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Is a sega genesis/mega drive worth purchasing?

Discussion in 'General Sega Discussion' started by Artemis Davar, Jul 25, 2017.

  1. Artemis Davar

    Artemis Davar

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    It's a simple question, is a Sega Genesis worth purchasing in today's market? Or should I stick to emulation?
     
  2. Sirius-R

    Sirius-R

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    I'd say that if you have a large list of games for it you're interested in and if you're ready to invest into the console and game cartridges/flash cartridge, then go for it.
    I've got myself a PSP and a PS2 this way, and I still consider them the best purchases I've ever made, even though i could really stick to emulation. I doubt that situation with other consoles would be any different.
     
  3. PkR

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    As someone who recently bought a Dreamcast (which obviously isn't the same thing, but I think the idea still applies), I can say it depends on what exactly you're getting it for and how much time/money/effort you're willing to put into it. Is it just for playing Genesis games, or do you like tinkering with hardware?
    A real Genesis isn't going to look too great on a modern TV, and even if you get an old CRT TV for it, you'd still need to get a proper cable to get the best visual quality, and those cables tend to be expensive. Depending on the model of the Genesis you might also want to do a stereo sound mod.

    With an emulator, on the other hand, you get all sorts of crazy high resolutions with all kinds of filtering and stereo sound by default, you can play with any controller you want. There's also lots of flexibility when it comes to saving and loading games. Genesis is emulated well nowadays, so if you're just looking to play Genesis games an emulator is more than enough. You also don't have to worry about wear and tear, and storing the console/cartridges. If you want to play Sega CD or 32X games, it's a lot easier on an emulator because you don't have to worry about hardware compatibility and things like random freezes, which some 32X games are apparently prone to.

    If you like messing with hardware, however, this has some potential for a hobby. For example, I've been messing with TV cables for my Dreamcast (which involved some soldering) to get the best picture quality on one particular TV. I've also been working on an SD card mod and I'm considering a hard disk mod in the future. There are a few things you can do with the Genesis too, like you can remove some artifacts in RGB mode, which is the best quality the Genesis can offer.

    I gotta say, it's a lot more relaxing to play games on a big TV as opposed to hunched over the computer. So if you own a laptop and decide to stick with emulators, invest into a good controller and try playing games on the TV instead. It makes a lot of difference.
     
  4. Artemis Davar

    Artemis Davar

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    If I stuck with emulation, which controller would be best for Genesis games? I really like the design of the Saturn controller, but the classic Genesis controller is much cheaper.
     
  5. JaxTH

    JaxTH

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    Jack shit.
    There are official USB Saturn Controllers if you want to go down that route.
     
  6. ICEknight

    ICEknight

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    If you love Mega Drive games and can't get enough of them, owning at least an NTSC model 1 system plus flash cartridge plus RGB/Scart cable is essential and you need it now.


    If you think they're just nice games, you'll be fine playing them on the Wii.
     
  7. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    If you want an authentic feel when playing Genesis games, or if you like collecting, then yes. If you just want to play the games but don't really care about the specifics, then probably not, just play the games on the countless rereleases of them that exist out there (or emulate them)
     
  8. biggestsonicfan

    biggestsonicfan

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    Depends on how much your nostalgia factor is I guess.
     
  9. Lobotomy

    Lobotomy

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    If you enjoy physical media, then yes. They're a piece of history now, and they're only going to get more expensive over time.
     
  10. Retroman

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    With Sonic Mania releasing soon especially, a lot more people will buy megadrives and these are people who haven't played the megadrive-era games at all, or haven't got one since their childhood days.
    Pretty much will increase the sentimental value, and hence the price :eng101:
     
  11. Xiao Hayes

    Xiao Hayes

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    My main worry about playing Mega Drive games on a device other than the Mega Drive itself is the controls response. Maybe I just got old, but I felt Mega Drive controls as much more accurate and fluid than the ones on an emulator, alternative platform, or even in fan games, which aren't exactly the same thing but usually try to be in the case of Sonic games. Either way, image quality is a thing, and good old Mega Drive doesn't get along well with modern TVs, so bear that in mind.
     
  12. steveswede

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    As far as I know there is no perfect system so you're just going to have to go for what suits you best.

    ATM for me the Polymega is looking to be a great alternative to a real Megadrive, plus it's modular so you have the option to play other console platforms. I might finally get around to playing some PC Engine games at last.

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Overlord

    Overlord

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    Does that device even exist though, given that's a 3D render? (I assume it works the same way Retrode does?)
     
  14. steveswede

    steveswede

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    Still in development by the look of things with no release date yet. I only came across it a couple of weeks ago.
     
  15. Gammatron

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    I haven't heard of that polymega thing before.

    I kind of suspect it to be something akin to the Retron 5 which is essentially just an emulator that hooks up to your TV and rips ROMs from cartridges. I think something like that is kind of pointless, honestly. If you care enough to own the actual carts, you might as well just play them on the actual hardware they were intended for. Emulation is often kind of spotty and not always accurate. (Lord knows, people like AtGames and Sega themselves are terrible when it comes to emulating things.) If you don't really care about that sort of thing, then you might as well just use retroarch and maybe get a raspberry pi. Collecting vintage games is getting more and more expensive, too.

    What I'd recommend is just get a Genesis\Megadrive and an Everdrive. The consoles themselves are cheap, it's the games that are expensive. An Everdrive will set you back around $100 but that's cheaper than the alternative. And even though I have an everdrive, I still collect Genesis games because I just like having them. I just like to collect things.

    At this point, you run into the problem of playing it on a modern HDTV. Many enthusiasts use expensive upscalers like the Framemeister. That looks great but will set you back $300+ just to play on your nice HDTV. Or you could just go out and get an old ass CRT for $10. Or maybe even for free.

    tl;dr - Yes, get a Genesis. Your starter kit is a Sega Genesis + an Everdrive + an old CRT TV. With that, you have the entire Genesis and Master System libraries at your fingertips. From there, you can decide if you want to invest in actual carts, a Sega CD, 32X, an upscaler and so on. Just make sure to avoid shitty clone consoles like the AtGames one.
     
  16. Flygon

    Flygon

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    There's always something like the Fei Hao clones if you want HDMI right out of the box, and compatibility with the Mega Drive and most of the Master System library, but obviously the build quality won't be as good as the real deal. It is a proper GOAC-format Mega Drive however.

    Different sellers seem to have different controllers (and associated build quality), but nobody's made a good compendium of who sells what sort.
     
  17. Mr. Fox

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    I've still got my Mega Drive 2 stashed away, with a dozen or so genuine Japanese carts in mint condition, all Sonic ones + Ecco + some minor stuff, some with manuals. Also about two dozen of Chinese pirate carts from the 90's, including the infamous Sonic Jam 6.

    Wonder if this shit will ever be worth anything to bother setting up a shop. All the ROMs are available online and can be perfectly emulated on... pretty much anything, so the real thing is mostly for collectors, I guess.

    I mean, nowadays most TVs are running some version of Android, you can just sideload an emulator, put some ROMs on a USB drive, hook up a Bluetooth controller and there you go, you've got the whole Megadrive experience without buying any extra hardware.