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Forbes
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Review: The Data East And NEOGEO Evercade Super Pockets Are Fantastic
The new Data East and NEOGEO Super Pocket handhelds Next week on July 10th, HyperMegaTech! is launching their latest duo of Evercade-compatible Super Pocket devices in the form of the officially licensed NEOGEO and Data East variants for $69 each. HyperMegaTech! sent me both devices, along with a few Evercade multi-game cartridges, to test out over the last few days and I must say I'm coming away extremely impressed. Forget emulators; this feels like the proper way to enjoy retro games. Previously, the Super Pocket line from HyperMegaTech! included Taito and Capcom variants and has since expanded to also include Atari and Technos as well. Now, these two latest NEOGEO and Data East versions work the same way in that each handheld comes pre-loaded with a selection of games from the branded publisher, but the device also supports all Evercade cartridges as well. Given the price, build quality, game selection, and growing library of additional games, the value is off-the-charts for anyone like me who adores retro video games and game preservation. NEOGEO and Data East Super Pocket handhelds The Super Pocket Handheld Matt Gardner's original review here on Forbes from when the Evercade Super Pocket devices debuted still applies, but I'll offer my own praise all the same. As someone born in 1990, I grew up playing the Game Boy, Game Gear, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance all very heavily. The Super Pocket is very similar in size to the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color s[ecifically, which is an excellent form factor to land on. In short, this device easily fits in your pocket and if you snag a slim carrying case or something like that off Amazon, you can bring the device, a few favorite carts, and a charging cable along without taking up anywhere near as much space as you would for something like a Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch 2. The vision for the Evercade ecosystem is a return to 'games like they used to be' according to the official website. When you purchase an Evercade cartridge, you're getting not only a physical cart with complete games on it, but it's also packaged in a sturdy box and includes a full-color manual. Plus stickers. Inside the box of an Evercade game These Super Pocket devices are of course not the only Evercade devices on the planet, they're just the smallest and most affordable. In addition to those, there is also the EXP-R handheld, as well as the VS-R home console, and Alpha bartop arcade units to enjoy the classics on larger screens, including multiplayer. And for those unaware, the brilliant thing about Evercade cartridges is that each cart will work on all Evercade devices. That's true versatility and game ownership. I think my two biggest gripes with these devices is that there is no way to connect them together as far as I can tell in any sort of officially capacity, despite most of the games clearly supporting multiplayer in their original format, and also the fact that the game selection screen is lacking information. I'd love for something similar to the way Nintendo handles its classics library in which you can toggle an information window that has screenshots, a game summary paragraph, and even genre classifications. For someone like me who wasn't familiar with most of the Data East games, it would have been nice to skim over the selection menu and figure out what I wanted to try based on genre and screenshots rather than relying on often misleading 80s and 90s arcade cabinet art. It didn't seem like any of the games I tried really used the shoulder buttons, thankfully, since they're in extremely awkward spots. It's not easy to find a spot for those that is both ergonomic and doesn't ruin the form factor, but I feel like there must have been a better way. They're probably mostly for other Evercade games such as the Legacy of Kain or Tomb Raider collections. NEOGEO Super Pocket Handheld Evercade Super Pocket NEOGEO The new NEOGEO Super Pocket from HyperMegaTech! comes pre-installed with 14 games and dare I say not a single one of them isn't worth playing. I was of course very familiar with games like Fatal Fury, Metal Slug, Samurai Shodown, and even Shock Troopers, but had never played the others. Turns out, I'm now a big fan of Mutant Nation and Blazing Star as well. Here's the full NEOGEO Super Pocket game list: Plus, since these are mostly arcade games, playing through them isn't much of a problem since pushing the 'Select' button is just like popping in another quarter. Endless continues for everyone! Data East Super Pocket Handheld Evercade Super Pocket Data East Games Admittedly, Data East is not a publisher I know near as well as the likes of NEOGEO, Capcom, or Atari, but after looking through the included library I realized it's a company I was more familiar with than I realized. Bad Dudes and Burgertime alone are truly arcade icons. I don't think the game selection is as flush with consistent quality as the NEOGEO Super Pocket, but it's still very good and nostalgia will always play a factor for each person specifically. For example, I'd never played the two Dark Seal games but really, really