Rumour: SEGA And Retro-Bit Might Actually Be Working On A Secret Retro Console

Dreamcast classic please!!

Great! I prefer a sega machine that plays Sega greatest hits from Genesis to Dreamcast. With about 50 built in games. Made by Sega with Sega seal of quality.

Minis everywhere!!!
The more the merrier.
I still don't have the nes or snes mini :/ but someday ill get to use those lovely controllers again.
My dreamcast mornings were RE code veronica and marvel vs capcom 2. Ooh and crazy taxi 2. Good times!

Not much of a secret now.

A dreamcast would be nice, especially if they make a comfortable controller to go with it.

If they made a new Dreamcast that is compatible with the old discs, but displays on a native HDMI resolution that would be awesome, especially if they give us some new Dreamcast controllers with a UMD screen built in.

Mega drive all the way!

Sounds like a load of wishful thinking to me. I mean, I'm all for a quality Sega mini, but there's so little to go on. Glad I've still got my dreamcast and most of the games I like for it.

A Dreamcast mini would be cool. I wonder if they do make one would Crazy Taxi 1 and 2 be possible additions because of all the licensing in that game.

Dreamcast please that plays original discs and connects via HDMI, my crt TV is a bit busy at the back and I need to start migrating my classic consoles over to my new TV at some point.

A Dreamcast mini would be amazing...

@carlos82 I have a Dreamcast that plays original discs and connects via VGA. That does the job for me

Dreamcast and Power Stone please

But can we still have a Dreamcast games on Switch pls. Oh that reminds me, anyone heard any news on Zero Gunner 2?

I have much fonder memories of Saturn, but I think that would be a commercial flop again.

I like the idea of a mini console with cross generation games but please don't forget Saturn!

Better still. Do a big porting mission to the switch. Shining force 3 on the go. Yes please

I'm not really interested in a mini console, I'd much rather have Dreamcast VC on Switch. If that happens then the Switch will become my favourite console of all time. Overtaking the..... Dreamcast.

I'd gladly take a Saturn console because Saturn emulation is horrible.

I all for official Sega releases of a Saturn or dreamcast mini but I personally would like them to release collections of games from the different systems onto the current gen consoles.

The sad thing here is how little love the Saturn gets, mostly because so few gamers experienced it (instead going with the PSX and/or the N64). I still have a modded Saturn and it's one of my all-time favorite consoles. It had an absolutely fantastic catalog of RPGs in particular, from Shining Force III and Dragon Force to Magic Knight RayEarth and the epic four-disc Panzer Dragoon Saga, with a bunch more like Dark Savior and Albert Odyssey in between. The Saturn definitely deserves an HD compilation at the very least to give modern gamers a chance to experience some of the best hidden gems the hobby has ever seen.

@GrailUK I doubt we'll see it until Zerodiv can get Gunbird back onto the US Eshop. It was removed a couple of weeks ago for supposedly having some sort of exploit. It's still on the UK Eshop though.

Another one of these rumours? There's a lot of wishful thinking Sega fanboys at NL...

I'll take VF 6 instead SEGA.

@OorWullie Oh righty. Hope it gets resolved soon.

Eww no!

@Ryu_Niiyama Y'know you might have a point there!

Not a fan of SEGA Machines.
But if i bought the used Dreamcast from Ebay, is that still strong enough to run the games ?
It was 19 years old from now.

Could be very cool.

Awesome, now let's make a list of 40 Sega Dreamcast games we want to see on this plug and play system:

1. Sonic Adventure
2. Sonic Adventure 2
3. Shenmue
4. Shenmue 2
5. Jet Grind Radio
6. Time Stalker
7. Skies of Arcadia
8. Evolution
9. Evolution 2
10. Virtua Fighter 3tb
11. Fighting Vipers 2
12. Sega Swirl
13. The House of the Dead 2
14. Daytona USA 2001
15. ChuChu Rocket!
16. Blue Stinger
17. Grandia II
18. Crazy Taxi
19. Crazy Taxi 2
20. Marvel vs. Capcom
21. Marvel vs. Capcom 2
22. Capcom vs. SNK 2
23. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
24. Resident Evil: Code Veronica
25. D2
26. Ecco the Dolphin
27. Soul Calibur
28. Samba de Amigo
29. MDK
30. MDK2
31. Ikaruga
32. Power Stone
33. Power Stone 2
34. Plasma Sword
35. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
36. Dynamite Cop!
37. Rent-A-Heroe No.1
38. NBA 2K
39. Mr. Driller
40. Maken X (this one is interesting cause it's developed by Atlus and published by Sega way before Sega and Atlus became one)

