Mega Drive Re-Release!

[JD!]

Oh! My! GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You guys have to check THIS out!

It's a re release of sorts of Sega's Mega Drive. It comes with two controllers, has 15 games built in, including classics such as Sonic & Knuckles, Shadow Dancer, Banaza Bros and Alien Storm among others. However, the coolest feature is that it can play MD carts from ANYWHERE in the world!

At only $39/99UK ($78AU/ $65.50US) it's an outright steal! I'm ordering mine now!

Update: Shipping for the console is 7 pounds which is $11.45US or $13.65AU

Edited September 5, 2009 by JD!

[Blue Blood]

Yep, it's shit. All of these new Megadrives are shit. The sound quality is just abysmal, and the hardware emulation isn't much better.

Also, you act like this is a new thing. It isn't. These Megadrives come around all the time, and each one is as bad as the last. Some of them are even licensed by SEGA.

Edited September 5, 2009 by Blue Blood

[PaddyFancy]

I thought this particular one was out since last year.

[EuroMIX]

Makes me glad that I still have a MegaDrive or two sitting in my cupboard should I ever get too desperate for some real retro gaming, however instead of these things which people say are fairly 'broken' maybe that same money would be better spent on buying games on the Virtual Console, Live Arcade or other similar service.

[JezMM]

Yeah, I've seen these in GAME and HMV here in the UK for a few months now. Shame to hear they're bad quality, I was almost about to say "I never knew you could also play any other games on them, that's awesome!", but if they are as crap as people say... well, yeah, that's too bad.

I always find these bundles funny though. SEGA always seem to choose Sonic & Knuckles or Sonic Spinball for the lone Sonic game in collections all the time. The hardest and least accessible or a functional but clunky and difficult spin-off. Bizarre.

[GameFarnsworth940]

I used to have a similar one (with suprisingly good audio and close-to near-perfect emulation), but these things pop up very often. Electronic stores carry these a lot. Nothing new really. The only interesting thing is that it uses carts as well, but I only have carts for the Master System. Even if I did have MD carts, I'd pass.

[CapnCloudchaser]

Has anyone actually tried this specific model, or are we just going on anecdotal evidence of how well they perform?

Cos I've been really tempted to pick one up too. I have a spare MegaDrive copy of Streets of Rage 2 sitting on my shelf and no MegaDrive to play it on.

[Tornado]

That blue handheld one was pretty nifty, and was (supposedly) officially licenced. Nearly all of them are shit, though.

[azoo]

I wonder if anybody has any info about the quality of the Retro Gen?

It seems really nice, and only at $50 to boot. However, it still worries me if it's really liscened by SEGA or not, and if it's actually an at least somewhat-nice quality handheld (because if so, then it's definitely a buy for me).

I'm a little worried about it though, since it supposedly came out around July or such, and I haven't heard anything about it since...

Edited September 5, 2009 by Black Ranger Azukara

[Tornado]

How much does a typical used Genny go for in the U.K.? I know I can eBay a nice late Mk. II for only $15-20, and in some cases they even throw in the Mushroom for free.

Edited September 5, 2009 by Tornado

[FeathersMcGraw]

How much does a typical used Genny go for in the U.K.? I know I can eBay a nice late Mk. II for only $15-20, and in some cases they even throw in the Mushroom for free.

Yeah, the price is pretty comparable to that, the MegaDrive/Genesis was pretty popular here in the 90's (even managing to outsell the SNES) and as such they're very common on the second hand market.

Can't say I've had the pleasure of using this specific model, the only one I've actually played was the Plug and Play MegaDrive controller replica (the blue one), granted it was in a shop with no audible sound on the TV but it seemed okay for casual play I guess. But yeah, if this one is as terrible as I've heard I'd recommend just buying a second-hand MegaDrive, probably a lot cheaper too.

Edited September 5, 2009 by FeathersMcGraw

[Blue Blood]

You can find videos of almost all of these. They are all exceedingly poor.

[Tornado]

You can find videos of almost all of these. They are all exceedingly poor.

