Sega Mega Drive Mini 2 this October

The definitive mini console of 2019, the Sega Mega Drive Mini, has been completely revamped! Its improved hardware is tucked away in a new, compact design based on the Sega Mega Drive 2!

Sega fans (myself included) may have hoped for a Dreamcast Mini, but given the cost of living crisis, this is a smart move for the upcoming holiday season.

Sega has announced 60 titles including the following games:

Fantasy Zone
Golden Axe II
Night Trap
OutRun
Space Harrier II

The Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in the US due to a copyright issue and at the suggestion of Atari before a distribution deal fell through because Jack Tramiel wanted to focus on the Atari ST) ignited the 16-bit console wars and pushed incumbent Nintendo off the top spot with its futuristic looks and edgy marketing targeted at the cool kids.

As a college student, I remember flicking through the pages of Dark Horse Comics and eagerly awaiting the UK launch of the console in 1990. This would be my first new console since the Atari VCS, and the 8-bit computer era, dominated by the Commodore 64, was at an end. Near-perfect arcade ports of Sega titles, including Space Harrier and Golden Axe, were too irresistible.

Sega's 16-bit machine was a hot seller in the winter of 1990 and, as a Michael Jackson fan, I coveted, nay, obsessed over Moonwalker (Sega America had signed a deal with the pop star to develop a video game based on the movie of the same name). The console conversion did not disappoint and the music samples taken from Jackson's Bad album deserve special mention. The 'synth sound' lent itself to the medium perfectly.

I sold my Sega Mega Drive to a college classmate and switched to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1992. So, I played the Mega-CD titles (including the infamous Night Trap, which ignited a moral panic in the conservative media) on their console.

The Sega Mega Drive Mini 2 is available to pre-order (affiliate link).

Whilst I failed to add the Sega Mega Drive Mini to my classic console collection in 2019, I've pre-ordered the Sega Mega Drive Mini 2 available exclusively from Amazon this October.

Did you own a Sega Mega Drive/Genesis back in the day? What are your memories and will you be getting the new mini console? Let me know in the comments below.

Sega Mega Drive Mini launches this September

This isn't an April Fools' Day joke. The Sega Mega Drive Mini (Sega Genesis Mini if you're in the US) has been officially revealed with a price and launch date.

Sega's following the success of Nintendo, and hopefully avoiding Sony's PlayStation Classic faux pas, with its own mini console, which has been developed in-house in the wake of concerns regarding previously licensed Mega Drive/Genesis consoles from third-parties, later this year. M2, the developer lauded for Sega Ages, is handling emulation. The £69.99GBP machine will include 2 control pads and 40 games (regions vary).

Sega has announced the following games for the Western version:

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

The Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in the US due to a copyright issue and at the suggestion of Atari before a distribution deal fell through because Jack Tramiel wanted to focus on the Atari ST) ignited the 16-bit console wars and pushed incumbent Nintendo off the top spot with its futuristic looks and edgy marketing targeted at the cool kids. As a college student, I remember flicking through the pages of Dark Horse Comics and eagerly awaiting the UK launch of the console in 1990. This would be my first new console since Atari VCS, and the 8-bit computer era, dominated by the Commodore 64, was at an end. Near-perfect arcade ports of Sega titles, including Space Harrier and Golden Axe, were too irresistible.

Whilst I already own Sega Mega Drive Classics for Xbox One, I'll be adding the Sega Mega Drive Mini to my classic console collection this September.

Did you own a Sega Mega Drive/Genesis back in the day? What are your memories, will you be getting the mini console and which games would you like to see? Let me know in the comments below.

The Sega Mega Drive Mini is available to pre-order (affiliate link).

Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES with Star Fox 2

Many video game enthusiasts (myself included) missed out on the Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) due to severe stock shortages last November.

So, when the company announced it was following up with the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) this September. I was determined to secure a pre-order from Amazon.co.uk. The 16-bit console represents peak Nintendo.

