The Sega Genesis Is Officially Back In Production (dailydot.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Daily Dot: Sega may be done making the Genesis (known as the Mega Drive outside of the U.S.), but that doesn't mean people aren't still buying them. In Brazil, the 16-bit system is still hugely popular, and now it's being brought back into production. TecToy, which produces all manner of gadgets and toys, has launched preorders for all-new Sega Mega Drive stock, complete with support for the original game library and controllers. But what's even more astounding about the announcement is that it's all being done with Sega's blessing, making these official, brand new, Sega-branded consoles. The new consoles are spitting images of the originals, aside from the addition of an SD card slot, which makes it great for emulation. They're even complete with support for A/V cables, though there's no HDMI or other bells or whistles. That might seem like a bad move, but for the Brazilian market, it's a perfect fit, not to mention that you can easily pick up an A/V-to-HDMI converter for fairly cheap. The system costs roughly $125 (BRL399) and includes a SD card with 22 games.

Comments

Complete?

[freeze128]

Not providing HDMI is indeed a mistake, but what's unforgivable is the lack of even COMPONENT outputs, or even VGA. It would have been easier to convert the output to RGB than to convert it to composite, and you would have way better clarity on today's televisions.

Re:Complete?

[mwvdlee]

This is a $125 decades old 16-bit games console being sold in a market of $50 Android TV boxes.
I think the lack of HDMI is just about the least strange thing about it.

Re:Complete?

[TuringTest]

It would have been easier to convert the output to RGB than to convert it to composite, and you would have way better clarity on today's televisions.

Why would you want better clarity? The art in those games was designed to be shown in blurry screens. Showing them with increased clarity distorts the original game looks, as if they were processed by a sharpen filter.

Re:Complete?

[geekmux]

This is a $125 decades old 16-bit games console being sold in a market of $50 Android TV boxes. I think the lack of HDMI is just about the least strange thing about it.

This is a $125 product being touted as "new" when we all know that Genesis consoles (along with Atari 2600 consoles) have been sold for years now, and one can easily find them at less than half this advertised price, and with three times as many built in games.

The largest unexplained oddity is why the retro-game-loving people of Brazil are completely unaware of this.

Re:Complete?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because these are not sold in Brazil, are likely illegal anyway [standard Brazilian outlook on this kind of stuff], and after you factor in the need for an international credit card, US$->BRL conversion and shipping, cost just as much (but have no warranty at all -- shipping makes it prohibitive to use any internationally valid warranty in Brazil that requires shipping overseas).

Oh, and TecToy stuff usually ends up being sold on toy stores across the country, with discounted prices and 10x in your credit card/store credit plan. They are selling (completely legal) Master System + 125 games small boxes to lower income people that want to gift their children with a videogame, but would never be able to afford either the CAPEX or OPEX of a PS3/PS4/X-Box. If the Sega sells well and doesn't break down, it will get the same treatment.

That enough?

Re:Complete?

[KozmoStevnNaut]

What's the OPEX of a modern console? Buying new games is CAPEX. Power consumption is negligible. You probably have the internet connection anyway at a fixed monthly rate. Xbox Live/PSN isn't mandatory.

Re:Complete?

[KozmoStevnNaut]

Well, yes and no. The games were meant to be show on CRTs, which slightly fuzz the pixels by design. But Composite video simply sucks ass, it has color bleed, ringing, ghosting, a whole host of problems.

Try hooking up a console with RGB SCART or Component to a good-quality CRT and be amazed, especially if you've only ever used RF or Composite video. 2D games in particular look absolutely amazing when given the best possible conditions. The CRT itself does all the blurring and fuzz you need, there is no reason to add more by using crappy connections.

People who think old-school games look best over RF or Composite are completely delusional.

For the best quality on a plasma or LCD TV, you need a competent upscaler like an XRGB. You should be able to see the pixels, but they should be slightly fuzzy, not razor sharp.

Re:Complete?

[KozmoStevnNaut]

It's the lowest common denominator. I have yet to see TV without Composite video input, no matter how high-end and expensive.

Adding an RGB output should have been possible, it's actually on less processing step compared to Composite output.

Re:Complete?

[GuB-42]

I don't know many people who don't have HDMI or component inputs and would spend $125 in an outdated game console.

Re:Complete?