liked the isometric dungeon-crawler beat 'em up style. Here's the full list of all 18 included games on the Data East Super Pocket: Recent and upcoming Evercade game releases New Evercade Game Releases The majority of Evercade releases have focused on arcade titles and releases from publishers that aren't as active as they once were, but new indie games and classic console games are hitting the library lately as well. Just this month the Gremlin Collection 2 includes four original PlayStation games like Loaded and Hogs of War, not to mention prior collections that included Tomb Raider and more previously. With over 500 games available now, Evercade is a growing and, somewhat surprisingly if you haven't been paying attention, flourishing platform with new games and multi-game carts planned every month. In addition to the two Super Pocket handhelds, the company also sent me three cartridges including Windjammers, Karnov, & Friends which just released this month with five total games: Windjammers, Karnov, Atomic Runner Chelnov, Vapor Trail: Hyper Offence Formation, and my personal favorite on the cart, Rohga: Armor Force. The other two cartridges I got were the Goodboy Galaxy/Witch N' Wiz indie game combo cart and the Toaplan Arcade 4 Collection which includes six games: Dogyuun, which was my favorite of this bunch, Grind Stormer, Knuckle Bash, Snow Bros. 2, Pip and Bibi's, and Sky Shark. And for what it's worth, I've enjoyed my time with these handhelds so much the last few days I went ahead and bought myself the first Duke Nukem Collection, which includes remasters of the first two Duke Nukem platformers, as well as Duke Nukem 3D. Next up, I'll probably spring for the Metal Dragon/Life on Mars two-game cart from Kai Magazine Software and the first Sunsoft Collection since it includes Journey to Silius, Blaster Master, and Aero the Acro-Bat. I'm really eyeing the two Gremlin Connections as well. A new game collecting addiction has definitely been awakened. Super Pocket handhelds and Evercade game cartridges Final Verdict—New Evercade Super Pockets Perhaps it's because these are my first-ever Evercade devices I've had the pleasure of using for more than a few minutes at a convention, but I absolutely adore these little pocket-sized wonders. They feel great in my hands, buttons are responsive, build quality is better than you'd expect, and the expansive library of possibilities is intoxicating. Ultimately though, it's undeniable that you could get 'more' by just buying a handheld emulator device, but those aren't officially licensed products with officially licensed games. The Evercade ecosystem is a way to support the industry directly and play authentic versions of these games, many of which just aren't accessible on home hardware for most gamers. If you present me with the choice between never-ending decision paralysis via an over-inflated digital collection of games I'll probably never play on a device that's not even optimized to run those games specifically, or, a bespoke handheld experience with the flexibility to be much more, at an affordable price, with officially licensed physical game cartridges, I'm picking the latter every single time. Disclosure: HyperMegaTech! sent me both the Data East Super Pocket handheld and NEOGEO Super Pocket handheld pre-release, as well as three Evercade game cartridges, to help facilitate this coverage.
CNBC
17-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
How Senate GOP 'no tax on tips' proposal differs from House Republican plan
Republicans proposed offering a tax break to tipped workers, as part of a package of tax cuts the Senate Finance Committee unveiled Monday. GOP lawmakers are trying to pass their multitrillion-dollar megabill in coming weeks. The Senate measure — which aims to fulfill a "no tax on tips" campaign pledge by President Donald Trump — is broadly similar to a provision that House GOP lawmakers passed in May as part of a domestic policy bill. In both versions, the tax break is structured as a deduction available on qualified tips. The Senate legislation defines such tips as ones that are paid in cash, charged or received as part of a tip-sharing arrangement. Taxpayers — both employees and independent contractors — would be able to claim it from 2025 through 2028. Filers could take advantage whether they itemize deductions on their tax returns or claim the standard deduction. However, the Senate proposal is different from the House version in two key ways, Matt Gardner, senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, wrote in an e-mail. First, the Senate legislation would cap the tax deduction at $25,000 per year, while it is uncapped in the House bill, Gardner wrote. Also, the income limits work differently in the Senate legislation, he wrote. The House bill makes the tax deduction completely unavailable once an individual's income hits $160,000 per year. By comparison, the Senate bill would gradually reduce the value of the tax deduction once an individual's income exceeds $150,000, or $300,000 for married couples. The Senate would dilute the tax break's value by $100 for every $1,000 of income over those thresholds. More from Personal Finance:'SALT' deduction in limbo as Senate Republicans unveil tax planHow to protect financial assets amid immigration raids, deportation worriesWhat a Trump, Powell