Sega Mega Drive Mini | Ashens 

The fact that Ashens can do a review of a bunch of PopStations, but decided to not review the PS classic says a lot about it 😂

Actually M2 confirmed that the Darius conversion is the same homebrew of few years ago and that the guy who made it was already contracted for other works with them. Basically they said "hey, why not publish your port with the Megadrive Mini" and he accepted. SEGA was apparently unaware of this when asked the first time, but M2 clarified the whole matter few weeks ago.

While I wholeheartedly agree Echo the Dolphin was a really interesting and beautiful game. It seems to me everyone that looks at it so fondly just forgot how PAINFULLY DIFFICULT the game was. I still have nightmares about getting past that bloody octopus...

Honestly, the fact that you can switch between the Japanese version and the English version of these games sort of makes it a must-own for me. I didn’t know that was the case. What a good feature!

Fun Fact: In America, technically Mega Man: The Wily Wars is a "Bonus Game" too, as it was only fully released in Japan and Europe. It's also very surreal seeing Mega Man's weirdly upsized sprites next to Proto Man's ordinary ones, especially since Mega Man has the same hitbox as the NES.

Hello. I am Science, and can officially confirm that Streets of Rage II, aka Bare Knuckle II: Requiem of the Deadly Battle, IS without a shadow of a doubt the greatest game ever made. Although OutRun is up there, of course.

If no one mentioned it: I seem to recall having a stereo setup with my Genesis and Sonic's ring-pickup sound effect would play alternating on the Left and Right channels.

It was a real missed opportunity not calling it the "Sega Mini Drive" though...

Fun fact: "Dandy" is actually the name for the Taiwanese NES knockoff that was ludicrously popular in the USSR, to the point that nobody even knew it wasn't the original until later.

I'm still annoyed it doesn't have Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

42 which is, obviously, the Answer to the Universe, Life and Everything.Back in the days when your parents allowed you to buy like 1 game every 6 months, you had to squeeze all the possible juice out of it. Those were THE good times. And I never managed to beat Mega Drive's Tazmania in the hard difficulty.

Ecco the Dolphin is still nightmare fuel to me. I don't know what it is about it but it evokes this primal terror in me.

damn that intro hit me right in the nostalgias

In what alternate timeline would North American Mega Drive be called "Dendy" The sour outcome of the Cold War?

Great video as always! AND.... the best review of the Megadrive Mini I've seen so far! I'm going to buy one now. 👏

No, you're right, Stuart. There is about 11 frames of audio lag.

Cheers for a comprehensive review Dr Ashen. I never played the mega drive as a kid (was more a Nintendo kid) but will check it out.

Weird, I could've sworn I'd seen this video like a year ago, beat for beat. Longest continuous deja vu I can remember having. Turns out what I was thinking of was the Sonic Man IA review, with the replica Mega Drive with Sonic standing atop it.

It should be noted that Mega Man the Wily Wars is a really good addition to this system because it basically stopped exisitng. It was released as cartridges only in the PAL region and was available to North America only through the Sega Channel and thus disappeared with it. Now we have a permanent copy of it to play, hooray!

"Instructions! *throws aside*" I can relate to this

World Of Illusion is honestly one of my favourite games of all time - awesome that it's made it on to the Mini!

M2: We no need no stinking Yamaha sound chips for emulation. :D Oh Ashens, you goofed! There are technically 44 GAMES in this collection. Mega Man: The Wily Wars is a mini collection of 16 bit conversions of Megaman 1, 2 and 3. 'Stuart drops the Mega Drive Mini box on his foot and appears unscathed by it'. Fine, but you still should have said 44 GAMES in one, not 42, which makes this mini even better! :) This more then makes up for at AtGames/Blaze shenanigans. SEGA WINS! :) Next they should a Model 2 Mega Drive with six button pads and different games to this one, maybe throw in a few Mega CD titles in perhaps, if this sells well, that will most likely be something that Sega might do in the future. :)

Genuinely had no idea that you could play the Japanese versions of the game on here. Thank you, Stuart!

It's nice to watch you review stuff you like.

The sonic music makes me instantly happy. Like there's no troubles in the world.

It’s always a good day when Ashens uploads.

I was waiting since I saw it on the menu screen to see what you thought of shining force. I played shining force on like a Genesis best of CD ROM port when I was a child and fell in love with it. I never knew if it was my nostalgia was the reason why I thought it was great, but now I know I'm not crazy! Haha, great video as always!

THE STORY OF THOR WHOO! My fave childhood game. So many secrets, so much fun.

This doesn't have Ristar though. Why doesn't it have Ristar? :(

The PlayStation Classic also broke the license used for the open source software emulator it uses.

That intro! Love your videos watch them daily love from Australia!

I had the same thing with Shining Forces 2. Loved it as a kid and never completed. Bought the Sega mega collection on Xbox one earlier this year as it has it on there. Finally completed it and really enjoyed it. Playing it filled me with child like joy.

sonic the hedgehog's ring sound effect has Always been like that

I was getting heavy deja vu at first due to the mini model you did a bit back.

