Sega Mega Drive mini - UK/ Europe launch 04 Oct 2019

Nintendonerd69 wrote:I can't decide whether to get this or not, my first Sega console was the Dreamcast so I have no connection with the mega drive, are the included games any good?

Nintendonerd69 wrote:I can't decide whether to get this or not, my first Sega console was the Dreamcast so I have no connection with the mega drive, are the included games any good?

kerr9000 wrote:The thing is the reports surrounding the ps1 classic before launch largely reported it not being great everything being said about the megadrive us how amazing it is, I don't think anyone is getting burned here .

kerr9000 wrote:The thing is the reports surrounding the ps1 classic before launch largely reported it not being great everything being said about the megadrive us how amazing it is, I don't think anyone is getting burned here .

Nintendonerd69 wrote:

kerr9000 wrote:The thing is the reports surrounding the ps1 classic before launch largely reported it not being great everything being said about the megadrive us how amazing it is, I don't think anyone is getting burned here .

That's true, I made my PlayStation classic better by getting one of those dongle's from Amazon, Argos seem to be selling off an older mega drive mini, I assume this wasn't the official one, it does have 85 games and 2 wireless controller's though, not bad for 30 quid.

Nintendonerd69 wrote:

kerr9000 wrote:The thing is the reports surrounding the ps1 classic before launch largely reported it not being great everything being said about the megadrive us how amazing it is, I don't think anyone is getting burned here .

That's true, I made my PlayStation classic better by getting one of those dongle's from Amazon, Argos seem to be selling off an older mega drive mini, I assume this wasn't the official one, it does have 85 games and 2 wireless controller's though, not bad for 30 quid.

Ad7 wrote:This month's retro gamer has a feature on this

The Sega Mega Drive - or Genesis, as it was known in North America - is quite rightly revered as one of the greatest consoles of all time, with a spectacular library of brilliant titles that still hold up today. And as a celebration of the machine and its games, Sega's new Mega Drive Mini pulls out all of the stops: the miniaturised rendition of the hardware outstrips similar efforts from Nintendo and Sony, the library of games is larger and brilliantly selected, while the emulation itself is delivered by none other than M2 - acknowledged masters of bringing the games of yesteryear to the hardware of today.

Once you hook up the Mini to your display, you're presented with a simple, clean menu system. Games are presented in a large grid format and by changing your language in the options menu, the covers change between different regions. There's also a nice spine view available which also highlights one of my favourite details - when looking at the Japanese Mega Drive selection, Super Fantasy Zone is presented as a smaller case - just like the real thing - while Road Rash receives a slightly thicker box design, just like all of the original EA releases of the period. It's this level of attention to detail that separates M2 from the rest.

Speaking of attention to detail, when you change the language it's not just the box art that changes - you also get different region variants of each game. In this case, the inclusion of multi-region ROMs is important because with many titles, there are notable differences between different regions. The Japanese version of Dynamite Headdy, for instance, features additional story elements, different artwork and is less punishing overall. Contra: The Hard Corps is easier in its Japanese form as well, and of course, if you select the European version, you get the sanitised Probotector variant. You don't need to import the different Minis to get all of the different versions of the games though - they're all there already.

Most importantly for European users, if you choose to play using the PAL region, the games run at 60Hz rather than 50Hz, so you don't need to deal with slower gameplay or judder as a result of the 50Hz output being resampled to 60Hz as we saw on PlayStation Classic. And of course, original PAL letterboxing is completely eliminated.

In summary, there's so much to love about this product, from the brilliant recreation of the machine itself to the excellent emulation and a simply stellar line-up of games. Audio delay, input lag and scaling oddities hold this back from absolute perfection - but for the purists, there's always the Analogue Mega Sg for absolute authenticity. However, for a product aimed at recapturing the magic of a very special era in console gaming, it's simply superb. If you grew up with Sega's 16-bit machine but haven't played it in a while, this is an unmissable release - and possibly the best mini retro console yet.

Abacus wrote:I think it's absolutely brilliant that Sega seem to have done this properly. Fair play.

I know no company deserves my money, but... yeah, OK, they probably deserve my money. It's only £20 more than a full priced game, to put it in perspective. I'm tempted to hook this up to my projector and play MASSIVE Sonic the Hedgehog on my wall.

I can also imagine this being an absolute corker of a Christmas gift for a gaming mate. Wouldn't you be absolutely chuffed? Not like the grubby shame of handing over a PS Classic mini

Cheeky Devlin wrote:

Nintendonerd69 wrote:

kerr9000 wrote:The thing is the reports surrounding the ps1 classic before launch largely reported it not being great everything being said about the megadrive us how amazing it is, I don't think anyone is getting burned here .

That's true, I made my PlayStation classic better by getting one of those dongle's from Amazon, Argos seem to be selling off an older mega drive mini, I assume this wasn't the official one, it does have 85 games and 2 wireless controller's though, not bad for 30 quid.

Yeah that'll be one of the old AT Games systems. They've got notoriously gooseberry fool emulation and are extremely cheaply made.

So glad Sega seem to have taken it off them for the Mini.