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Sega has announced a Mega Drive Mini 2, including Mega CD games

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
I think also Japan never got the Viewpoint - so perhaps that's one of the reason it's called a bonus. However on the video, they did mention that Western version did run pretty poorly, so they used the "teradrive technology to speed things up" .



Time stamped the play part on the announcement video (long one) ... I still think it's no match to the original Neo Geo, and looks pretty drab like the old genesis ver - but compared to other videos of the game, it does seem somewhat smoother.

Oh yeah, that is definitely the same Genesis port but they've addressed the slowdown, which was heavy and almost constant in the original. It appears much better, although like you said it's pretty easy to play the far superior Neo Geo version these days.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
Question is WHY did they leave out Snatcher, I mean even to this day you can't even get a legit officially released version of Policenauts....
 

lachesis

Member
Well, they have 1 more announcement left coming up in later this month... so hopefully Snatcher is one of them.
Since I'm getting the Genesis Mini 2, I would love to hear the list of the games for it... and I wonder what's the hold up is. :(

So far we have 27 ROM games + 17 CD games.
Each announcement, they announced a bonus title - and there have been 3.
So it's 24 ROM + 17 CD = 41 games + 3 bonus titles.

Which means, we have at least 9 games (they said 50) + probably 1 more bonus title?

And IIRC, Sega was pushing M2 to make 20 CD games for it... so I think there will be at least 3 CD games to be added, so it would make 6 ROM titles + 3 CD titles + 1 bonus.
(but I'm not sure if this would mean less CD games for the Genesis Mini 2... as some of the titles are clearly JP only ones, unless they are adding both versions like Robo Aleste)
 

cireza

Banned
Low effort SEGA as usual.

While it would be awesome to get SMT translated, especially as the SEGA CD version is very nice and has some changes, we of course won't be getting anything good in the West. The fact that a SEGA MegaDrive Mini 2 exists is a testimony of how low the efforts from the company have been. Can't wait for the next old-school series given to another no-name developer for a low effort revival.

No problem to ask 40$ for shitty ports of the same Sonic games, or bundle paid story DLC with Soul Hackers 2 at the day of release.

SEGA, you can kindly fuck off. I am tired of this shit.
 
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Crew511A

Member
Low effort SEGA as usual.

While it would be awesome to get SMT translated, especially as the SEGA CD version is very nice and has some changes, we of course won't be getting anything good in the West. The fact that a SEGA MegaDrive Mini 2 exists is a testimony of how low the efforts from the company have been. Can't wait for the next old-school series given to another no-name developer for a low effort revival.

No problem to ask 40$ for shitty ports of the same Sonic games, or bundle paid story DLC with Soul Hackers 2 at the day of release.

SEGA, you can kindly fuck off. I am tired of this shit.

So you're not getting a Mega Drive Mini 3 when Sega releases it in 2025?

But yeah, I feel you. I bought Genesis compilations on Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. I bought the Genesis Mini, hacked it, and I think I'm done buying the same games. Sega really needs to move on to arcade ports that didn't get home releases, or Saturn games, because this cow has been milked to death.
 
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Rodolink

Member
How can I preorder the western version with english translations? (it was confirmed a western one no?) could only find in amazon.jp japanese one
 
So you're not getting a Mega Drive Mini 3 when Sega releases it in 2025?

But yeah, I feel you. I bought Genesis compilations on Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. I bought the Genesis Mini, hacked it, and I think I'm done buying the same games. Sega really needs to move on to arcade ports that didn't get home releases, or Saturn games, because this cow has been milked to death.

Imagine a quality Sega Model 2 Collection containing perfectly emulated versions of:

Daytona USA
Virtua Cop 2
Sega Rally Championship
Virtua Fighter 2
Virtua Striker
Dynamite Cop
Zero Gunner
The House of the Dead
Cyber Troopers Virtua-On

With bonus unlockable stuff on top.
 

BlackTron

Member
So you're not getting a Mega Drive Mini 3 when Sega releases it in 2025?

