Project Lunar has landed. So yeah, time to get our Mega Drive Mini mod on folks! First thing I'm gonna be putting on mine is the Sonic 3 prototype.
I've been all over it since it dropped and the fact alone the packed in RetroArch cores handle SCD and 32X makes this worth it. My only hiccup has been I cant get music working in Sonic CD. The PicoDrive/Gen GX cores also handle Master System, Game Gear and SG-1000 roms so its an all in one Sega powerhouse. Theres been a few hiccups, namely a limit on how many games can be added to UI before causing slowdown and crashes, and some games wont recognise the 6 button pads, both official and RetroBit. Otherwise, an awesome launch package.
Just curious but what is everyone's thoughts on the Mega Drive mini? I never had a Mega Drive growing up, but I was introduced to the classic Sonic games through Sonic Mega Collection. I've played through the classic Sonic games numerous times but I've never done it using an actual SEGA controller - only done it through either the Gamecube controller, Wii Classic Controller, and Xbox One controller lol. I'm thinking of picking a MD mini up because it's not too expensive, and I'll it'll be the closest to the original experience I could get lol. But on the other hand the only Mega Drive titles I've ever played are those included in Sonic Mega Collection and Sonic Gems Collection (so basically just Sonic and a couple of other randos like Flicky and Vectorman). Are people satisfied with the included games as well as the available screen settings (such as scanline filter)?
IMO, the only modern mega drives really worth picking are the 2017 version by Tectoy and the Analogue Mega SG. Tectoy's 2017 model features Micro SD support which is great; has a 90% compatibility with the entire library, which is good but not awesome; and is relatively cheap. Mega SG is amazing and has full hd HDMI out but is expensive.
The MD Mini is a pretty solid bit of kit - the emulation's decent, the game selection's good, the styling and form factor are well done. And it's hackable now. =P
What I'm waiting for now is support to launch every game with Retroarch. The audio lag on the M2 emulator is just a BIT too noticeable for me. Also, I don't know how I'm gonna add any Sega CD games without adding a clunky USB stick to my TOWER of POWER, but I'll figure something out. Losing two-player support when I've got it plugged in is unfortunate, but what're ya gonna do?
I don't know much about the project, and this news has made me think about picking up a MD mini but: - Can you use a basic USB hub to add a stick and a controller? - Are you able to turn off audio processing on your TV + perhaps route the audio out to something analog instead of through the TV? It might not be a delay with animation but instead decoding the audio on the TV.
Worry not. You can get an OTG cable and use it through the micro USB power port to load your games via USB. I bought a 32gb SanDisk Cruzer Fit for like.. 8 bucks and an OTG cable and once you got them plugged in through the back, you don't notice it. Launching through RetroArch is also in the current release of Project Lunar as well. 1.0.5 lets you choose what core to load your games with and to put them on the stock UI. The next update will feature folder implementation so you can hide the stock games off somewhere.
Finally uploaded the posters https://segaretro.org/File:Mega_Drive_Mini_Tower_JP_Poster_Side1.jpeg https://segaretro.org/File:Mega_Drive_Mini_Tower_JP_Poster_Side2.jpeg https://segaretro.org/Mega_Drive_Tower_Mini
I bought a couple of these at Christmas; one of me and one for my brother. He's got his first child coming up to his first birthday, and I want to make sure that the kid grows up right in a world full of mobile games and microtransactions. I've modded mine now and it's great just how easy it is to do. But... I'm guessing that other people here have put S3K or Sonic 3 Complete into their modded systems too, right? Whilst I've not tried whilst S3K or the individual games yet, S3C runs poorly. It's noticeably slow. Hard to even okay past Angel Island cause the lag is so substantial. Has anyone else had that? In the interest of putting all the missing Sonic games on there, I also included S3D: Directors Cut and that runs beautifully. I've turned up the system clock speed abd everything else related to increasing performance within Project Lunar.
Huh... I put Sonic 3 Complete on mine, too, and it ran just like anything else on the Mini. Are you saying it runs poorly, or that the input lag is more substantial?
It's not input lag; it's the entire game running slowly. The entire system does have a teeny tiny amount of input lag but that's not what I'm talking about here. I wonder if I botched up some regional settings and its trying to run at a pal 50Hz or something. I know that I got some of the regional settings wrong with Mega Bomberman because the screen is tiny in that game, so I may have done something similar with S3C. I'll check it out tomorrow.
