Blaze Entertainment has revealed HyperMegaTech, the company’s new tech arm, and a new vertical handheld, the Super Pocket.
The Super Pocket is, essentially, a modernized Game Boy capable of playing Evercade cartridges, further proving how much usage you can get out of owning a physical product.
The console houses a 320×280 IPS display, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and charges through USB-C. In terms of controls, the Super Pocket offers four face buttons, start and select, four rear buttons not too dissimilar to the Powkiddy RGB20S, and a circular d-pad.
Games
Pictured: The Capcom Editon Super Pocket
Two versions of the handheld will be available when it launches in the form of the Super Pocket Capcom Edition and the Super Pocket Taito Edition.
The Capcom version includes the following 12 titles:
- Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting
- Mega Man
- 1942
- Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts
- Final Fight
- Strider
- 1943
- 1944 : The Loop Master
- Bionic Commando
- Captain Commando
- Forgotten Worlds
- Wolf of the Battlefield: MERC
And the Taito variant includes the following 17 games:
- Space Invaders
- Bubble Bobble
- Operation Wolf
- The NewZealand Story
- Rastan
- Cadash
- Chack’n Pop
- Don Doko Don
- Elevator Action
- The Fairyland Story
- Football Champ
- Growl
- Kiki Kaikai
- The Legend of Kage
- Liquid Kids
- Space Invaders ‘91*
- Volfied
Super Pocket Specs
While Blaze didn’t mention anything about what kind of CPU or GPU will be inside the Super Pocket, it’s worth noting that Evercade games aren’t massively difficult to run. Emulating something like Street Fighter II isn’t exactly going to require Steam Deck levels of power.
What we do have here is a screen that’s capable of clean visuals and a size that’s somewhere between the Miyoo Mini and the original Game Boy.
- Size: 78mm x 125mm x 25mm
- Screen Size: 2.8-inch IPS Screen
- Resolution: 320×240 resolution
- Charging: USB-C (cable included)
- Operating System: Custom
- Compatibility: Plays all Evercade cartridges
- Features: ‘Easy Mode’ to help make older, more difficult games more accessible.
Price and Availability
Pictured: The Taito Editon Super Pocket
Pre-orders for the Super Pocket open on July 14, 2023, with release schedules for October 2023.
In terms of pricing, either version of the Super Pocket will retail for $59, £49, or €59 depending on your choice.
I’ll admit, I was a little taken aback by the pricing. That seems awfully affordable, doesn’t it? The Super Pocket is less than the price of a newly-released AAA game. That’s kind of mad.
Conclusion
When I reviewed the Evercade Exp, I said this: “[…] reviewing it today I can’t help but question what’s next. Is [The Evercade Exp] enough? For the price, yes, it is. But will it be enough a year from now? How many versions with minor upgrades does the world need? The further into the Evercade family we get, the further the future becomes less certain.”
Well, it looks like we have an answer to all of my concerns. Blaze, or HyperMegaTech, isn’t going to keep releasing variants of the same console each year. Instead, we’re getting something completely different. Something that keeps the Evercade ecosystem – the premium carts – alive in a meaningful way.
As far as I’m concerned, this is a smart move. Vertical handhelds are in right now and the Super Pocket, from what we know, seems to be shaping up to be a must-have handheld.