[Blaskowicz]

I wonder how many european countries or other had SCART, but I remember SCART to be the default, all 8/16 bit consoles used it and 1980s TVs would support only RGB not composite. PS1, PS2, N64 etc. then came out with composite cables and the RCA to SCART adapter, so the PS2 would display a worse pictures than Master System, SNES, Megadrive. (NES looked a bit weird, but quite good enough)
RF was for Atari 2600, C64, Pong clones i.e. prehistoric cavemen stuff.

S-Video might have been useful but most experience with it was, you miss a cable, or it's set up wrong and displays black and white.
Composite is not good for anything except video / movies. Well, PAL composite at least.
It does the job of putting a picture out. On N64 composite is fine, since everything the console does is blurry - full featured, correct 3D rendering at low res and some very small textures.

Re:Complete?

[KozmoStevnNaut]

SCART was pretty much exclusively a European thing, dreamed up by the French to protect their own TV manufacturers. Japan has/had the JP21 standard which uses the same connectors with a different pin assignment.

99% of consoles hooked up using SCART connectors output Composite video, RGB was either not available or required an expensive add-on cable. All TVs with SCART plugs support Composite over SCART, some support S-Video, and the best TVs support RGB and sometimes even Component (YPbPr). Some consoles (most notably the N64) only had Composite output, you have to do hardware mods to get anything else. More info here: http://retrorgb.com/systems.ht...

So no, the Master System, SNES, Mega Drive and so on definitely supported Composite, and that's what most people used. NES was Composite-only.

I'd wager most people have never seen a console hooked up with a proper set of SCART RGB or Component cables, and the massive increase in quality it gives.

Re:Complete?

[tepples]

modern console [...] Power consumption is negligible.

You'd be surprised. "Hardcore" consoles from the past decade (PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, and Xbox One) can burn 100 W or more if made before the process shrinks incorporated in "slim" redesigns.

You probably have the internet connection anyway at a fixed monthly rate.

Unless you live in a rural area, where the monthly data allowance under the "fixed monthly rate" often isn't enough to download modern games. I know nothing about the home Internet market in Brazil, but wireless (satellite or cellular) home Internet plans in the United States tend to run $5 per GB or more.

Buying new games is CAPEX.

Until the game's publisher expressly discontinues online play in favor of its sequels, which is standard practice with league-licensed sport simulations. Then renewing your entitlement to play by buying the sequel becomes OPEX. And with current-generation games well into the double digit GB, CAPEX for new games becomes prohibitive.

Xbox Live/PSN isn't mandatory.

It is if the majority of new multiplayer games support neither split-screen nor LAN play, or for people who don't live near other people who play the same multiplayer game.

Re:Complete?

[tepples]

HDMI is DRMed garbage

Only for sources enforcing HDCP. The OUYA console had HDCP that even a game's developer could not turn off, and I believe this contributed to its failure to thrive because a game's developer had no way to capture the stream to make a promotional video for YouTube. But the Hi-Def NES (HDMI mod for the Nintendo Entertainment System) doesn't add HDCP to its HDMI output, and neither do the NES-compatible consoles Analogue Nt Mini and RetroUSB AVS.

Re:Complete?

[Techalit]

Not providing HDMI means more cables and connections. People want to live easy nowadays.

Re:Complete?

[Joe_Dragon]

but it should work with the 32X and sega cd then.

sonic and knuckles lock on as well.

Re:Complete?

[pr0fessor]

My brother he has all the vintage games from atari to sega and still plays them. He even has a big Nintendo sign that he got from a store that went out of business.

Re:Complete?

[CronoCloud]

You'd be surprised. "Hardcore" consoles from the past decade (PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, and Xbox One) can burn 100 W or more if made before the process shrinks incorporated in "slim" redesigns.

Don't "Fat" PS3's hit more than 250W sometimes? That thing is a powersucker...I didn't leave that thing on running Linux like I did the PS2.

[quote]unless you live in a rural area, where the monthly data allowance under the "fixed monthly rate" often isn't enough to download modern games, but wireless (satellite or cellular) home Internet plans in the United States tend to run $5 per GB or more. [/quote]

Even in rural areas, most people live in the towns...and probably have access to at least DSL, if not high speed cable or fiber. Now admittedly the actual farmers who aren't close enough to get a DSL line are screwed unless they go with a Wireless ISP... I don't mean Cellular, I mean wireless ISP....they're fairly equivalent to DSL (3-7mbps)

It is if the majority of new multiplayer games

Not even taking into account multiplayer, a modern console is most useful with a high speed internet connection. Without one you're cut off from system updates, game updates, DLC, digital only games, game streaming, etc etc. I once had to sadly tell a guy interested in a PS3 that his dial-up connection wouldn't really suffice. Heck, even with the PS2 you wouldn't want dial-up.

