KUBO 1 Review – A Hidden NES Game on the Evercade, but Is It Worth Playing?

KUBO 1 is a hidden game on Evercade hardware. It was originally developed for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and is essentially an overhead action-adventure game. Even though it was “free” for me to get, was it worth playing?

Proper Expectations

Up front I should say that this was put together by a couple of new developers, one of whom was only six years old at the time. I wonder if the game was produced partly to learn how to use the NESmaker tools. It feels like a title that was made just to try out different things and have fun with a little turtle cowboy character. Sadly, the character’s design is my favorite part of the game.

It’s extremely short, being only about a dozen screens in length. The gameplay involves going to different locations and shooting your gun at enemies. You also get a key at one point, which is the sole “adventure” aspect of the title.

Graphics and Sound

Concerning graphics and sound, I didn’t like either of them. In preparation for this post I watched some of my footage for the game, and I thought the music was terrible. I could soften that last statement, but oh dear, I though it sounded awful.

Thoughts Upon Completion

KUBO 1 only takes about 5 minutes to complete. Once you’re done you are awarded with a screen saying congratulations for such and such, and then you’re done. While I like to support new developers, this one left me feeling really flat.

Looking Forward to Other Games

The most interesting thing about the game was that the child developer was young at the time. Him and his dad have gone on to produce other titles that were released for the Evercade family of systems.

In fact, KUBO 2 was also included as a hidden game on many Evercade systems, and KUBO 3 is on Indie Heroes Collection 1. For info on how to unlock the hidden games, please check out this link. Moreover, Indie Heroes Collection 1 is a legacy cartridge as of December, 2025 (I shared news of this here). Be sure to pick it up soon if you can!

Even though I didn’t like KUBO 1, I’m looking forward to trying out the sequels.

Final Thoughts

Still, just looking at the game itself, I cannot recommend it. Nor do I think it is worth playing for most people. Even though it is “free,” it felt like a waste of time.

I know that sounds extremely harsh, but again, I am writing this from the perspective of the game itself. I hope nobody takes what I say personally! Again, I’m looking forward to KUBO 2 and I hope it is an improvement over the original.

Note: Links to roms of Kubo 1 and 2 can be found in this blog post. The one who posted the message was one of the developers.

Title: KUBO 1
Genre: Overhead Action Adventure
Year Released: 2018
Developer: SJ Games
Played On: Evercade VS
Price Paid: Free, as a hidden game available on Evercade systems. See links to the roms above.

Remember, we can have different opinions about the games we play. If you like something more (or less) than I do, both of our perspectives are valid.