showdown means for your money Senate Republicans, like those in the House, would limit the tax break to tipped workers in occupations that "customarily and regularly" had received tips on or before December 31, 2024. The bill text directs the U.S. Treasury Secretary to publish a list of those occupations within 90 days of the legislation's enactment. A "no tax on tips" proposal seems to have bipartisan appeal in the Senate, which unanimously passed a similar standalone measure last month. Former Vice President Kamala Harris also supported a tax break on tips during her 2024 presidential campaign. However, the tax break wouldn't benefit many workers, tax experts said. There were roughly 4 million workers in tipped occupations in 2023, about 2.5% percent of all employment, according to an analysis last year by Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at the Budget Lab at Yale and former chief economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the Biden administration. Additionally, a "meaningful share" of tipped workers already pay zero federal income tax, Tedeschi wrote. In other words, a proposal to exempt tips from federal tax wouldn't help these individuals, who already don't owe federal taxes. "More than a third — 37 percent — of tipped workers had incomes low enough that they faced no federal income tax in 2022, even before accounting for tax credits," Tedeschi wrote. "For non-tipped occupations, the equivalent share was only 16 percent." Tax deductions reduce the amount of income subject to tax (or, taxable income) and are generally more valuable for high-income taxpayers relative to tax credits. The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said it believed a better way to help workers would be to raise the federal minimum wage. A "no tax on tips" provision "gives the illusion of helping lower-income workers — while the rest of the legislation hands huge giveaways to the rich at the expense of the working class," EPI economic analysts wrote Thursday.
Forbes
18-05-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
LEGO Mario Kart (72037) Review: Worth Every Golden Coin
When LEGO announced the Mario Kart – Mario & Standard Kart set (72037) on March 10 — 'MAR10 Day' — it seemed like the perfect investment for both gamers and brick fans. Now it's finally here, and if you had reservations about preordering it, you can put them to bed because this kit is sublime. This Mario Kart-themed set is arguably the best of all the Super Mario series' builds so far, even the delightful 16-bit Mario & Yoshi (71438) kit. Thanks to some impressive ingenuity from Billund's creative team, it doesn't just look the part — it's also among the more satisfying LEGO releases to put together, and it only highlights the possibilities of the company's upcoming Pokémon partnership. LEGO Mario Kart 72037 is a bit of a whopper, coming in at 1,972 pieces — a reasonable 8.6 cents/7.6p a brick — weighing 5.5lbs (2.5kg) and measuring 9in x 8in x 13in (22cm x 19cm x 32cm) when fully built. I love LEGO's two-part packaging; it's a dream for collectors who prefer to keep the boxes, and it's so much easier to open them. After slicing the tape strips and lifting the lid on the LEGO Mario Kart 72037 set, you might be treated to a new change from the company for the first time. Goodbye plastic, hello paper. Matt Gardner There are 17 packs in all — nine for the kart and its stand, and eight for Mario — and all of them come in waxy paper bags with serrated openings. Sure, it feels like a drop in the ocean to see a company, which trades almost exclusively in plastic, cutting down on using it in its packaging, but credit where it's due: these pouches are great, and are much easier to open cleanly (at least, after a couple of folds). If anything, their sturdiness compared to their plastic predecessors means you have to double-check to see if any smaller pieces are still lodged inside. Best of all, there aren't any stickers. Any detailed pieces, of which there are only 12 — the eyes, hat/kart 'M' logos, glove knuckles, hubcaps, and outer exhaust trims — are printed, which should be the standard for any LEGO display kits. LEGO Mario Kart 72037 is technical to begin with —a bit like building the cores of the LEGO Star Wars helmets. As early as pack two, it gets fiddly, assembling the engine section and the steering pinion. Still, the lack of weird core color blocks as indicators proves it's easier than most detailed, technical sets. Once you've cleared the first four bags, you're on to finessing the kart. Now, I struggle with certain LEGO sets, specifically symmetrical builds, because the instructions can be immediately repetitive, making you run the same routine in reverse. That's not the case with this kart; it's nicely paced, focusing the build on one side for more extended periods — at least, to the point you don't feel cheated out of the chance to predict ahead and run two processes at once. Once you've completed pack nine, you have your kart and stand, which is a thing of beauty on its own. The stand is simple and surprisingly functional as it only moves laterally, with an impressively uncomplicated Technic mechanism. It takes a few minutes to get 'that' combination of pitch and angle, but its small, round link column doesn't limit you to a handful of options. Even without Mario, the kart and