The New Sega Mega Drive!

SillySprout wrote:

Alpha eX wrote:

Spindash wrote:GRcade is serious business.

I will still have this. I have my Rolo to the Rescue cart ready and waiting.

o/

Rolo to the Rescue was one of my favourite games on the Mega Drive! It wasn't very popular at all, no one ever mentions it but it's such a great game. Played it again recently on the DS, good memories, still have my cart

Totally agree! I wish I kept my Mega Drive. May well pick one of these new machines up. I love that it has a slot for old cartridges, but I don't have any. Hmm, I wonder where I could pick some up...

Actually, Rolo is generally considered to have been a good game. Just a bit easy and paradoxically, too hard. Something to do with the save system I think.

Ah yes, that's right. It didn't have one. Like, at all. No saves, no passwords. Expecting you to complete the entire game in one sitting was perhaps a little impractical of the developer.

HailToTheKingBaby! wrote:Has anyone with one of these tried Virtua Racing? It's about the only Md game I think I still have, would love another go on it if it works...

If it uses software emulation, as was stated earlier in the thread, it could be a bit iffy. Then again, I have Virtual Racing working perfectly well on my laptop.

I picked one of these up yesterday and as an avid Sega lover and fan of the megadrive days in particular I only have 1 thing to say...

AVOID THIS LIKE THE PLAGUE, it is absolutely woeful, the sound output is apalling compared to a normal megadrive and it runs games slow, and 50% of my carts are glitchy...the other 50% refuse to load stating the error message "only for use on Pal / Secam megadrives" and this happens on NTSC or Pal modes, so in essence this is a useless piece of tat

Will be returning to Game tomorrow morning and then buying a replacement megadrive off ebay since my original finally bit the bullet some months back


Very gutted indeed as I figured this was a neat solution

Andrew_version1 wrote:I picked one of these up yesterday and as an avid Sega lover and fan of the megadrive days in particular I only have 1 thing to say...

AVOID THIS LIKE THE PLAGUE, it is absolutely woeful, the sound output is apalling compared to a normal megadrive and it runs games slow, and 50% of my carts are glitchy...the other 50% refuse to load stating the error message "only for use on Pal / Secam megadrives" and this happens on NTSC or Pal modes, so in essence this is a useless piece of tat

Will be returning to Game tomorrow morning and then buying a replacement megadrive off ebay since my original finally bit the bullet some months back


Very gutted indeed as I figured this was a neat solution

Blimey, I did have the impression it was a bit poor but not that bad! Shame though They should be treating the almighty Mega Drive with more respect than this!

I wonder how difficult it would be to make a USB cartridge connector, which could then be used with a decent emulator on a PC?

MCN wrote:I wonder how difficult it would be to make a USB cartridge connector, which could then be used with a decent emulator on a PC?

The presence of pre-dumped roms suggests that the electronics required wouldn't be too hard.

Though if you're going to be using an emulator anyway, you could just, you know, ditch the carts and go with an entirely software solution and use ROM images.

The main reason to use the original hardware would be the controller, for that authentic "playing on a Megadrive" feel.

TheTurnipKing wrote:

MCN wrote:I wonder how difficult it would be to make a USB cartridge connector, which could then be used with a decent emulator on a PC?

The presence of pre-dumped roms suggests that the electronics required wouldn't be too hard.

Though if you're going to be using an emulator anyway, you could just, you know, ditch the carts and go with an entirely software solution and use ROM images.

The main reason to use the original hardware would be the controller, for that authentic "playing on a Megadrive" feel.

I was thinking for the people who still have carts. And maybe you could put a joypad connection on the USB thingy as well, allowing the user to use a proper MD joypad.

That's my point. The carts themselves are largely irrelevant. A quick squizz around the internet should provide you with digital versions of any carts you own. Owning the carts is largely an archaeological matter these days, allowing you access to the original manuals and packaging.

Older systems have always been thus. These days, for example, it's actually significantly quicker and easier to grab ZX Spectrum software from the World of Spectrum that it would be to try and load them direct from cassette (a feat that is definately do-able).

Though there is definately something to be said for experiencing a game in it's original form, largely this is due to using the controller. (Kung Fu on NES with a NES Advantage? Retro-bliss)

TheTurnipKing wrote:That's my point. The carts themselves are largely irrelevant. A quick squizz around the internet should provide you with digital versions of any carts you own. Owning the carts is largely an archaeological matter these days, allowing you access to the original manuals and packaging.

Older systems have always been thus. These days, for example, it's actually significantly quicker and easier to grab ZX Spectrum software from the World of Spectrum that it would be to try and load them direct from cassette (a feat that is definately do-able).

Though there is definately something to be said for experiencing a game in it's original form, largely this is due to using the controller. (Kung Fu on NES with a NES Advantage? Retro-bliss)

Yes, but you know what some people are like. They want it to be as authentic as possible, but using modern display standards. I mean, the people in this very thread are talking about buying this item in order to play their old cartridges. If they wanted to play ripped ROMS, they would. And USB-converted Mega Drive pads are fairly easy to find online for much cheaper, and simple USB adaptors even cheaper than that.

MCN wrote:

TheTurnipKing wrote:That's my point. The carts themselves are largely irrelevant. A quick squizz around the internet should provide you with digital versions of any carts you own. Owning the carts is largely an archaeological matter these days, allowing you access to the original manuals and packaging.

Older systems have always been thus. These days, for example, it's actually significantly quicker and easier to grab ZX Spectrum software from the World of Spectrum that it would be to try and load them direct from cassette (a feat that is definately do-able).

Though there is definately something to be said for experiencing a game in it's original form, largely this is due to using the controller. (Kung Fu on NES with a NES Advantage? Retro-bliss)

Yes, but you know what some people are like. They want it to be as authentic as possible, but using modern display standards.

In which case, they're hardly likely to accept a USB adaptor with a couple of plugs on the end, no?

TheTurnipKing wrote:

MCN wrote:

TheTurnipKing wrote:That's my point. The carts themselves are largely irrelevant. A quick squizz around the internet should provide you with digital versions of any carts you own. Owning the carts is largely an archaeological matter these days, allowing you access to the original manuals and packaging.

Older systems have always been thus. These days, for example, it's actually significantly quicker and easier to grab ZX Spectrum software from the World of Spectrum that it would be to try and load them direct from cassette (a feat that is definately do-able).

Though there is definately something to be said for experiencing a game in it's original form, largely this is due to using the controller. (Kung Fu on NES with a NES Advantage? Retro-bliss)

Yes, but you know what some people are like. They want it to be as authentic as possible, but using modern display standards.

In which case, they're hardly likely to accept a USB adaptor with a couple of plugs on the end, no?

Make it look like a Mega Drive (only a bit smaller, a little wider than a cartridge), and I reckon they'd buy into it.

Shame this isn't the real deal but I have at least three megadrives in my loft so I'll just get one of those out instead.

Wouldn't mind either of these though,

strawberry floating o/ for all the Rolo love in here. Could never find a ROM for it, which is a shame as it'd be brilliant with save states! I'm going home today and the first thing I'm going to do when I get there is to put Rolo in my bag, as I always forget to take it back up with me

I think I'll stick with my girlfriend's MD2 we've got under the spare telly, no need to get this if you've got the real thing is there?