The problem with a Dreamcast Mini is that if it does not play existing discs (which it probably shouldn't because many discs are expensive as hell and really hard to find), most likely it be missing a lot of everyone's favorite games. For instance, if it does not have the Capcom vs SNK games, then I have no use for it.

Can't Sega find a partner that can make DECENT hardware?

@nab1
In a perfect world you’d be able to add your own roms like with the Mini NES and SNES.

@OorWullie This. I feel a mini console is a waste, they'd probably have better success with either Dreamcast VC or just downloadable remasters/rereleases of the DC games in whatever console, like they did in the 360.

I’m honestly shocked the Dreamcast garnered more votes than the Genesis.

No love for the Master System

Funny how Dreamcast is most popular w/voters considering that it tanked 'Wii U style' when it came out. The Mega Drive / Genesis was way more popular and produced more Sega classics.

@Fandabidozi That's never going to happen. You have better chances getting a DC and modding it with USB-GD or whatever is called plus one of the Beharbros cables (which I may end up doing with mine sometime in the future for the few DC games I want that are not available elsewhere).

Sega's twitter also posted this today, just a picture of a lightbulb with the date of 16th January. Whatever it is, we may find out very, very soon!

https://twitter.com/SEGA/status/951846702155272194

HDreamcast

I loved the Dreamcast - still have it somewhere. But I’ve no need for a mini - it’s not the same as an original, and so its only benefit is the games - and I’d rather have those on a Switch, where I get to game wherever I am

Yes, please. DC had so many great games.

LOL and I just bought a Mega Drive FB HD a few days back. To be fair most beloved SEGA games have been ported on a variety of platforms and are easily accessible.

I would love a new SEGA console though, a mini or whatever else where you can play all its backlog from Master System to Dreamcast, including Game Gear.

@retro_player_22 The thought of playing house of the dead without a light gun is unthinkable lol.

As long as I can play SEGA games that aren’t Sonic the Hedgehog again, I’ll be happy.

Would be so awesome!

SEGA does what Nintendid.

@Anti-Matter I'd steer clear of ebay unless it's new in box. Or maybe someone was cleaning their attic and they found it. The laser lens is the main part that goes bad over time, with use. It stops reading discs after a while. It is fixable, even by yourself, but there's a chance you don't quite get it right and you'll have to open it up again. It can be a pain. That's why I have a couple dud Dreamcasts waiting for me to go get them fixed. I don't have the patience for that kind of stuff.

@GC-161 I wouldn't say that the Dreamcast tanked "Wii U style". It wasn't comparable to the Wii U at all, since it was a different situation and cause altogether. Sega made completely different mistakes which ultimately resulted in them leaving the hardware arena, but their troubles had already started during the 16 bit era, when they were releasing add-on after add-on, angering the fans, and when these were just on the market, they released the Saturn, and then dropped that WAY too soon to put the Dreamcast on the market, which massively angered a heck of a whole lot of people AGAIN.

But it was a great console, which was WAY ahead of its time, and although the Dreamcast only had a short life cycle (from 27th Nov 1998 to 31st March 2001), it actually did FAR better than the Wii U relative to the numbers, because in that short time span Sega sold 10.6 million systems (it took the Wii U 4 years and 2 months to reach a grand total of 13.6 million, so that's FAR slower) and there were a total of 636 games released for it (745 total for the Wii U, but many were eShop titles and only 392 titles were retail/disc titles), and most of them were all arcade type titles, so the system truly was the arcade gamer's dream come true, and the games were also very innovative for the time.

So, it's fair to say that if the Dreamcast would have had a longer life span, it would have beat the Wii U easily, and not just relatively, as it has already done, but also numerically.

To this day, I'm still the proud owner of a Sega Dreamcast (in perfect working order), and thanks to a VGA box, the picture quality is brilliant, even on modern TV's, and quite a few games are still highly enjoyable to play, and even hold up graphically, even though they aren't in HD.

