The Mega Drive Mini is shaping up to be an excellent tribute to Sega's classic 16-bit console, and it's taken many years of sub-standard efforts (and, arguably, the huge success of Nintendo's HDMI-friendly Mini Classic consoles) to get to this point. With M2 taking charge of emulation on this one, Mega Drive / Genesis fans look to be in for a treat when it releases this September.
After revealing the final ten games bundled on the system (plus a couple of surprises), we were then treated to the wonderful sight of the infamous 'Tower of Power' in miniature form. Created by stacking a Mega Drive on a Mega CD and then adding a 32X, a lock-on Sonic & Knuckles-style cartridge and finally a regular cart, it's gone down as a hilarious testament to the 'more is more' mantra of Sega during the 'console wars'. The mini variants shown are purely cosmetic of course, but we want them all the same.
It seems that the Collector's Edition of the console, available now for pre-order on the Japanese Sega store, will also come with a set of 22 framed mini carts to complete the collection. That's a whole lot of 'useless' black plastic and, in many ways, it couldn't be more fitting.
If you're pondering a pre-order, feel free to check out our guide with all the games and regional differences. Obviously, the cosmetic add-ons aren't essential, but just as baby animals are universally cute, we can't get enough of miniature Mega Drive-related doohickeys. Just look at it!...
Pointless? Undoubtedly. A waste of materials and money? Quite possibly. Do we still want it? Pre-order's already in, mate. Share your thoughts, comments and/or bewilderment below.
[source ebten.jp]
Comments 44
Man. That is pretty cool, but it is a lot of extra and unneeded plastic to have laying around. But they are going the extra mile to top Nintendo. Nice little collectors piece I guess.
Don't need that bulky add-on plastic stuff but man do I love those carts!
I can't imagine putting this up on my wall... I thought the majority of Japanese city kids live in tiny flats anyway (generalisation, but a lot do for sure) so where is this going to go?!
I mean at least its framed so its really just one big piece of extra plastic haha. Wall plastic!
Welcome to SEGAlife
I'm sorry guys, the domain segalife.com is already taken...
I want all these extra goodies (add ons/collectors edition) to come to North America. Come on Sega, please.
Edit: Price is $242(U.S) Now i still want it but can't afford it.
Hot Dog!! Those beauties!
I sorta want the CE now...
Of course it does.
Meanwhile, in America...
Looksamazing. So cute so beautiful
ugh, i gotta have these
I love this stuff, but it would probably drive me mad that the tower can't actually play any CD or 32X games. Although I'm sure the thing will be hacked soon enough and will probably end up playing both of those formats too.
I need that framed cart collection immediately!
Going to look for the best place to order.
Beautiful collectors piece 16 Bit forever:)
Extra plastic? Well then, stop making/selling/buying all action figures because that's what this is. Actually, this is awesome.
That is so great. Wish there was the western versions.
Really really really cute.
I have the Genesis Mini pre ordered, but I don’t need the extra stuff.
I'm glad i spunked 300 on this or whatever it was LOL
@X68000 Let me know if you find somewhere! Had a quick look before but struggling to find it. Really tempted.
Lots of useless plastics but nice for decoration if you plan to have a Sega retro party.
Japanese art in Mega Drive covers, booklets and cartridges simply destroys western ones. It's so beautiful in virtually every game!
wait..so are these included with the tower or this a separate purchase?
This is very cool fan service. I applaud Sega for going the extra mile for those who want it.
I’d love to get a framed version of the mini carts for the black label launch US NES games.
Need to get that tower of power in the UK!!
to be honest the mega cd and 32x add ons are probably as much use as the originals I loved snes to bits but also loved my mega drive. The days when you could have 2 consoles with loads of unique titles.
As cool as that looks, I'll just be getting the base console I think and the controllers, as I'm running out of space as it is xD
Kinda cool.
Now, imagine if they've had the foresight and wisdom to actually make that a working cartridge slot on the system and then they could have released genuine working physical "Mini" versions of all their classic games for the system, maybe as compilations (say 10-20 games per compilation), and modern devs could have even released brand new games for it too. . . .
And it's even more frustrating to see such a potentially awesome opportunity missed with a system like the PC-Engine Mini where the system itself is exactly the same size as the original so there was no good reason for not just letting it play the original HuCards too.
So there is no point to any of these cartridges and attachments?
I guess it's just for people who love to waste money?
@impurekind Yeah if these attachments actually did something or the cartridges actually added games I would be all over it, it seems like it would be a really cool idea to release additional game packs bundled on a mini cartridge.
Never actually played a mega drive so I may be tempted if this is actually some of the best games on the system.
I... want it!! I did not knew I need this in my life.
@SegaBlueSky https://www.nin-nin-game.com/en/japanese-import-retro-softs-and-systems/31429-mega-drive-mini-dx-pack-sega-title-collectors-edition-sega-brand-new--7015019091901.html
Upfront payment required though......I’m still searching for alternatives.
@Anguspuss The 32X definitely, that add-on was notoriously awful back in it's day as well as notoriously unreliable. I am pretty sure that it is virtually impossible to find a working 32X, from what I heard back when they were new a lot of them were defective new out the box. It had a couple of decent games for it but for the most part it was a big disappointment even when it was working properly. The people who were running Sega of America tried to pass off that failure onto the Japanese, but the reality is that the 32X was entirely Sega of America's idea and the only reason it came to exist was due to the poor communication between Sega of America and Sega of Japan.
As for the Sega CD, that was actually a really great add-on for it's time and it had a lot of great games. They seemed to work rather well, and the upgraded sound quality that you got was simply incredible back in the early 90's. Even now it feels kind of odd to be playing a Sega CD game, the high quality CD sound is an unusual pairing with the 16-bit graphics.
Meh. I would rather buy mini carts with 32MB SD Cards inside that had a game rom on it.
Why not 23 and make the bottom-right logo a tad bit smaller and fit everything nicely? That void space on the bottom row is so unnerving.
Cool? Yeah! Do I need those? Not really. Do I want them? Actually not. Just more useless stuff lying around. They are cute though.
Can’t understand why these aren’t receiving a NA or Europe release - weren’t those territories the home of the genesis/megadrive?
Ummmm... really need this.
@X68000 Still, at least that's something! Thanks for the link. Very tempted but I'm also going to Japan later this year and wondering if I might be able to grab one when I go over. Guess it's unlikely anywhere will have the limited edition goodies though.
Is it just me or does it look like they are not just locked in a frame, but you're able to put your favourite one in the 32x?
If they re released the SNES classic with a set of mini carts, I might be inclined to buy it again because I’m a slave to the big N.
@JayJ only issue was could never bloody find the cd games no one stocked them. would have been nice for a few cd games on the mini tho. the shining force and lunar games would have been great to have.
Tap here to load 44 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...