Re:Complete?

[ausekilis]

You are completely ignoring the feeling of putting in the cartridge, sliding the power button, and using the real controller. Sure, this thing takes SD cards (which makes me kinda want one), but there is something to be said about the "feel" of the original over some android box with some odd controller.

As someone who grew up with genesis and SNES, playing Sonic with an xbox360 controller just feels weird.

Re:Complete?

[KozmoStevnNaut]

That's because you're comparing a "fuzzy-by-design" composite connection with razor sharp pixels on an HD display. Neither option is optimal, but you're correct that composite is closest to how most people experienced it back in the day, because they simply didn't know or didn't care that better connections were available. I've done a [b]lot[/b] of tests on various connection types, under very good conditions. RGB and component beat every other connection by a huge margin.

My background is that I used to work at one of the premier TV manufacturers in the world 10 years ago, right around the time when CRTs were being phased out for good. My dad has worked with TVs and electronics since the early 1970s. Between the two of us, I'm pretty goddamn sure we know a thing or two about analog and digital signals ;-)

Composite is widely used because it's cheap and only requires one simple coaxial cable for video. But it suffers from dull colors, blurriness, ringing and other artifacts, especially on NTSC systems. The basic reason is that you're jamming all video + sync into a single signal, so the luma, chroma and sync signals play havoc with each other.

S-video splits luma+sync (luminance or brightness) and chroma (color) onto two separate cables, and the quality is vastly improved. I would say the jump from composite to s-video is more noticable than from s-video to RGB/component, and it's the best connection available on many analog TVs, especially in the US.

RGB/component is superior still to s-video, with either the individual red, green(+sync) and blue channels on separate cables for RGB or luma+sync, blue minus luma and red minus luma on separate cables for component (YPbPr). By having the different signals on separately shielded wires, interference is significantly reduced, leading to sharper image and better color rendering. Component can even carry HD signals, and is the best analog HD connection available short of VGA (and VGA is basically RGB video with slightly different sync).

I don't dispute that maybe you prefer the reduced color fidelity, blurriness and artifacts of composite video, maybe due to nostalgia. Hell, some people enjoy vinyl records or even cassette tape over any other format. However the fact is that composite video is deeply flawed and inferior in every way to RGB/component, except in widespread availability. And if you had actually tried hooking up a good quality CRT TV with both composite and RGB/component cables and compared them, it would be blindingly obvious.

No, the picture doesn't become "too sharp" or "too good" on RGB/component. It becomes correct, especially on a high-quality CRT TV. The pixel fuzziness on old games should come from the inherent nature of the CRT, not from flawed connections.

Re:Complete?

[KozmoStevnNaut]

RGB/component is superior still to s-video, with either the individual red, green(+sync) and blue channels on separate cables for RGB

Small correction to myself, the sync for RGB is carried on the composite video line in a SCART RGB connection, not on the green channel. Sync on green is used for PCs, not TVs.

Re:Complete?

[Anonymous Coward]

uh what? If you were alive when the SNES and Genesis were the dominant consoles you would know that people wanted the sharpest possible picture, they did not just hook it up with a coat hanger as a wire and say "this is what the game designers intended."

Re:Complete?

[Blaskowicz]

Thanks, so RGB-only SCART was a French thing? Fun fact, there were never such a thing as composite SECAM.
The classic consoles were wired for RGB in the French market at least. The NES couldn't do RGB, so the French NES uses a built-in composite to RGB converter. Only later did French TV support composite PAL, such that after a SNES that only did RGB, we got an N64 that only did composite.

Re:Complete?

[PRMan]

Sorry, but for all your knowledge, you are wrong.

Some consoles in those days used what's known as artifacting in order to gain colors or other effects. What this means is that they rely on the fact that some pixels will fall between colors on the screen to get more colors out of hi-res images. When you "improve the fidelity with better connections", it does in fact become "too good".

As an extreme example, look at this image: http://www.atarimania.com/8bit... and this image: https://www.google.com/search?...

