HD Sega Genesis / Mega SG Review - Rerez

analog is a company that makes amazing FPGA based video game consoles and today they shipped their new console, the

mega

SG, which aims to take Sega Genesis games, Mega Drive games and even a couple more games and run them perfectly on screens high definition. How it works and whether it's worth it, let's take a closer look. Analog has a history of taking retro video game systems that people love and improving them in almost every way for modern televisions where the original companies were trying to strike a balance between analog hardware and price by focusing solely on the hardware and the experience of the user, so you know you're getting a well-designed, feature-packed system that's worth the expense.

In the past we

review

ed the super anti-analog system and were impressed. Its performance and capabilities, the Super NT and ours, became the benchmark that all future cloned systems had to meet everything we threw at the games with worked controllers and even accessories like the Super Gameboy. Its compatibility combined with its suite of options and customization features made the Super NT an analog joy to use, and has continued to maintain its system quality through unlocking firmware updates and additional enhanced system features. We enjoyed the super so much that when the

mega

SG was announced, needless to say we were excited to see if it could live up to what they did for the Super Nintendo.

Now let's take a look at the mega SG console. There are some visual differences between the models offered by the analog system and we received the mega SG USA version which looks like a kind of mix of Sega Genesis model 1 and model 2 styles, the console itself is very elegant and simple, but that does not mean that It sits cheap, feels well built and has a lot of top weight too. The system is a slot for Genesis cartridges and below that the power and reset buttons and the power button, just like the analog ST, it has a multi-color LED that can be customized on the back, the system has an input micro USB for power and also an HDMI output and on the front.

There are two controller ports that have the same specifications as the original Sega Genesis and there is also a headphone jack like on the original Genesis model. One on the side of the console you will find an SD card slot which is mainly used for firmware updates and on the opposite side, hidden under a plastic cover, there is an expansion port for Sega CD, but we'll talk about that a bit. later. All you really need to know about Mega SG is that it's very well made following exactly the same steps as Super. NT analog has once again made quality hardware with this console, but analog isn't the only company we'll look at today because while you can get the system on its own, you can also get it with a wireless controller. from the 8-bit team called it the m30, this is a very well built Sega Genesis style wireless controller, but you have to take into account a big difference between some and 30 controllers that exist now. 8 Bit sent us another model of the m30 that is slightly different compared to the analog one sold directly from their website.

The analog version you get with the Mega SG is a 2.4 gigahertz wireless controller that connects directly to an included dongle the moment you plug in the dongle. and press star on the controller, you'll be instantly connected and ready to play, no need to configure anything. This controller can also be used on original Sega Genesis models and other devices that use the same old style input. The controller charges via microUSB and there is no way to plug it directly into the dongle or charge it directly from the Mega SG, but it seems to last a very long time.

The other 8-bit model sold independently of analog is also called the m30, but connects via bluetooth and has a completely different receiver that appears much longer than the one included with the analog version. It charges via USB C instead of micro USB and has the ability to connect to multiple devices. It also has four LED lights on the bottom to indicate the order of the players in some modern ones. consoles and that's something you don't get with the one that sells analog, it's reasonably more complex to connect to things, but that's something I've always had problems with with 8-bit controllers, but you have more options because of that now Depending on which controller you want, they both offer different features and the one Analog sells from their website is much easier to connect and that might be something some players prefer because it really doesn't require much extra effort.

It works by simply plugging it in and playing, but those are the only differences you'll find between these two models because both controllers have the exact same game input buttons, you have a shield-style directional pad that feels slightly clickable and very responsive. It reminds me a bit of the original Sega Genesis model and, borrowing heavily from the design of the official 6-button Genesis controller, you have the ABC and XYZ buttons on the right, you still get the signature Lonestar button without any button information selection because Sega Genesis games do not use a selection button, however, the 8-bit design was improved by including a series of three buttons at the bottom.

Now these buttons access different functions that you normally wouldn't have on the original Sega Genesis controller, such as one of them accesses the Mega SG main menu functions so you can modify settings while you play and another of those buttons acts as the mode input button you would have found at the top right of the original six Sega Genesis buttons. controller, but unlike any of the original Sega Genesis controllers you'll likely find that this one has L and R side buttons now in play, these simply duplicate some of the face buttons on the front and I know some players have side buttons in a Genesis.

