Mega Drive Mini 2

[Zoyous]

1 hour ago, Steven Pendleton said:

*Checks MD Mini 2 credits*

 

"In memory of Rieko Kodama"

 

God damn it.

 

My sadness is immense.

I just heard as well. Age 58! Her contributions to Sega over 30+ years were enormous. RIP Phoenix Rie

Edited October 27, 2022 by Zoyous

[Steven Pendleton]

1 hour ago, Zoyous said:

I just heard as well. Age 58! Her contributions to Sega over 30+ years were enormous. RIP Phoenix Rie

She was one of the best Sega ever had and probably ever will have. I doubt that many people outside of the old Sega fans of the 80s and 90s knew about her, but I did, and I have played many of the games that she worked on, and I boundless respect for her and for what she did. It's sad that only now people who are not hardcore Sega fans will learn about her, as she made some legendary games. I've had this copy of Eternal Arcadia for almost 2 years and I haven't gotten around to playing it yet. I should do that. She was quite proud of that game from what I understand.

[Kirk_Johnston]

Despite having more games and a bunch of Sega/Mega CD titles in there too, my gut tells me that this will probably sell less units than even the first Genesis/Mega Drive Mini, which I bought and thought was pretty good. This is partly due to the fact that it costs quite a bit more and you only get one controller in the box this time, but also that I just don't see how this gets any more of an audience than the original, and maybe even a more niche one at that. Also, it's slightly started to suffer a bit of the convolution that ultimately started the death knell for Sega as a console company imo, with a weaker overall software library--there's some fluff in there imo, especially some of the FMV Sega/Mega CD games, which I've honestly thought were crap from day one--and some games that are sort of updated beyond what the original versions actually did and others not, plus the pointless add-on accessories and so on, almost like they're just starting to shove in everything plus the kitchen sink without truly thinking what that means in the bigger picture. There's a bit more of a gimmicky and stocking-filler feel this time around to me, but at a less massmarket price, originally. Lastly, I see a lot of people who bought the original Genesis Mini just not bothering to get this one, like myself. So, it's kinda cool they released a Genesis/Mega Drive Mini 2, and I think I actually prefer the physical design of this model to the first one in many ways, but I think it's going to be a pretty small deal at the end of the day outside of mostly the more hardcore Genesis/Mega Drive fans and collectors, which, to be fair, is probably largely the case with all of these Mini consoles.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Kirk_Johnston

[Zap1982]

4 hours ago, Kirk_Johnston said:

 Lastly, I see a lot of people who bought the original Genesis Mini just not bothering to get this one, like myself. 

I skipped the Mini 1 so decided to grab the Mini 2. I got the Micro Game Gear set back in the summer too. 

 

I think like you say the target audience is of course collectors but I imagine Sega in general has seen a whole plethora of new fans get interested in the 16bit scene off the back of the 2nd Sonic Movie's success. The idea of having a mini replica console that just plugs into the modern TV, takes up very little space and gives a near authentic experience is probably a tantalising prospect for some vs grabbing a load of old hardware, spending a fortune on games and reading up on what leads are needed etc - most would find it off putting.

 

 

[Kirk_Johnston]

34 minutes ago, Zap1982 said:

I skipped the Mini 1 so decided to grab the Mini 2. I got the Micro Game Gear set back in the summer too. 

 

I think like you say the target audience is of course collectors but I imagine Sega in general has seen a whole plethora of new fans get interested in the 16bit scene off the back of the 2nd Sonic Movie's success. The idea of having a mini replica console that just plugs into the modern TV, takes up very little space and gives a near authentic experience is probably a tantalising prospect for some vs grabbing a load of old hardware, spending a fortune on games and reading up on what leads are needed etc - most would find it off putting.

 

 

It would be interesting to know how big of an impact the recent success of Sonic movies might have on something like this. My thinking is they'd be more likely to have more of positive impact on the sales of new Sonic games for modern consoles, probably the Nintendo Switch version more than any other, with most people who saw the movie and didn't know about the original Genesis/Mega Drive consoles still being none the wiser about those or the Genesis/Mega Drive Mini 2.

