Megadrive Clone with SD Slot!

jimi_t

Ok, obviously a bloody awful looking controller but it'll let you load SEGA ROM images onto its internal 64MB memory from a standard SD flash card up to 4gb (although you can't run the games directly from the card). Other gripes would be mono sound,190cm cable length, it's NTSC rather than PAL and the fact its powered by 3xAAA batteries, but it does include a standard SEGA controller port for a proper pad.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.28970%7Er.37968431

Now it could be absoulely awful, I can't find reviews of it, but given that its

$22 with free worldwide shipping

its probably worth a shot!

TerrorFirmer

It's a good price, but those low ends pieces are usually awful quality. The plastics are shoddily made and poorly joined with visible seams, the cable is incredibly flimsy and liable to tear or break, and so on...Nice gadget, but the fact that the driver CD is just a cd-r with 'MD Game' written on it in marker says alot. A lot of those cheapo products out of China are the same. Got an MP4 player for 15 euro before, worked fine for awhile but a few weeks later it just crapped out. The body was OK, but all the buttons/switches are just so shoddily done that they snap off after even limited use. Dealextreme do some nice portable emulators though, to be fair.

jimi_t

What driver CD? I presumed that was just a typical mockup of a 'ROM' cd or something. Why would it need drivers?

Obviously the construction is going to be diabolical, but I reckon about 10 minutes work with a soldering iron tightening up a few bits and bobs and putting in a proper AV cable, and then only using it with a normal branded controller plugged into the spare port would keep it going for a long while. That said, I wonder what the emulator is like itself.

TerrorFirmer

Nope, they do actually ship those driver CD's. Got enough of them here to prove it.

jimi_t

No you missed my point, why would a device with no possible connection to a computer come with a driver CD? In any case, looking through the dealextreme site its actually a bundled DVD of ROMS :rolleyes: Those crazy chinese.

Other things gleaned seem to indicate that it'll support both PAL and NTSC region games, even though it only outputs in PAL (if you've an anyway new tv it shouldn't be an issue). Also, most importantly, it supports saved games (as in .srm or whatever they're called, not save states).

TerrorFirmer

Thought it was maybe a older driver or something for usb, but wasn't thinking, seeing as its connected directly to composite.

Free Roms is handy though. It does seem good on paper. I guess all there's to do is for someone to get one and try it out! DealExtreme have a nice selection of handheld emulators, most of which can be connected to TV too - though despite better quality, you just can't beat the old MD controller.

hama33

so does this have a megadrive emulator on its internal memory and you can just plug it into your tv and play whatever roms are on it, or have i missed something?

jimi_t

hama33 wrote: »

so does this have a megadrive emulator on its internal memory and you can just plug it into your tv and play whatever roms are on it, or have i missed something?

Yeah but you can copy whatever ROMs you have to an SD card and play them with the remote, and for peanuts (relative to the cost of retro collecting for the megadrive)

o1s1n

Use second game controller to play against other players

I have a feeling it's like the Nomad where player 1 uses the in build controls and the gamepad port is assigned to player 2.

Annoying if this is the case as it means not only can you not get the full authenticity by playing with an original pad, the life of the device will be severly impacted due to wear.

Interesting item though. For 22 dollars you cant really go wrong. Has anyone bought one yet?

I'd love to see something similar but with two controller ports. Might mean I can finally get rid of that big ugly modded Xbox.