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The Mega Drive Mini 2 - Sega Minis What Nintendon't

WildcatJF

Let's Pock (Art @szk_tencho)
(he / his / him)
Sega has just announced a sequel to the Genesis Mini in Japan, the Mega Drive Mini 2. Featuring a shell resembling the second redesign of the Mega Drive, this little console is going to pack in 50 games (more than the original!), including titles from the Sega CD for the first time! The first eleven were confirmed in the livestream and OMG

  • Bonanza Bros.
  • Fantasy Zone
  • Magical Tarurūto-kun
  • Mansion of Hidden Souls
  • Popful Mail
  • Shining Force CD
  • Shining in the Darkness
  • Silpheed
  • Sonic CD
  • Thunder Force IV
  • Virtua Racing
SO

Popful Mail, Sonic CD, Silpheed, Shining Force CD, and Mansion of Hidden Souls comprise the CD games so far, and shows that Falcom and Game Arts are involved with this release, which I HOPE leads to the Lunar games coming along from Game Arts as well as possible Ys III, Lord Monarch Complete, Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes I and II, and Sorcerian inclusions from Falcom.

The mini console is set for an October 27th release. I can only hope Sega of America is readying their own announcement, because if not I will import the hell out of this thing.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Shining Force CD is incredibly good, and I'd buy one of these for that game alone. I hope it comes out in the west, too. Hoping for Snatcher, too.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
No Keio Flying Squadron, no sale.

(I already own a Genesis Mini Mark I, along with two MiSTers that can play all of these titles, so there's pretty much no way I'll be buying this thing. Looks cute, though!)
 

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
There's 39 unannounced titles, which presumably have no overlap with the original, so I wouldn't rule anything out

Also I have a problem because I love my MiSTer and I'm still buying the crap out of this
 

WildcatJF

Let's Pock (Art @szk_tencho)
(he / his / him)
GSK (of Retronauts) is covering a lot of translation stuff here:


Some things I've pulled:
the MDM2 is focusing on “sequels to popular series, arcade ports, unreleased games and a mysterious new game“. Also, Magical Tarurūto-kun is a Game Freak joint, so perhaps Pulseman is in Sega’s sights as well? Fantasy Zone is “a brand-new Mega Drive port of the original arcade game, produced by the same enterprising hobbyist who made the Darius port featured on the previous MD Mini“. More announcements to come “three weeks from now, then one in July and two in August”. M2 is indeed returning to handle dev duties on this one.

They are translating an interview with Famitsu here:

 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
That is also true. Shining games from before 2000 are all great (Wisdom aside, I don't like that one very much tbh)
 

WildcatJF

Let's Pock (Art @szk_tencho)
(he / his / him)
From the same Famitsu thread I shared earlier:
"they're going into the Mini 2 with a much lower production run than anticipated, which they intend to focus on stocking within Japan"
"the interviewer's like 'but didn't the Mini sell more overseas?' & Okunari says yeah, it sold way more units in NA/EU, and they do plan to sell them overseas, but their focus is on Japan where they know the market …but even so, there won't be as many available units as last time"
"the OG Mini was handled quite well in Japan, sales-wise—they were able to accurately stock them in line with demand & it stayed within the target price range, with no clearance sales or massive markups, & even with the lower unit number, they're confident they can do it again"

In short, these won't be produced in as high a number and Japan is the focus, despite intentions to release them overseas
 

Sarge

hardcore retro gamin'
Snatcher, the Lunar games, and Shining Force CD would make this a must-buy, even if I've already played through them already. Eternal Blue in particular is better in this form than on PSX, in my opinion.

Not enthused at the lower stock, though - sounds like waiting for a deal isn't going to be as feasible this time.
 

WildcatJF

Let's Pock (Art @szk_tencho)
(he / his / him)
More from the Twitter threads posted above:

20 Mega CD titles will be included on the MDM2 per Okunari challenging M2 following their emulation successes getting Silpheed running; the MDM2’s design philosophy is “[Okunari] never thought he’d be making a second MD Mini and he doesn’t expect to make another one after this, so there’s an element of just trying to throw in as much as possible while he has the chance”, and “Okunari decided to focus squarely on Mega Drive fans—they wouldn’t typically narrow their focus, as they want to make broadly appealing products for everyone, but knowing that shipping numbers would be low, they aimed to satisfy that particular market segment”; the system will have an audio option for FM between the two models of the Mega Drive; and this thing might be a bit on the rare side, as chip and semiconductor shortages from the pandemic are affecting its production. In a positive note for the future of mini consoles, “he’s approaching the Mini 2 as a way to cement these minis as a series—even within Sega, ppl are unsure about whether this one will hit like the OG or not, so he hopes ppl order over the next few months“.
 

Becksworth

Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Circling back around to do a "deep cuts" mini for console that already had a mini is uncharted territory, so I can see why this one might get a more limited release.
 

q 3

here to eat fish and erase the universe
(they/them)
or they could just... you know... let us buy the games on devices that we already own...
 

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
Circling back around to do a "deep cuts" mini for console that already had a mini is uncharted territory, so I can see why this one might get a more limited release.
Didn't the Famicom Mini get a special all-Bandai anime-licensed version? I don't know why anyone would want a Famicom filled with kusoge, but there you go.
 

Yimothy

Red Plane
(he/him)
a "deep cuts" mini
I love this idea, though the problem with it is the deep cuts I want are probably not the same as the ones the next person wants. I feel like there have been a lot of reissues of the same set of mega drive games over the years, so it’s good to see it getting mixed up a bit more lately.
 

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
Yes, the focus is on Japan... where the Mega Drive was DOA at launch and regarded with the same indifference as the Turbografx-16 is here.
 

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
Not by the people who had one. I get the impression that Japanese Mega Drive fans are very hardcore.
 

WildcatJF

Let's Pock (Art @szk_tencho)
(he / his / him)
Yeah, I just want to make sure I get something in the end, and given the original Mini had variations across the regions, I want to make sure I get games already confirmed for this one in their original format.
 

ShakeWell

Slam Master
(he, etc.)
Didn't the Famicom Mini get a special all-Bandai anime-licensed version? I don't know why anyone would want a Famicom filled with kusoge, but there you go.

It was Shonen Jump games (many of which were from Bandai), but yes, pretty much exclusively trash. I argued at the time we could get one with all Disney properties (Marvel, Star Wars, and... Disney), but obviously that didn't happen.
 

WildcatJF

Let's Pock (Art @szk_tencho)
(he / his / him)
It was Shonen Jump games (many of which were from Bandai), but yes, pretty much exclusively trash. I argued at the time we could get one with all Disney properties (Marvel, Star Wars, and... Disney), but obviously that didn't happen.
And the original Dragon Quest thanks to the Toriyama association, but otherwise yeah, pretty much garbage lol.
 
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