I'm impressed with the game selection! I may have to check this out for myself!

The addition of the different regions of games depending on what language you have the console on is probably the most genius thing any of these Mini consoles do. Brilliant feature.

Dear Mr. or Miss at Sega, Since people like your new Mega Drive Mini, can you please finally move on go making mini versions of the Master System or Dreamcast? Or even good versions of the Saturn and 32X please?

Stuart reviewing Sega games makes me feel like a twelve year old version of me. I just finished and want to put this on my Christmas list.

Hearing Dark Savior gave me a twinge of nostalgia from my time watching playthroughs of the game when I was young, what a curious game that was...also a kinda fighter???

I feel the lack of Flashback is unforgivable!

I cannot believe you went through the list of games in non-alphabetical order...like a MONSTER! :-)

But how come did you skip the most important part: *what does it taste AND smell like?*

Sonic The Blue Monster, what a classic game! Also, the PS Classic is brilliant when modified. I currently have just under 250 PS1 games on mine and absolutely love it.

Looks like I'm off to Game tomorrow, I was sold on hearing the SEGA start up.

The GBA version of shining force has a different translation, and the whole thing winds up feeling like "slightly aimed at a younger audience".

Gotta love that classic intro......"SEGAAAAA!!!!"

Absolutely love this. Put on my Christmas list

I didn't actually own a Megadrive during my youth. I went to empty the rubbish in the bin outside my flat, and by the bin was an official Megadrive carry case containing a Megadrive and 8 or so games. Plugged it in and it worked 100%.

I never liked Darius either. Especially when he sang Britney Spears on telly.

This is the quality of mini console Nintendo and Sony should have made.

Saga mega drive/cd had some of the best games back in the day. Feels like only yesterday. Where does all the time go 🤪

Bought one for Christmas for £60 because of this review. Brilliant purchase full of great games, Streets of Rage 2 being the highlight. I would of liked to have seen Desert Strike on there and sports games such as PGA Tour golf to add a bit of variation in game genre's.

Only thing missing for me is Sonic 3 and Knuckles and also Outrun or Outrun 2019.

No desert strike, that's a deal breaker for me

Though the boxart is slightly different hear in Canada I just purchased the Sega Mini because of your review and OMG is this thing so much fun. Playing through Phantasy Star IV at present it plays just like the original, and dont get me started on Road Rash ohhh the memory's. TY for your video and enticing me to buy one of these they are bloody brilliant little machines. One thing I am sure will trigger you (sorry) in North America we do get the usb power adapter included in the box.

9:44 Altered Beast came with the Genesis too until Sonic came out, then that was changed to the pack-in game. The Sonic cartridge had a big "NOT FOR RESALE" on it.

“It mostly plays the part...mostly” Nice Newt impression.

I like how it has 16:9 option. Sega does what Nintendon’t. Give us more games and options.

Shinobi 3 was a wise choice imo, it really is the most fun in the series. Love the music and sprite work too.

I could listen to ashens talk about old games for hours

They really, reaaaally should've put in Aladdin instead of Virtua Fighter 2 Maybe even Robo Aleste/MUSHA

I kept thinking "Isn't This A Repost?" Then I realised when he showed the model, that I was remembering that.

It's always a good day when ashens uploads a new video.

The good old days of video gaming. I loved the years of Genesis and Nintendo.

42 builtin games, that means that sega does what nintendon’t.

Gunstar heroes easy mode: Step one: choose the homing gun Step two: pick up lazer and combine the two Step three: beat gunstar heroes

Got mine last Friday ( launch day ) and have to say I’m absolutely pleased with it , oh there’s a travel case on EBay for around £10 😎👍

Probotector for the gameboy original was one of the first video games I ever played. I had heard of contra but it took me a really long time to realize they were the same game. Dunno how I ended up with the european copy in north america as a kid

Damn, was hoping SEGA would send you the tower accessories. I feel like they're gauging demand for the cosmetic add-ons by sending to select people, since they already have the manufacturing process and packaging ready. Also, your box art is cooler than mine (North American Genesis).

Just hearing the Green Hill Zone music makes my heart very happy.

The fact it has Light Crusader on it floors me. That game, as far as I know, is pretty obscure.

I can recommend the Retrobit 6 button pad. I bought one in anticipation of getting a Mega Drive Mini and then forgot to get one. But I used the pad on my PC and played a couple of Sega games on there and it's spot on. I forgot I was using a third party thing, I didn't at any point curse a wobble D-pad or a laggy button or anything of the sort, it was spot on. I got a wired one because that's how I feel it should be, honestly, but they do come in wireless too. You can also get USB or 9 pin cable versions if you want to just get one for your existing original Mega Drive.

They’ve done a good job. I wonder why they left out the John Travolta simulator out ? It was one of my favorite games.