The Megadrive/Genesis certainly had a lot of great games, but most of them could also be found on the SNES, and in Europe on the Amiga and Atari home computers, and after that when the Saturn arrived, that also had quite a few great games, but the Dreamcast was not only an evolution of all that, it was simply THE ultimate console back in the day, and it also improved on many of the titles that had already been on the Saturn, making them into real classics, many of which are still known and loved today.

And to such an extent, that many of these titles (in their original form) even survived the console itself, and got rebooted, or got sequels on quite a few other systems after the Dreamcast was gone. (for example the Dreamcast HD collection on the Xbox 360, and also some standalone Dreamcast games being released on both the Xbox 360 and PS3)

So yeah, I'm not that surprised that it came out on top in a popularity poll concerning Sega systems.

And it wasn't just popular with gamers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast#Reception_and_legacy

P.S.

Sorry for the wall of text. Fond memories and all that...

I have all of Sega’s old hardware. I don’t need new Sega hardware unless it plays new Sega games. But Sega does a poor job of managing and refreshing its back catalogue and I don’t see that changing. Sega is just not able to bring back the 90’s in any sustained way and I’ve come to terms with that

@Anti-Matter my Sega cd is still going strong since 1992....and it’s the motorized cd tray mind you. 😊

@ThanosReXXX Well I wasn't implying that the Dreamcast had the exact same problems and issues that plagued the Wii U. Only that they both failed to catch on.

I was a gamer back then and I remember the excitement the Dreamcast generated around my friends. Similar to when the Wii U first hit. I then saw both consoles quickly fall from grace. Each for different reasons, of course.

I do remember how everyone thought the DC would beat the PlayStation 2. Since it had amazing games. But then the PS2 became a Dreamcast port station (at least initially). So much for that.

In regards to what could've been for Dreamcast... well, that's fanfiction territory. Its the same as going "if Nintendo and Sony had joined forces, we would be playing Mario on a Playstation at present". We just don't know for sure.

I liked the Dreamcast but for me most of the best games on it have been ported to other consoles. I would have no interest in a mini version. I am keeping an eye on the upcoming Polymega for an all around retro system though!

a dreamcast mini with a ssd that you can download games from the internet or a sd card stot and a remade controller with a new vmu
and release it for 99.99 on 9/9

Sign me up please.

@ThanosReXXX wow ya know 636 games i don’t have a record of unless that includes titles from Japan that never came west. According to my records the DC had just over 250 retail games before Sega Called it quits. Many dc games were cancelled of course and I also only count about 170 Wii U retail vs your figure of 392(again unless your including games from Japan etc) but I love all my Sega systems regardless. While I don’t mind the idea of Sega doing a proper mini at all, I’d rather see them get the pile of classics they’re sitting on onto the Switch, PS4 & One!!
My excitement on this possible mini Sega console has also been reserved being I just scored a snes mini on eBay with 2600 built in classics with almost complete US libraries for nes, Snes, T-16 and the Genny!! Amazing mod to say the least! Still blowing my doors off! All said, I’d still like to see Sega get rolling with their back catalogue!!! I really don’t know what the hell they are waiting for! I think they’re missing out on some serious cash! 😊

@GC-161 What I was theorizing, wasn't fan fiction: it was just comparing the Dreamcast to the Wii U, like you did, except I compared the factual numbers. And the total numbers would have been FAR in favor of the Dreamcast, would it have had the same life span of the Wii U.

So, they did indeed both fail in the end, but the Dreamcast was already more successful because relatively, it sold more systems and games, based upon it's shorter life span.

The Wii U had far more trouble to catch on. For example: I heard no one moan about the controller of the Dreamcast back then only mere months after the system was out. In fact, the controller was loved and applauded.

With the Wii U all we heard was how horrible, bulky, ugly, low quality and what not the Game Pad was, not to mention how "pathetically underpowered" the system itself was. Again: not the case with the Dreamcast.

I actually thought (and still think) there was almost nothing wrong with the Wii U, except perhaps for the lack of analog triggers. I liked the screen as well, never could understand all those ridiculous and over-exaggerated "smeared with vasoline" complaints.

