The Sega Mega Dive is set to return to the shops, courtesy of a super-slim redesign by the same company that introduced the handheld version last year.
The "Blaze" Sega Mega Drive features a new slim design complete with two control pads and yes - even a cartridge slot.
15 Sega oldies including Sonic & Knuckles, Altered Beast, Golden Axe and Columns come built-in to the console, but the good news is you'll also be able to stick your old, non-first-party Mega Drive games into the box. It's multi-region as well.
It sounds like a pretty attractive purchase for Sega fans then. It's out on April 24 for £39.99, according to Play. Thanks to CVG reader Ewan for the spot.
Maybe im being a little dumb here but why the hell would you pay £40 for this when you could buy the original megadrive for £10 on ebay and then buy the games you want
Maybe im being a little dumb here but why the hell would you pay £40 for this when you could buy the original megadrive for £10 on ebay and then buy the games you want
Well theres a few reasons to be honest.
Its bound to be more reliable.
ITs got a load of games already pre installed.
And most importantly its region free.
I agree that £40 is probably a bit much considering the portable is £25.
They are both in that price range that may just tempt you though.
I still have my original megadrive but im so tempted to get the portable one.
Maybe im being a little dumb here but why the hell would you pay £40 for this when you could buy the original megadrive for £10 on ebay and then buy the games you want
I don't think you are being dumb at all. This strikes me as a blatant cash in on older gamers sentimentality. I'd much rather pocket the 40 quid for something else. Besides, I'm pretty sure my old, original Sega Mega drive is stashed away in a box somewhere at my parents' place. This strikes me as being similarly bad as the Converse and Nike sneakers designed in the 50's and early 70's respectively, being reintroduced at premium contemporary market prices with little or no changes in design or material. Now *that* is a complete rip off in my opinion!
Maybe im being a little dumb here but why the hell would you pay £40 for this when you could buy the original megadrive for £10 on ebay and then buy the games you want
I don't think you are being dumb at all. This strikes me as a blatant cash in on older gamers sentimentality. I'd much rather pocket the 40 quid for something else. Besides, I'm pretty sure my old, original Sega Mega drive is stashed away in a box somewhere at my parents' place. This strikes me as being similarly bad as the Converse and Nike sneakers designed in the 50's and early 70's respectively, being reintroduced at premium contemporary market prices with little or no changes in design or material. Now *that* is a complete rip off in my opinion!
It's not just older gamers or people who the remember the Megadrive first time around. Parents might want to buy this sort of console for their kids, because the games are still more than playable - it'll make a nice second console or first console for a young 'un.
People need to stop being so self centered, and thinking everything must be aimed towards them.
Oh, and for the people who don't know, it does have a top loader by the way. So you whack any Megadrive game in there and play away.
are the controllers wireless? if so £40 is nothing if you can buy carts off ebay for a few quid plus it has games installed already on it.
ancient cartriges now meeting new technology after all they years. worth it for that right there.
would all depend on if its wireless. ive bought a few old consoles off ebay and all of them had some f**k up or other wrong with them. plus they stank. cartrides are normally bullet-proof so they should be fine.
potential buyers be warned - this looks suspiciously to me like the "very same" system on www.play-asia.com. That system has severe compatability problems and I reckon it's being re-branded due to poor feedback/sales in Asia.
See this link: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-6z-49-en-70-2sf4.html
So, possibly too good to be true (even tho I wished it hadn't been). Prob better off to get a nice MegadriveII on eBay.
Maybe im being a little dumb here but why the hell would you pay £40 for this when you could buy the original megadrive for £10 on ebay and then buy the games you want
I don't think you are being dumb at all. This strikes me as a blatant cash in on older gamers sentimentality. I'd much rather pocket the 40 quid for something else. Besides, I'm pretty sure my old, original Sega Mega drive is stashed away in a box somewhere at my parents' place. This strikes me as being similarly bad as the Converse and Nike sneakers designed in the 50's and early 70's respectively, being reintroduced at premium contemporary market prices with little or no changes in design or material. Now *that* is a complete rip off in my opinion!
It's not just older gamers or people who the remember the Megadrive first time around. Parents might want to buy this sort of console for their kids, because the games are still more than playable - it'll make a nice second console or first console for a young 'un.