 

Either way, Sega is apparently reducing the amount of units to about 1/10th of the original Genesis/Mega Drive Mini, and that apparently only sold over 300,000 units according to Wikipedia, so it seems like this Genesis/Mega Drive Mini 2 is going to be out there in really very small numbers. The SNES Mini sold 5.28 millions units, the NES Mini sold 3.6 million, the first Genesis/Mega Drive Mini apparently didn't get anywhere near close to even 1 million units sold, and it seems this Genesis/Mega Drive Mini 2 is only going to have about 30,000 units out there in the market total, which is a tiny number. A strange move of Sega's part.

 

Here's hoping this is just an initial run and Sega produces at least a few more units for the fans out there, maybe even just a few hundred thousand again. I think scalpers are really gonna be cashing in on this one.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Kirk_Johnston

[roots.genoa]

The whole point of this second model is precisely to be niche, catering to more hardcore fans. And they warned there would be less stock, so they expect less sales as well.

[Kirk_Johnston]

3 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

The whole point of this second model is precisely to be niche, catering to more hardcore fans. And they warned there would be less stock, so they expect less sales as well.

Then I guess they'll achieve that.

[Zap1982]

Who knows.. Sega is a business and it's unlikely they would be going for loss making products so presumably they have done their sums. I have no data regarding Atari Flashback sales to hand but there was what, 10 of them plus handhelds? There must have been demand / sales of that.

 

I too would be interested to know if any new-to-the-scene fans pics this up. Sonic's popularity has increased so (potentially) that means more sales of Origins / Frontiers.. I can't speak for all of course but if I like a game or get interested in a franchise I immediately look up what else said developer / publisher did. It wouldn't be unrealistic for someone to enjoy something like Sonic Origins off the back of the movie and then discover a love for Golden Axe, Streets of Rage etc and *eventually* that path to lead to the mini2.

 

That is afterall basically how I came to love  Atari. I have plenty of original Atari stuff now but it all started off the back of one compilation (Atari Anthology) and I got that off the back of simply researching the beginings of some of the developers / publishers I got interested in at the time.

[Tanooki]

roots never said it was made as a loss making product.

 

This isn't too hard to figure out, and let's be clear, they profited on the original and had the tooling and construction/development teams intact from that project still.  So considering the parts are already designed, order capable, on hand, and factories ready to machine the largest issue here would be maybe going with a little bit larger storage capacity for the CD games eating up most the room, and well, the shell isn't the same so it's a new plastic form factor for it and the six button controller which here would need a new basic PCB since the original just had the standard 3 button setup.  There was far less investment into this because what was needed was already mostly there.

 

Because of that if they made a million before and won on profit, they could make a 1/4 million this time and still rake in the bucks with a niche device because the money was already made back on the initial investment, so they'd just need to cover the expense of the few changes/enhancements/external shell and the happy desired profit margin which shouldn't be hard.

[Steven Pendleton]

They don't even need a new controller PCB since they can just reuse the one from the last MD Mini, which I'm assuming they did.

 

Some thoughts on this new mini: TLDR = I am rather pleased with how it turned out.

 

Party Quiz Sega Q is actually really cool! Unfortunately, can't read Japanese quite fast enough to play the game against the computer, which answers around the time I finish reading the questions, and I also struggle with reading Japanese upside-down and backwards, but if you are completely obsessed with Sega like I am and know Japanese, YOU NEED to play this!

 

Cyber Stick has changed my opinion of After Burner II. There still isn't much of a reason to play this version instead of the awesome arcade-perfect Saturn version + Mission Stick, but it's way better with the Cyber Stick. Too bad the throttle on my XE-1AP doesn't work... I need to get that fixed somehow, although I do not know how.

 

On the Cyber Stick itself, it's big and relatively heavy. Mine also seems to wobble, as if one of the feet is too thick, which is mildly annoying, but not terrible. It works on PC, but I have not tested it on PC yet. You must plug it into controller port 2 on the MD Mini 2 or it will not work properly. The plastic on the Cyber Stick feels a bit cheap, as well, to be honest, which is slightly disappointing, but it's not really a big deal.