The controller may look incorrect, but in practice I think it worked quite well to test and compare the quality of the Mega SG. We used an original unmodified Sega Genesis model with original cables and all the images you are seeing now are exactly what this system outputs to modern HD TVs which may look a little blurry and not as sharp, but when you compare an original model to what that the Mega SG is capable of, there really is a night and day difference with an SG. We are getting a clean digital signal over HDMI with crystal clear audio.

Originally, Sega Genesis being able to output via composite or coaxial or other output methods were also possible, but nothing comes close to what Mega SG is doing here. With the analog Super NT, you don't get a simple emulation device that simply plays dumped roms, what you are seeing now is the title running directly from an authentic cartridge using advanced hardware and an FPGA under the hood, to put it simply, anything that the original Harper can run the analog Mega SG and should be able to run it too, so of course we had to test it with a wide variety of cartridges from all over just to see what this system was capable of and how much it would improve performance. visual images and in some cases even the audio, like for example Sonic the Hedgehog 2, this is what the intro looks and sounds like on a real Sega Genesis, the image here is definitely more blurry and for a long time I didn't really think there was anything bad with the sound, but when you compare the sound directly to the Mega SG, well, you get this now, let's do it one more time and change it mid-stream instantly so you can hear the big jump in audio quality.

Don't know. about you but I've never heard a Sega Genesis sound this good and I'm even comparing it to some emulators they've had that have never sounded this clean, all visuals and audio can be modified while playing on the fly. without even having to pause the game, all you need to do is access the Mega SG menu and voila, you can add scan lines, adjust the resolution and you can even add filters over the image to remove those pixels that can give it a blurrier look and mixed, although I personally don't prefer that and the rest of this video won't use any of that.

You will see the native 1080p, 60 frames per second image that this console has. It gives you nothing over the top and like the visuals, there are also plenty of audio options that you can tweak while you play. Something to keep in mind regarding audio is that every now and then you will play a game that could be useful. of additional audio features sometimes it's something in the cartridge or maybe some additional hardware and when that happens you need to enable it in the main menu so you can get that sound. The only downside to this is that when you turn it on right, it might sound a little muddy and noisy because it uses some extra piece of hardware, but in our tests in each case it always sounded much better than any sound you'd get from the Sega Genesis;

There are several games originally released on the Sega Genesis that use interesting visual techniques that are sometimes misunderstood by emulators and I've seen cloned consoles fail to run these games, as well as games like Red Zone that have a really interesting visual intro that looks like a sequence. of film. When playing with the original cartridge, this runs exactly as you would expect on Mega SG, without any issues. Another game we tested is Zero Tolerance, a first-person shooter released on the Genesis that probably isn't the best game in the world. but it's still interesting, playing this game on the original console on a modern HD TV gives you a blurry appearance that makes it very difficult to see enemies in the distance and while Mega SG doesn't improve the game, it does .

It's easier to see things. One notable game that I've seen many emulators fail on is The Adventures of Batman and Robin. This game has an incredible visual style that is unlike anything you can find on Genesis and I am happy to see it. report that the Mega SG looks perfect, the same can be said for basically any regular cartridge game, they all look and sound fantastic in some ways, superior to the original Sega Genesis console, but there are at least two cartridges that I like. to use while testing cloning systems because they are a bit complicated because they are a bit weird.

The first is the Sonic and Knuckles Lock Kart. Now on its own it's a game that's perfectly functional, but if you put another game on top of it like Sonic 2 or 3, it becomes a completely different game. Some third party systems may have issues with this with Omega SG. Isn't everything working as it should, including putting an incompatible cartridge on top? load a special stage, this is how it would have been on the real Sega Genesis. Having this cartridge working is very important to me because in most official emulation libraries you rarely see this game working together due to licensing issues, so at least this way I put everything together and it works.

I'm very happy with that, but now let's try the second cartridge. I want to take a look at Virtua racing. This cartridge uses the SVP chip, which is Sega's virtual processor. Now this is something like that. The Super FX chip you find in Starfox on the Super Nintendo is capable of 3D graphics and works well. This isn't the best version of Virtua Racing out there, but I think it's important to have it running on Mega SG so people can experience what it was like to play it on the original Sega Genesis, but on a modern HD TV we also had a Curve ball further to throw the system, we got the Monster World 4 fan translation trick on cartridge and it worked perfectly.

