Piko Interactive, as we've mentioned in the past, is a company which acquires the IP of other firms – such as those which are no longer in business – and repackages them for re-release, either on their existing system or modern-day ones.

We've already had three packs of Piko-owned games for Evercade, but this fourth helping brings something special to the table: N64 emulation.

There are ten games included here:

  • Bad Street Brawler
  • Glover (64-bit)
  • The Fidgetts
  • Mermaids of Atlantis
  • Risky Woods
  • Sküljagger: Revolt of the Westicans
  • Star X
  • Street Racer
  • Target: Renegade
  • Zero Tolerance Underground

The headline news here is the inclusion of Glover, an N64 title from 1998 developed by Interactive Studios, the company established by The Oliver Twins in 1994 that would later become known as Blitz Games Studios. To say this is a straight emulation isn't entirely true; Blaze has retooled the game for Evercade, making the visuals look much sharper and adapting the action to the console's digital pad. While Glover can't really be spoken of in the same breath as Mario 64, it's certainly a fun 3D puzzle platformer and one of the most accomplished titles yet seen on Evercade.

Street Racer is a fairly infamous Mario Kart clone from 1994 which made its way onto a wide range of systems (it's the SNES version that's included on this cart). While it can't hold a candle to Super Mario Kart, it's still a reasonably entertaining take on the genre which tries to incorporate elements of Street Fighter to keep things feeling fresh and different.

Zero Tolerance Underground (Genesis / Mega Drive) is an unreleased follow-up to the original Zero Tolerance, one of the few FPS games to be produced for Sega's 16-bit console. Viewed in 2024, it all looks laughably primitive, but it's nonetheless cool to be able to play a game which never actually made it to market (as an aside, Zero Tolerance Underground is included in Qubyte Interactive's Zero Tolerance Collection, so this isn't an exclusive release by any means).

Action platformers Risky Woods (Genesis) and Sküljagger: Revolt of the Westicans (SNES) are moderately entertaining for fans of the genre without pulling up any trees, but sadly, the NES fighting duo Bad Street Brawler and Target: Renegade are pretty terrible (at least the latter has an amazing Tim Follin soundtrack).

3D rail shooter Star X is something of a hidden gem, as it's arguably the closest the GBA ever got to having its own version of Star Fox. Alas, the gameplay doesn't quite match the impressive visuals, but it's worth a look regardless – if only to see how Nintendo's handheld was pushed by third-party developers.

Finally, we have The Fidgetts (Game Boy), which is a Lost Vikings-style puzzle platformer that's actually a lot better than it looks, and Mermaids of Atlantis (NES), a puzzle game which you might know better by its original name, Bubble Bath Babes, which infamously featured naked ladies. With or without cheesecake, it's not a particularly good game.

We've always maintained that these Evercade Piko collections are some of the most interesting cartridges for the system, purely because they throw up so many left-field titles from gaming's past. This fourth cart is no different, and while, with the exception of Glover, there's little here you could deem to be truly essential, we're still very happy that so many forgotten or overlooked games are getting a new lease of life in the modern era.