But yeah, I feel you. I bought Genesis compilations on Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. I bought the Genesis Mini, hacked it, and I think I'm done buying the same games. Sega really needs to move on to arcade ports that didn't get home releases, or Saturn games, because this cow has been milked to death.

I also bought the first Mini and hacked it, and ultimately I feel like it was worth it to look awesome next to the SNES Mini. The USB controllers would have been god-tier feature if they were 6-button. As is, it's just kinda cool to have a Genesis USB controller.

I don't actually use it, in practice, to play any games. Because I can play them on everything else under the sun without bothering to switch inputs. One is okay for novelty, but I don't need ANY more of this stuff.
 

lachesis

Member
Sega of America scrambling to ascertain all the necessary rights for the western releases of the Mega CD games that Japan is getting.

I'm genuinely curious what the final CD games lineup will be for the Genesis Mini 2, and will it be worth it?

I do actually wonder though - wouldn't they be already all finished in getting the licenses talk with 3rd parties and involved parties well before going into development though?
Highly doubt if they actually developed whole thing already & getting the licenses afterwards.. sounds pretty backwards.

Then again, we are talking Sega here.. so backwards is their nature. ;) (Urgh, the pain the Sega fans like me have to endure... lol)

I am mostly content with the JP version of CD line up. I do hope Popful Mail stays in as it already have western release. Not sure if Romance of 3 kingdoms or some other ones that never got released in U.S. would stay in though. SMT would be nice, if they could localize too... but I think that's asking little too much. (technically, english translation is already done on mobile ver?)
 
Sega of America scrambling to ascertain all the necessary rights for the western releases of the Mega CD games that Japan is getting.

I'm genuinely curious what the final CD games lineup will be for the Genesis Mini 2, and will it be worth it?

Popful Mail is ace, it's a great action - platformer with RPG elements and one of the best games on the Sega Mega Drive/CD-Addon. I think that's included, right?

Here's some promotion for it:


Early 90s anime vibe, and 90s anime is the best anime.

Tho i hate the fact that Working Designs (the guys who ported over this game and a number of other games to NA) had this stupidly shitty habit of messing around with their localization projects. In Popful Mail's case, they significantly increased the difficulty by tweaking some stuff, and ruining the balance intended by the original developers. Even with this absurd difficulty spike, it's still a great game. Tho if you find it too difficult, i highly recommend applying a "Un-Working Designs" patch to revert the gameplay back to its original Japanese release while keeping its translation. Pretty much every game localized by Working Designs has a "Un-Working Designs" patch, lmao.
 

Bullet Club

Member
MD2 Mini is coming out in Europe.

Here's the full US/Euro game list. No Lunar or Popful Mail for us.

After Burner II
Alien Soldier
Atomic Runner
Bonanza Bros.
ClayFighter
Crusader of Centy
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
Earthworm Jim 2
Elemental Master
Fatal Fury 2
Gain Ground
Golden Ax II
Granada
Hellfire
Herzog Zwei
Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar
Midnight Resistance
OutRun
OutRunners
Phantasy Star II
Populous
RAINBOW ISLANDS -EXTRA-
Ranger-X
Ristar
ROLLING THUNDER 2
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shining Force II
Shining in the Darkness
Sonic 3D Blast
SPLATTERHOUSE 2
Streets of Rage 3
Super Hang-On
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II THE NEW CHALLENGERS
The Ooze
The Revenge of Shinobi
ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
Truxton
VectorMan 2
Viewpoint
Virtua Racing
Warsong

Sega CD:
Ecco the Dolphin (CD Ver.)
Ecco: The Tides of Time (CD Ver.)
Final Fight CD
Mansion of Hidden Souls
NIGHT STRIKER
Night Trap
Robo Aleste
Sewer Shark
Shining Force CD
SILPHEED
Sonic The Hedgehog CD
THE NINJA WARRIORS

Special titles:
Devi & Pii (unreleased)
Fantasy Zone (new port by M2 specifically designed for Genesis)
Space Harrier II + Space Harrier (enhanced port that uses sprite zoom)
Spatter (port of arcade title by M2)
Star Mobile (unreleased for Genesis)
Super Locomotive (new port of 1982 arcade title by M2)
VS Puyo Puyo Sun (demake that only has VS mode)
 

saturnalian

Member
MD2 Mini is coming out in Europe.

