The Sega Genesis is a game console best known for classic games like Sonic the Hedgehog. When the console first launched in the late 1980s, it was was designed to play 16-bit games from cartridges. But Sega eventually offered accessories including Sega CD and Sega 32X that allowed you to play games stored on optical discs and 32-bit titles.
In fact, the support for those and other accessories led to a niche hobby of assembling Sega Genesis “Tower of Power” systems.
So now that Sega is planning to launch a Genesis Mini (or Mega Drive Mini, depending on where you live), the Japanese company has gone all out and created an optional Mega Drive Tower Mini accessory.
It’s a pretty interesting way to appeal to nostalgic gamers who want to recapture the nostalgia of turning a small game console into an ugly, but powerful mess. But it appears to just be an aesthetic add-on: the Mega Drive Mini Tower doesn’t actually add support for 32-bit games or CDs.
The Mega Drive Mini Tower will only be available in Japan, at least initially, and it’s expected to sell for about $37 (3,980 yen).
Sega’s Genesis Mini/Mega Drive Mini, meanwhile, is already up for pre-order for $80 and it’s expected to ship September 19th.
Unlike the tower add-on, the mini console is not just a scale model of the classic game system. It’s a fully functional game system with modern ports (including USB and HDMI) and it comes with 42 games pre-loaded, and now Sega has released the full list of games that’ll be available… at least for the Japanese version:
- Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
- Alisia Dragoon
- Altered Beast
- Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
- Castlevania: The New Generation
- Columns
- Comix Zone
- Darius
- Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
- Dynamite Headdy
- Earthworm Jim
- Ecco the Dolphin
- Eternal Champions
- Ghouls ‘n Ghosts
- Golden Axe
- Gunstar Heroes
- Kid Chameleon
- Landstalker
- Light Crusader
- Mega Man: The Wily Wars
- Monster World IV
- Phantasy Star 4: The End of the Millennium
- Probotector
- Road Rash 2
- Shining Force
- Shinobi 3
- Sonic The Hedgehog
- Sonic The Hedgehog 2
- Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball
- Space Harrier 2
- Story of Thor
- Street Fighter 2: Special Champion Edition
- Streets of Rage 2
- Strider
- Super Fantasy Zone
- Tetris
- Thunder Force 3
- ToeJam & Earl
- Vectorman
- Virtua Fighter 2
- Wonder Boy in Monster World
- World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
via Polygon
Thats a pretty cool announcement. I’m glad to see Sega is taking this seriously, and its not just a zero-effort cash grab.
I have to make the obligatory complaint about the lack of some of my favourite games. Mortal Kombat, Sonic 3, and Jurassic Park are all very disappointing omissions.
I had my pre-order in on day-1 and am delighted with the list of titles announced. I’m hoping that it will be hackable to add support for 32X and Sega CD. If not, I won’t be heartbroken but it would be nice.
This is actually a pretty good selection. Part of me wants to quibble with not including the entire series for some of these games but that’s unrealistic. I personally won’t be buying one because I’m comfortable enough with emulation, but for anyone who doesn’t want to screw around with settings in Retroarch or whatever, this is a pretty solid collection of Genesis must-haves without the kind of glaring, “how did they leave that out?!” omissions some of the other mini-consoles have been plagued with.
Only game that raised my eyebrow not seeing it was Mortal Kombat, not only was is 1 of the biggest games of that generation, the Genesis version was BY FAR the home version of choice due to Nintendos fear of blood and violence at the time. Really glad to see Shining Force, SoR2 and Eternal Champs though