The joystick and buttons are presumably standard sized as well. It looks basically like a full size arcade cab (Astro City, etc.)
That’s the reason I’m skeptical about this being the true final design. They’d need custom coloring on the buttons and specific alignment to maintain that look. It’s possible the entire thing is painted on afterwards, but that seems hard to execute as well (caveat, I know nothing about fabrication or industrial painting), and either way, repairs would ruin it entirely.
Konami’s taking a minute away from slot machines to release some retro collections this year for their 50th anniversary. These are launching on all 3 consoles and Steam.
Arcade Classics Collection - Out Today, $20
Game List
- HAUNTED CASTLE
- TYPHOON (A-JAX)
- NEMESIS (Gradius)
- VULCAN VENTURE (Gradius II)
- LIFE FORCE (Salamander)
- THUNDER CROSS
- Scramble
- TwinBee
Castlevania Collection - Out May 16, $30
Game List
- Castlevania (1987, NES)
- Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (1988, NES)
- Castlevania: The Adventure (1989, Game Boy)
- Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (1990, NES)
- Kid Dracula (1990, Game Boy)
- Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (1991, Game Boy)
- Super Castlevania IV (1991, SNES)
- Castlevania Bloodlines (1994, Genesis)
Contra Collection - Date, price, and games still unknown
I am all in on the Castlevania collection when it releases.
Whoa, I can play Super Castlevania on my Xbox? That’s tempting.
I’m totally in on these Konami collections depending on the emulation. I’ll have to read some reviews first. The first collection there is pretty crazy with odd inclusions that are great games. A-Jax is superb and rarely cited. I spent a lot of quarters on that one.
In other retro news, we now have twenty of the 40 games on the Sega Genesis Classic console. It is already worth the 80 clams without a single doubt.
- Altered Beast
- Castlevania: Bloodlines
- Comix Zone
- Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
- Ecco the Dolphin
- Gunstar Heroes
- Shining Force
- Sonic The Hedgehog
- Space Harrier II
- ToeJam & Earl
- Super Fantasy Zone
- Landstalker
- Thunder Force III
- Shinobi III
- Contra: Hard Corps
- World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
- Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
- Earthworm Jim
- Streets of Rage 2
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
I actually just bought Contra: Hard Corps last weekend filling a hole in my collection (cart only). I own original carts of most of the above and have played all of them through ownership or rentals. Even now, the other 20 games are just gravy. That’s a seriously amazing lineup.
Does the Genesis Classic play cartidges or is it just an emulation machine? I’ve got some of my old cartridges lying around that I’d love to play again, but no console.
It’s an emulation machine like the NES/SNES Classic. The difference is that M2 is working on it, who are absolutely the kings of modern emulation. They’re the ones who are doing the Sega Ages releases on Switch and have a long reputation for the best quality reproduction of original systems.
If you want to play your carts, grab a Genesis from somewhere near you. Retro shops are around these days as it’s growing all the time. You can get crazy and try to get an original with the HIGH DEFINITION GRAPHICS text on it, or just pick up the second model they released which is usually cheaper. You’re in Seattle area?
Yeah, I’m in Seattle. There are plenty of retro stores in my general area, I’ve been meaning to grab an old Genesis (and SNES, and Dreamcast, and so in) I just need to figure out how much I want to commit to this whole retro thing.
Do you own or have you used any of those Retron consoles, the ones that run games for multiple consoles? I realize they’re emulated also, but the draw of having almost all the old consoles available on one device is considerable.
You might be getting confused with the Analogue Mega SG, a FPGA-based solution that plays original cartridges (from the people that did the Nt Mini and the Super NT).
(Aside: Am i reading the store wrong, why is the Nt Mini twice the price of the super NT and Mega SG? Edit: Ah, they’re OOS, and no longer being made?)
I’m struggling to get excited about the Genesis Classic, and I was a Genesis kid growing up. There have been so many Sega Genesis collections on every platform, I feel they’re already super well represented in the emulation space.
Yeah probably, I can’t keep all these devices straight.
The Retron consoles are not good. They’re cheaply made and they do have a lot of issues. I think you’re discerning enough as a gamer to be disappointed in them. No one really recommends them to anyone, especially among retro circles.
If you want to go lo-tech and lo-bucks, the best way to go is to honestly just find a CRT locally (Sony Trinitrons are often GIVEN away these days) and set up a period correct setup with that TV, a composite switch box, and all the original consoles you can afford or want to play.