The successor to the NES captured my imagination whilst flicking through the pages of defunct games magazine Mean Machines. The sleek-looking console was released in its native Japan in 1990 with Super Mario World, F-Zero and Pilotwings. When the machine reached UK shores in 1992 it did not disappoint. Featuring Super Mario World as a pack-in, the 16-bit powerhouse had pride of place under the TV that Christmas. Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 remain my favourite franchise installments.

The "SNES", as it was pronounced on Bad Influence! a weekly tech magazine show hosted by Andy Crane and Violet Berlin in the early 1990s, introduced me to the wonders of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. A game I treasure to this day.

Whilst last year's NES included 30 games, the SNES will feature 21 and it represents a stellar genre line-up including the unreleased Star Fox 2:

Contra III: The Alien Wars
Donkey Kong Country
EarthBound
Final Fantasy III
F-Zero
Kirby Super Star
Kirby's Dream Course
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Mega Man X
Secret of Mana
Star Fox
Star Fox 2
Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
Super Castlevania IV
Super Ghouls'n Ghosts
Super Mario Kart
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario World
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Super Metroid
Super Punch-Out!!

From ALIEN³ (loaned to a friend and never returned) to Super Star Wars, Nintendo's 16-bit console never failed to delight with Mode 7 and Super FX technological trickery. That said, the cartridges were expensive. Street Fighter II Turbo cost £70!

I took my machine to university where it played genial host to Super Mario Kart tournaments with housemates and friends until the PlayStation was launched in 1995. Without the SNES there would be no PlayStation. Sony's console began life as an aborted SNES CD-ROM add-on in 1988. However, Nintendo shunned Sony and partnered with Philips in 1991. The rest is gaming history.

Nintendo is putting the "n" into nostalgia with these classic mini consoles featuring childhood callbacks for fans.

"Our long-term efforts are focused on delivering great games for the Nintendo Switch system and continuing to build momentum for that platform, as well as serving the more than 63 million owners of Nintendo 3DS family systems. We are offering Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition in special recognition of the fans who show tremendous interest our classic content."

In a statement to USgamer, Nintendo said: "We aren't providing specific numbers, but we will produce significantly more units of Super NES Classic Edition than we did of NES Classic Edition.

"Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition is currently planned to ship from 29th September until the end of calendar year 2017. At this time, we have nothing to announce regarding any possible shipments beyond this year."

Pre-orders sold out within minutes on Monday. I secured mine after following a link on Eurogamer.

Nintendo's 16-bit era arch-rival Sega has recently launched Sega Forever for iOS and Android devices. Sega plans to release games from the Master System to Dreamcast. However, it's off to a stuttering start and there isn't a first-party classic console product of the calibre offered by Nintendo. Personally, I'd love a mini classic Genesis/Mega Drive comparable to SNES with excellent emulation.

Did you manage to pre-order a Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo? Which games are you excited for? Is it bittersweet because of stock shortages? Let me know in the comments below.

Celebrate 20 years of Sonic on the App Store

Has it really been 20 years since Sega first unleashed Sonic the Hedgehog onto the Genesis/Mega Drive and started a videogame war with Nintendo that would rival Coca-Cola vs Pepsi!

The cool kids only had eyes for the hedgehog...

Sonic was a brash, slicker, upstart and upended Mario within the space of a year with uncredited assistance from Michael Jackson both musically and in the design of Sonic's footwear, which was inspired by the Bad video.

Sega bundled every Mega Drive with a Sonic the Hedgehog game pack-in from day one! A business decision that would be anathema in today's market. With the console's reduced price point, the company was giving away its killer application in an effort to overthrow Nintendo.

Sega - with Sonic as its mascot - dominated the early 1990s and had to do nothing to maintain an unassailable industry lead. Instead the company imploded as told here.

