It's fair to say that AtGames doesn't have the best reputation in the realm of clone consoles - which is somewhat ironic when you consider the company has been doing this for years now. Its systems are typically marred by poor emulation, terrible AV output options and ropey audio, but it's trying to clean up its act with its 2017 line of systems - which include the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive if you're in Europe or Japan) Flashback.
Modelled on the original system's case design, this revised edition boasts 720p output, screen filters, save state support and even the ability to rewind gameplay when you make a mistake. As you can see from the footage above, the system also features an updated menu system which shows cover art for the included 85 games.
Here's the official PR:
The all-new Sega Genesis Flashback has a stunning new design, reminiscent of the original console, and features 85 built-in games as well as an integrated cartridge port that plays almost all of your favorite Sega Genesis and Mega Drive original cartridges. Built-in all-time favorites include the Sonic™ series, Mortal Kombat ™series, Phantasy Star™ series, and Shining Force™ series games. Two new high performance 2.4ghz wireless controllers, styled after the Sega Genesis originals, are included, as well as two legacy controller ports for optional wired gamepads. Other new features for the Sega Genesis Flashback include 720p HDMI output, scan line filtering, and a save/pause/rewind feature for every game.
Naturally, YouTube isn't always the best way to truly gauge the emulation performance of such systems so we'll reserve ultimate judgement until we've had the chance to get our hands on the machine. Expect a review in the near future.
Comments 29
When is it gonna come out?
A new mediocre way to play mediocre games, again.
Mind you, I would buy an emulation console dedicated to Sonic Adventure 2 and Colours. The best experience possible of those two games. Just them.
It seems that Sega and At Games just have no idea what Sega fans want. It bewilders me every time they create something new. Nintendo got it right straight out of the door with the NES Classic. They nailed it, it hit every nostalgia spot there was. It faltered on nothing. The look of the machine, the authenticity of it, the packaging, everything, they absolutely nailed it.
This time At Games make a nice looking unit that harks back to the old machine, that's great...but seriously, changing the fonts, logo placement and adding in that god awful At Games logo on the system just ruins it. At Games, please be aware that nobody has any brand loyalty to you, we don't care about your brand, in fact we see it as warning sign to stay away, we don want your logo on there, it serves no purpose other than to ruin the aesthetic of the machine. Stick your logo on the underside.
The packaging. Sega fans want a box that feels retro, so make one that looks like the original, make it something that a collector would want to display. It doesn't cost any more to do this, its just basic design sense.
I'm not going to harp on about the audio, video options etc as that's been mentioned many time before by others.
Bah, seriously Sega, make these people do your system justice, get some brand police on the case, care for your brand, care for your heritage and try to rebuild your fans faith in you. I want to throw my hard earned money at the Sega brand, I really do, but they never release anything of any worth. You're sitting on a goldmine and seemingly have no idea how to truly tap into it.
Well it looks like they got the sound right this time. HDMI is also handy. However, a potential deal breaker is the controller themselves. AtGames also have a reputation of bad controllers apparently, as do most third party Mega Drive controllers.
I bought both a RetroBit and Hyperkin one, and it was only really the Hyperkin one that felt decent.
EDIT - Though rewatching that it did sound like the title screen was off sound-wise though.
@ 0:27 it says "loding cartridge". Good stuff, atgames.
Well at least they're trying. The rewind button is a really good addition too.
PolyMega, anyone ?
@neufel The word is loading.
And it's happening because this is emulation based, so it's most expedient to dump the rom to memory rather than run it directly off cartridge like real Genesis hardware or past AtGames consoles that utilized a Genesis-on-a-chip did.
@HappyMaskedGuy
Nothing mediocre about Phantasy Star or Shining Force
Scan line filter looks great! Much more like these games were meant to be.
@GoneFishin It's more than likely that he knows that the word is (should be) "loading", but it is clearly visible in the video that on this flashback console, it says "loding cartridge"...
As a fierce critic of these AtGames Sega console remakes, I must say that I'm honestly and pleasantly surprised about the audio and how good the scanline effect looks. It is difficult to gauge smoothness of gameplay from this short clip and just the one game, but I'm cautiously optimistic that this is a huge step up from their previous outings.
Improved original cartridge support is also nice, so I'll keep an open mind until the NLife review comes along.
Until Nintendo Life reviews it, it's a no sale for me.
@Pj1 It's free.
Anyway, of course I downloaded Comix Zone right away. And yeah it's rough. The sound is especially horrendous.
The only thing missing from this plug and play, Sega Forever. C'mon AtGames you still have times, tell Sega to put Sega Forever in this thing then we wouldn't need cartridges. I would buy that.
Now it seems like we have a legit standard to hold the inevitable SNES Classic Edition to, from the price and amount of games to the quality of the hardware and the various aspects/features of it. People can no longer say I'm being totally unrealistic/unfair in asking Nintendo for just a little bit more than what we got with the NES Classic Edition:
http://www.inceptional.com/2016/07/23/heres-what-i-want-from-a-snes-classic-edition/
@retro_player_22 Then it wouldn't be "plug and play"; it would be plug, set up online account, add credit card details, sign in, go to online store and choose game, wait on it downloading, and then play. And that defeats the entire concept behind these systems that are supposed to be really cheap and easy for everyone to use out the box. What you want, while it could be cool, is ultimately for a slightly different system aimed at a slightly different consumer; and it likely already exists on one of those clone sites.
Does it have an SD Card slot?
This could be good. They've released so many of these things surely Atgames have to get one right, one day. The old 'monkeys and typewriters' theory.
The system itself looks cool! But if the game play is anything like the YouTube ad they released, I'll have a migraine headache before I get my first chaos emerald! The speed/timing of the gameplay seems WAY off...
I'm more interested in how the portable version improves, if they release one this year.
@impurekind It looks more and more like an emulation box now so might as well make it one.
@electrolite77 Usually the portables are the ones with the SD card slots.
But man, they totally lived up to their promise! Sound is totally fixed if that Sonic footage is of indication! All those other features ain't too shabby as well.
@retro_player_22 For the people that want a really simple, hassle and convolution free, plug and play console like this, as I do, it doesn't make sense to turn it into an emulation box--especially one that does online store accounts and stuff like that.
We'll see if it survives Nintendo Life's rigorous review tests. Then maybe I'll give it a look.
I'm glad to see that despite being too short-lived the "NES Classic Edition" is upping the quality of retro "plug and play" systems.
They've learnt alot, but until they implement native controller support this will always be utter garbage.
@WaveBoy I hear what your saying but the NES mini lag was nonsense.
@impurekind It does make sense for the price, this thing is going to launch at $87, twelve more dollars and it'll be the same price as the Ouya at launch. For it to be a cheap plug and play it needs to be around $60 or cheaper. At $87 they can add an SD Card slot to store download from an online Sega store. If this thing had Sega Forever network for it, it'll be the closest thing to an official Sega console we get this gen, even better if it allows for hacks and homebrew as well so new games could be play.
@retro_player_22 The price is just what it is.
@HappyMaskedGuy I'm sorry, I didn't know they were making the super Nintendo classic. #GenesisDoes
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