stand look great. Matt Gardner You might get your hopes up that Mario can stand alone, but he's built to sit. The hip joints focus on his look, meaning there's no articulation below his waist. It's a good decision, at least for this set. While I'm sure plenty of MOC makers will figure out a way to make him stand tall, he's been custom-made to fit this kart perfectly, right to the pedals. LEGO may've missed a trick to scale him to builds that would benefit from flexibility, but you wouldn't want to be locked into a $169 set just to get Mario for other releases. Sadly, Mario doesn't stand on his own two feet. Matt Gardner In packs 10 through 12, you build his surprisingly small body and legs, looking like a more family-friendly Belvedere Torso, then place them into the kart. The arms follow, and their Technic axle connections are particularly fiddly, but they thankfully hold well in any position once they're in. The most satisfying part of the build is at the very end, when you're creating Mario's head. It's one of those classic moments in a LEGO set when you can complete 90% of a bag and still have no idea why you've assembled what you have, only to slap on the last, larger pieces and create something incredible. The engineering of Mario's hat is marvelous, giving the brim a perfect pitch without sacrificing the aesthetic. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder LEGO Mario Kart 72037 isn't without the odd drawback. The exhausts aren't quite perfect, but it's a lot to ask from the curved pipe connectors. The front wheels are also a little off-kilter; their connections to the main kart body are quite lightweight, meaning they're never quite parallel with one another. The stand exacerbates this, as any pitched position other than level-straight sees them sagging in whatever direction gravity dictates. Mario's head is close to being guilty of the same issue, but just about maintains the right amount of resistance — impressive, considering how heavy his bonce is. For better and worse, one thing that doesn't have resistance is the stand, which slots into the bottom of the kart. If you pick the piece up by the kart, you'll leave the base behind, and I prefer it — better than it hanging on for a few seconds before dropping to the floor and potentially getting damaged. Even though no LEGO Super Mario set has had one before, part of me still wishes the 72037 set included a display plate and minifigure. It's the Star Wars LEGO fan in me, I guess, and it certainly doesn't need it to feel like a statement piece, especially with its stand. What's more, LEGO just released the perfect partner set for this Mario Kart package: the Spiny Shell (40787), also known as the Blue Shell of Death, which is, by all accounts, scaled perfectly to 72037. Annoyingly, LEGO has locked this set behind Insider Rewards, and I only just spent my points on the Micro Command Center (40786) to match my Galaxy Explorer. Roll on the next 4X Points event, unless a decent deal pops up on eBay. It's such a good set that there's a potential market for LEGO — and, if not, MOC creators — to design other karts for the portly plumber to sit in or on. The Pipe Frame, Mach 8, and B Dasher all seem like natural favorites; given Mario's inflexible legs, there's no chance we'll get a bike, or an ATV like the Wild Wiggler. I've got a few statement LEGO pieces I particularly love — the Tallneck, UCS Y-Wing, and even The Beatles' Yellow Submarine — but few have turned as many heads as the LEGO Mario Kart. Here's to whatever's up LEGO's sleeve next, but another tie-in to capitalize on Mario Kart World would be a great move for both the company and my ever-more cramped shelves.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
City crews assess Mission Beach Lifeguard Tower for repairs
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — City crews have begun evaluating the Mission Beach Lifeguard Tower in the first steps towards some action to repair the dilapidated building. In recent months, City Council declared the situation an emergency, earmarking $1 million toward repairs. Emergency funds allocated for Mission Beach Lifeguard Tower repairs The building has visible cracks, rusted metal, and is falling apart, Matt Gardner with the Mission Beach Town Council told FOX 5/KUSI earlier this month, and temporary barriers are in place around the lifeguard tower to prevent people from getting too close. On Earth Day, City engineers were out evaluating the damage on the inside and outside of the Mission Beach Lifeguard Tower, which has been beaten and battered by decades of wind and salt air. Near Belmont Park, shops and restaurants, the Mission Beach Lifeguard Tower is the busiest on the San Diego coastline, and this marks the first steps toward repairing the building dedicated to public health and safety. EPA administrator tours Tijuana River Valley, address sewage crisis The City of San Diego said they are considering setting up a temporary lifeguard station while the work takes place. A building moratorium in beach areas is in effect from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but since this is considered an emergency, those restrictions can be bypassed. There is no set timeline yet for when construction will begin. Dan Plante contributed to this report Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
