PSP what? Nobody cares about that old thing. Honestly, do you want to carry around yet another heavy, fragile, state-of-the-art toy? No. What you need (what this country needs) is a cheap little handheld Genesis sporting 20 of the system’s greatest semi-hits. No need to worry about managed copies, DRM, firmware updates, or UMD transfer — just hit the power button and you’ll be playing Altered Beast or Sonic & Knuckles before you can say “Segaaaa!”
It’s a fully-licensed little device, meaning you won’t be playing Revenge of Shinogi or Ecco the Porpoise. These are the real games. The device itself is about as cheaply made as you’d expect for $50, but it runs everything perfectly well and the controls are comfortable and responsive. The screen is bright and sharp, though it appears to have a sort of interlacing effect. Sound is loud and clear with little distortion (and no bass). It comes with an AV cable as well, which, combined with a pocket projector like the MPro 120, means you’ve got a big screen Genesis in your bag wherever you go, provided it’s dark enough. I can’t speak to battery life, but I suspect it’s pretty good, considering how little the hardware needs to do. It takes AAAs.
(Update: I had it with me, with pocket projector, at a party last night and it was a hit. You have to be careful though, it’s an extremely nerdy thing to do)
My system came with a flaw in part of the screen’s covering, but it’s not very noticeable during gameplay. And since mine is a free review unit anyway, I’m not going to buck — I’m sure they’d replace yours in a snap if it had an issue like this.
The question, though, is whether you want to lock yourself into the games and system provided here, or pay another $50 and pick up something like a Dingoo? It’s up to you, but the simplicity of this little system is a selling point as well as a weakness — and in its limitations, it doesn’t attempt anything it can’t do, as the Dingoo does (its Neo-Geo and SNES performance is spotty).
I suppose what it comes down to is what games are on it. After all, it could be the best gadget in the world yet if it didn’t have decent games, why would anyone want it? Here’s the full list:
Sonic & Knuckles
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Gain Ground
Arrow Flash
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja
Ecco Jr.
Golden Axe
Crack Down
Altered Beast
Flicky
Decap Attack
Cyper Police ESWAT
Alien Storm
Shadow Dancer
Columns III
Sonic Spinball
Jewel Master
Kid Chameleon
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
Ecco
So. Some classics, some garbage. It’s to be expected. Anyway, this little thing is a great little time-waster, perfect for subway rides, waiting in lines, and so on. It’s a gadget, it’s awesome, what else do you need to know?
They’re around, but Buy.com has free shipping.
Who would have thought that it would take this long to shrink the nomad?
Very Cool !
Does it allow you to save ?
no, i wish. that would have made it a must-buy.
Hmm too bad… I wish there was some for Kid Chameleon… same problem at that time
If it allowed for an sd card to be uploaded with roms, I would totally jump all over this.
dude i love this. I remember when the real thing came out and it was a cut above everything else. so now i can relive my youth…Wait nevermind my youth sucked. But still find to try and play with thanks
Nice little unit for $45. I still love my Dingoo A320 better. All those features plus more emulators (nothing officially licensed though). Stereo output on the unit (not bad sounding either), built in radio, handles Divx right out of the box, built in rechargable Lithium battery, views pictures, plays Flash animations and lots of other features. Runs about $85ish from ThinkGeek [labeled "Pocket Retro Game Emulator"] (and I received mine within 20 hours of ordering it even thought I selected standard delivery.. NJ -> MD).
If you got the extra bucks, check out the Dingoo or the GP2X Wiz or one of the other open gaming systems.
Definitely good alternatives. I just liked that this one was so straightforward.
Where’s the story on Smith & Tinker??
Give it a month. Someone will hack a ROM loader on to it.
No Toe Jam & Earl? FAIL.
Or Earthworm Jim… WTF?
pretty cool little piece of hardware
Nicessssssssss.
OMG, Sega. I played so much Alex Kid when I was a…kid. And Sonic (not that crappy 3-D Sonic)!
wowww…..!!! awesome info. here. I always up to date my self with cruch.
About the “interlacing effect”: remember that at the times you were playing Genesis games, your TV was only capable of displaying interlaced video. Many games resorted to tricks to improve visual quality. What you see on this little beauty you’re now holding is those tricks getting displayed on a non-interlaced screen :-)
Clearly not for me, and I struggle to see who will use it for long. I believe this thing will finds its resting place on the big pile at home after a couple of weeks of hey and feeling nostalgic. Any decent mobile phone can do better than this.
And if this was made for the kids instead to replace more expensive mobile game consoles, then I do not see how the “old school” flavor will work. Its for people with money to burn…
Where’s the Streets of Rage 2 or Gunstar Heroes, those games were instant classics and I still get my butt whooped by them to this day.
wow its cooooooooool
What kind of battery life does it have?
Not bad, the screen is small, I’d say at least 6 hours based on what i’ve seen.
a trip down memory lane