One is monochrome and one is color you say? No. They are both the same image. The first is on a "good, accurate" monitor over a very strong connection. But the second relied on the fact that certain pixels fall between the phosphors on the screen, picking up color where it didn't exist. Some NES, SNES and Genesis games were designed to rely on this process in order to look "right" and will actually not look right in HDMI. Now SNES and Genesis, being composite instead of TV switch box like Atari and NES, rely on it more for subtle effects such as brightness bleed and shadow. Particular colors are chosen because they know these effects will result on most composite TV sets.

it's not nostalgia, it's a design consideration. One that relies on the imperfection of TV switch boxes on channel 3 or on the bleed effect of composite video. Perfection eliminates this design consideration, making the game less than it was.

Re:Complete?

[PRMan]

Sorry, the second image should be this: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2LlicAX...

Re: Complete?

[stealth_finger]

It's simple logic, really.

Nintendo didn't do 9/11

Genesis does what Nintendon't

THEREFORE:

Sega did 9/11.

Tell that to the first post guy. Jews, sega, what's the difference?

Re:Complete?

[Nyder]

Not providing HDMI is indeed a mistake, but what's unforgivable is the lack of even COMPONENT outputs, or even VGA. It would have been easier to convert the output to RGB than to convert it to composite, and you would have way better clarity on today's televisions.

As the summary says, it's for the Brazil market, a market that is mostly Standard Definition TV's.

So it's not a mistake, it's intentional because they aren't selling it to the USA or Europe. Since Sega seems willing to have the Megadrive be produced again, why don't you put together a company, throw some specs at Sega and get their permission to make a modern Megadrive? Then you an correct all the wrongs you see done and make some money.

Re:Complete?

[KozmoStevnNaut]

That's really interesting stuff, I didn't know that about SECAM :-)

I would assume not all console had native RGB output, so a lot of them probably used internal composite to RGB converters.

Re:Complete?

[KozmoStevnNaut]

You're talking about significantly older consoles, back when RF (or composite if you were lucky) were the only options. In those days, of the Atari 2600 and the Apple II and CGA-equipped IBM PCs, composite color tricks were definitely a thing. And yes, I've seen demos like 8088 MPH and studied the techniques they used, very cool stuff to get over a thousand colors from normally 4-color CGA: http://8088mph.blogspot.com/20...

What's actually happening is that if you send a signal that changes color too fast, the colors get smeared together because the signal bandwidth is too low to keep up. By sending specific patterns of specific colors, you can generate more colors. It's basic analog signal theory, something I've actually studied ;-)

(BTW the NES didn't have artifact colors, because the resolution lined up perfectly with NTSC, so you couldn't send an image that was too high-res for the bandwidth, in order to create artifact colors. It's simply not technically possible due to hardware limitations.)

But artifact colors and related trickery mostly stopped (at least for commercially released games) when consoles started offering higher quality outputs. From the 16-bit SNES and Genesis/Mega Drive generation on, consoles started offering higher quality video outputs such as s-video and even RGB. Simultaneously, the consoles also started supporting native transparency and larger color palettes, rendering a lot of the "old tricks" obsolete. These tricks would not work on the superior connections that quality-minded players were likely to use, so developers stopped using them.

Some tricks did stay, however. Alternating vertical lines or checkerboard patterns were commonly used for transparency, and that persisted for a while. The SNES could do real transparency, but checkerboarding was much less computationally demanding. And of course the Genesis/Mega Drive didn't have real transparency and also had a rather limited color palette, so game developers made extensive use of alternating vertical lines, checkerboarding and dithering for smoother color transitions. It's very noticeable in games like The Lion King, especially when you compare it with the SNES version. The faked transparency is very noticeable in the waterfalls in Sonic games. Shadows were done in the same way, with checkerboards or vertical lines, but sometimes also by flickering the sprite at half the refresh rate of the TV. On a CRT this produces a reasonably convincing 50% gray shadow, due to phosphor persistence.

Another thing is that you're talking about blowing up old games on HDTVs over HDMI and having razor sharp pixels, but we completely agree that it's not optimal at all. I'm talking about hooking up a good quality CRT SDTV using a high-quality analog connection. Effects such as brightness bleed is not exclusive to composite connections, it's a property of CRTs, especially if you crank up the brightness like on an old arcade machine.

Apart from artifact colors (which were phased out around/before the NES generation), all of this stuff works quite well even on an RGB/component-connected CRT TV, because of the nature of a CRT, not the connection you use.

Here's a video showing the horrible artifacts inherent to composite video compared to s-video: https://youtu.be/vGF4PRlIZSo?t...