This gives me confidence in the future for other homebrew cartridges being made that may work in the original Sega Genesis. We will also be able to work on the Mega SG and that includes the Stone Age Gamer mega drive and sometimes this Crick cartridge. It does not work on certain cloned systems due to the use of a micro SD card on top, but on this system it works perfectly and one more interesting feature of Sega Genesis that this console has is a copy of ultra core, now ultra core is a game . That wasn't released that long ago for various reasons, but now for the first time we have an official copy of the game running internally on Mega SG, just select it from the main menu and you're done. when playing a lost game this same idea also happened with a super NT but if i had to choose i would have to say ultra core is a slightly better game now that they are both side scrolling games but ultra core seems to have a use more interesting graphics and I just have to say tighter gameplay, but that's definitely up for debate and personal preference, regardless of whether it's included in every Mega SG sold, so it's nice to have while using the

sega

software sg-1000.

Not all hardware will work with this system, soFor example, you won't be able to get 32x to work here due to the connectivity method they originally used for that system, meaning no 32x games won't run on the SG brand. You will not be able to directly reproduce anything that was used to justify or threaten, which were like weapons created for the original Sega Genesis. We spoke with Analog about the possibilities of them supporting these devices in the future with an additional version. update and they informed us that although the hardware itself won't be able to run it directly, they will be releasing something called a DAC, a digital to analog converter and yet it will be able to run 32 x-games directly on your HD screen.

You won't be able to run just a fire or serve games on the screen that way simply because the technology is incompatible, but with this DAC you will be able to run games directly on a CRT using the Mega SG so it at least gives you some solution for playing those games. on older screens and this DAC will also work with Super NT so you can use any of those games that require that type of technology as well, but that device is simply not available right now, so for anyone who wants to get omega SG, just Keep this in mind, something that is available right now that is included in the box with the Omega s G is a Sega Master System adapter, meaning you will be able to play any Sega Master System game available on the same system you play.

Sega Genesis games As with everything we show you in Sega Genesis, you will see improvements in visual and audio quality across the board, this includes support for often forgotten elements such as the sports pad, you can count on practically anything. on the Master System running here, but again, as with Sega Genesis games, anything that requires a light gun simply won't work as long as the Sega Master System adapter is included in the box and in the future you'll also be able to purchase others. adapters such as one for Sega mark three games, another for Game Gear and another adapter that will support the games Sega my card ST 1000 and SC 3000 and all this has been fantastic, everything has worked as we expected and in some cases It even exceeded our expectations, but What is the best feature that Mega SG has: compatibility with Sega CD.

This is the first time I've seen Sega CD games run in high definition directly from the original hardware. Now it is something we must maintain. Please note that Mega SG does not include a CD drive built into the system. You will need to use an original Sega CD or mega CD drive. There are two models of these systems and either of them will work fine, but we are Using model 2, once connected the games run exactly as they did using the original Sega Genesis hardware. Now, because you're still using the original CD drive, you won't see an increase in speed of load times or anything like that.

What we're getting here is a higher quality visual signal and a much higher quality audio signal, plus a lot of modern gamers scoff at the Sega CD, but the truth is that there are a lot of really good games on the platform and while not I had them. a very long lifespan, many of the games here were never released on any other platform or if they were, they were heavily modified to exist on another platform and some games like Snatcher only saw an English release on this platform and, Even though you can't use the Justifying Weapon sequences, you can still play the entire game from start to finish with the best audio and visual you've ever seen running from this original hardware from anything I've ever experienced.

I must say that this is the best way. to play Sega CD games on the market right now, aside from software emulation for Sega CD games, nothing comes close to what Mega SG is doing here. Analog has once again launched an innovative system, just like the Super NT, it is the best way to play. original Super Nintendo cartridges into your modern high-definition TV, the Mega SG is the same for not only Sega Genesis games but also Master System games and Sega CD games, and with the other adapters they will soon release , they will be able to expand the capabilities of this system even further than what it is now if you are a die-hard Sega fan.

I simply can't recommend the Mega SG enough, it plays older Sega games like no other console I've seen before and yes I haven't actually played Sega Genesis or Master System games, not even Sega CD games. This might be the best way to play them for the first time because that classic Sega games library has some of the best titles from the classic 90s gaming era.