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Megadrive/Genesis Mini: Sept 19 release date, $70, M2 doing the emulation, 40 Games (inc Castlevania)

Kazza

Member
I can fully understand that. Same goes for me; I prefer the three-button controller by quite a large margin. I dunno, maybe SEGA would've satisfied everybody with giving people the choice in all regions. I decided to forget the separate six-button controller we get here, because it's required for only one game I'm interested in (Eternal Champions). Are you going to get a three-button one if possible?

I don't know. Although I would prefer a 3-button controller, I'm not sure that I want one enough to go out of my way to buy one. The 6 button one will probably do just fine.
 

Kazza

Member



It's good to have the other two guys to balance out Mike's negativity and Nintendo bias (to be fair to Mike, I think he was deliberately hamming it up a bit). The guy looks like he could do with a good night's sleep and spend some time outside the house! I'm not a massive Cinemassacre fan, but I enjoy their film rental series and this new series looks like it will be fun too. Some nice banter makes this worth watching.

Best youtube comment:

I can understand Mike's true authentic experience thing but for me it's not authentic unless my parent's are upstairs arguing about who gets to keep me after the divorce.
 
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sol_bad

Member

Bullet Club

Member
Slightly off topic, but does anyone know if there are scans of an Australian magazine called Hyper????
I never even thought that there would be scan collections of old magazines.
There are scans of Hyper out there but the site that had them is down.

I still have a heap of old Hypers out in the garage, including the first few issues.
 

sol_bad

Member
There are scans of Hyper out there but the site that had them is down.

I still have a heap of old Hypers out in the garage, including the first few issues.

I remember reading Hyper and Megazone when I was young.
I still remember issue one of Hyper, Chun Li on the front and virtual sex.
o_O
 

Bullet Club

Member
I still remember issue one of Hyper, Chun Li on the front and virtual sex.
62zBaIW.jpg



Boner alert!
 
Just read my RetroGamer Magazine and looked at the Darius port Article.

So the port was actually done by that Famous Homebrewer, but under the Supervison of the original Darius Staff, Composer, and Musha Aleste's, Yuichi Toyama (Project Manager) to get it right. It includes all 26 Stages and Darius 2's Two Ships (Proco and Tait).

Interesting stuff!

It also interviews M2, which has some stuff from the Documentary from the LRG Battle Garegga release, but they mention how they didn't want to omit Blue from Gunstar Heroes on the Game Gear, but made a somewhat alternative story that Blue did his own thing.

Oh, and Gauntlet 4 was done with assistance from Quest (Magical Chase Staff).
 
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So wait...no Sonic 3/Sonic and Knuckles? No Streets of Rage I/III? No Phastasy Star II or III?

Please tell me there's going to be a Hackchii update available to correct these oversights...
 
So wait...no Sonic 3/Sonic and Knuckles? No Streets of Rage I/III? No Phastasy Star II or III?

Please tell me there's going to be a Hackchii update available to correct these oversights...

SEGA wanted to make 1 game per franchise (except Sonic) so we could have the likes of Darius, Super Fantasy Zone, Monster World 4 and Alisia Dragoon on the system.

Those are great games to substitute.
 
SEGA wanted to make 1 game per franchise (except Sonic) so we could have the likes of Darius, Super Fantasy Zone, Monster World 4 and Alisia Dragoon on the system.

Those are great games to substitute.

The lack of Ristar and inclusion of Virtua f*****g Fighter 2 renders this argument moot. Plus, why not up the memory and include all the games? Charge an extra $10 and include all the Sonics, all the Streets, etc.
 
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The lack of Ristar and inclusion of Virtua f*****g Fighter 2 renders this argument moot. Plus, why not up the memory and include all the games? Charge an extra $10 and include all the Sonics, all the Streets, etc.

Blame SEGA of America for the latter, no idea why Ristar isn't included but I am guessing they wanted to get Disney games on there which cost a bit.

There is a collection of the Mega Drive/Genesis on the PS4/Switch that has all the Streets of Rage and Sonic games for a fraction of the price if you want to play them again. The Mini seems to want to mix the common games with the rarities, which the Turbographix 16 is doing.

Not defending their game selection, but given that SoR, GA etc are on many compilations, it is nice to have some Gems but I agree that Ristar should be on there.
 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
I have no idea why I'm buying this
Your subconscious mind just told you to buy a brand new Sega Hardware.
He is goddam' right, pawl. Now, shut up and buy every Sega mini of every regions of the world.

Target 1 = 100 millions Sega mini sold in 2025 (MD, DC, SS, GG)
Target 2 = 09/09/2029 Dreamcast 2 launch with Yakuza 10, Shenmue 5, Alien Isolation 2, Persona 6, Jet Set Radio Universe, Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed 2, PSO 3, Vanquish 2, Skies of Arcadia 2, Border Break 2, Fighter Megamix 2, Valkyria Chronicles 5...