Most of them aren't obvious on still pictures, but it's painfully obvious in motion that composite is just crap.

Re:Complete?

[Ichijo]

It would have been easier to convert the output to RGB than to convert it to composite

What makes you think the connector doesn't support both RGB and composite like the old Genesis/Mega Drive did? Where are you getting your information?

Re:Complete?

[AvitarX]

That was an awesome accidental troll.

I was squinting and putting my face to the screen and pulling it back trying to find the difference.

Re:Complete?

[Ichijo]

Okay, I read the FAQ translated into English, and you're right, it will not support RGB:

Frequently Asked Questions

Soon to celebrate its 30th anniversary, Tectoy could not fail to celebrate such an important date. And the way we find to celebrate this moment will be the re-launch of the most successful videogame of the '90s, Mega Drive, in a limited edition. Attending to the requests of thousands of fans, Tectoy was committed to reproduce to the maximum the unforgettable experiences that only the Mega Drive provided.

Below you will find questions and answers that will help you to better understand this project.

1) Is this Mega Drive the same as the original?

No. Because the main components of the original Mega Drive are no longer manufactured.

2) Are the Mega Drive components the same as the original ones?

No, because the originals are no longer manufactured.

3) Is Mega Drive an emulator? Do you play games with components similar to the original console, or do you run games via emulation?

Mega Drive is not an emulator. The device has a circuit that integrates components similar to the original product, since the original integrated circuits are no longer manufactured.

4) Does the Mega Drive run all the cartridges?

Mega Drive runs most cartridges on the original console. Some cartridges may not work because of the differences from the original hardware and software.

5) Will Tectoy re-launch cartridges for Mega Drive?

So far there is no definition. Tectoy would like to launch cartridges, but for that we need to negotiate the licenses, a complex matter in the case of games and brands created decades ago.

6) Can I insert more games into the micro SD card?

The games inserted in the SD card, supplied with the Mega Drive, were properly tested by Tectoy as regards their compatibility as hardware, as well as all the licenses necessary for its commercialization. It is technically possible to add content to this card, but it is the responsibility of the consumer to carry out compatibility tests as well as the necessary licenses.

7) Is it possible to save games?

No. It is only possible to save the game if the cartridge used has this function.

8) Why Mega Drive does not have HDMI?

The vast majority of TVs on sale in the Brazilian market have composite video input (RCA), compatible with the Mega Drive output. Adding the HDMI output to the console would raise the final price of the product to the consumer without increasing the original resolution.

9) Comes with how many controls? Can you buy additional controls?

The product includes a 3-button cord joystick in its original size. You can buy extra joysticks through the official website

10) Can I use old Mega Drive joysticks?

Yes, as long as they are original Mega Drive joysticks.

11) Do the accessories such as Game Genie, Sega CD, Power Base Converter, 32x Meganet, Activator, Mega Mouse and multitaps work on the new Mega Drive?

No

12) Does the Mega Drive work on LCD, LED, Plasma TVs etc?

Yes, as long as the TV has AV input.

13) How do I configure the TV format on the TV so it does not distort the image?

Tectoy recommends setting the TV to the 4: 3 aspect ratio.

14) What is the resolution of the video output of the new Mega Drive?

The resolution is equal to the original, ie 320x240 pixels

15) Is the new Mega Drive capable of outputting video in the RGB standard with the correct cables, as the original Mega Drive did natively using a SCART cable?

Do not.

16) Can I use any headphone?

Yes.

17) Is the audio output stereo or mono?

Stereo.

18) Many emulated solutions have trouble reproducing accurately the sounds of the origi

Re:Complete?

[KingBenny]

i dont think it is strange at all .. its memberberries ... more of the old instead of the new
personally ... screw the NES and SEGA systems for they areth consoles. If i had actual decent money i would be more than happy to fork out for an original atari 2600 and most of all , the C-64, just to put them in my hardware room (considering i have money for a hardware museumroom lol)
as in looking exactly like the original that stomed a generation of coding with the original tapedeck which functionally could be a usb slot emulating both tape and floppy, potentially having the powercartridge pre-installed and maybe even a hyperswitch to switch it to 16kk colours and a 1ghz cpu so FLT and Boozedesign and the likes can go awol bonkers if they're still alive and at it
but i dont have the money for collectors items
i hope sony is not considering playstation one back in the mainstream cos i fear that might not be retro enough
on the other hand, who knows

$125 seems like a lot

[Anonymous Coward]

Couldn't I do an RPi based emulator with controllers for like $50? Or for $25 get a PS Vita? or for $25 less get an Android tablet?