I'll add to this:

Someone on the Sega-16 forums took one of these apart (pretty sure it was an FC Twin), and the stuff they had to do to get it to even be competent was staggering.

[azoo]

Like I already asked, would Retro Gen happen to be one of these poor consoles?

[Blue Blood]

Yes. Retro Gen was the focus of a specific topic over at Sonic Retro (coincidence lol) where it was once again confirmed to be rubbish.

[azoo]

Wow. lol Can't believe I missed that. XD

EDIT: Checked the topic. Seemingly the product is still not out yet, so it ends up we won't exactly know for sure until it comes out. Oh well, I don't really care if the sound would be a little wonky; if that's what it really takes for me to (properly) play Sonic 1 on the go.

Edited September 5, 2009 by Black Ranger Azukara

[Blue Blood]

Ah, I must have been remembering the other products they mentioned. Really thought it was out though. Anyways, if it turns out to be decent then I'll definitely get one.

[JD!]

Yep, it's shit. All of these new Megadrives are shit. The sound quality is just abysmal, and the hardware emulation isn't much better.

Also, you act like this is a new thing. It isn't. These Megadrives come around all the time, and each one is as bad as the last. Some of them are even licensed by SEGA.

Well I've never seen one of these before. I've seen the plug and play stuff, but never an actual console. So this is new to me. I originally read about this in Retro Gamer magazine who said that the emulation was fine although they mentioned that some people had complained about the sound.

Still, I have two original MD consoles (one I use, one for backup) so if this does turn out to be sub par at least I can use it for back up if both my MDs die until I can geta replacement.

Guess I should have researched first before getting excited and buying one.

[Mollfie]

lol you're all so positive XD

I hope it works ok for you and you're happy with it! I used to know lots of people who owned similar 'consoles' when I lived abroad and they're ok, not great but not shit either, from my experience.

[JD!]

Well, like I say I do have two real Mega Drives, so it's not a HUGE problem if it doesn't work wonderfully. Sure, possibly wasting that money is annoying but it's not going to break me. It's a lesson learned. If worse comes to worse I can try and sell it on eBay or take it to the OpShop.

I received an e-mail saying it'll be shipped Monday so I'll let you know what it's like when it arrives.

[eXtaticus]

Personally, I'm going to wait for the FireCore model to be released.

Check it out at http://www.blazeeurope.com/sega/blaze-fire...le/prod_84.html!

EDIT: Just discovered: The Dingoo portable handheld system - with built-in MegaDrive emulator! Check it out at http://www.blazeeurope.com/sega/dingoo-a320/prod_76.html!

Edited September 7, 2009 by Extaticus

[Mick]

Woah! I want this very badly. I would hook this up in my room. Oh man, I totally want this. It'll be excellent to have a Mega Drive/Genesis again. I miss that console so much and I regret selling it.

One question though... could I hook this up in my ancient Samsung video gaming TV? I'm pretty much satisfied with this old TV and I plan on not getting a new TV at all.

[JD!]

Personally, I'm going to wait for the FireCore model to be released.

Check it out at http://www.blazeeurope.com/sega/blaze-fire...le/prod_84.html!

EDIT: Just discovered: The Dingoo portable handheld system - with built-in MegaDrive emulator! Check it out at http://www.blazeeurope.com/sega/dingoo-a320/prod_76.html!

Yeah, I saw that but the included games aren't as good as the other console's. And I didn't want to have to wait.

[Tornado]

I just noticed that Sega-16 has a review of the Genesis Portable on their website. According to them, its pretty good (thought it hasn't been picked up by any of the forum members yet, so who knows how competent it is technically speaking), though Mono only would be a deal breaker for me if it afflicted the Retro Gen as well. Which apparently starts being on sale tomorrow.

My interest in the Retro Gen has been piqued, admittedly, but I'm waiting to see how good it is before I pick one up. I'm not going to spend $60 to play my Sega games in handheld form if it turns out to be a piece of crap when I already have a PSP.

Edited September 29, 2009 by Tornado

[JD!]

So I got this thing last week and I'm sad to say pretty much all the negative comments are true. If you're interested in reading my tale of woe you can find it HERE.