To me, coming from the Wii, it was actually a HUGE improvement even playing on the Game Pad alone.

@samuelvictor Very sharp, Sir. Very sharp...

@bones If Nintendo can already make Duck Hunt playable on Virtual Console, I don't see how Sega and Retro-Bit can't make The House of the Dead 2 work on a plug and play. You don't need to rely on CRT for everything besides I'm sure with the partnership they had together they can make some sort of workaround for the shooting part and if the House of the Dead 2 doesn't work, there's always the Typing of the Dead. Yeah type if you can't shoot.

@joey302 Yeah, I did indeed count worldwide released titles, so all three regions. But I also counted worldwide sales of both systems, so including all the games would in that case be the most fair thing to do, to be able to make a good comparison of the total numbers.

Interesting deal you seem to have made there, by the way. Are you sure it's a real SNES Mini, and not a RetroPie? I couldn't get more than 280 SNES games on mine with the official hack that everyone uses, and I've since removed quite a few, because the save slots for each game also takes up 2MB, so you need to leave some space for that, unless you don't care about saving progress of any of the included titles.

So, the number of games you have on there seem unlikely to fit on a genuine SNES Mini, which only has around 547MB of space, which includes the games already on it.

The total library of the SNES takes up around 1GB, and so does the Genesis one, so to make that all that fit, and add NES and Turbografx-16 as well, it must either be a RetroPie, or you have one of those that is hacked and comes with an extra USB stick, that stores the games externally, otherwise it's literally impossible.

As for Sega: I hope Retro-Bit is a better partner for them than AtGames in regards to hardware, because they basically ruined an already tarnished reputation even further, so here's hoping that Retro-Bit is indeed also going to make Sega systems, and not just peripherals.

@ThanosReXXX yes of course the Snes mini was done with the usb stick and a accompanying cable. I did fail to mention the stick...but definitely not a retro pie which I’ve also been looking at...perhaps one day...
Yes AT Games is killing Sega...Nintendo would never allow that to go on with their IP’s no way! Sega needs to fix that situation asap. And again if they never ever do a proper mini, I’ll be thrilled enough to see them blast the current gen consoles stores with classic Sega love!

@ThanosReXXX Well form factor is subjective. The Dreamcast's control pad wasn't exactly very ergonomical. But again, subjective stuff.

What is not fanfiction tho, is that the Wii U had games that were not only as good as anything produced for the Dreamcast but even better games as well.

Hell, one of its games is currently GOTY for over 150 gaming/non-gaming publications.

But yeah, DC was one of the greats of its generation BECAUSE OF ITS GAMES.

Hey! Like the Wii U. 😁

@PipeGuy64Bit

Download the iOS and Android version. All of the stores have generic names now, but the music is still there which is what counts!

@joey302 Well, seeing as they themselves tweeted about the 16th, I guess we will find out soon enough. Not gonna hold my breath for hardware, though. It'll probably be software, but that could still mean that they might do another one of those Dreamcast compilations, like they did on the Xbox 360.

@GC-161 Haha, yeah, at least on that, we can agree. There must be a reason I have both of these consoles, after all...

@JayJ +1 forever!

They could just do an all in 1 that either plays most if not all SEGA games either with the original discs/carts, a digital store that's updates so often or heck, both.

But given how emulation on these SEGA all in ones hasnt been all that great, I remain just "meh". Maybe SEGA and Retro Bit can pull off the perfect SEGA Emulation machine, but I'll believe it when I see it.

@ThanosReXXX even something like that would be cool! Come Tuesday!! 😃

I would be down. The Dreamcast is capable of some pretty amazing picture quality already: https://youtu.be/u4Hld3ewARk

I think it will include games from all of Sega's consoles.

I love the Dreamcast, but I would lean a lot more towards a Saturn Mini being made rather then a Dreamcast mini. The Saturn was marred by so many problems caused by SEGA's errors during the 4th and 5th Generation, (Over-Saturation of SEGA Hardware on the Market, A rushed surprise launch that angered already weary Retailers and 3rd Party developers, Poor marketing and Complete lack of faith from Sega of America.) The system never really had a chance to shine here in the west and deserved so much better.