Game industry would be fun again. Burp
 
Thanks for all the incoming video reviews guys!

Really looking forward to play Earthworm Jim with a genuine Mega Drive controller. Owned the (in my opinion) inferior Super NES version back in the day. From what I've seen it looks marvelous on this miniature console.

Some people may dislike the Mega Drive's dithering, which was used as a pseudo transparency effect on CRT TVs back in the day, but I kinda like the way it looks on modern displays.
 

Neff

Member
M2's scanline filters do need a gamma adjust to prevent the image looking dark and requiring TV tuning. Their old Neo Geo ports on PS3 had gamma adjust and it looked great, I'm not sure why they stopped doing it.
 

TLZ

Banned
Thanks for all the incoming video reviews guys!

Really looking forward to play Earthworm Jim with a genuine Mega Drive controller. Owned the (in my opinion) inferior Super NES version back in the day. From what I've seen it looks marvelous on this miniature console.

Some people may dislike the Mega Drive's dithering, which was used as a pseudo transparency effect on CRT TVs back in the day, but I kinda like the way it looks on modern displays.
I haven't touched a mega drive controller since I had mine in the early 90s. Whenever I receive my mini nostalgia's going to hit hard.
 
I just want to say that despite some qualms about omissions and stuff, 42 games for $80/£70, all emulated at their best, with two controllers and having 3 games that were never released on a stock Mega Drive before, on top of some Gems such as Castlevania, Mega Man and Alisia Dragoon, that is amazing value for your money.

They picked an overall great line up of games with only a few glaring omissions and some duds and have gone out of their way to at least match the quality of the Nintendo Minis with more games at the cost of more basic functions.

I think the PC Engine Mini may not top this unless Konami provide an English Translation of Snatcher and provide the ROM Swap that SEGA have provided. Despite having 15 games more, duplicating 5 of them jsut feels like a cop out vs SEGA's ROM swaps that effectively have more games if you consider the line ups of every region.
 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
I just want to say that despite some qualms about omissions and stuff, 42 games for $80/£70, all emulated at their best, with two controllers and having 3 games that were never released on a stock Mega Drive before, on top of some Gems such as Castlevania, Mega Man and Alisia Dragoon, that is amazing value for your money.

They picked an overall great line up of games with only a few glaring omissions and some duds and have gone out of their way to at least match the quality of the Nintendo Minis with more games at the cost of more basic functions.

I think the PC Engine Mini may not top this unless Konami provide an English Translation of Snatcher and provide the ROM Swap that SEGA have provided. Despite having 15 games more, duplicating 5 of them jsut feels like a cop out vs SEGA's ROM swaps that effectively have more games if you consider the line ups of every region.
I thought the asian version was the best due to best Run and Guns, Alien Soldier and Shining Force 2 for deluxe S-RPG but I recently typed The Hybrid Front Review on google... I found this:
This game seems being "DA" hidden gem on the japanese mini.
The most "thrilling, mind blowing steategy game on the system".

With the breathtaking Yuyu Hakusho (best 16 bits versus fighting game aside neo geo games), i think the Japanese Megadrive mini is the real king of the battlefield.(the asian mini has no Versus fighting but the japanese one can handle the lack of Alien Soldier with Gunstar, Contra)
 
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RAIDEN1

Member
The thing is the fact that in some ways the genesis classics collection on the Xbox 360 and PS3 did a better emulation than the genesis mini in some respects (I am going by the review by IGN where on one of the sonic stages there is flicker of some sort..) AND you get the entire sonic1-3 included....
 

GrayFoxPL

Member
Sonic 3 is dead. Isn't this because Michael's Jackson involvement in the soundtrack?

Good thing I still got the PS2/PS3 collections with all Sanics.
 
I am very, very into this.

But.

I just spend a bit to put together a raspberry pi 4 emulationstation. How do I justify shelling out for a megadrive mini to my partner, Gaf?
 
The thing is the fact that in some ways the genesis classics collection on the Xbox 360 and PS3 did a better emulation than the genesis mini in some respects (I am going by the review by IGN where on one of the sonic stages there is flicker of some sort..) AND you get the entire sonic1-3 included....
The behavior IGN commented on is how it's supposed to look on the original hardware. It's an old "transparency" trick. If the 360/PS3 package didn't have this flickering, they have inaccurate emulation...which is what I've heard about those packages in general.
 
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JORMBO

Darkness no more
I wish these mini systems came with longer controller cords. I’ll probably have to grab a wireless one since 6 feet is too short.