People need to stop being so self centered, and thinking everything must be aimed towards them.
Oh, and for the people who don't know, it does have a top loader by the way. So you whack any Megadrive game in there and play away.
Then you will certainly have little interest in this latest version of the Sega Mega Drive as it likely the epitome of self-centered "milk it for all it's worth" business decision. There is a economic/political writer whose name escapes me at present time, yet I found what he said remarkably salient. He essentially stated that while the public tends to think of the free market and democracy going hand-in-hand they are in fact competing forces that each possess the seeds of destruction for each other. Think about it: The free market stresses that you should always strive to do what's best for you; it doesn't matter how it affects others as long as it benefits you. Democracy (or rather, liberal democracy,) holds at its core the notion that you should try to do what's best for the whole group and reach a consensus if possible. These two systems appear to be wholly alien to each other and may well be anathema to each other.
I don't expect everything in the world to be geared towards me. However, as a potential paying customer they had better at least consider taking into account what I, and all other potential customers, might want because guess what? It's my money, your money, all of the others money that keeps them in business. They want our money and so they have to cater to us. It is that simple. If they can't hack it then by their own vaunted free market principles they should drop out and be replaced by their competitors. Tough luck. As they say, "Live by the sword, die by the sword".
Don't forget it comes with 15 games! It may sell to the casual crowd, and I can see many Dad's and Uncle's getting for their young sons and daughters/nephews and nieces to show them what gaming was like, while they play the machine themselves!
Also note that this is being released when retro gaming is going through the roof at about the same rate that AAA hardcore gaming is falling through the floor! You have this, you have GOG.com, you have Steam and everyone else promoting how they have X-Com available or Mount and Blade. On top of this you have the overwhelming interest/growth in service like PS3 Arcade or 360 Live, offering retro games for download or play through emulation, then, finally add the absolute massive announcement that got ignored that DOSBox had had it TEN MILLIONTH download, and they have a potential hit on your hands this year that they would not have had a couple years back!
Meh. Maybe some people may be infatuated with retro gaming. I'm certainly not and they would almost literally have to pay me to go back to this. Even if offered free I'm not sure how interested I'd be. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
Most Sega's best oldies can be downloaded for free REALLY easily on the internet...Feck! You can even get most the sonic games for your mobile for a couple pound!
i have to agree with you there, what the hell happened to sonics soundtrack over the years. It went form f**king awesome and well its damn hard to find anyone over the age of 20 that can't humm the opening bars to the sonic the hedgehog theme.
Now we have dodgey poorly translated and sung by some disney reject, j pop. How the mighty have fallen.
But hey SEGA have fast become my fav publisher this year. Never thought i'd say most of the releases i'm looking forwward to on my nintendo were by sega.
I bought the Sonic gems releases for PS2 so I'd have all the pre-Dreamcast Sonic games.
What struck me the most was 'Sonic CD'. It plays like Sonic 1 but it just sounds sooo wrong.
There was definitely a charm to that 16-bit audio chip. Maybe it was its ability to prevent Sega from creating cheesy, crap music.
Long Live Sega! Long Live The Sega Mega Drive!
Ohh I absolutely loved the soundtrack on Sonic CD myself. Yeah, it was cheesy but it's something that some of us seems to warm to... yeah we may be a little crazy I guess
Forget about the Megadrive Sega, do something similar with the Dreamcast. A redesigned Dreamcast with some preinstalled games would no doubt sell better.
Yeah the soundtrack on Sonic CD was the precursor to the godawful soundtracks later on (Sonic R's still makes me cringe), for me you couldn't get any better than the Ice Cap Zone music in S3 or the Flying Battery Zone in S&K. And anyone who tells you the original Starlight Zone tune still doesn't melt the heart is a god damn plague ridden liar.
bit stupid seeing as theyve just released a mega drive collection, and im guessing people would want a real original mega drive if they actually was going to buy one
Forget about the Megadrive Sega, do something similar with the Dreamcast. A redesigned Dreamcast with some preinstalled games would no doubt sell better.
yeh! imagine a slim dreamcast like a wii with wirless controllers. droooooooooooooooolllllll...i have my dreamcast next to my 360/ps3 but i would still get one.