Re:$125 seems like a lot

[Anonymous Coward]

Due to Brazilian import tariffs on electronics, a Pi might cost $100-$150.

Brazil might be able to manufacture its own version of the the Pi, but then it's a question of scale and market viability.

Re:$125 seems like a lot

[aliquis]

But this seem to be the original + more rather than something modern using an emulator. This isn't a modern design with much more efficient components and manufacturing.

Re: $125 seems like a lot

[Anonymous Coward]

You have to think about the distorted/inflated prices found in anything electronic in Brazil.

A RPi3 or Odroid c2 plus controllers is about US$ 125 here. Even then they are better alternatives of course but I understand the Genesys appeal for the layman.

Re:Great

[OrangeTide]

The NES Classic Edition is in stores right now for $60. It has the games built-in but it does have an HDMI output.

"Fairly cheap" A/V-to-HDMI converters

[PercentSevenC]

Any A/V-to-HDMI converter you could reasonably call "fairly cheap" is going to have horrendous amounts of input lag and be total crap for playing games on. There's a reason people spend several hundreds of dollars importing Micomsoft's XRGB-series upscalers from Japan.

Re:"Fairly cheap" A/V-to-HDMI converters

[drinkypoo]

There's a reason people spend several hundreds of dollars importing Micomsoft's XRGB-series upscalers from Japan.

Because their TV has a crappy scaler? I've played retro games on my 52" Sharp 1080p LCD and they look great. And the scaler has basically no lag.

Re:"Fairly cheap" A/V-to-HDMI converters

[KozmoStevnNaut]

That depends heavily on your TV and its processing lag, and which connections it has.

A lot of modern TVs don't have SCART/Component inputs, so you have to convert the signal to HDMI somehow. The XRGB does this with very little lag, unlike a lot of cheap converters/upscalers.

Re:"Fairly cheap" A/V-to-HDMI converters

[CronoCloud]

I've always believed that those "input lag" people are basically the video game equivalent of those "gold unidirectional cables make HDMI sound warmer" people.

Re:"Fairly cheap" A/V-to-HDMI converters

[drinkypoo]

I've always believed that those "input lag" people are basically the video game equivalent of those "gold unidirectional cables make HDMI sound warmer" people.

Well, their math seems pretty convincing to me. If it takes multiple frames to perform a scaling operation, and that adds up to approach human reaction times, it makes sense that it would produce a perceptible lag. I don't play fighting games and I'm not a platformer hero (my big accomplishment was beating Ninja Gaiden back in the day) so it's of little consequence to me. But even so, the primary thing that really separated SHARP AQUOS from other TVs (except maybe Bravia, this is the most substantive difference there too) is the scaler. It's fast and it's good. It takes something like a max of four frames and a minimum of one to perform any supported scaling operation, and it produces a very acceptable result (actually better than most others, at least of the day.) Today, I imagine there are cheap brands with good scalers, but I don't know which they are. I'd rather use the scaler built into my video card, although seemingly that doesn't actually work. If your display doesn't support a resolution, your video card won't let you emulate it, even though every advanced GPU also contains an advanced scaler. All you can do with the scaler is decide if you want what scaling there is to be aspect-locked or not. Whee!

Re:"Fairly cheap" A/V-to-HDMI converters

[PercentSevenC]

Well, input lag exists and can be measured, that much is not up for debate. Whether you notice will depend on the severity of the lag, the types of games you play, and, to put it bluntly, how skilled you are. You can adapt to a certain degree of lag, but once it gets very bad, it will impact your ability to play the twitchy action games that were the bread and butter of the Sega Genesis. Cheap upscalers tend to add several frames of latency on top of your TV's latency. It's cumulative and can easily add up to over 100 ms, which even casual players will notice.

Re:"Fairly cheap" A/V-to-HDMI converters

[PercentSevenC]

Even many TVs with appropriate inputs will not scale the output of old game consoles properly. Old game consoles used non-standard hacks to get 240-line progressive video out of a 480-line interlaced display. Many newer TVs will incorrectly interpret these "240p" signals as 480i signals and attempt to deinterlace them. This not only results in terrible picture quality but also introduces a ton of lag. You need a proper upscaler to correct this.

