An offshoot of the brilliant Evercade retro gaming format, the HyperMegaTech Super Pocket handhelds are brilliant and compact gifts that any retro gamer should adore. Giving classic arcade games a new lease on life, the new handheld consoles are almost perfect, outside of a few curious design flaws.
At its core, the HyperMegaTech Super Pocket is an Evercade device. Releasing with two SKUs, a Taito device and a Capcom device, the handheld console is pre-loaded with a list of games from their assigned publisher. However, you can also slot in one of many Evercade cartridges to massively expand your game library.
Both devices have the same basic design. It’s a GameBoy-esque format with a comfortable D-Pad, tactile clicky face buttons and a menu button to access different settings. On the back, you’ll find four extra buttons — L1, L2, R1 and R2 — which feel good to press, but are also fairly awkward to use as they sit just where your fingers rest, leading to multiple accidental presses.
Nevertheless, the HyperMegaTech Super Pocket feels great to hold, replicating the charm of holding a GameBoy Colour and other retro handhelds superbly. Thankfully, there are modern touches as well, such as its crystal-clear 2.8-inch IPS display so you can actually see your games (unlike the GameBoy) and a USB-C port for charging. Long live, USB-C.
The 320x240 resolution of the Super Pocket doesn’t quite fit the standard output of a lot of the games available on the Taito, Capcom or even standard Evercade libraries. However, with a press of the menu button, you can change display options, allowing you to use a pixel-perfect display option that doesn’t stretch your games.
A number of other software features also make great additions here. For starters, there’s save and load states for each game, a must-have for short pick-up-and-play sessions outside, or when you feel your eyes starting to droop during a bedtime playing session.
One other feature you might need for bedtime, especially if you have a partner, is the device’s headphone jack. Weirdly, even on the Super Pocket’s lowest setting, the speakers are remarkably loud. If the bleeps and bloops of classic Taito arcade games are something you’d rather experience in milder volume, the Super Pocket doesn’t really suit your needs.
As for battery life, the HyperMegaTech Super Pocket lasts around four hours on a single charge. Unfortunately, you can’t reduce screen brightness to gain more game time — something that would be nice to see in future revisions — but four hours is more than enough for a game of Nightshade (Piko Collection 1 cartridge needed, of course).
HyperMegaTech Super Pocket Taito Games | HyperMegaTech Super Pocket Capcom Games |
|---|---|
Space Invaders | 1942 |
Bubble Bobble | 1943 |
Operation Wolf | 1944 : The Loop Master |
The NewZealand Story | Bionic Commando |
Rastan | Captain Commando |
Cadash | Final Fight |
Chack'n Pop | Forgotten Worlds |
Don Doko Don | Ghouls ‘n Ghosts |
Elevator Action | Megaman (Console version) |
Fairyland Story | Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS |
Most importantly, the HyperMegaTech device comes with a brilliant selection of built-in games that should appear to the vast majority of retro gamers, and even modern gamers. While the Capcom device is more suited to mainstream retro tastes, including titles such as Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Final Fight, the Taito machine is more of a relaxing time, including the always amazing Puzzle Bobble as well as Elevator Action, Fairytale Story and, yes, two versions of Space Invaders.
The HyperMegaTech Taito and Capcom devices are perfect entry points into the Evercade ecosystem, even if sometimes the button mapping on Evercade carts doesn’t match what the device tells you. If you never end up buying an Evercade cartridge, that’s fine, you still have a great selection of games to play.
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At the end of the day, the HyperMegaTech Super Pocket Taito and Capcom devices are perfect gifts, especially if you’re looking for an extra present this holiday season. With new Evercade carts releasing all the time, it’s also the gift that just keeps giving. (Well, if you keep giving, that is.)
