Blaze Entertainment has pushed the launch of its two forthcoming retro clamshell handhelds — THEC64 Handheld and The Spectrum Handheld — from October 2026 to April 22, 2027.
The announcement, posted on Blaze’s website on 29 September 2026, updates earlier details published when the partnership with Retro Games Ltd was revealed on 30 April 2026 and pre-orders first opened.
Background and delay
Blaze confirmed both units were initially set to ship in October 2026, with pre-orders going live on 30 April 2026.
The company said it is moving the release date from 15 October 2026 to 22 April 2027 for both standard and collector’s editions after identifying production issues that fell short of its quality standards.
Blaze stated it could have shipped in 2026 after minor fixes but chose to extend the timeline to ensure a better final product and thanked customers for their patience.
Blaze also noted the delay does not affect the Evercade Nexus, which is still expected to begin shipping on 30 October 2026.
Hardware and specifications
Both THEC64 Handheld and The Spectrum Handheld share the same physical specifications: dimensions of W136mm x H26mm x D86mm, a weight of 235g, and a 4.3-inch 840×480 IPS display.
Internally they run on a quad-core 1.2GHz processor with 256MB DDR RAM and include a 2000mAh battery providing roughly three-plus hours of playtime.
Connectivity features include a 3.5mm headphone jack, MicroSD slot for additional games, and a USB-A I/O port that supports an external USB keyboard; charging is via USB-C.
Software, games and formats
Each handheld ships with 25 preloaded games and supports loading additional titles from MicroSD.
THEC64 Handheld offers multiple Commodore 64 format presets (C64 PAL/NTSC, C64C, C64SX, PET64, C64 GS).
The Spectrum Handheld supports a range of Sinclair formats (48K, 128K, +2, +3 and variants) and CPU under/overclocking.
Preloaded highlights listed at announcement include Head Over Heels, Manic Miner, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, Paradroid, and Archon: The Light and the Dark, among others.
Pricing and collector editions
Standard units were priced at £109.99 / $129.99 / €129.99.
Collector’s Edition variants — which include a hard shell case and an exclusive magazine (Crash for The Spectrum, Zzap for THEC64) — were listed at £129.99 / $149.99 / €149.99 and limited to 2,000 units each via Funstock.co.uk and Funstock USA.
What this means
The delay shifts both handheld launches into spring 2027 while keeping Evercade Nexus shipments on track for late October 2026.
Blaze’s statement frames the change as a quality-control decision intended to deliver a more polished hardware experience to retro-gaming customers and collectors.
The announcement, posted on Blaze’s website on 29 September 2026, updates earlier details published when the partnership with Retro Games Ltd was revealed on 30 April 2026 and pre-orders first opened.
Background and delay
Blaze confirmed both units were initially set to ship in October 2026, with pre-orders going live on 30 April 2026.
The company said it is moving the release date from 15 October 2026 to 22 April 2027 for both standard and collector’s editions after identifying production issues that fell short of its quality standards.
Blaze stated it could have shipped in 2026 after minor fixes but chose to extend the timeline to ensure a better final product and thanked customers for their patience.
Blaze also noted the delay does not affect the Evercade Nexus, which is still expected to begin shipping on 30 October 2026.
Hardware and specifications
Both THEC64 Handheld and The Spectrum Handheld share the same physical specifications: dimensions of W136mm x H26mm x D86mm, a weight of 235g, and a 4.3-inch 840×480 IPS display.
Internally they run on a quad-core 1.2GHz processor with 256MB DDR RAM and include a 2000mAh battery providing roughly three-plus hours of playtime.
Connectivity features include a 3.5mm headphone jack, MicroSD slot for additional games, and a USB-A I/O port that supports an external USB keyboard; charging is via USB-C.
Software, games and formats
Each handheld ships with 25 preloaded games and supports loading additional titles from MicroSD.
THEC64 Handheld offers multiple Commodore 64 format presets (C64 PAL/NTSC, C64C, C64SX, PET64, C64 GS).
The Spectrum Handheld supports a range of Sinclair formats (48K, 128K, +2, +3 and variants) and CPU under/overclocking.
Preloaded highlights listed at announcement include Head Over Heels, Manic Miner, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, Paradroid, and Archon: The Light and the Dark, among others.
Pricing and collector editions
Standard units were priced at £109.99 / $129.99 / €129.99.
Collector’s Edition variants — which include a hard shell case and an exclusive magazine (Crash for The Spectrum, Zzap for THEC64) — were listed at £129.99 / $149.99 / €149.99 and limited to 2,000 units each via Funstock.co.uk and Funstock USA.
What this means
The delay shifts both handheld launches into spring 2027 while keeping Evercade Nexus shipments on track for late October 2026.
Blaze’s statement frames the change as a quality-control decision intended to deliver a more polished hardware experience to retro-gaming customers and collectors.