Re:"Fairly cheap" A/V-to-HDMI converters

[drinkypoo]

There's little point anyway. You need to keep a CRT around for light guns :)

Re:Great

[CyanDisaster]

It comes with a limited and non-expandable games library. It would have been nice if it had the built-in library as well as the capability to load the original game catridges.

Given the track record of tectoy lately..

[Z80a]

This box won't even run sega genesis games that well.

Re:Given the track record of tectoy lately..

[Nocturna81]

I've tried to figure out what exactly the video was trying to prove, but the audio was bad and the video was worse. Perhaps you could tell us what exactly goes on in that video?

Re:Given the track record of tectoy lately..

[KozmoStevnNaut]

Badly flickering sprites, mostly. The original hardware didn't do that.

Re:Given the track record of tectoy lately..

[Z80a]

Low frame rate, audio completely ruined and sprite flickering.
It's like ancient MS-DOS emulator.

Re:wake me up when

[aliquis]

Shadow warrior 2 may lack multiplayer arena combat (I'm not sure) but supposedly it's free from copy protection(?)

If you want the multiplayer aspect there's Quake3-like games released as open-source and so on which you could run.

Re:Great

[aliquis]

NES Classic Edition is an emulator console (with actual authorized game-titles.)

Re:Boost Ram Of Android

[Anonymous Coward]

I recommend downloadmoreram.com

Been around for years, this is not new.

[geekmux]

Why are we touting this as new?

I've seen "brand new" Sega Genesis console packages alongside "brand new" Atari 2600 consoles being sold in stores for years now. I'll probably be able to pick up one for less than $30 when Black Friday rolls around, and many of these consoles come with three times as many built-in games.

For some odd reason the people of Brazil representing the target market are unaware that this product already exists and for less than half the cost? What the hell am I missing here? Are they really charging a 400% markup on the new(er) console because of the addition of an SD card slot? Hell, they have handheld Genesis players with built-in screens that have SD slots, so even that feature isn't new.

And a company providing "blessing" to license their brand for the sake of capitalism is about as "astounding" as discovering the prostitute on the corner isn't a virgin.

Re:Been around for years, this is not new.

[tepples]

For some odd reason the people of Brazil representing the target market are unaware that this product already exists and for less than half the cost? What the hell am I missing here? Are they really charging a 400% markup on the new(er) console because of the addition of an SD card slot?

They're charging 400 percent markup because the manufacturer got it past Brazilian customs and into toy stores.

Re:Been around for years, this is not new.

[geekmux]

For some odd reason the people of Brazil representing the target market are unaware that this product already exists and for less than half the cost? What the hell am I missing here? Are they really charging a 400% markup on the new(er) console because of the addition of an SD card slot?

They're charging 400 percent markup because the manufacturer got it past Brazilian customs and into toy stores.

Sadly, yes. TFA should focus on the fact that this has a hell of a lot more to do with trade/commerce agreements and licensing instead of claiming that the Genesis is "back" in production.

Re:Been around for years, this is not new.

[Luthair]

Are you referring to the AT Games Sega device? If so its a bad emulator (sound distortion and lag iirc) not real hardware. Though it isn't really clear whether the TecToy device will also use original chips or something else.

Re:wake me up when

[Blaskowicz]

The Quake 3 games aren't quite playable on linux though. The gamma correction or "brightness" slider doesn't work, so the game is dark and can't be brightened up. Perhaps the Quake engines did something wrong, this used to be an occasional issue with Quake 1 and 2 in Windows 15 years ago but you could fix it with a change of driver or setting higher system wide gamma. But to this day, you can launch Open Arena on some MESA based open source driver (which is all you will ever have on a lot of hardware) and the game is too dark to be played.

That's an awful lot of money

[drinkypoo]

There are still many TSOP-reflashable Xbox (original, that is) units lying around at flea markets for basically no money. If you want to play classic genesis games, that's a much better way to go. Google for "GenRen" to find roms. All of them. You could buy carts and dump them of course, either with a ~$60 tool or with a Sega CD and your PC. You can get a Sega CD and a real Genesis at the flea market, of course. I think I got rid of my Sega CD already...

150 percent sales tax

[tepples]

Then you probably don't know anyone who lives in a country with prohibitive import tariffs on toys. If you had to pay the equivalent of 150 percent sales tax on toys, you might see how $125 comes about: $50 cost of goods plus $75 in import duty and VAT. The people of Brazil through their legislators appear to have chosen to fund the government through import duties, presumably to subsidize the building of a domestic chip fab.

