Would You Subscribe to Monthly Evercade Cartridges?

Last Updated on June 3, 2023

Getting hold of Evercade cartridges can be a bit tricky. If you miss the pre-order, you need to pretty much rely on one supplier as most others… well, let’s say they lack the reliability of Funstock.

But what if you decide you want to buy a cartridge that came out a few months before, only to find it is sold out? Perhaps you didn’t fancy it at the time, or were short of spare case. Maaybe you came to Evercade late, and missed some cartridges that you really want.

Heading to the high street or shopping centre isn’t the answer. GAME is famously light on Evercade cartridges. Over the past week I’ve visited three GAME stores: Teesside Park at Stockton, Middlesbrough, and Monk’s Cross at York. I found a grand total of three Evercade cartridges: TheC64 (at two locations) and Atari Lynx Collection 1 and 2.

Quick reminder: Blaze has released 36 cartridges at the time of writing.

In short, there is a supply and demand problem with Evercade cartridges, which is why I was intrigued by a recent conversation in the Evercade Fans Hub group on Facebook. User Chris Heikell posed the simple question:

I’d subscribe to cart service tbh. Monthly fee for delivery each month of the newest cart. What about you?

What a fantastic idea!

A few years ago, I ran a Doctor Who website. Around 2010/11, NerdBlock (later swallowed up by SubscriptionBoxesConglomeratePLC or similar) launched, offering monthly boxes of nerdy goodness for a regular subscription. They were kind enoigh to send a couple to me for review, and I have to say they were a lot of fun.

I’m sure you can see where I’m going here, but first: what did other Facebook group members think of Heikell’s question? Well, reponses range from “I’ve always thought this could have been good as a subscription service” to “it would also mean you would be paying for the questionable carts you don’t want” and “As someone who buys all the carts I actually wouldn’t like this idea. There’s too many scenarios that could result in a worse product.”

However, it doesn’t have to be just a cart. A quick perusal of these pages will show various news items for Strictly Limited Games or Limited Run Games releases. These are invariably based around a standard version of the game (usually on Nintendo Switch, sometimes PS4 and Xbox One as well) and then a souped-up special edition. Like a NerdBlock subscription, these special editions have desirable items inside, usually CDs and posters, occasionally something more surprising.

Now, scale this to a monthly subscription of Evercade cartridges. They could offer a standard cart, then a special/limited edition, complete with art poster, a specially minted coin for the release, a CD of the games’ soundtracks, perhaps a signed certificate of authentication (although given the one I got with my Evercade VS Founder Edition, perhaps that isn’t a great idea). You get the drift.

Of course, the Evercade team is small. That Blaze manages to bring monthly updates to the VS as well as managing regular cartridge releases and a new device every year (so far) is something of a miracle.

Could monthly Evercade cartridges on a subscription basis work? Most definitely. But given the scale of what is involved it probably won’t.

Not yet, anyway.