Sega Megadrive mini

1o059k7ewrqj3n · 05-12-2019 7:58pm

DelBoy Trotter wrote: »

I'd be a very, very, very casual gamer at best, but the ability to add Mega Drive games to it is all I want for a hack. If that happens, I will probably pull the trigger on buying one

I'd love if you could add games officially, say something like the Nintendo store where you could buy the classic games. Sega could at least make its own games available on an e-store format on the web, you add the roms to the console with a usb or something. I'm sure it doesn't make sense, they would have done it surely and made some money off the huge catalogue of Mega Drive games.

markc91 · 06-12-2019 12:45am

So as a very casual gamer that had the megadrive as my first console and can remember playing sonic,paperboy,road rash and streets of rage am i better off getting the mini or the flashback?(would have no idea how to hack or anything so doesnt really appeal to me) just want to relive some childhood memories!

Tom Mann Centuria · 06-12-2019 12:54am

markc91 wrote: »

So as a very casual gamer that had the megadrive as my first console and can remember playing sonic,paperboy,road rash and streets of rage am i better off getting the mini or the flashback?(would have no idea how to hack or anything so doesnt really appeal to me) just want to relive some childhood memories!

Mini. Especially if they're a similar price.

1o059k7ewrqj3n · 06-12-2019 12:19pm

markc91 wrote: »

So as a very casual gamer that had the megadrive as my first console and can remember playing sonic,paperboy,road rash and streets of rage am i better off getting the mini or the flashback?(would have no idea how to hack or anything so doesnt really appeal to me) just want to relive some childhood memories!

The Mini is ready to play and works great. I got one for 70 euro out of Argos. It will need a power plug (5 volt, over 1.0 amp) and that’s it, you are good to go.

Sonic 1 & 2 are on the Mini, along with Road Rash 2. No Paperboy tho.

The Flashback has some issues, and at the same price, it’s probably not worth getting. If it were cheaper then maybe, as in much cheaper.

markc91 · 06-12-2019 4:04pm

Steyr 556 wrote: »

The Mini is ready to play and works great. I got one for 70 euro out of Argos. It will need a power plug (5 volt, over 1.0 amp) and that’s it, you are good to go.

Sonic 1 & 2 are on the Mini, along with Road Rash 2. No Paperboy tho.

The Flashback has some issues, and at the same price, it’s probably not worth getting. If it were cheaper then maybe, as in much cheaper.

Mini not come with a power plug

1o059k7ewrqj3n · 06-12-2019 4:27pm

markc91 wrote: »

Mini not come with a power plug

It doesn’t. It comes with the USB cable to connect from power plug to console. You probably have the type of power plug at home already as they are quite common, off the top of much head it’s a Type A USB 3.0 power plug. They are very cheap, you’ll find them in any Euro shop.

This is one.

I think it’s a trend nowadays for manufacturers to cut down on costs to not include one.

markc91 · 07-12-2019 1:32pm

ok cheers and is there any games that the flashback has that the mini doesnt that are worth having?

1o059k7ewrqj3n · 07-12-2019 4:27pm

markc91 wrote: »

ok cheers and is there any games that the flashback has that the mini doesnt that are worth having?

I think it possibly has more games, it's got 85 built-in. Just what I found online, this site mentions the line up on the machine. This is what it has that the Mini doesn't:

Lovin.ie wrote:

Alien Storm
Arrow Flash
Bonanza Bros.
Chakan: The Forever Man
Columns
Columns III
Crack Down
Decap Attack
ESWAT: City Under Siege
Fatal Labyrinth
Flicky
Gain Ground
Golden Axe III
Jewel Master
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat 3
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star II
Ristar
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shining Force II
Shining in the Darkness
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic Spinball
Super Thunder Blade
Sword Of Vermilion
The Ooze
Vectorman 2

The rest of the games are a mix of Master System games or filler material which never came out on Mega Drive. I don't think there's many must-have games in the list, maybe Ristar and Mortal Kombat. Down to personal taste I think.

markc91 · 07-12-2019 5:02pm

Just found my old mega drive no games though so no need for the flashback wheres the best place to get the mini?

