The Mega Drive Mini Welcome back! Sega

The SEGA Mega Drive Mini isn't the first time a SEGA console has gone on the market, however it’s Definitely worth your money.

There has bee SEGA emulators and resellers devices were often riddled with flaws: inaccurate sound, poor emulation, average build quality at best, and a game library that sometimes featured more shovelware than genuine SEGA titles.

The SEGA Mega Drive Mini, which SEGA based on the Model 1 Mega Drive that launched Australia in November 1990.

In conjunction with porting studio M2, which worked on the SEGA 3D Classics Collection and SEGA AGES titles. To help justify the $139.95 price point, the publisher has 42 games onto the console and I think that there is some great games. It includes exceedingly rare version of Tetris that SEGA made before Nintendo legally blocked sales of the game in Japan.

For reference, here's the full library:

Sonic The Hedgehog

Ecco the Dolphin

Castlevania: The New Generation

Space Harrier 2

Shining Force

Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine

ToeJam & Earl

Comix Zone

Altered Beast

Gunstar Heroes

Earthworm Jim

Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck

Probotector

Thunder Force III

Super Fantasy Zone

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master

Streets of Rage 2

Landstalker

Mega Man: The Wily Wars

Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition

Ghouls ‘n Ghosts

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle

The Story of Thor

Golden Axe

Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium

Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball

Vectorman

Wonder Boy in Monster World

Tetris

Darius

Road Rash II

Strider

Virtua Fighter 2

Alisia Dragoon

Kid Chameleon

Monster World IV

Eternal Champions

Columns

Dynamite Headdy

Light Crusader

You get to see what the Mega Drive was like in Japan? Ppversions change as well. Change to French or Korean and everything flips again. It's awesome!

There isn't a huge amount of options in the menu beyond that, however. There's 4:3 and 16:9 screen settings available for games, with an optional CRT filter if you want it. There's three options for backgrounds (you only see on the main menu and if you're playing games in their traditional 4:3 format), but no extra shaders or pixel smoothing options available. You've got four save states available, on top of any in-game saves if that's an option (like in Phantasy Star IV).

It's also worth pointing out that the sound, while pretty good for the most part, isn't completely perfect. The Mega Drive Mini doesn't have quite the same level of bass as the original console, so a lot of games ten to sound a bit weak and flat, especially titles that feature a lot of repetitive effects with strong bass (think rapid gunfire).

It's still infinitely better than the AtGames consoles of years past, and for people who didn't grow up with a Mega Drive or these games, you won't know you're missing anything. Sound is notoriously hard to emulate properly, so I'm not surprised that the Mini is slightly off. There's also a few games where you'll see a little bit of shimmering because they were a lower resolution originally than most Mega Drive games, like Street Fighter 2 and Shining Force, which were 256 pixels wide instead of 320 pixels wide like most Mega Drive games.

The controllers are good! The cables aren't offensively short, as people discovered with the Mini SNES, and the controllers themselves are large, as you'd expect from a remake of the original Mega Drive controllers. The size means you won't have any cramping issues over longer periods, which is great because there are plenty of games here that, genuinely, still hold up over longer sessions. The cords are decently long.

The library is consistently good from top to bottom, which is what ultimately makes the Mega Drive Mini worthwhile at its price point. There's Contra, Wonder Boy, Phantasy Star IV, Toejam & Earl, and if you still have a soft spot for it, Earthworm Jim. Strider and Road Rash 2 will always hold their own. Disney platformers. Two of them, even.

There's something for everyone here, as you'd expect from a lineup of 42 games this good. It'll be even better to see what the community can do once the console is torn down and the power of the internals is put to use emulating all sorts of games. So far, it does the Mega Drive justice. It's not perfect, sure, but it's the mini console Sega fans deserve after years of shovel ware from the past emulators.

So in ending I really think that this console would be another great addition to the mini collection!