“Some of you might say “it’s not a Sega Saturn Mini” or “I want a Dreamcast Mini”, but it’s not for lack of consideration.”, Okunari about the new version of the Mega Drive Mini. Set to celebrate the machine’s 34th anniversary in Japan on October 27, the new design Inspired by Mega Drive 2 will automatically include 50 new games, including “20 tracks from the Mega CD” and other surprises – like a new port of Fantasy Zone made by M2 gaming fan, retro port specialist.
According to the producer in charge hardware Retro, first and foremost a question of feasibility, means cost. “Of course, the development of new cards has stalled due to the pandemic, which will make the product quite expensive in terms of cost“, Aocheng regretted it. But hardware The existing Mega Drive Mini is still not enough to run Saturn and other games. “32X games are not included in this release“, designate the person in charge of the topic, “Because the 32X is based on two processors, just like the Saturn. If we can reproduce this configuration, we can develop a “Saturn Mini”.“
These rising costs in the context of the pandemic also explain why projects for a second wave of Game Gear Micro have been nipped in the bud, much to the chagrin of ophthalmologists. “When we estimated the second-generation Game Gear Micro, the manufacturing cost was roughly 1.5 times higher. If we sold it for the same price, we would lose money, and we don’t want to end up in a situation where only the second version is more expensive.“.
The expansion of the Mega Drive Mini 2 is powered by the new design, according to the team, the addition of Mega CD games and the increase in the number of integrated games from 42 to 50. Even the emulation of CD titles clearly still tested M2’s expertise. In this little game, the machine’s signature shooter is Silpheed, which acts as a gauge. “We thought porting Silpheed would be the hardest part, so we started developing it first. We say to ourselves: ‘If Silpheed works, then everything else works! (laugh).In fact, it took us a while to get it to spin properly“.
Okunari concludes by explaining that the idea for the Mega Drive sprouted a day after the Famicom Mini’s release, and it immediately set high goals to pay homage to the machine after Star Fox, including the integration of the new Game 2 into the Super NES Mini. As for seeing the Mega Drive Mini 2 as far as Europe, all hope is ok:”Honestly, the Mega Drive Mini sells far more in North America and Europe than it does in Japan. Of course, we are preparing for overseas business, but this time our sales are centered on Japan. Not to mention that the shortage of semiconductors and the increase in transportation costs have also had an impact, so prices inevitably rise.“
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