MSVforever · 08-12-2019 5:12pm

markc91 wrote: »

Just found my old mega drive no games though so no need for the flashback wheres the best place to get the mini?

The cheapest I have seen them is in Harvey Normans for €75. I'm wondering if it will come down a bit after Christmas....

Pique · 08-12-2019 5:15pm

The 2 Lidls in Letterkenny were sold out of the Megadrive Flashbacks on Friday when I went in. Still a couple of Atari Flashbacks though (which I heard are actually decent enough, by comparison to the verdict on the Megadrive one).

markc91 · 08-12-2019 6:03pm

MSVforever wrote: »

The cheapest I have seen them is in Harvey Normans for €75. I'm wondering if it will come down a bit after Christmas....

Got it in smyths today for €75

80s Synth Pop · 08-12-2019 10:35pm

I was reading about the new trueblue mini for the mega drive mini (non atgames). Is this currently the only way to add more games?

1o059k7ewrqj3n · 09-12-2019 12:35am

80s Synth Pop wrote: »

I was reading about the new trueblue mini for the mega drive mini (non atgames). Is this currently the only way to add more games?

Project Lunar is going to be released soon, could be a few more weeks before it goes beta, it will allow you to add games yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So8GESC6y6w

Skip to 5:10 into the video. The great thing is it will use the stock UI.

mondeo · 16-12-2019 12:42pm

These are 69 in Smyths now, dunno if to get one or not

. I have an emulator on an android tablet which works fine for all these games. I like the idea of having two official Sega controllers with this mini and rigging it up to my TV like old times. Is it worth 69 ??? I had the Snes mini and barely touched it to be honest. As a kid I had the megadrive and wished for an official mini version of it. Now that one is available I don't know if I even want to buy it now.

What should I do ? I'm sitting in Costa here having my usual bad cappuccino. Smyths is near by....

The Nal · 16-12-2019 12:48pm

mondeo wrote: »

These are 69 in Smyths now, dunno if to get one or not . I have an emulator on an android tablet which works fine for all these games. I like the idea of having two official Sega controllers with this mini and rigging it up to my TV like old times. Is it worth 69 ??? I had the Snes mini and barely touched it to be honest. As a kid I had the megadrive and wished for an official mini version of it. Now that one is available I don't know if I even want to buy it now.

What should I do ? I'm sitting in Costa here having my usual bad cappuccino. Smyths is near by....

The emulators are available for free online. How much are you really going to play it? Do you need more clutter and cables in your house?

B.A._Baracus · 16-12-2019 12:50pm

mondeo wrote: »

These are 69 in Smyths now, dunno if to get one or not . I have an emulator on an android tablet which works fine for all these games. I like the idea of having two official Sega controllers with this mini and rigging it up to my TV like old times. Is it worth 69 ??? I had the Snes mini and barely touched it to be honest. As a kid I had the megadrive and wished for an official mini version of it. Now that one is available I don't know if I even want to buy it now.

What should I do ? I'm sitting in Costa here having my usual bad cappuccino. Smyths is near by....

Project Lunar will be released shortly. So apart from the core games it comes with you can revist any other classics. Playing on a TV is a nice touch too.

Given it's christmas that 69 euro could give you a couple of hours of fun. Easily spend that on a night out.

mondeo · 16-12-2019 1:16pm

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Project Lunar will be released shortly. So apart from the core games it comes with you can revist any other classics. Playing on a TV is a nice touch too.

Given it's christmas that 69 euro could give you a couple of hours of fun. Easily spend that on a night out.

I read about project lunar, that has been ongoing for months now. When will they release it I wonder. Adding new games would be the reason I would go for it. If it was locked down then I really wouldn't buy it. There are games I want that are not on it. Streets of Rage 1, Revenge of Shinobi, Outrun, Robocop. These were big ones for me and I must have them on it.