Here's the full US/Euro game list. No Lunar or Popful Mail for us.

After Burner II
Alien Soldier
Atomic Runner
Bonanza Bros.
ClayFighter
Crusader of Centy
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
Earthworm Jim 2
Elemental Master
Fatal Fury 2
Gain Ground
Golden Ax II
Granada
Hellfire
Herzog Zwei
Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar
Midnight Resistance
OutRun
OutRunners
Phantasy Star II
Populous
RAINBOW ISLANDS -EXTRA-
Ranger-X
Ristar
ROLLING THUNDER 2
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shining Force II
Shining in the Darkness
Sonic 3D Blast
SPLATTERHOUSE 2
Streets of Rage 3
Super Hang-On
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II THE NEW CHALLENGERS
The Ooze
The Revenge of Shinobi
ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
Truxton
VectorMan 2
Viewpoint
Virtua Racing
Warsong

Sega CD:
Ecco the Dolphin (CD Ver.)
Ecco: The Tides of Time (CD Ver.)
Final Fight CD
Mansion of Hidden Souls
NIGHT STRIKER
Night Trap
Robo Aleste
Sewer Shark
Shining Force CD
SILPHEED
Sonic The Hedgehog CD
THE NINJA WARRIORS

Special titles:
Devi & Pii (unreleased)
Fantasy Zone (new port by M2 specifically designed for Genesis)
Space Harrier II + Space Harrier (enhanced port that uses sprite zoom)
Spatter (port of arcade title by M2)
Star Mobile (unreleased for Genesis)
Super Locomotive (new port of 1982 arcade title by M2)
VS Puyo Puyo Sun (demake that only has VS mode)
Oh well. I'm out.



According to this thread, we're not getting Lunar in the US/EU because not enough cash was offered.
 
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Bullet Club

Member
If you click on the video link and stop it before it goes to the private page, you can watch it.

Code:
https://youtu.be/lzE_oH-MDAM

7Lb1Is2.png


Edit: It's not private now.

 
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Isa

Gold Member
Seriously, this was pretty underwhelming, for the west and myself at least. Not sure I want to keep my preorder. I was hoping and praying for the WD games, I wanted to have them easily accessible. Now it looks like I'll have to go the emulation route. There are a few decent titles and a few really cheap filler for Sega to throw in to pad out the usual list. Never ceases to amaze me how many times Sega managed to drop the ball throughout my life. They've had so many chances to earn some goodwill and throw the fans a bone yet they seem oblivious to what helped make them famous.
 

lachesis

Member
My excitement level seriously just dropped quite a bit.
I like some games that are included (the new ones), but missing out Working Designs games... sigh. :(
 
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PhaseJump

Banned
Oh well. I'm out.



According to this thread, we're not getting Lunar in the US/EU because not enough cash was offered.


Reading that Vic Ireland implies that the Japanese versions are too complex for US players to bother with, has to be icing on the figurative cake with my morning coffee.
The scene already put out "Unworking Designs" patches to remove his gameplay changes on most if not all of these games, because Vic Ireland's re-balancing work was borderline fucking retarded.


I'm not too upset by Lunars and Popful Mail not being there. Those games are great, but this thing has Crusader of Centy, Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force 2, and Warsong; Not to mention the rest of the lineup having pure awesome action games that dominated in the 16bit generation. Herzog Zwei, Lightening Force, Granada, Revenge of Shinobi.

Most nostalgic retro gamers who stuck to SNES and never dived into the Genesis library could do a lot worse than picking up this thing. It looks good, seems to come with a USB 6 button pad which would be useful. Shame that there's just 1 in the box instead of 2 like the first Mini. Shame that it is sold only at Amazon Japan.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
I think I'll pass. I have most of those games already on my original Mini.

