Category Archives: Interplay Collection 1

Exploring the games in the Interplay Collection 1 for Blaze’s Evercade retro handheld.

Evercade, Interplay Collection 1, SNES

Boogerman: It’s Easy Being Green

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It’s easy to write off Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure as a product of its time that’s not worth bothering with today. A 16-bit mascot platformer from ’90s Interplay featuring deliberate grossout humour and “attitude”? Hmm. Not what we might call a winning combination… at least if prejudice is to be believed

I must confess, I never playedΒ BoogermanΒ back in the day and indeed don’t remember seeing much about it at all. So my first real experience with it has been the SNES version, which can be easily found today as part of the Interplay Collection 1Β cartridge for the Evercade retro gaming system. And you hopefully know by now that one of my favourite things about that platform is the fact it provides us with the opportunity to explore and celebrate some of the lesser-known (or lesser-loved) titles from the land of retro, as well as some of the big names.

So get ready to pick it, lick it, roll it, flick it; we’re heading in for the snotty adventure of a lifetime. Bring a tissue or three.

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Evercade, Interplay Collection 1

Earthworm Jim: Shiny, Groovy People

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Earthworm Jim is, for many people, a defining game of the 16-bit home console era. Perhaps not in quite the same way as titles like Super Mario World and Sonic the Hedgehog, but it’s definitely a title people look back on fondly.

Probably the main reason for its enduring appeal is its incredible animation, which combines traditional hand-drawn techniques with digital pixel art to create something with a very distinctive and memorable aesthetic.

To my shame, I never played it back in the day. Thankfully, I can now correct that gap in my knowledge and experience thanks to the Mega Drive version being included on the Interplay Collection 1Β cartridge for the Evercade retro gaming system. So let’s dive in and see what I’ve been missing!

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Evercade, Interplay Collection 1, NES, Puzzlers

Titan: Break Out, In and All Around

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How do you improve on a classic formula? It’s a question many artists have explored over the years, and an easy answer for a lot of them seems to be “add more stuff”.

Atari’sΒ BreakoutΒ is an immensely influential game, which subsequently begat Taito’s wonderfulΒ ArkanoidΒ and all manner of other imitators from over the years.

French developer Titus Interactive observed that most Breakout clones over the years stuck rigidly to the “paddle at the bottom, single screen of blocks” formula. So in 1988, they set out to make something a bit different. The result wasΒ Titan, a title that has been newly resurrected for modern audiences thanks to theΒ Interplay Collection 1Β cartridge for the Evercade retro gaming system.

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Evercade, Interplay Collection 1, Switch

Incantation: Having a Wizard Time

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Nintendo’s widely beloved Super NES continued to get new games long after the Sony PlayStation and its rivals had brought in the “next generation” of gaming in 1994.

As you might expect, many of these titles from the latter days of the 16-bit era have very much flown under the radar over the years, and a lot of them have become expensive rarities that only those with deep pockets can hope to collect.

Incantation,Β a 1996 release by Titus, and a game that subsequently fell into the hands of the Interplay brand, is one such example, with carts commanding three-figure prices on the collectors’ market. As of the time of writing, you no longer need to pay through the nose for it, though, since you can find a modern rerelease of it on Interplay Collection 1Β for the Evercade retro gaming handheld. Let’s take a look!

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