Evercade has just revealed its biggest, boldest handheld yet, the Nexus, and honestly, this might be the one that finally tips the platform from niche retro curiosity into something much bigger. The highlights? A large, near-6-inch display, dual analogue sticks, and Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie carts included – this is a retro handheld designed for the 32- and 64-bit eras.
The Evercade Nexus is arriving in October 2026, and right away, it feels like a proper evolution of what Evercade retro has been building toward. Evercade is a company that has always leaned hard into physical media, cartridges, manuals, shelf presence, the lot, and now it’s pairing that old-school philosophy with hardware that actually feels built for modern expectations. It’s the reason why Evercade’s EXP-R and VS-R consoles rank highly in our best retro game console guide.
Let’s start with the obvious: the screen. At 5.89 inches, this is comfortably the largest display Evercade has ever put into a handheld, and paired with a bright IPS panel pushing past 500 nits, it’s a huge leap from the smaller 4.3-inch screen on the Evercade EXP-R. That alone changes the feel of the device, from a less toy-like retro gadget to something closer to Nintendo Switch.
Then there are the dual analogue sticks. It sounds small, but it’s not, as this opens the door to the 32-bit and 64-bit retro game eras in a way that feels natural, not compromised, and it instantly makes the Nexus feel more like a ‘proper’ handheld rather than a nostalgia-first device with limitations you work around.
Blaze isn’t being subtle about that shift either, because bundled in the box is a Banjo-Kazooie Double Pack, bringing Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie to Evercade on a single cartridge. And not just straight ports, these versions come with widescreen support, improved performance, camera tweaks and, crucially, twin-stick control. It’s a statement inclusion, and honestly, one of the strongest pack-ins Evercade has ever had.
There’s a sense throughout that this is Evercade growing up a bit. You still get the physical cartridges and that instant plug-and-play simplicity. Still, now it’s wrapped in a device that adds features players have been asking for: wireless headphone support, front-facing stereo speakers, a more comfortable grip, and a slightly more premium design.
Hidden away in the specs is EverSync, which delivers local wireless multiplayer and might be the sleeper hit feature here. You only need one cartridge between two systems, too. It’s such a simple, clever idea, the kind of thing that feels almost retro in spirit, like link cable gaming brought into the present, and it could end up being one of the Nexus’s defining features if it works smoothly. It opens up Evercade to a catalogue of overlooked multiplayer retro games, from Quake 2 to Speed Punks, and I’d like to place an order for ISS Pro Evolution.
The specs suggest a familiar foundation to existing hardware, a quad-core 1.5GHz processor and 4GB of RAM, but with enough headroom to better support more demanding systems and enhanced versions of classic games. The tech is clearly designed to ensure everything runs exactly as it should, only now with a bit more ambition about what ‘retro’ can include.
At $199.99 / £169.99 for the handheld only, and $229.99 / $189.99 for the limited 64 Edition, it’s a step up from the EXP-R, but it also feels like a hike in intent, too. A larger screen, better controls, smarter features, and a genuinely exciting pack-in, the Evercade Nexus feels like a next-gen retro handheld, if such a thing makes sense.
