, if desired.
To me, this is a standout cart! Not all the games may be totally amazing, but I haven’t seriously played the arcade versions of any of these titles. I don’t have any of them available anywhere else. I’ll be really excited to play this one!
NEOGEO Arcade 1
After the appetizers of the previous two collections, we now come to the main course of the showcase! Starting with the NEOGEO Arcade 1 cartridge, the games are,
- Metal Slug
- King of Fighters 2000
- Shock Troopers
- Magician Lord
- Sengoku
- Ironclad
Pre-orders open on May 1st, with the cart scheduled to ship July 2025.
Upon first sight, this may be a rather unusual assortment of games. It begins with 3 noteworthy games with the first Metal Slug, King of Fighters 2000, and the very popular Shock Troopers. Then, it is as if the cart takes a look back to the NEOGEO’s earlier years with Magician Lord and Sengoku. Both of which sucked up tons of quarters back in the day and showed why the NEOGEO was Bigger, Badder, and Better than all other home consoles at the time! If you need any convincing, images from this advertisement will be glad to help you spend a bunch of money back in time! The last game on the cart is Iron Clad, which I don’t remember being officially released for the NEOGEO cartridge systems. It seems to be a puzzling addition, but again, Blaze is curating a diverse list of games for the cartridge. They aren’t trying to do one cart of all Metal Slug, King of Fighters, or Samurai Shodown. After all, they don’t do that. They like to present to us an assortment of games on each cart or hardware so that we can explore different genres and experience different aspects of gaming history.
Although it may be a bit disappointing in contrast to what some of us have wanted, this is still a great cartridge with many classics to enjoy!
NEOGEO Edition of the Super Pocket
We now come to one of the most exciting, but also unsurprising moments in Blaze’s presentation. For a while now, there’s been two Super Pockets released by HyperMegaTech each year. And here we find a really impressive collection of NEOGEO releases featured on the NEOGEO Edition of the Super Pocket!
The extensive list of games included are,
- Alpha Mission II
- Blazing Star
- Fatal Fury Special
- King of the Monsters 2 The Next Thing
- Last Resort
- Metal Slug X
- Mutation Nation
- Over Top
- Samurai Shodown II
- Sengoku 3
- Shock Troopers 2nd Squad
- Soccer Brawl
- The Last Blade
- Top Hunter Roddy & Cathy
Pre-orders open on April 1st, with the Super Pocket scheduled to ship on June 26, 2025.
I’ll say it again; the list above is one of the most impressive Super Pocket collections that’s been announced thus far! It explores all sorts of great genres from SNK’s legendary NEOGEO system including fighting games, side-scrolling run & guns, shmups, beat’em ups, and the obligatory racing and/or sports game! The system includes many historically important releases such as Fatal Fury Special Last Resort while also featuring stone-cold classics like Metal Slug X and Samurai Shodown II
Moreover, this depth of genre diversity is commendable and exciting for future purchasers of this system as they begin their journey through the Evercade ecosystem. Additionally, the fact that NEOGEO hardware used a four-button layout for their joysticks means that this Super Pocket may be the best for an immediately enjoyable playing experience with the system. There won’t be as many problems with having to use shoulder buttons to pull off certain moves, and the like.
I consider this to be a very exciting addition to the Super Pocket lineup, and I commend Blaze Entertainment for the quality curation of the games on this system.
Although, having said that, let me make one more statement. Since this is Cheap Retro Gaming, know that that there is a Limited Edition of the NEOGEO Super Pocket. There are only 3000 scheduled to be produced, and will be available for preorder only from Funstock! As such, if you want it, make sure to sign up for their email announcements and take some time to preorder ASAP when the preorders open! To help some of you out, I have linked their website above. I will not be partaking of this opportunity, but if you want to, please go ahead.
I expect that the preorders may be exhausted in 48 hours or less, so you will want to hurry when it opens!
Data East Edition of the Super Pocket
Finally, the last announcement from the Evercade Showcase Volume 3 is the Data East Edition of the Super Pocket. Personally, it reminds me of the Technos Super Pocket in that many of the games featured on it were also on previously available cartridges.
The games included are,
- B-Wings
- Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja
- Breakthru
- Burgertime
- Burnin’ Rubber
- Chain Reaction
- Crude Buster (Two Crude Dudes)
- Gate of Doom (Dark Seal)
- Joe & Mac Returns
- Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja
- Karate Champ
- Lock ‘n’ Chase
- Peter Pepper’s Ice Cream Factory
- Spinmaster
- Super Burgertime
- Edward Randy
- Tumblepop
- Wizard Fire (Dark Seal II)
Pre-orders open on April 1st, with the Super Pocket scheduled to ship on June 26, 2025.
As has already been stated, most of the are titles that were on either Data East Arcade 1 or 2, or the console versions on Data East Collection 1. Two games that are unique to this release are Joe and Mac: Caveman Ninja and Spinmaster, both of which are quite popular in the gaming community. Like the other Data East cartridges, the variety on display here is quite good, but one main problem. It being announced after the NEOGEO Edition of the Super Pocket. Additionally, while the Technos Super Pocket featured many games that were on cartridges that have since gone legacy, and not readily available, the titles here are in a different situation. Many of the featured titles are difficult purchase now, but none of the Data East cartridges are actually legacy. Because of this, I can’t be that excited about this release.
I’d rather just spend a bit more money on the carts, and be happy with that since I will be able to play them on the TV. I do think this announcement is very good, but I’m not too excited about it.
Other Announcements and Final Thoughts
As we come to a close, let’s remember a few other things that were explicitly stated during the showcase:
- There is going to be an additional cartridge released alongside NEOGEO Arcade 1.
- There will be multiple NEOGEO cartridges that will be released into 2026.
- There will be standalone variants of the VS-R and EXP-R systems that will not include a pack-in cartridge. Retailers will be able to add their own bundle of games.
- Blaze Entertainment will be announcing more details about the second-half of the year at the end of May.
I think all of the above is good to know, and to keep in mind. There isn’t going to be just one NEOGEO Arcade 1 cart. I am hoping that there is at least three of them, and that Garou: Mark of the Wolves is on one of them. See these links for Intro One and Intro Two from that outstanding game. I would be upset if that specific title was unable to shine on the big screen on Evercade hardware.
Taking a step back to all the announcements as a whole, I’m pleased to say that I am quite happy with today’s showcase. Normally when new Evercade releases are announced, they are in pairs, and I usually only want 1 of the two. Here, Blaze Entertainment has unveiled 3 cartridges and 2 Super Pockets. I see value in all three cartridges, the NEOGEO Super Pocket is very impressive, and the Data East Edition is quite good if you don’t have any of those games! That degree of quality is great, and I am encouraged that 2025 will be on an upswing for much of the rest of the year. Usually, Blaze Entertainment starts releasing their heavy hitters in the summertime, taking us up to the holiday season. Hopefully the same thing will happen this time.
So, what about yourself? What are your thoughts from the Evercade Showcase Volume 3? Are you excited, or are you disappointed by the NEOGEO Arcade 1 cartridge? Let us know in the comments below!
Cheap Retro Gaming 
Leave a comment