The Llamasoft Collection (Evercade) - A Fascinating Dive Into Jeff Minter's Early Career

Jeff Minter is a genuinely remarkable developer. Famous for his twitch gameplay and love of camels, Minter has somehow managed to carve out a niche in what has become an increasingly volatile and unpredictable industry, working with the likes of Atari and Xbox along the way but never losing sight of his offbeat vision.

Anyone who picked up Digital Eclipse's utterly superb Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story will know this, of course. Released in 2024, it compiled 42 of Minter's games, along with a wealth of other media, creating an interactive journey through his one-of-a-kind career.

It's a shame then that Evercade's Llamasoft Collection is always going to be in the shadow of that particular release; while it features 21 unique games (making it astonishingly good value for money compared to other Evercade carts), it's missing some of the more famous Minter titles – Tempest 2000 perhaps being the most obvious.

While there are 21 titles here, you're actually getting 27 games – because Blaze has decided to include variants of key releases, denoted by the 'A' and 'B' in the title. 'A' is the first release of a game, while 'B' is a port to another home computer system. It's interesting to see how specific titles were adapted to other formats, but we'd have preferred to have had 27 completely unique games.

Still, what's included here is fascinating all the same. From 1981's simplistic Deflex V to the intense 16-bit thrills of 1989's Super Grid Runner and 1991's Llamatron: 2112, Minter's skill at creating fast-paced and challenging arcade-style experiences is plain to see. Not every game is worth your time (even Minter himself doesn't have many nice things to say about 1982's Ratman), but Attack of the Muntant Camels, Hover Bover and Voidrunner are all excellent.

So, while it can't possibly compete with the more comprehensive Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, The Llamasoft Collection is still a solid addition to the Evercade library.