Hyperkin are making a handheld Sega Genesis – WGB

I’m personally hyped for this story because the Sega Genesis (recognized to me right here within the UK as a Sega Mega Drive) is the very first console I keep in mind proudly owning and taking part in. My earliest gaming reminiscences are of Sonic the Hedgehog and Taz in Escape from Mars. And now I can relive these reminiscences whereas chilling in mattress as a result of {hardware} maker Hyperkin has introduced the Mega 95, a handheld Sega Genesis machine able to taking part in authentic Genesis cartridges.

Hyperkin already even have a machine that does simply that known as the MegaRetroN HD Gaming Console. It makes use of some witchcraft, higher referred to as emulation, to get traditional video games operating on trendy TVs. Their new Mega 95 appears to be a shrunk down model of the MegaRetroN which hopefully means the associated fee hopefully received’t be too insane.

Maybe the closest comparability could be Hyperkin’s personal Supaboy Transportable Pocket Console that performs SNES video games on-the-go. That retails for round $120.

The Mega 95 will come packing a 5″ display screen and a battery lifetime of round 10-hours, in accordance with Hyperkin. Official cartridges may be slotted straight into the machine, whereas a change on the again permits you to toggle between 4:3 and 16:9 ratios. Fairly nifty.

It additionally has a trick straight out of the Nintendo playbook: it may be docked so as to play video games in your TV as nicely. The Mega 95 will include a USB-C dock in each field and it’ll permit additional controllers to be plugged in for some multiplayer enjoyable.

As for the identify, The Mega 95 is a reference to the Genesis Nomad, an precise hand-held model of the Sega Genesis that Sega launched in 1995. It was able to taking part in Sega Genesis cartridges and will even be hooked as much as a TV.

Ultimately, the Nomad would handle to promote round 1 million models in its 4 12 months run, leading to it being seen as a business failure.

And right here’s a silly reality to wrap this story up: I solely discovered a number of years in the past that the Sega Genesis and the Sega Mega Drive are the identical console. I grew up realizing it because the Sega Mega Drive however after I talked concerning the console with others on-line they have been confused as a result of in North America it was known as the Sega Genesis because of a copyright downside. Doh!