A mainstay of the arcade, 8 and 16-bit generations Data East
have an absolute wealth of games to draw upon for a system like the Evercade.
It was only a matter of time before a collection was collated and what we have
ended up with is a fairly varied mix of ten arcade to home conversions across
the NES, SNES and Mega Drive.
The NES games take in some of the publisher’s best known
work. Burger time is a solid version of the arcade platformer where you need to
avoid enemies and drop ingredients to the bottom of the screen by walking over
it. Karate Champ is one of the first games to put forward the one on one fighting
concepts also seen in IK+ and Way of the Exploding Fist and If we’re honest
both those games do it better.
Bad Dudes Vs. The Dragon Ninja puts forward a passable
imitation of its arcade counterpart but the graphics are much smaller and it runs
a fair bit slower as well. That said, this holds a fair about of nostalgic
appeal for us as it arrived with our NES one Christmas morning. It has a
different rhythm but when you get used to it there is a fair amount of fun to be
had.
The final NES game is the excellent Burnin’ Rubber or Bump
and Jump as it is otherwise known. Here you drive a car ever upwards while
collecting fuel and avoiding other cars. The gimmick comes that you need to
jump your car over obstacles and on to the enemy vehicles for points. It’s
great fun and holds up really well. It stands as proof of how the clear
execution of a core gameplay dynamic stands the test of time when implemented
properly.
Two Crude Dudes and Midnight Resistance make up the Mega
Drive elements of the collection and both are fun versions of their arcade
counterparts. Two Crude Dudes was always a bit of a slocky brawler in the first
place but is a decent version of the original and if you have fond memories of
that you’ll find much to enjoy here. The main gimmick of picking up objects and
enemies and lobbing them around is as much silly fun as it always was.
Midnight Resistance remains a bit of a cult action classic
with a slightly iffy control scheme. It also has some serious flickering going
on at times but remains on the right side of fun with intense action and a host
of chunky power ups and toys to play with. If anything its arcade origins let
it down a bit as you can race through the thing in just over 20 minutes. It’s
the sort of game you’ll likely return to though and we are pleased it made
the cut.
The SNES selection is somewhat varied. The fighting game
genre is represented by the highly forgettable, but solid, Fighters History. Puzzle games get a shout with Magical Drop 2 and the action platformer Jo and Mac 2: Lost in the
Tropics (actually Jo and Mac 3) is also here. Pool simulator Side Pocket is the last game to make it.
Magical Drop is a charming colour based match three game
(which even way back here has the sense to add symbols for colour blind
players), where players grab coloured balls from the top of the screen before throwing
them back up onto other matching colours. It has a wealth of modes and the only
real criticism we can lay at it is that the story mode is insanely tough
towards the end and that it’s not Magical Drop 3 which is where the series
peaked.
Jo and Mac 2 is a fun action platformer much in the same
vein as the first game where your cavemen run around bashing dinosaurs on the
head. While undoubtedly good fun, it’s not as strong as the first game and also
quite short. It seems strange the original wasn’t included here, perhaps the
plan is to release the arcade version further down the line? That said, Jo and
Mac 2 can be hard to get hold of so from a collectors point of view it’s very
welcome.
Side Pocket is the wild card of the collection. An excellent
arcade Pool game it has a number of modes – including a trick shot section
which acts like a puzzle game. The main single player component has players
beating set scores on each table with a limited number of shots before moving
on to the next location. You start with sixteen shots and every time a ball isn’t
potted you lose one. You keep the amount of shots for the whole game so being
careful early on is key to success.
Overall, the first Data East collection is a good mix of
games that are all of a solid standard. Each one has something to offer and the
variety of the titles on show means there will be something here that everyone
can get into. It lacks any one stand out title, instead having a host of fun
and solid games likely to trigger nostalgia in a way a lot of the other carts probably
won’t. It may not reach ‘system seller’ status but it certainly is a worthy
addition to the Evercade line up and one of the most well rounded of the collections
on offer.
Game Ratings
Burger Time 3/5
Bad Dudes 3/5
Burnin’ Rubber (Bump & Jump) 4/5
Karate Champ 3/5
Fighter's History 3/5
Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics 4/5
Side Pocket 4/5
Magical Drop 2 4/5
Two Crude Dudes 3/5
Midnight Resistance 3/5
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