Sega Genesis Latest To Get All-In-One TV Game

Thanks to 1UP for its story discussing Radica's deal to produce a collection of 16-bit Sega classics built into a Genesis controller. According to the piece: "Similar to the JAKKS TV Games, Radica's Genesis controller-shaped Arcade Legends Sega Genesis unit will house seven older Sega games including Sonic the Hedgehog. Radica intends to have it out on the market at a price of $29.99." The story also notes a deal "with Taito for the rights to Space Invaders" in similar all-in-one controller style, mentioning that the unit will also "include four other Taito classics: Phoenix, Lunar Rescue, Colony 7, and Qix."

Comments

Wow

[ObviousGuy]

I remember when these consoles took up a whole shelf in the TV cabinet. These days miniaturization is making the same hardware tiny.

One question, will the snail maze game be included?

Re:Wow

[AndyBusch]

That maze game rocked, but it was on the Sega Master System, not the Genesis.

Pong in a TV Remote

[justanyone]

You know, it'd be great if I could play pong with my TV remote control and maybe an RCA jack passthru connector with some kind of IR port on it.

Somebody ought to do that...

While they're at it, make the TV remote work on my wife (grin)...

Re:Pong in a TV Remote

[Exodious]

I dunno what to do about your wife, but as for the other..

http://slashdot.org/articles/02/11/08/1657243.shtm l

Also reviewed here

It's not IR, but it is RCA. And has a number of old atari games on it.

Why not this:

[mnmn]

Why dont they build the screen in like the GBA and use sony flashsticks to transfer binaries they can sell online?

If such devices could have good mileage, everyone on public transportation will be playing Sonic, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Bare Knuckles and Rock n Roll Racing.

I better get soldering...

Re:Why not this:

[shibbydude]

Why dont they build the screen in like the GBA and use sony flashsticks to transfer binaries they can sell online?

Maybe because that's not the segment of the market this is targeted at? The market share this is going after is the nostalgic people. There was already a sega 16-bit portable called the NOMAD. It was mildly successful untill Sega stopped producing it.

Re:Why not this:

[Anonymous Coward]

You gotta remember about the NOMAD though. It used four double As and it sucked them down in some ungodly speed of like 45 minutes or something.

Deja Vu...

[Thedalek]

Didn't Pelican Accessories make one of these a few years ago?

I could have sworn it was virtually identical to the product in queston...

Re:Deja Vu...

[hiroshi912681]

http://www.nesworld.com/gs-arcad.htm

I haven't seen a Genesis clone from them (or from anyone as a matter of fact), but maybe you're confusing it this? it was the first completely legal Famicom/NES clone (patent expired on system, games licensed from Color Dreams)

Re:Deja Vu...

[Thedalek]

No, although I cited this one last week.

The one I'm thinking of was shown off at E3 2001. I distinctly recall that it was a Sega Genesis unit, and that it had Sonic the Hedgehog (and possibly 2 and 3) built in. I'm fairly certain it also had Columns. Similar design, though.

Re:Deja Vu...

[Cyberglich]

YES!!!! I rember that i called Pelikin every few months for over a year looking for this (btw i think it was e3 2000)

Like the Ique

[foidulus]

Actually, I wish they would have made this like the IQue Nintendo released in China, all they would have had to of done is add a little bit of USB storage and a somewhat safe way to add games to it at video stores. The hardware is already there, they could have made a bunch of money selling all the sega genesis games for a slightly larger investment. I for one would love to play genesis games(of my choosing, not some part of a lame collection) for about $5 a piece.

Doh!

[ObviousGuy]

I realized that right after I hit submit. I was hoping it would pass undetected. :-)

Sonic and Knucles

[sushi_steve]

Slightly offtopic i think:

Does anyone remember the game Sonic and Knuckles? I'd love to play that game again (mine was stolen ):
For those of you that don't know, the game was a stand-alone game with this new Knuckles character, but you could flip open the top of the cartridge and plug in Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 and play those games as knuckles.Truly a wonder.
Is it possible rip a ROM of that game and keep the functionality that it held?

Re:Sonic and Knucles

[hiroshi912681]

yes, it is emulated. originally, it wasn't because they didn't dump the game properly (missed a chip). they're available in goodsets nowadays, but if you have the properly dumped roms you can just: Copy /b s&k.bin + s2.bin = s2k.bin I would hope that they include all of the possible lock-ons for Sonic. Sonic 2 and Knuckles was my favourite.

Re:Sonic and Knucles

[Ondo]

Does anyone remember the game Sonic and Knuckles? I'd love to play that game again (mine was stolen ):

It's included in Sonic Mega Collection for the GameCube. Playing as Knuckles in Sonic 2 and 3 is included as easily unlockable bonuses.