@AlwaysGreener It's can't be help though, the Saturn was doom the moment Sega of Japan move away from Sega of America's vision thus making a console so difficult to be developed that third parties shy away from. It's no wonder no one wants to make games for it not even homebrew and indie devs want to developed for it cause they just don't know how to code for the systems. The Saturn's internal dev kit was so liter with tons of hoops to jump most just completely ignores it and focus on Dreamcast instead. Yes the Saturn does deserve better but because Sega made it so complicated for dev to work on, it just isn't worth it.

@retro_player_22 Although that's true for Indie Dev's and Homebrewers. A Saturn Mini shouldn't be ruled out, because of that. There has been a lot of progress in Saturn Emulation in the past few years, even though it hasn't been perfected yet, what we have so far is quite impressive, especially since they were made by fans in their spare time. Something like a Saturn Mini could be possible, if Sega and Retro-Bit focused their efforts on such a device.

@WhiteTrashGuy I have and it was one of my favorite games to play on my iPhone. Though it's just not the same without the analog controls that were in the original release but it's certainly miles better than the other HD releases of course.

Reaching a bit, aren’t we? RetroBit are confirmed to be doing Sega accessories, but we don’t know what yet, so yeah of course they will do occasional tweets about upcoming Sega-related news. And ENTIRELY SEPARATELY Sega’s twitter feed asks followers about their favourite console. Because, you know, they want to get #SegaMemories trending. PR101. And just because the DC won the poll means precisely nothing more than the followers on Twitter liked the DC. Doesn’t mean anyone is basing policy on it.

I bought a Dreamcast with a few of my favorite games last October. Had a blast playing some of my faves (soul reaver, crazy taxi with original music, and Tony hawk pro skater 2). Even then I would 100% jump on a Sega-inspired retro console, especially if the more hard-to-find games show up there.

Shenmu, power stone, shining force, skies of arcadia....these would have to be in the library.

@AtlanteanMan agreed. The Saturn was an amazing home arcade unit. Many of the ports are arcade-accurate. There are a lot of instant classics that have never even seen a sequel or remake on other systems (Panzer Dragoon Saga is the easiest one to point to, but it's not alone).

The few leaks I saw from CES of the controllers look amazing, especially the bluetooth Saturn controller, but given retro-bit's current track record I'll wait to see what reviewers say.

A Saturn-mini would be amazing, but considering how hard it is to emulate, and that even loading games via modded SD has been problematic due to how they did the timing it could be challenging.

I have had enough of the mini consoles. could we not have this effort go into having an official Dreamcast emulator on the switch with the games bundled in and maybe just make a Dreamcast style pro controller?

@GC-161 My theory? Mega Drive/Genesis games have been and tend to be available in a lot of different places (VC, XBox Marketplace, App Store, etc..). Unless you're using ROMs, still have a working Dreamcast or played the few games made available on various gaming marketplaces, I think the Dreamcast still has that air of mystique to it or the demand has yet to be satiated

@gaga64 I think its already been confirmed what accessories they are doing

http://segabits.com/blog/2018/01/10/retro-bit-sega-usb-and-bluetooth-genesis-saturn-and-dreamcast-accessories-revealed/

I loved the Saturn. I remember my aunt taking me to get one for my birthday. Such fun times with the console. NiGHTS, Ultimate MK3, Panzer Dragoon II Zwei, Sonic Jam, Fighting Vipers, Burning Heroes, Clockwork Knight.

@UmbreonsPapa But you could say the same about uber popular platforms like NES and Snes that are infamous for having emulators running on just about anything with a screen or a cpu. And you can also find NES, SNES games on eshop, ios and on android devices.

And yet Nintendo can still make bank on them (see NES/SNES minis). With no problems or issues about the market being saturated with them at all.

IMO, ppl are selling the Mega Drive/Genesis short. Some dude here even said to me that its library of games was basically unimpressive because you could play many of its games on the SNES. Which is an inane argument since that logic also could apply to the SNES, and yet that didn't stop said platform from being such a magnet for gamers with the SNES mini.

As cool as a Dreamcast Mini would be, playing any game you want on it is exceptionally easy already, due to...exploits. A Saturn Mini would be much more welcome in my eyes, since emulation in general for that system is trash.

