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Mega Cat Studios has built a serious reputation in the homebrew scene — crafting brand-new games that look, feel, and play like they were pulled straight from the golden age of retro gaming. Mega Cat Studios Collection 3 brings another batch of their finest work to the Evercade, and it’s a genuine treat for anyone who loves pixel art, chiptune soundtracks, and tight, satisfying gameplay.

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WHO ARE MEGA CAT STUDIOS?

Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mega Cat Studios is one of the most celebrated homebrew game developers in the world. They don’t just make ROMs — they produce physical cartridges with proper labels, manuals, and boxes, designed to sit proudly on your shelf alongside original releases.

What sets them apart is their commitment to authenticity. Their games are built using the same tools and techniques as classic developers, targeting real hardware constraints. The result? Games that feel genuinely of the era rather than just inspired by it.

Their partnership with Blaze Entertainment and the Evercade platform has been a brilliant one, giving their work a new audience of retro fans who might never have encountered the homebrew scene before.

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WHAT’S ON THE CARTRIDGE?

Mega Cat Studios Collection 3 packs in 11 homebrew titles spanning Game Boy, Game Boy Color, NES, Mega Drive, and SNES.

On the NES you get GunTneR (run and gun), Machine Cave, The Meating and Flap Happy (platformers and action), plus Plyuk (shooter). The portable entries are Kudzu on Game Boy — an adventure — and Gumball In Trick-or-treat Land on Game Boy Color. On 16-bit hardware: Gravibots and Super Fanger bring puzzle gameplay to the Mega Drive and SNES respectively, while Rocket Panda is a Mega Drive platformer.

These are not tech demos or curiosities — they are fully realised games with real replay value, each built to the technical standards of the original hardware they target.

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WHY THIS MATTERS FOR EVERCADE

One of the Evercade’s most exciting qualities is its willingness to celebrate games that exist outside the mainstream. The platform isn’t just a nostalgia machine — it’s a living archive of gaming culture, and homebrew collections like this one are a huge part of that story.

For many Evercade owners, Mega Cat Studios Collection 3 will be their first proper introduction to the homebrew world. That’s a genuinely exciting thing. These are games made out of pure passion, with no publisher pressure and no microtransactions — just developers who love retro gaming and want to push it forward.

Having them on a proper cartridge, playable on your VS, EXP, or handheld, feels exactly right. It’s the format these games deserve.

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THE HOMEBREW DIFFERENCE

It’s worth taking a moment to appreciate what Mega Cat Studios actually does. Making a game that runs correctly on a real NES or Mega Drive — respecting the original hardware’s limitations, palette restrictions, and processing constraints — is genuinely difficult. It requires deep technical knowledge and a love of the craft.

The games on this collection aren’t just stylistically retro. Many of them were designed to run on original hardware. That means when you’re playing them on your Evercade, you’re experiencing something that has been held to an incredibly high technical standard.

That attention to detail shows. The sprite work is crisp, the music hits those satisfying chiptune notes, and the controls have that snappy, immediate feel that classic games are remembered for.

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SHOULD YOU BUY IT?

If you have any interest in where retro gaming is heading — not just where it’s been — then yes, absolutely. Mega Cat Studios Collection 3 is the kind of cartridge that reminds you why the Evercade ecosystem is so special.

It’s new games that feel old, made by people who genuinely care. There’s nothing quite like it in the mainstream gaming space, and having a physical collection of this work is something worth appreciating.

Whether you love platformers, shooters, puzzlers, or adventures — and whether your heart belongs to the NES, Mega Drive, or Game Boy — there is something here for you.

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Want the full game-by-game breakdown? Head over to our dedicated page for Mega Cat Studios Collection 3 for the complete details, tracklist, and more.

The Rare Collection 1 cartridge is one of those releases that makes you stop and think about just how good Evercade has become at preserving gaming history. Rare — the studio behind some of the most beloved games of the 8-bit and 16-bit era — has a back catalogue that deserves to be celebrated, and this cart does exactly that.

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WHY RARE’S BACK CATALOGUE MATTERS

Before Rare became synonymous with Donkey Kong Country and GoldenEye, the studio spent years crafting some genuinely excellent games for the NES. Working under the name Ultimate Play the Game before that, and then pushing the NES further than most thought possible, Rare built a reputation for quality and technical ambition that few studios could match.

These are games that shaped a generation of players — many of whom may never have had the chance to experience them on original hardware. Getting them onto a single Evercade cartridge is a big deal.

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WHAT’S ON THE CART

Rare Collection 1 brings together a selection of NES classics that showcase the breadth of what the studio could do. You’re getting action, adventure, and arcade-style gameplay all in one place.

Battletoads is the obvious headline act. Notoriously tough, endlessly entertaining, and still looking sharp today — it’s a must-play for anyone who hasn’t tackled it before. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you about the Turbo Tunnel.

