It can be a depressing time for gaming right now, with RAMageddon causing hardware price hikes across the board and the hobby becoming ever more out of our control, whether it's an online game whose publisher is deciding to turn the servers off or Sony's controversial decision to kill off physical discs. No wonder more people are pining for a simpler time with retro gaming and looking to the best retro game consoles for inspiration.
That brings me to a new piece of hardware I got to check out at Gamescom 2026 that's actually worth getting excited about. The Evercade Nexus is the latest in a line of retro gaming consoles from UK company Blaze Entertainment, maker of the excellent Evercade EXP-R.
Rather than the kind of retro handhelds stuffed with emulators that leaves the grey area of how you obtain the games to run on them up to the owner, the Evercade has its own ecosystem of physical cartridges with a nice curved design so that when you slot them in they feel integrated with the handheld's dimensions.
More importantly, these are all officially licensed games, some of which run on emulation but also some that are custom-built for the hardware, and that so far already consists of more than 80 cartridges (the majority of them are compilations) spanning gaming history from console to arcade to home computers. It's a traditional gaming handheld for retro fans, and more conventional than the Pi Gaming, but an excellent Sinclair GamerCard.
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While originally focusing on 8-bit and 16-bit games, the Evercade's collection and hardware has been undergoing its own accelerated version of gaming console history, which brings us to the Evercade Nexus, a handheld that feels made for the early 3D gaming era, as evidence of its twin analogue sticks, while it also comes packaged with a cartridge that includes two all-timer 3D platformers from the N64 era, Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie.
Although I have sometimes been sceptical of retro handhelds with 16:9 displays when most emulated games were 4:3, the two Banjo games aren't emulations but native ports based on Microsoft's release for Rare Replay, as shown by Microsoft's name on the game's title screen. That means it uses a widescreen image and modern inputs, like being able to use the right stick to look with the camera.
Naturally, that makes the Nexus's larger 5.89-inch 840x512 screen a beautiful size for those N64 3D graphics, a considerable upgrade over the 4.3-inch 800×480 of its predecessor, the Evercade EXP. Sure, you might argue it could have gone one step further with an OLED screen, but Blaze is also keen to keep it at its affordable price point of £169.99 / $199.99 while still offering a bright IFS screen.
Alongside modest but functional memory, it ensures this handheld won't be a casualty of the unpredictable market of component shortages driving up the cost of other modern consoles.
If you're into classic vertical shooters, such as those from the Toaplan collection, you can also flip the Nexus on its side and play in Tate mode at the push of a button, with the intended view. While Tate mode was introduced on the EXP, it's better implemented here without the need for extra buttons, and it also explains why the twin sticks are in a symmetrical layout.
There is, however, another exclusive feature to the Nexus at launch called EverSync, which is a bit like the console's version of the Switch 2's local GameShare, allowing you to play multiplayer games with another Nexus owner, but where only the host has to own the game.
To be honest, this felt a little patchy to test during my appointment, which isn't what you want when testing a competitive fighting game like Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Although those who do want to play multiplayer games are better off investing in the Evercade Vs home console, which connects to the TV, this still sounds like an interesting option for handheld multiplayer.
While keeping things retro, the Nexus nonetheless has some modern features too, such as support for wireless headphones and WiFI 6, though that's only meant to receiving console updates. RGB lighting, on the other hand, does seem like a half-hearted attempt to appeal to modern gamers who like their RGB, although my curmudgeonly brain finds it too much of a gimmick and a garish eyesore.
Still, it's only for lighting up the Nexus logo on the bottom, is pretty easy to access from the settings, and yes, you can just turn it off too.
Yet while having two Banjo games bundled is a strong start, and The Doom Collection is also launching on the same date as the Nexus, I'm also scratching my head at what other 3D releases Blaze can realistically obtain licences for. After all, a console is only as good as the software it has, and while you can play any existing Evercade cartridges on this new system and get a better experience, what else is to come?
In the absence of a Super Mario 64, does that mean just more releases from the Rare Replay collection, or might we get some more obscure deep cuts that we had forgotten about from the 32-bit and 64-bit era?
But as more hardware – PC and retro – continue on unsustainable trajectories to the point where we're at the madness of four-figure handhelds, the Evercade Nexus feels like a defiant balm that transports us back to simpler times where gaming is still literally, and existentially, in your hands.
The Evercade Nexus launches on 30 October for £169.99 / $199.99 with the Banjo-Kazooie Double Pack included.
