Forgive me, I'm speechless at the fact a Banjo-Kazooie edition of the Super Pocket just dropped. Yep, you heard me right, one of the best retro handhelds out there right is not only getting a port of Rare's iconic collectathon platformer, but the portable is packing a bunch of other romps alongside its N64 headliner.
It's worth noting that Blaze hasn't officially announced the Super Pocket Rare Edition, but it is available to pre-order for £49.99 at Amazon (good spot, Time Extension). I'm not seeing any listings in the US yet, which makes sense since Blaze's best retro console contenders usually show up a little later. I'll be keeping an eye out for all you Banjo-Kazooie lovers in the states, but the UK page at least fills us in on what the portable is packing.
Clad in a blue, red, and yellow shell, this Rare Super Pocket is naturally an homage to everyone's favorite bird and bear duo. I'm sort of tickled at the fact it also looks like a Mario handheld, but the developer's logo on the bottom cements that this is a tribute to the '90s powerhouse that's responsible for most of the N64's greatest games.
On that note, the Rare Super Pocket has 14 games built in, but sadly, Banjo-Kazooie is the only early 3D romp on the list. That makes sense given its larger, and you're still getting excellent gems like Battletoads, Conker’s Pocket Tales, and Jetpac. Weirdly, Time Extension says a Funstock listing also included Blast Corps, another N64 classic, but the page seems to have been tweaked.
I'm hoping the Blast Corps mention means we're also getting standalone cartridges with more 3D N64 games, as this would feed into my theory about the new Evercade Wireless Controller with Analogue sticks. In any case, it's safe to say fans of both Banjo-Kazooie and Rare as a developer will likely go bananas over this collectable portable, and it demonstrates that Blaze is about to expand its cartridge library into more generations.
As a side note, Blaze also just unveiled two new Evercade cartridges, namely the Activision Collection 2 and Mega Cat Studios Collection 3. The former will save you from potentially buying an Atari 2600+ with classics like Pitfall II: Lost Caverns and H.E.R.O, whereas the latter goes in on retro-themed indies like Kudzu, GunTneR, and Rocket Panda. All in all, it's an exciting day to own one of the cartridge-wielding gadgets.
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