R.C. Pro-Am is a genuine classic. The isometric racing was ahead of its time on the NES, and it holds up remarkably well. Collecting letters, upgrading your vehicle, and battling rival racers still feels satisfying decades later.

Cobra Triangle doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves. This overhead water-based shooter asks a lot of you — defending bases, fighting bosses, managing multiple threats at once — and the payoff is hugely satisfying when it clicks.

Slalom takes things in a very different direction with its skiing gameplay, while Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll offers a quirky isometric platformer that showed just how creative Rare’s design teams could be.

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THE EVERCADE EXPERIENCE

Playing these games on Evercade — whether on the VS, the EXP, or one of the handheld units — feels completely natural. The cartridge format suits retro collections like this perfectly, and having a physical product to put on your shelf alongside the original era of gaming it represents is something digital storefronts simply can’t replicate.

The games run well, and the convenience of having them all in one place without hunting down original NES carts (or relying on emulation) is genuinely appreciated. This is exactly the kind of preservation work Evercade was built for.

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SHOULD YOU PICK IT UP?

If you have any affection for the NES era — or if you’re a retro gaming fan who wants to understand why Rare became such a legendary studio — Rare Collection 1 is an easy recommendation. The quality is consistently high, the variety keeps things interesting, and Battletoads alone is worth the price of admission for newcomers.

For long-time fans, it’s a wonderful piece of nostalgia packaged in exactly the right way.

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Want the full game list, more details, and the latest availability information? Head over to our dedicated Rare Collection 1 page for everything you need to know before you add this one to your collection.

The second Activision collection for Evercade is packed with Atari 2600 classics, and if you grew up pumping coins into arcade machines or glued to a CRT in the early 80s, there’s a very good chance something on this cart will hit you right in the nostalgia.

Here’s everything you need to know about what’s on the cartridge.

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THE FULL GAME LIST

Activision Collection 2 brings together 12 games from Activision’s golden era of Atari 2600 publishing. Here’s the complete lineup:

• Barnstorming
• Boxing
• Chopper Command
• Dragster
• Enduro
• Fishing Derby
• Freeway
• Kaboom!
• Pitfall!
• River Raid
• Seaquest
• Sky Jinks

A solid collection of some of the most recognisable titles from Activision’s early catalogue — and a few gems that don’t always get the attention they deserve.

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THE STANDOUT GAMES

River Raid is arguably the crown jewel here. Carol Shaw’s vertically scrolling shooter is still genuinely compelling — managing fuel while weaving through increasingly tight river sections holds up remarkably well. It’s one of the finest games ever made for the Atari 2600, full stop.

Pitfall! needs little introduction. David Crane’s side-scrolling adventure was a landmark title in 1982, and swinging across those crocodile pits still feels satisfying. If you’ve never played it, this is a great excuse.

Kaboom! is the kind of game that starts gentle and becomes utterly frantic within minutes. Catching bombs dropped by the Mad Bomber using your paddles — or in this case the analogue stick — is addictive in that one-more-go way that only the best arcade-style games manage.

Enduro is a surprisingly deep racing game for the hardware. Surviving each day by overtaking the required number of cars while visibility shifts through dawn, dusk, and snow is quietly brilliant. It’s one that rewards repeated play.

Chopper Command draws obvious comparisons to Defender, and that’s no bad thing. Protecting your convoy from waves of enemy aircraft while managing limited lives is tense and fun in equal measure.

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THE HIDDEN GEMS

Not every game on the cart is a household name, but that doesn’t mean they’re worth skipping.

Seaquest is an underwater shooter with a clever twist — you need to surface periodically to refuel your oxygen, while also rescuing divers before they drift off screen. It’s more strategic than it first appears.

Barnstorming is a simple but breezy stunt-flying game where you guide a biplane through a series of barns as quickly as possible. It’s not deep, but it’s fun in short bursts and works well for chasing your own best times.

Sky Jinks follows a similar time-trial formula — slalom flying around pylons — and is another one that’s light on complexity but satisfying when you’re going for a clean run.

Dragster is pure reflex gaming. Get your gear changes right, beat the clock. Simple, fast, and surprisingly replayable once you’re chasing a perfect run.

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IS IT WORTH PICKING UP?

If you already own Activision Collection 1, you’ll know the format well — faithful ports of Atari 2600 classics presented cleanly on Evercade hardware. Collection 2 continues that trend with a strong lineup that’s heavy on quality.

Even if some of the titles feel short by modern standards, that’s rather the point. These are score-chasing, reflex-testing games built for repeat play. On a handheld like the Evercade EXP or VS, they’re perfect for quick sessions or competitive play with friends.

With River Raid, Pitfall!, Kaboom!, and Enduro alone, this cart more than justifies its place in any Evercade collection.

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You can find full details, including where to buy, over on the Activision Collection 2 cartridge page here on evercade.info.