There's actually a reason as to why you might want to use the 16:9 mode. Say you're using a 4:3 display, either a CRT or modern display. Even with the console set to 4:3, it's still outputting a 16:9 image, just with black bars at either side. On a 4:3 display this would result in a horribly squished image with massive borders down both sides. By stretching the game out to 16:9, a 4:3 monitor can take that input and scale it back down to fill a full 4:3 screen.

Nice little bit at the end there

Best Mini Console by a country mile... Agreed! The Megadrive/Genesis was so packed with awesome games I could think of another 42 games that could've been included.

7:24 You're not being weird. There's a bit of sound delay on the system, unfortunately. ^^ See digital foundry's great analysis for more info on that. :)

Huh, that actually looks pretty good. I have no interest in most Mini systems as you can usually find digital versions of the games for bugger-all on various digital stores and frankly, even the physical copies and systems are pretty easy to find (with the exception of the PC Engine Mini, which I am very much looking forward to because, well, that's the exact opposite, the system is absurdly rare and surviving ones are incredibly expensive, with no guarantee they'll even work properly, and a single game can cost more than the whole PCE Mini), but that legit looks like something that might interest me. Might look into it if they drop in price or I can find a decently cheap second-hand one.

Really nice selection. Just wish they had Golden Axe Warrior instead of Golden Axe, which despite the name, is a completely different style game. It was like Zelda on the NES, but far better (IMHO). Nice touch on warning people about the AT Games version. You're a true hero, Sir.

Oh, now I want him to review the Mega Drive we have here in Brazil!

Ashens your right Alex Kidd wasn’t very good, however, it was the first and only game I ever completed so stuff you it was the best 😂🤣

Because of this video I finally found out that this was a thing and bought one. I'm glad I did. My wallet, not so much. I just wish there was a way to add games to it. I guess if we give them enough time the modding community will find a way to do that.

I got one of these boxed for a really good price at a car boot sale, and it is really good. Plus I can run it off a high-ampage power pack, which is always nice.

No Ristar !! Always getting shunned that lovable little dude. I loved Gunstar Heroes as a kid, I still play in on xbox occasionally when I'm bored and have a spare 40 mins or so. Infact I'm gonna go play it now !

The Genesis/Mega Drive Mini has literally twice as many games as the SNES Mini.

This review did not come with a power adapter, but you can find one in a Poundland special

Yup, definitely looks like the best mini-console so far. At least until they release a Mini Saturn. Which I imagine a lot of Sega fans would probably be falling over themselves to acquire. Also, speaking of Sega Saturn, apparently one of the reasons it ended up so niche (other than it being trickier to program for than other consoles) was because it didn't manage to put out a Sonic game. The big Sonic game planned for it, known as Sonic X-Treme, basically languished in development hell until 1997 when it was properly cancelled. But on the plus side, if you wanted a Sonic platformer that felt like it could have been on the Saturn, the original Freedom Planet is basically that. Mainly because it started life as a Sonic fan-game, and got reworked into its own thing, and was apparently pretty bloody good from what I remember.

Vectorman's soundtracks were phenomenal. Peak Mega Drive music, for any audiophiles out there.

I miss when Ashens had to record the tv from his view

More like ‘Tower of ill judged add on components that didn’t get supported fully and were quickly dumped when Saturn rocked up’.

The game list gave me such a nostalgia smile

That Sega bit at the start got me good

Always weird when you review good things, but this is a beaut. Your Sega knowledge is lovely.. SPIT on AT Games! I think I'll have to get one, Sega brought their A game... Games. 🤷‍♂️

Contrary to what most ppl say, I bought the AT Games mini Genesis a couple years ago and was relatively happy with it. Sure it wasn't perfect, but honestly, what emulator is? If you want a perfect nostalgic experience, you need the original hardware & game cartridges. One problem was lag in the wireless controllers, easily fixed with Sega original wired controllers. What really sealed the deal for me was 1) the lower price point - $40 USD vs $60 for the NES Classic & 2) AT Games mini Genesis came with 80 built-in games vs NES Classic only including 30. (Some people may be thinking "Wait a moment, wasn't half of the mini Genesis games homebrew or some such nonsense?") Technically that is true, yes... but that also means the other half is still legit, real games. And half of 80 is 40, still 10 more real games than what came with the NES Classic. Finally, before I forget... 3) The AT Games mini Genesis console has an actual, functioning cartridge slot, so if you happen to own some vintage games not included with the machine, you can still play them. How is it that all of the more expensive mini consoles are lacking this seemingly most basic of features?

As soon as I saw strider that sold it for me, absolutely love that game. I just wish it had eswat and James Pond 2: Robocod, other than that a great selection of games, I’m thinking Christmas present to myself!!!

Cheers Stu, nice to get your seal of approval

Also, am I crazy.... or does the game selection music sound a bit like "Whats the new Mary Jane?" by the Beatles

Hmmm I would have put Shining Force 2 in there instead, great game. Also, why did they not include Zombies Ate My Neighbors?

I loved Castle of Illusion on the SEGA Master System!

I have the original Sega Megadrive, yet the 2 control pads don't have red buttons. This shows how great they were!!