CD games I can live without. If Lunars were on it I might've considered. Ninja Warriors is a novelty but the PS4 remaster sequel is so much better anyway. Final Fight CD would be fun for the OST alone.
 

Shifty1897

Member
Honestly, I blame Vic for this. He more than likely asked for a ridiculous amount of money for the rights to two 30 year old Sega CD games.
 

PhaseJump

Banned
Fun fact.

Amazon Japan sells and ships this exclusively, has "For Sales to North America" in the title. ... Yet they won't ship to Canada.
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
A Super Scaler version of Space Harrier II is almost worth the price of admission by itself though. There's some b-tier garbage filler on there (no one will ever want to play the Genesis version of Outrunners) but the new arcade ports and unreleased titles kind of make up for that.
 

ShirAhava

Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
That US Sega CD list is "why even bother then" levels of fail none of my fav Sega CD games other than Sonic CD are on there

Fatal Fury Special
Lunar 1
Lunar 2
Popful Mail aka Sister Sonic (lmao)
Vay
Time Gal
Snatcher

The Genesis side is great tho still getting this for that and the fact that the hardware has been upgraded (and can be hacked)
 

Barakov

Member
MD2 Mini is coming out in Europe.

Here's the full US/Euro game list. No Lunar or Popful Mail for us.

After Burner II
Alien Soldier
Atomic Runner
Bonanza Bros.
ClayFighter
Crusader of Centy
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
Earthworm Jim 2
Elemental Master
Fatal Fury 2
Gain Ground
Golden Ax II
Granada
Hellfire
Herzog Zwei
Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar
Midnight Resistance
OutRun
OutRunners
Phantasy Star II
Populous
RAINBOW ISLANDS -EXTRA-
Ranger-X
Ristar
ROLLING THUNDER 2
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shining Force II
Shining in the Darkness
Sonic 3D Blast
SPLATTERHOUSE 2
Streets of Rage 3
Super Hang-On
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II THE NEW CHALLENGERS
The Ooze
The Revenge of Shinobi
ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
Truxton
VectorMan 2
Viewpoint
Virtua Racing
Warsong

Sega CD:
Ecco the Dolphin (CD Ver.)
Ecco: The Tides of Time (CD Ver.)
Final Fight CD
Mansion of Hidden Souls
NIGHT STRIKER
Night Trap
Robo Aleste
Sewer Shark
Shining Force CD
SILPHEED
Sonic The Hedgehog CD
THE NINJA WARRIORS

Special titles:
Devi & Pii (unreleased)
Fantasy Zone (new port by M2 specifically designed for Genesis)
Space Harrier II + Space Harrier (enhanced port that uses sprite zoom)
Spatter (port of arcade title by M2)
Star Mobile (unreleased for Genesis)
Super Locomotive (new port of 1982 arcade title by M2)
VS Puyo Puyo Sun (demake that only has VS mode)
Angry Parks And Recreation GIF by PeacockTV
 
So how big a deal is this for someone who never played any of these games or owned a saga system until the Dreamcast?

I was an SNES kid growing up and didn’t play saga except for sonic. Is it a must get to play these games for the first time? Or is this a meh, maybe wait for a sale?
 

dave_d

Member
I'm not too upset by Lunars and Popful Mail not being there. Those games are great, but this thing has Crusader of Centy, Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force 2, and Warsong; Not to mention the rest of the lineup having pure awesome action games that dominated in the 16bit generation. Herzog Zwei, Lightening Force, Granada, Revenge of Shinobi.
Wait, it's got Crusader of Centy? I played the Japanese version of that and thought it was pretty good but missed out playing it in English. That makes me want to buy one. (BTW Warsong is good as well although the manual that the original genesis version had was borderline useless.)
 

lachesis

Member
It's like grass seem to be greener on the other side. :(

Been thinking about it some more - whether to cancel the US ver and get JP ver... but decided to keep the U.S. ver.