I'm confused

[Orien]

There definately seems to be a retro-gaming kick going on right now in the industry. I'm all for it considering how much I use my homemade MAME cabinet, but there is one thing that I don't get at all. Companies like this and Nintendo, Atari, Namco, etc. have all these old titles that they keep releasing on controler packages or collections for Playstation or whatever, but yet they refuse to give people a legal way to use roms to play the games (with the exception of Atari of course who struck a deal with StarRoms). This kind of retro gaming would be a lot more popular if they gave people more choice about it. Imagine if instead of selling a handheld controler with 20 set games in it, instead they have thier whole collection online you bought the thing online (or activated it online) and got to choose 20 of the games that you actually like to be able to play on the unit. I wouldn't even care if they DRM'ed the files like iTunes does with purchased music, just give me a cross-platform app that I can use to flash the games onto the handheld unit. If I had choice about it and could do it without breaking the law, I would be all over it. The problem with those units, and with StarRoms is that 99% of the games are games that I don't like. I would be willing to pay for roms if they gave me ones that I like.

Re:I'm confused

[RdsArts]

If you sell a ROM, you get one sale at a pitiance.

If you sell a controller, you can sell them ANOTHER controller later with 2 more games, a all-in-one collection of two systems' games, GBA ports, PSX ports, PS2 ports of the PSX port, and so on.

Take a look at the Namco museums. How many times have they sold Rally Race and Pacman now?

Re:I'm confused

[torinth]

Dude.

Although your idea seems "Totally awesome" to you as a consumer, you have to understand how ridiculous the logistics are for something like that.

The rights for at least 50% of roms you're playing on your MAME cabinet probably belong with the roomate of the nephew of the brother of the guy who started the company that built and sold the original game. However, that doesn't immediately make the rights defunct, and because of that ROM pirating is illegal (though I wouldn't personally hold it against anyone).

So yeah, an iTunes like thing would be a great way for these ROM pirates to legitimize their usage of these retro games, but building an iTunes like system is completely different. The music collections in iTunes largely belong to five major labels, although smaller proactive indie labels are trying to get their place. But if you were to start iRoms, even once you hit the big names (Atari, Sega, Konami, etc) you still don't have a very big collection and you'll be missing out on a lot of the most memorable games. And until you have a big selection an iRoms service just isn't going to attract many users.

So it's much easier for all these publishers who are still active (Sega, Atari, Nintendo) to take the titles that they already have the rights to and release them in controlled fashion, like this. And because they *can* do this and there is a market for it, you certainly can't expect all these companies just let the ROMs go into public domain. If they're publicly funded they'd get sued for that kind of fiscal irresponsibility.

I hope you're less confused now.

hmmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

Now that would just make too much sense. Money and lawyers make things slower than gravity ever could.

I would buy a NES controller with Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Super Mario, Contra, Metroid, etc. for thirty bucks, no problem.

Programmable Controllers

[CowboyNick]

I don't think it will be long before we start seeing programable controllers that you can load with you own bin, and eventually a entire pc in a controller that will be able to run some of the older DOS based games.

Sega Nomad

[sofakingl]

So basically, this is the Sega Nomad with built in games? With a limited amount of games for it, it might be better to just get a Nomad off of eBay with a bunch of games instead.

I'm hoping for...

[_Sexy_Pants_]

Networkable bomberman controllers! It's a pretty simple little game so I don't think it would be technically impossible. But I would love to just play it at the drop of a hat, maybe keep it in my car so I could break it out at a friends' house.

Honestly, these controller systems are one of the best ideas video games have seen in a while

Sonic Mega Collection

[nic barajas]

I gave up on that game a long time ago. It was taking too long to unlock the different "secret" things, although I discovered Flicky (which I never had on my original Genesis).

Still have the original Genesis and all the games, including Sonic and Knuckles. That lock-on technology was clutch.

Re:Sonic Mega Collection

[Allison Geode]

the games are unlocked by how many times you start and exit each game. don't even have to play them, either.
don't hold me to it, but if you start/exit each game 20-ish times, you'll eventually unlock everything. pain in the butt, so once you've done it, NEVER delete your save file. :-p

Only 7?

[SamSim]

I can't help thinking that it seems kind of a cheat that they only include 7 games - only one of which has been named, Sonic The Hedgehog, which, while a groundbreaking game and pretty good in its own right, was vastly overshadowed by its sequels on that console. Surely you could fit a hundred into something that size these days.

Re:Only 7?

[chadamir]

you could, but it wouldn't be as cheap.

Which genesis controller is it shaped like?

[Anonymous Coward]

The classic 3-button one or the crappy 6-button one?