If you want to get a device that will let you plug in any consoles from the era and have them use composite on your current HDTV upscaled from 240 to 480p, then I do recommend the RetroTINK-2x I’ve talked about a lot up above. I posted a video. Have a look. It’s the simplest way to get old machines on a modern TV with near-zero lag.
The next step up from there is something like the OSSC. That gets pricey, but allows for a lot more customization of the picture quality on your HDTV.
…and of course there are a bunch more options like emulation on your PC if you have no qualms about not owning games you play there. The Classic consoles from Nintendo are excellent. The Sony one not so much. You can also hack the NES and SNES Classic to put other games on them.
I’m pretty purist about this stuff, so for me I like original hardware but I also am on a budget at all times. That’s why I have a CRT set up for everything and the RetroTINK for living room gaming on old hardware.
As @CLWheeljack notes, Analogue recently released the Mega Sg which is a hardware simulation of the original Sega Genesis for about $220 shipped. It will give you awesome picture and sound for your Sega Genesis games on an HDTV. It uses original controllers. It is an enthusiast option for specifically Genesis and Master System. I own the Super Nt which is their Super NES version of a similar device.
@CLWheeljack… the Nt Mini was hugely expensive because it was way more niche at the time. The construction of it was very expensive. They are insanely expensive now because they are pretty rare. Super Nt and Mega Sg are both made to be mass produced where the Nt Mini was not. Also, I’m very excited for this device because it’s M2 and Yuzo Koshiro is producing new music for the menus and maybe more? It’s going to be a celebration of this console moreso than just a bare bones classic experience.
The Konami arcade collection is literally just Hamster’s Arcade Archives releases compiled into a single $20 SKU, so if you would’ve bought any three of those games separately, the collection of all eight is a great deal.
Ah! Good to know! Yes, I certainly would have, so that IS a great deal.
I haven’t tried any of the Sega Ages releases, but I’ve heard that they’ve added various rom-hack type supplemental stuff that really changes the experience (E.g. their Phantasy Star 1 release does stuff like auto-mapping and tweaking encounter rates and loot tables).
If there’s more stuff like that, I’d certainly consider it.
I can confirm that for you since I have all of them but Gain Ground and Alex Kidd. I intend to get those as well. The Phantasy Star release is easily the best way to play that game ever made. Automapping, the FM Synth music, 2X pace over the original via encounter rate changes and loot changes. It’s a brilliant release of a classic game. You can always tweak it back too if you prefer, which is another thing that makes these M2 releases stand out.
OutRun is 60fps instead of 30. Sonic has the ultra hard arcade version on there in addition to a lot of score chasing extra modes. Lightening Force is just fucking phenomenal as is, but also has tweaks that eliminate some funkiness from the original release.
They put them on sale sometimes for $6. I highly recommend them all. I had bought almost all of their 3DS Sega Ages releases and those were superb as well, especially stuff like Shinobi III with the 3D. That’s just WOW. If you’re a Sega kid, you should definitely jump in.
I recently bought one of the Hori D-pad JoyCons since they were on sale. I would have said I didn’t mind the 4-button d-pad on the standard JoyCon, but I’ve been playing some of the Hamster SNK fighting game releases, and the difference couldn’t be clearer.
I could probably convince myself to buy some of the Sega Ages releases next time they’re on sale.
What they’ve been doing is discounting them around the time a new one comes out. I’ll try to post next time because I’m going to wait to get Gain Ground and Alex Kidd with the $2 discount. I’ve been playing a lot of OutRun and Time Pilot right now (and got hit with a tax bill I wasn’t expecting too. :-/)
I definitely have considered one of those Hori JoyCons. Glad you dig it. That makes it easier for me to jump in.
Hey, thanks for the heads up on the Hori JoyCon. I’ve been playing Zelda 2 the past few nights and a better D-Pad would be great.
Hmmm… one negative with that HORI JoyCon is it would not work with the FlipGrip, which is a lot of my time spent portable. I’ll have to think about it more now. $20 is a good price, though!
A friend of mine installed a d-pad case mod on one of his JoyCons. Since it uses a standard JoyCon, it has full wireless functionality, but you have to disassemble it. He said it was easy, but I didn’t want to mess around with it.
It’s almost worth it just for the right hand side button colors though.
I’ve checked those out and it’s an option. I might give it a try.
I opened up my Contra Hard Corps this weekend. It’s legit!