Anyone that wants to play with me can sit on the floor :messenger_tongue:
 
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RAIDEN1

Member
The behavior IGN commented on is how it's supposed to look on the original hardware. It's an old "transparency" trick. If the 360/PS3 package didn't have this flickering, they have inaccurate emulation...which is what I've heard about those packages in general.
Not sure if it does or not, but anyway its a great collection nonetheless not saying Sega's efforts this time around are still bad, took them best part of 30 years to get it right...so I commend them for that..
 

Kazza

Member
I am very, very into this.

But.

I just spend a bit to put together a raspberry pi 4 emulationstation. How do I justify shelling out for a megadrive mini to my partner, Gaf?

This really is an evergreen article :messenger_beaming: :


Obviously actually paying for games will never be able to compete economically with downloading pirated copies for free, so I'm not sure what you want any of us to say. For me personally, I think that Sega have obviously put a lot of love, care and effort into this, and I don't mind spending my money on rewarding good work. Also, 42 games only works out as around $2 per game, plus you get 2 good quality 2D controllers and a cute model Megadrive, so I think it's good value for money.

If you do go down the build your own emulation box route, then I would recommend that you at least purchase the Megadrive collection on Steam. That will give you 59 legal game ROMs (including multiple notable absences from the Mini, such as Sonic 3 and Knuckles, SoR 1 & 3 etc), which you can then just copy onto your emulator of choice.

I think emulation is great, but feel that you should always buy the games whenever the publisher gives you an easy legal route to do so. One of my most nostalgic games for the Megadrive is Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Now, for a variety of obvious reasons, that game is never going to be re-released on any kind of collection, so I'm definitely going to download a ROM for that one, plug a Mini controller into my laptop and take a trip down memory lane.
 
This really is an evergreen article :messenger_beaming: :


Obviously actually paying for games will never be able to compete economically with downloading pirated copies for free, so I'm not sure what you want any of us to say. For me personally, I think that Sega have obviously put a lot of love, care and effort into this, and I don't mind spending my money on rewarding good work. Also, 42 games only works out as around $2 per game, plus you get 2 good quality 2D controllers and a cute model Megadrive, so I think it's good value for money.

If you do go down the build your own emulation box route, then I would recommend that you at least purchase the Megadrive collection on Steam. That will give you 59 legal game ROMs (including multiple notable absences from the Mini, such as Sonic 3 and Knuckles, SoR 1 & 3 etc), which you can then just copy onto your emulator of choice.

I think emulation is great, but feel that you should always buy the games whenever the publisher gives you an easy legal route to do so. One of my most nostalgic games for the Megadrive is Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Now, for a variety of obvious reasons, that game is never going to be re-released on any kind of collection, so I'm definitely going to download a ROM for that one, plug a Mini controller into my laptop and take a trip down memory lane.

Hah great read.

Yeah I get you, it's defintely good value for money. I have the megadrive collection on steam also. I've done work for Sega and other clients that orbit games they publish. So my emulator's guilt is easily out-weigh'd (at least for now.)

I work with a client who is mad on a preservation project he does in his spare time. His rom collection is really really fascinating. He's got version of games that were released in a very limited run before a fixed version was released. He's got really rare roms with translation patches applied. There was a load of games that a latvian made, he copied lots of mainstream hits and replaced alot of the graphics with christian symbolism, he's left notes in this rom that my client dug outw with a bit comparer and some other tool. That's just one example. I love the historical aspect of emulation.
 

Kazza

Member
Hah great read.

Yeah I get you, it's defintely good value for money. I have the megadrive collection on steam also. I've done work for Sega and other clients that orbit games they publish. So my emulator's guilt is easily out-weigh'd (at least for now.)

I work with a client who is mad on a preservation project he does in his spare time. His rom collection is really really fascinating. He's got version of games that were released in a very limited run before a fixed version was released. He's got really rare roms with translation patches applied. There was a load of games that a latvian made, he copied lots of mainstream hits and replaced alot of the graphics with christian symbolism, he's left notes in this rom that my client dug outw with a bit comparer and some other tool. That's just one example. I love the historical aspect of emulation.

I have a lot of respect for the emulation scene. I had a good few years without playing any games, so went on a spending spree a couple of years back (albeit a very inexpensive one) buying the OG Xbox, a PS2 a BC Wii etc, plus lots and lots of games. While having the actual physical hardware and software was a lot of fun, I think I would have just went the emulation route if I had known about it at the time. My mind was blown when I realised that you could in effect create a fake, virtual Megadrive/ Saturn etc on your PC (this was in 2017 - I know, really late to the party!). I remember how cool it was that I had to install a virtual CD drive and then trick my virtual Saturn that it was taking an actual CD! I know I probably sound stupid to you guys who have been emulating since 1998.

I think emulation especially great for those old arcade which are pretty much impossible to play nowadays. Even being able to play Switch games at a decent resolution and framerate is a great thing (although I worry about the potential for harmful piracy with such a new system being emulated).
 
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