There are several games I could care less on JP ver, and US ver games aren't that bad at all. There are some real gems in the list - but My biggest issue is US ver doesn't have as many CD games,
and the whole library is little too skewed towards action and shooting games only. (JP version seem to cover a lot more variety of games and genres... and some that I would have loved to have, than say, Night Trap and Sewer Shark)

At least I'm actually glad they'll add larger 6 button controller for Genesis MIni 2 (I didn't like that tiny Asian/JP 6 button controller)
 

dave_d

Member
So wait, is the only place to get it amazon japan even for the US version? (I went on Amazon for it and the retailer was Amazon Japan which means no free prime shipping.)
 

KellyM

Member
So wait, is the only place to get it amazon japan even for the US version? (I went on Amazon for it and the retailer was Amazon Japan which means no free prime shipping.)
Correct it is being done by Sega of Japan and NOT Sega of America. Hence it is only avaliable from Amazon of Japan even if you order it on the US site.
 
So how big a deal is this for someone who never played any of these games or owned a saga system until the Dreamcast?

I was an SNES kid growing up and didn’t play saga except for sonic. Is it a must get to play these games for the first time? Or is this a meh, maybe wait for a sale?

There are a few standouts which are top tier, a few which are good, but there is also a lot of filler that isn't good. To get a good frame of reference, here's what i believe are the best games on the Mega Drive, ranked top 20:

1. Phantasy Star IV
2. Thunderforce IV (localized in NA with the incredibly shitty name 'Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar')
3. Shining Force II
4. Alien Soldier
5. Battle Mania Daiginjō
6. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
7. Gunstar Heroes
8. Rocket Knight Adventures (JP version)
9. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles
10. Streets of Rage 2
11. Gaiares
12. Pulseman
13. Castlevania Bloodlines
14. Eliminate Down
15. Sonic The Hedgehog 2
16. Mega Turrican
17. MUSHA: Metallic Uniframe Hybrid Armor
18. Contra: Hard Cops
19. Ranger-X
20. Panorama Cotton

Rest are unranked, but decent to great games worth playing:

Slap Fight MD
Granada
Ecco the Dolphin & Ecco: The Tides of Time
Langrisser II
Herzog Zwei
Phantasy Star II
Truxton
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
Fire Shark
Air Buster
Super Fantasy Zone
Disney's Aladdin
Battle Mania (prequel to Daiginjō, known as Trouble Shooter in US)
Elemental Master
Burning Force
Thunder Force III
Sonic The Hedgehog
Beyond Oasis
Dynamite Headdy (JP version with the translation patch, the localization cut content out)
Gley Lancer
Ristar
Shining Force
Splatterhouse 2 & 3
Twinkle Tale
Streets of Rage
Golden Axe (solid port with a couple of extra levels added; decent, not close to the best, but definitely iconic)
Bare Knuckle III (Import of Streets of Rage 3 with a fan translation patch available, the US release changed a lot of things for the worse)
Comix Zone

I avoided all the stuff that i believe aren't worth playing today - like sports games, stuff i thing genuinely haven't aged well (like Road Rash, wtf is that 2 FPS?, Altered Beast - shitty arcade port of a mediocre beat 'em up, shitty arcade ports in general, like Street Fighter on 4th gen machines lol, or Mortal Kombat, etc.)
 

dave_d

Member
Correct it is being done by Sega of Japan and NOT Sega of America. Hence it is only avaliable from Amazon of Japan even if you order it on the US site.
Thanks for the info. Guess so I guess there's no getting around the extra shipping fees. (It's very tempting for me just for Crusader of Centy.)
 

Kilau

Gold Member
Seems really silly to release this “CD” retro console without the pretend “CD” attachment. I know it’s available in Japan but it really should be bundled.
 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
So you're not getting a Mega Drive Mini 3 when Sega releases it in 2025?