@Skunkfish there's no VGA on my 4K tv, I'll just have to find room under my crt for one. Fingers crossed I'll have a Dreamcast by the end of next week

@carlos82 You can get a VGA to HDMI converter which actually looks pretty nice on a HDTV. It is how I am currently using my Dreamcast.

@AtlanteanMan

Panzer Dragoon Saga would be worth it alone for me. A Saturn-version Daytona USA would be icing on the cake

If done well I'd honestly be interested in minis of pretty much all of their home consoles.

@JayJ I'll have to look into that, I did have a scart to HDMI converter at one point for my Gamecube but it didn't look very good. Ultimately I'll be looking at getting the Frameister to connect them all purely because I don't know how long my crt TV will last

I believe the title should be "SEGA And Retro-Bit Might Secretly Be Working on a Retro Console"

I’m rather surprised that the Genesis didn’t win this since it was the more popular console. I’d personally love to see Sega manufacture some classic systems. I know just like Nintendo the Sega systems would sell like hot cakes. I’d definitely snag one of each system they were to produce. I love playing all these games from my teens and early 20s but I don’t want to play on 2nd rate crap like the current stuff I see at Walmart.

@OorWullie
Has the rumor about the exploit been confirmed?

Considering it has only been taken down on the American eShop, i personally thought Gunbird might have a ESRB rating issue (some of the endings are pretty suggestive).

Armada pls

People pumped for yet more plug and play mini consoles and I am still over here like... Virtual Console on the Switch please? Gamecube and Dreamcast games? Throw in GBA and N64 too and I will just dump my bank account on Nintendo's doorstep. I want it all on my Switch, play it all anytime, anywhere.

@GC-161

That's not really true though. The Dreamcast had twice as many games as the wii U and sold nearly 10 million in only 2.5 years before Sega's financial woes resulted in them pulling the plug. Gamecube is probably a better comparison for the dreamcast. Still niche, but Sega's best selling system Genesis only sold 30 million.

@Heavyarms55

To be fair I'd like both. I think they should put VC on Switch and expand the systems with it. But at the same time these other systems are cool because they are typically cheap for the number of games they give and offer a controller experience very close to the original.

@cleveland124 First of all, the Dreamcast did NOT sell "nearly 10 million" it sold nearly 9 million units of hardware. By comparison, the Wii U sold "nearly 14 million" units (using your own arbitrary measure of sales).

Second, in terms of software, the Wii U sold 102 million units of software. The Dreamcast didn't even came close to those numbers.

And third, a Wii U game won the most GOTY awards in 2017, beating out games from other platforms. Which the Dreamcast never achieve in its own time.

Sorry dude, but even the Wii U beats the absolute crap out of the Dreamcast. Try comparing it to the Atari Jaguar next time.

@GC-161

I don't know why you are taking facts so personal, I like Nintendo quite a lot.
Wikipedia says sold 9.13 million so you're wrong, it definitely sold more than 9 million. This says 10.6 million http://o.canada.com/technology/gaming/segas-failed-dreamcast-actually-outsold-the-wii-u as there seems to be a little ambiguity after Sega stopped reporting sales figures. The dreamcast sold 52 million units of software in 2.5 years on the market. So it's software sales were right in line with the Wii U compared with sales per year. The Dreamcast just got pulled because Sega was in dire straights financially and they simply weren't healthy enough to support a console launch.

And no, the Wii U game did not win anything. It was a port of a Switch game that won a bunch of awards though and was better than any individual game on the Dreamcast. Though the Dreamcast had much better variety of games and still had a very solid 10-20 top games. Atari Jaguar would be a good comparison to the Virtual Boy and it's simply smack talk to compare to the Dreamcast. I mean the Dreamcast sold 73 times what the Atari Jaguar Sold. The original Wii only sold about 10x what the Dreamcast sold. So I guess the Dreamcast is a good comparison to the Wii based on your logic.

@cleveland124 I know that the truth upsets you but the fact is that Breath of the Wild is basically a Wii U game. Period.

The awards were given to the game itself. Not the platforms. Still, it was a Wii U game developed with that console in mind.

So yes, the Wii U has a GOTY awarded game while the Dreamcast never had that and will never have that.