 

New Space Harrier II is really good. Some sprite flicker, but nothing obtrusive. The new Space Harrier is also really good, but it has a LOT of sprite flicker, to the point where it harms the visual presentation. There also isn't really a reason to play this version instead of the Saturn version with the Mission Stick or the Switch Sega Ages version, but if you don't have a Saturn or a Switch, this is a good version to play. You really should get a Saturn or eight if you don't have one, though; if you say you found a better home console than the Saturn and you tell me that it's something other than the Japanese Mega Drive, you're wrong.

 

Tatsujin with fixed audio is pretty great. The arcade version is by far the best version of the game, but this version will do now that they finally fixed the music to run at the correct speed. PC Engine also still has the best version of this game's soundtrack, surpassing the arcade version, but the MD version is the easiest to actually play, as the other 2 versions will crush your soul and make you feel worthless until you master them, especially the arcade version, so starting here is probably not a bad idea.

 

Sonic CD gives you both soundtracks. Some input lag is noticeable here, but if you haven't played Sonic frequently and regularly for the past 30 years of your life like I have, you probably won't notice it. Actually, the lag on this thing seems significantly better than the original MD Mini; I can comfortably play on this thing, and I do not feel that there is sufficient lag to say that it's a problem this time at all. Good job, Sega. You finally got it right!

 

I have not had time to check out all of the new games, but in the system's credits I did notice that this new version of Fantasy Zone says "Powered by M2 ShotTriggers", so you know it's going to probably be better than the arcade version, judging by all of the other M2 ShotTriggers stuff I own, all of which are better than the arcade versions.

 

Thunder Force IV has an optional mode that seems to greatly reduce slowdown, although the stage 2 miniboss still has a lot of it. They completely got rid of all of the slowdown on the Saturn version, so I was disappointed that they didn't get rid of it here by emulating an FPGA coprocessor or something like they probably did with the new Space Harrier II and Space Harrier, but it does help, as the game occasionally struggles to run properly on a stock Mega Drive, but overclocking will apparently fix this issue.

 

Unfortunately, I think the previous MD Mini has a better game library: Sonic 2, Vampire Killer, Slap Fight MD, Langrisser II, the new version of Darius (which later got a cartridge release that's even better), and Contra were great, especially Slap Fight MD, but nothing here really compares to those. I have not gotten to all of the new games yet, though, but overall, this is a better performing machine, so I give it credit for that.

[Zap1982]

2 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

 

Sonic CD gives you both soundtracks. Some input lag is noticeable here, but if you haven't played Sonic frequently and regularly for the past 30 years of your life like I have, you probably won't notice it. Actually, the lag on this thing seems significantly better than the original MD Mini; I can comfortably play on this thing, and I do not feel that there is sufficient lag to say that it's a problem this time at all. Good job, Sega. You finally got it right

I'm another nerd who visits these titles regularly. The MD Mini 2 seems to offer both the NA and JP/EUR roms rather than just the soundtracks. When selecting the US option the title screen has a little 'TM' mark next to the copyright, this is absent on the JP/EUR. 

 

Fun fact, this appears to be the very forst time that the MCD versions have been ported. As far as I know the other versions are either ports of the PC game or the Christian Whitehead remakes.

[Zoyous]

9 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Some thoughts on this new mini:

Does the Astro City Mini arcade stick work with this one? I know it's a longshot since it didn't work with the original MD Mini but it would be so cool if it did...

[Steven Pendleton]

7 hours ago, Zap1982 said:

I'm another nerd who visits these titles regularly. The MD Mini 2 seems to offer both the NA and JP/EUR roms rather than just the soundtracks. When selecting the US option the title screen has a little 'TM' mark next to the copyright, this is absent on the JP/EUR. 

 

Fun fact, this appears to be the very forst time that the MCD versions have been ported. As far as I know the other versions are either ports of the PC game or the Christian Whitehead remakes.

This isn't a port, though; this is running on software emulation.

 

36 minutes ago, Zoyous said:

Does the Astro City Mini arcade stick work with this one? I know it's a longshot since it didn't work with the original MD Mini but it would be so cool if it did...

It does. So does the Astro City Mini controller.

[Zap1982]

1 hour ago, Steven Pendleton said:

This isn't a port, though; this is running on software emulation.