But yeah, I feel you. I bought Genesis compilations on Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. I bought the Genesis Mini, hacked it, and I think I'm done buying the same games. Sega really needs to move on to arcade ports that didn't get home releases, or Saturn games, because this cow has been milked to death.

I agree for the boring Genesis compilations with the same usual suspects... Nonetheless, i kinda disagree for Japanese and Asian mini(s) : Yuyu Hakusho, Magical Taruru, Technosoft, Disney, Konami, Wolf Team, Toaplan, Final Fight CD, Shining Force CD and so many unreleased games: The previous Genesis Collections were mostly Sega 1st and Second party.

M2 did a tremendous job with the mini(s).


Plus, as you requested Yosuke Okunari already released arcade ports with the Astro City mini(s):

- System 16

- System 32 (Revenge of fucking Death adder)

- Model 1

- Yakuza games are full of Model 2 games (most of the time ultra superiors of Saturn games you're begging for like FV, VF2,Virtual On and never released Motor Raid in Judgment), Lindbergh as well.

- Last year, Sega gave us on Steam a Saturn remake (Nights)

- Game Gear Micro (ok, the hardware was crap but the library quite nice)

- Master System games on Switch or Lost judgment

- Ring Edge with Border Break on PS4.

- Naomi and Hikaru games on Virtual On collection PS4.(Tangram and Force)


Ok, there are still Saturn and Model 3 games missing but the spectrum is quite large from consoles to arcades, physical, digital and it's growing.

Indeed, it started with a deception (choosing the Genesis again) but it's evolving with Sega CD then Sega CD 32X?, then Dreamcast(they already started with more exotic evolutions like Naomi/Hikaru ? Then Saturn ? (M2 will take time but there is no reason they sleep on the most popular Sega console in Japan. After all they released the Game Micro only in Japan...and back then, they released Sakura Wars remasters on PSP in 2006 or allowed Guardian Heroes on XBLA. There is no boycott of Saturn's legacy. I guess they'll just go step by step (M2 said Saturn will take time)and unleash Saturn stuffs as a final op.



 
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Crew511A

Member
I agree for the boring Genesis compilations with the same usual suspects... Nonetheless, i kinda disagree for Japanese and Asian mini(s) : Yuyu Hakusho, Magical Taruru, Technosoft, Disney, Konami, Wolf Team, Toaplan, Final Fight CD, Shining Force CD and so many unreleased games: The previous Genesis Collections were mostly Sega 1st and Second party.

M2 did a tremendous job with the mini(s).


Plus, as you requested Yosuke Okunari already released arcade ports with the Astro City mini(s):

- System 16

- System 32 (Revenge of fucking Death adder)

- Model 1

- Yakuza games are full of Model 2 games (most of the time ultra superiors of Saturn games you're begging for like FV, VF2,Virtual On and never released Motor Raid in Judgment), Lindbergh as well.

- Last year, Sega gave us on Steam a Saturn remake (Nights)

- Game Gear Micro (ok, the hardware was crap but the library quite nice)

- Master System games on Switch or Lost judgment

- Ring Edge with Border Break on PS4.

- Naomi and Hikaru games on Virtual On collection PS4.(Tangram and Force)


Ok, there are still Saturn and Model 3 games missing but the spectrum is quite large from consoles to arcades, physical, digital and it's growing.

Indeed, it started with a deception (choosing the Genesis again) but it's evolving with Sega CD then Sega CD 32X?, then Dreamcast(they already started with more exotic evolutions like Naomi/Hikaru ? Then Saturn ? (M2 will take time but there is no reason they sleep on the most popular Sega console in Japan. After all they released the Game Micro only in Japan...and back then, they released Sakura Wars remasters on PSP in 2006 or allowed Guardian Heroes on XBLA. There is no boycott of Saturn's legacy. I guess they'll just go step by step (M2 said Saturn will take time)and unleash Saturn stuffs as a final op.



Yes...there's some good stuff on that list, but the Astro City Mini doesn't count to me unless it's a compilation on current consoles. Some odd ball device westerners have to battle scalpers to get does not count.
 
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