All megadrives were region free; to play JAP games on a PAL Megadrive you just had to shave down a couple of little plastic bits from the cartridge slot; great times Anyway, who in their right mind would want to play a 50Hz PAL Megadrive now, when you could play it full screen on an Emulator? (that is if this new MD is a PAL ver. and doesn't use a SCART.RBG lead)
I bought the Sonic gems releases for PS2......What struck me the most was 'Sonic CD'. It plays like Sonic 1 but it just sounds sooo wrong.
The PAL/NTSC-A release of Sonic Gems has got the awful Amercian Music on Sonic CD on the Package. What you want is a Japanese import version which has the same music as the 1993 NTSC-J/PAL version of Sonic CD.
Also to get back on topic, why buy this machine? 1)Ok first you can bet your life that this comes packaged with a scart lead rather than the standard RF that a Mega Drive uses. Getting a Scart lead for a old Mega Drive is very hard, it took me ages a few years back, I bet its even tougher now.
2)Comes with 2, 6 button pads. Something that also may not come with an ebay'ed old Mega Drive.
3)Its Multi region! So no longer will you need to buy the Hong Kong Mega Drive to play games from anywhere! Plus the cartridge slot supportss Japanese shape Cartridges.
4)If its Multi Region, ther is a good chance the machine is set to run in 60hz. So this machine is cheaper than buying a Hong Kong Mega Drive, or the alt which is a switched NTSC Mega Drive which are as rare as rocking horse poo these days!
So all in all, this is actally quite a good buy if you like your retro games. Lets hope thay have not used any hardware shortcuts that would make things like Virtua Racing unplayable. Talking about Virtua Racing, I dont think that is possable through emulation as it uses a custom chipset (SVP) in the cartridge.
Im sorry, that is not correct. Although early Mega Drive games worked on any version of the system. Earthworm Jim, Sonic 3, Story of Thor are just a few games that contained the region lock out code. From about late 1993 onwards most games contained region lock out.
All megadrives were region free; to play JAP games on a PAL Megadrive you just had to shave down a couple of little plastic bits from the cartridge slot; great times Anyway, who in their right mind would want to play a 50Hz PAL Megadrive now, when you could play it full screen on an Emulator? (that is if this new MD is a PAL ver. and doesn't use a SCART.RBG lead)
Not quite correct. Some US Cart wouldn't work on PAL consoles. For example I have a copy of Outrun 2019 from the US that won't work on my PAL console.
After reading the reviews on Play-asia, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to this as much anymore.
sounds cool, but my original oldie megadrive stil works and im pretty sure you can pick one of these up for a bout a £1 lol! streets of rage though! beast!
Sega have lost the plot man; I would have go to arms in the primary school playground for them against Nintendo back in the day. Lol. Now they've just ran out of ideas and are drying up in the wake of the Red Giant Nintendo not to mention others. Come on SEGA....whoever's left after the president lost his job, why oh why didn't you secure the rights for a 6-button pad for SF4. Your Saturn had the best D-pad and the megadrive 6-buttoner was pioneering. Get you finger out like Nintendo did and stop feeling sorry for yourselves! To take be this good takes AGES!
It's been briefly mentioned, but these things seem quite poor really going by the reviews on Play-asia. I was tempted by the handheld last year, but then found this unit on Play-asia which amassed poor reviews quite quickly. Really this is a locked system, the cartridge slot is designed for special multi-game carts they plan to release, nothing more. Half the games don't work or have issues in some form or another (be it sound, graphic glitches, or issues with 6 button pads).
Tbh i'm a little concerned by the reviews on Play-asia myself also and to top that off my conserns about compatability with some of the old addons to like the 32X and Mega CD! I love the old games and still play then via emulator (so i don't Tax my old megadrive) but i've still 100s of old games from MegaCD and 32X and megadrive and if that has compatability issues i'll be leaving it alone and just dig out the old man and play on that!
btw you want region free get a Action reply cart off ebay does the same thing!
For bunneyo and those that don't bother to read previous posts: Can people please remember it comes with 15 games, so stop saying you can pick up the machine for £1 or £5 or whatever, because then you'd have to find and buy those 15 games before you could equate with this!
was a sarcastic exaggerated comment mate, calm down like! but i have seen a megadrive and a billion games with it for something like 10-15 pound in loads of places, just get out and look! jeeez!
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