Re:Great

[tepples]

And due to Brazilian import tariffs, it'll probably end up at $150 if it ever gets there.

Re:Boost Ram Of Android

[tepples]

Did this come about when the patent on Connectix RAM Doubler software expired, allowing the creation of zswap?

MIST is what you're looking for

[Weaselmancer]

VGA out, and it runs a host of old hardware. Sega, NES, Amiga, C64, Apple II, too many to mention.

And they come with a full development kit. Altera Quartus and GCC, and you can make it do pretty much anything you want.

Re:Will it fit in my rectum?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're a beginner at it, then no. I'd recommend you start with a Game Boy, work your way up to a Game Gear, then try to take on the Game Cube, and only after that go for a Super Nintendo or Genesis.

Not worth it

[whoozwah]

Emulators are good enough. you can get USB genesis controllers. If you want the REAL thing, get the real thing and the mega everdrive. Flash cart an SD card slot to load all your games so you can play them on the real hardware, even romhacks.

Re:wake me up when

[Blaskowicz]

True, the xgamma command brightens up about anything. Anything except my game of Open Arena, because that's what the bug does.
Also, Quake 3 with Wine is broken, problems with input it seems. (I should not have gone with "devel" version of Wine, or I should have installed PlayOnLinux likely)
Also when I quit dosbox, the desktop is at 640x480. lol I know, you didn't ask for that but it's amazing how some former bugs and quirks from the old Windows gaming days still are around but on linux instead. Quit to 640x480, crash or quit to the desktop with overbright gamma still applied, crash to 640x480 desktop with overbright gamma applied, alt-tab out of the game but can't alt-tab back in, alt-tab to a 640x480 desktop. ctrl-alt-right to go to workspace number 2 can be used sometimes when you can't alt-tab.

I'm curious if using Wayland will fix most things, but I fear to be dead before Wayland is ready for the desktop. Or maybe I'll play some game bugfree, while a compositor uses 80% CPU to copy from buffer A to buffer B. I'm completely making this up, but if I can waste CPU or framerate but still get something playable that would be better than nothing.

What hardware?

[iampiti]

I'd really like to know what hardware this has inside. It might very well be something similar to the new NES, i.e.: an ARM SOC running an emulator.
It'd be really cool if this was running on the original chips. As opposed to the NES it seems the Genesis used pretty standard hardware: A Motorola 68K, a Z80 a pretty common Yamaha sound chip.
Alas, it's probably more expensive to build a device with those chips nowadays than to use the ARM and emulator option.

Re:What hardware?

[perplexing.reader]

According to the site Faq: It is not emulated, they are using one single chip for the 16Bit and 8 Bit processors. Compatible with original cartridge ( with few exceptions like Virtua Racing and Sonic & Knuckles ) and original controllers They are keeping the original design, even the box will be based on the original. No promises about compatibility with Game Genie, Sega CD, Power Base Converter, 32x Meganet, Activator, e Mega Mouse

And remember (D) stands for "Dolchstoss"

[Torodung]

And just remember kids, (D) stands for "Dolchstoss" (look it up in German history).

[/sarcasm]

Re:wake me up when

[Windowser]

retro multiplayer fps games make a comeback that don't require a steam or origin account

GOG

Why not Dreamcast?

[JustNiz]

It seems odd to me that Sega would pick the Genesis not the Dreamcast.
I mean wasn't the Dreamcast way more iconic and popular than the Genesis?

Re:Great

[OrangeTide]

That's a pity.

Maybe we should get a kickstarter to spin one of the NES FPGAs into a proper ASIC, and fix a lot of the crappiness of the NES-on-a-chip products out there.

But I doubt we could raise $500k spin an ASIC (I'm over estimating, they are actually a lot cheaper for old process). Might be $50/console and get 10k-20k people, assuming Nintendo doesn't step in and tie the project up with legal notices. (It's legal to make a NES, you can even use the same mask as the original 6502-variant because masks of that time are not covered by copyright or patent)

curso NR 10

[Instituto Santa Cata]

Curso NR 10 online curso NR 10 curso NR 10 online

It's got an actual 68k

[rsilvergun]

Heart on Fire and everything. It's not a SOC, So it'll run the games just fine. The real question I have is will it have the proper Yamaha sound chip