Sorry, "made available to purchase by the public on a official release" then. 🤣

[Hydro Thunder]

Still available, and I'm still torn.  I would be buying this almost entirely for the purpose of playing Shining Force CD from my couch (have the game but my Sega CD memory is shot, making it unplayable without saves).  And of course I like the form factor too, and the Fantasy Zone remake is nice.  But it's hard to rationalize $135 with shipping for a game you already have, might not play all that often, etc.  I already have an Analogue SG jailbroken so basically all the other titles I already have in 1080p (but haven't snagged a TerraOnion MegaSG yet, which also would solve the problem, but it's both hard to get and expensive).

Watched the GameSack review, very thorough, I would call his verdict middling.

[Kirk_Johnston]

On 10/29/2022 at 6:46 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

Thunder Force IV has an optional mode that seems to greatly reduce slowdown, although the stage 2 miniboss still has a lot of it.

Which stage is "stage 2" to you?

[NE146]

Yeah I'm torn too. Sort of want.. but it would most likely just be as a collectible, just like the original Genesis Mini (which I have yet to take out of the box).

 

Especially when so many of us already have better options like Flashcarts, MiSTers, and Mega SGs each allowing us to play the entire Genesis & Sega CD library already, and better than software emulated versions. But man, this thing is FIRST PARTY What to do..

 

 

 

[Zoyous]

Mine arrived the evening before last. As expected, it's top quality... although the Genesis 2 case design has no nostalgic value to me compared to the original, I know for many it's the opposite, so because of that I think it's cool that they went for it. My primary interest is in the new games for this... I mean, 6 new officially-released games in 2022 for $100 (plus a significant shipping fee, it must be noted) is pretty damn cool. Plus they just dug in and brought some excellent deep cuts from the library. And they have the correct regional variants that you can access by changing the system language. You can also select from two different sound emulation settings, depending on if you prefer the OG Genesis chipset or the Genesis 2. To me, this is the kind of product that I want to encourage them to make so it feels worth it to me.

[Steven Pendleton]

5 hours ago, Kirk_Johnston said:

Which stage is "stage 2" to you?

The only one that says stage 2 when you beat it.

[Razzie.P]

5 hours ago, NE146 said:

What to do..

 

 

 

 

Get it.

 

Don't like, you can sell it later, likely for a profit.  Seems better than deciding you want one after they're sold out

[Atariboy]

Since I've yet to see a YouTube video that covers it, could one of you post what the new songs are that were added to Outrun?

 

Thanks

[Gamemoose]

4 hours ago, Zoyous said:

This.  I got mine today but only had a chance to play it on a computer monitor sans speakers. Everything looks great!  “Sewer Shark” actually looks more clear: after all these years I finally could read writing on a door Falco passes in the intro. It said “Please don’t commit suicide”.  

I can’t wait to actually play it with sound.

[roots.genoa]

My brother bought it, I borrowed it a couple of days to write a review, and I found it quite nice. It's very different from the first one to a certain extent, since it's clearly not made to discover the original system and its most famous games. This time it's really for the hardcore fans, with a lot of not well known but very interesting games like Elemental Master, Ranger X, Warsong, etc. As usual there are a few bad games, but 60 games is a lot and it's quite varied; it just lacks sports games (but it's difficult without the licenses) and there are a lot of (very different type of) shoot 'em ups, but the hardcore fans usually enjoy them anyway. Also being finally able to access the menu quickly with the Mode button is welcome.

[Kirk_Johnston]

7 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

The only one that says stage 2 when you beat it.

So, this boss (at the 7:30 mark): 

 

I noticed that the boss at 32:54 was pretty bad for stutter and slowdown too:

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by Kirk_Johnston

[Steven Pendleton]

46 minutes ago, Kirk_Johnston said:

So, this boss (at the 7:30 mark): 

 

I noticed that the boss at 32:54 was pretty bad for stutter and slowdown too:

 

That's why you play on Saturn instead. Either that or increase the Blast Processing^TM of your Mega Drive and/or Genesis by overclocking the CPU, which supposedly gets rid of all of the slowdown if you clock it high enough. Don't ask me about how to do that, though, as I have no idea how to do it and I'm too lazy to find out.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Steven Pendleton