Gaming media is calling 2026 a pixel art renaissance — modern titles like REPLACED, Witchbrook, and Mina the Hollower are getting serious coverage, and outlets are writing entire pieces about why small teams keep choosing the pixel art look. It’s treated as a fresh trend. On Evercade, it’s been the plan since day one.
THE FIRST-EVER NATIVE EVERCADE GAME
Back in 2021, Cathedral — included on the Alwa’s Awakening/Cathedral cartridge (cart 27) — became the first brand-new game ever made specifically for Evercade. It’s a Metroidvania built entirely in a lovingly authentic pixel art style, paired on the same cart with Alwa’s Awakening, an NES-style platformer with its own original manual scan available on the site.
That’s five years of native pixel art games on physical Evercade cartridges — well before “pixel art renaissance” became a headline anywhere else.
GOODBOY GALAXY / WITCH N’ WIZ
Goodboy Galaxy/Witch n’ Wiz (cart 35) is arguably the high point of Evercade’s native indie output. Goodboy Galaxy casts you as Maxwell the dog, repairing a broken hyperdrive across the stars in a Game Boy Advance-style adventure with genuinely impressive pixel work. It’s paired with Witch n’ Wiz, a puzzle game about rescuing a childhood friend from a magical curse. Both are built from the ground up for Evercade — not ports, not remasters.
THE INDIE HEROES COLLECTION — FOUR VOLUMES AND COUNTING
This is the series that shows just how committed Evercade is to the indie pixel art space. Indie Heroes Collection 1 (cart 17) launched in 2021, and Blaze has kept going ever since:
- Indie Heroes Collection 2 (cart 28, January 2023) — NES-style games including Tapeworm Disco Puzzle, Nessy the Robot, and Reknum Souls Adventure.
- Indie Heroes Collection 3 (cart 37) — 13 games from modern creators working in vintage styles, including Donut Dodo, Thunder Paw, and Magic and Legend: Time Knights.
- Indie Heroes Collection 4 (cart 43) — the latest volume, including Murtop and Flea!2.
Four cartridges, spanning 2021 to today, all built around the same idea: give modern indie developers working in retro pixel art styles a real physical release, on real hardware, with a place on your shelf next to Sensible Soccer and R-Type.
WORTH WATCHING
A brand-new showcase called Pixel Arcadia, dedicated exclusively to retro games, is set to debut on 24 August 2026. Given how much of the current pixel art conversation Evercade’s own native library already anticipated, it’s one to keep an eye on.
Want to see everything Evercade’s indie scene has to offer? Browse the full Carts & Manuals library, or search every game — native and licensed — in the Evercade Games Database.