I also have an original Megadrive 1 which does not work anymore. I had a loose idea of gutting the megadrive mini and putting the board inside my original Megadrive 1. This would be cool i think since it's official Sega hardware going into an official original Megadrive. I could do a nice neat little job of this.

Hmmm ye I might swing around and get one and have some fun with this,

Inviere · 16-12-2019 4:34pm

The Nal wrote: »

The emulators are available for free online. How much are you really going to play it? Do you need more clutter and cables in your house?

You need to put a bit of work into emulation to give it that polished feel to rival these mini consoles. For a start, you don't want to be clicking "file", "load rom", and selecting roms with a mouse...from that very moment you're disconnected form the experience imo. Secondly, you need to set up and configure a proper frontend that allows you to browse through games via boxart (using a controller!). Thirdly, shaders...

I'm all for emulation, it's my method of choice for retro gaming, but the convenience of these first party plug n play minis has a lot to be said for it, to rival them through pc based software is a few hours work of set up (though imo the end result is far superior), and not everyone wants that.

briany · 16-12-2019 4:42pm

Inviere wrote: »

You need to put a bit of work into emulation to give it that polished feel to rival these mini consoles. For a start, you don't want to be clicking "file", "load rom", and selecting roms with a mouse...from that very moment you're disconnected form the experience imo. Secondly, you need to set up and configure a proper frontend that allows you to browse through games via boxart (using a controller!). Thirdly, shaders...

I'm all for emulation, it's my method of choice for retro gaming, but the convenience of these first party plug n play minis has a lot to be said for it, to rival them through pc based software is a few hours work of set up (though imo the end result is far superior), and not everyone wants that.

I think these little boxes are a great thing for those people who want to relive a bit of their childhood, but who never really got into PCs to the point where they're downloading and configuring emulators to do it.

The only problem with these things, really, is that they're a bit legally handcuffed in what games they can put on there, and this leads to some unusual choices. And then you might buy the thing and be disappointed a certain isn't on there, and then you're off googling how to get it on there via some 3rd party solution and with the amount of work you end up doing, maybe you'd have been as well to go the pure emulation route in the first place.

Inviere · 16-12-2019 4:45pm

briany wrote: »

I think these little boxes are a great thing for those people who want to relive a bit of their childhood, but who never really got into PCs to the point where they're downloading and configuring emulators to do it.

The only problem with these things, really, is that they're a bit legally handcuffed in what games they can put on there, and this leads to some unusual choices. And then you might buy the thing and be disappointed a certain isn't on there, and then you're off googling how to get it on there via some 3rd party solution and with the amount of work you end up doing, maybe you'd have been as well to go the pure emulation route in the first place.

Fair point, but I think those hacks generally get very refined and automated as time goes by. Within six months of a hack being released, it's usually almost down to a few clicks of a mouse, throw some roms on a usb stick, and away you go.

To set up a comparable experience on a pc, you'd be looking at configuring retroarch as a base, then running launchbox over it...the end result is so well worth it, but I would say it's a LOT more involved than hacking a mini. You could always download pre-configured packs, but I was never a fan of those...they're almost always borked in some way and you've no idea how it all ties together.

mondeo · 16-12-2019 5:47pm

mondeo wrote: »

I read about project lunar, that has been ongoing for months now. When will they release it I wonder. Adding new games would be the reason I would go for it. If it was locked down then I really wouldn't buy it. There are games I want that are not on it. Streets of Rage 1, Revenge of Shinobi, Outrun, Robocop. These were big ones for me and I must have them on it.

I also have an original Megadrive 1 which does not work anymore. I had a loose idea of gutting the megadrive mini and putting the board inside my original Megadrive 1. This would be cool i think since it's official Sega hardware going into an official original Megadrive. I could do a nice neat little job of this.

Hmmm ye I might swing around and get one and have some fun with this,

Well I bought it, ye its worth 69 imo. Playing it there the past 2 hours. Sonic has a little bit of slowdown at one point. Otherwise no problem.

Streets of Rage 2 is great, Echo the Dolphin is very nostalgic. The controllers are very light compared to the original one. The megadrive itself is very detailed, it's very true to the original one in appearance.

1o059k7ewrqj3n · 16-12-2019 10:54pm

mondeo wrote: »

Well I bought it, ye its worth 69 imo. Playing it there the past 2 hours. Sonic has a little bit of slowdown at one point. Otherwise no problem.

Streets of Rage 2 is great, Echo the Dolphin is very nostalgic. The controllers are very light compared to the original one. The megadrive itself is very detailed, it's very true to the original one in appearance.

Retro-Bit do a nice 6 and 8 button controllers. Been a long time since I held an original Sega control pad but these ones feel authentic. Argos do the wired ones for 22 euro.

mondeo · 17-12-2019 12:50pm

Steyr 556 wrote: »

Retro-Bit do a nice 6 and 8 button controllers. Been a long time since I held an original Sega control pad but these ones feel authentic. Argos do the wired ones for 22 euro.

I seen that 6 button controller yes, When Lunar becomes available I will probably buy that 6 button pad for the sake of SNES games.

I'm really liking this new megadrive system, was up until 2am this morning playing Shinobi 3. I got killed by a flying "brain" before I called it a night:pac:

Been a long time since I stayed up late playing games like this. Can't wait to get home now and try crack Shinobi 3 !

Chris_Heilong · 17-12-2019 3:22pm

If you do not have the means to get an original Megadrive and only have a HD tv at home then I would say this is worth it.

CiDeRmAn · 17-12-2019 5:23pm

I'd love to pick one up, but they seem to be sold out in Smyths, at least in my neck of the woods.
It'll probably wind up in the cupboard along with the other mini consoles, the HDMI/Micro-USB are being occupied with a Retron-N at the moment, which is a pretty decent Nes clone which is playing my NES collection beautifully! Seems a shame to move it!

Gamer Bhoy 89 · 19-12-2019 11:16am

I hope to get one over the Xmas holidays myself.

I've had very little reason to buy one since I got the Mega SG. But one thing the SG doesn't have that the Mini does - save states.

I've little patience for ploughing through a game in one sitting nowadays, so for the sake of save states I'd rather have one.

o1s1n · 19-12-2019 12:45pm

Do you not find save states suck the fun out of a game no? Kinda just like fast forwarding through the game to get to the end?

Half the fun of a good platformer is seeing how good you get with each attempt

Gamer Bhoy 89 · 19-12-2019 12:58pm

o1s1n wrote: »

Do you not find save states suck the fun out of a game no? Kinda just like fast forwarding through the game to get to the end?

Half the fun of a good platformer is seeing how good you get with each attempt

It used to suck the fun out of it for me, but I find the opposite happens nowadays. My attention span is not as good as it once was, I can't stick to one thing for a long period of time, I have to stop and do something else. Retro games are one of my favourite kind of games but the idea of having to have them beat in one sitting puts me off going back.

There are plenty of Mega Drive games that do not come with a battery, but are long playthroughs - best example of this is Kid Chameleon. That game can take upwards to 5 or 6 hours to beat, but you can't save it if you play it authentically.
Castle of Illusion takes about 2 hours to complete and you also can't save anything on that.
Sonic 2 takes about the same length of time.

I tend to play my retro games in much smaller bursts nowadays, and having the mini, with save states, would help in that regard.

Retr0gamer · 19-12-2019 1:01pm

Yeah but Kid Chameleon Stinks!!!!!

I actually prefer retro games these days because they can be played in 1 or 2 hours. I feel new games I've to invest a lot more time in them to get the same amount of fun.

And don't get me started on modern games where tutorials can last over an hour.

Sega Megadrive mini

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