Nowadays Sega is fair weather friends with the likes of Nintendo and Sony. This is all to the good and gamers everywhere can play the Sonic franchise on their platform(s) of choice.

What better way to mark this anniversary then with these Sonic titles on the App Store!

Sonic the Hedgehog (iTunes)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (iTunes)
Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode I (iTunes)
Sonic and Sega All-Star Racing (iTunes)

If you buy only one Sonic game from the Mega Drive era; choose Sonic the Hedgehog 2!

SEGA's Shining Force arrives on the App Store

SEGA's Shining Force (iTunes), a classic turn-based RPG from the 16-bit era, arrives on the App Store with my unreserved recommendation!



SEGA's Genesis/Mega Drive emulator for iPhone has met with controversy from enthusiast gamers, and I've eschewed all the releases until now! Shining Force runs perfectly on my iPod touch (2G). However, is it too much to ask SEGA to release special editions with hi-resolution graphics?

How about Phantasy Star next?

Shining Force should satiate RPG fans until Secret of Mana is released!

US App Store: Shining Force
International: Shining Force

FIFA 09 wins without WAGs!

Late last night I removed the shrink wrap from FIFA 09 (PS3) and loaded the Blu-ray disc with a mixture of excitement and trepidation! The last time I bought a copy of FIFA was during the heyday of the Sega Mega Drive in the 1990s! Would FIFA 09 rekindle a long lost love and steal me away from Konami's upstart Pro Evolution Soccer (PES)?

FIFA 09 is closer than ever to the pick-up-and-play prowess of PES, without detracting from the franchise's trademark realism, and looks even more attractive. Premier League players move and act like their real-life counterparts. However, lower league players look like zombies leftover from Capcom's Resident Evil franchise!

The online component of FIFA 09 has been bolstered by the addition of adidas Live Season. adidas Live Season, an optional premium service, is activated once you've linked your Playstation Network (PSN) gamer profile with an EA Master Account, which can be set-up directly from within FIFA 09! You are entitled to free updates, for the league of your choice, using an exclusive redemption code found on the back of the manual. Naturally, I've chosen Barclays Premier League in order to follow the fortunes of my beloved Manchester United. Should you wish to subscribe to all supported leagues, additional charges will apply.

Even without WAGs, FIFA 09 is an irresistible football video game package that's almost impossible to beat! I'm looking forward to another friendly between Exeter City FC and Manchester United at St James Park, Exeter!

Michael Jackson's Sonic 3 Album

How on Earth did this slip past my radar? Back in the late '80s Michael Jackson signed an endorsement deal with Sega America, which produced the arcade and Mega Drive smash hit Moonwalker (1990). A fact that I've covered in a previous post.

With the success of Sonic The Hedgehog (1991), Sega's blue mascot, reaching its zenith with the release of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (1992) (an essential Virtual Console purchase), Michael Jackson approached the Sega Technical Institute (STI), at one time an elite organisation within Sega America that developed acclaimed titles such as Kid Chameleon and Comix Zone, about scoring the soundtrack for the upcoming Sonic 3 (1994)!

Purportedly the completed score, composed, arranged and performed by Michael Jackson and the musicians who worked on the Dangerous (1991) recording sessions, was axed, at a very late stage of Sonic 3's development, due to the first public allegations of child molestation against the singer in 1993.

However, there's compelling evidence that some, if not all, of Michael Jackson's arrangements remained in the original release of Sonic 3 on the Mega Drive! Certainly the 'Dangerous sound' is unmistakeable and there's a hint of future projects HIStory (1995) and HIStory In The Mix (1997). It is worth noting that whilst Michael Jackson's official involvement was removed from all publicity and in-game end credits, his album session musicians, predominantly keyboard programmers, provided the final Sonic 3 score.

Bobby Brooks - engineer for Michael Jackson. Sequenced synthesizers and drums on Blood on the Dance Floor and mixed HIStory.

Darryl Ross - vague, ill-defined resume credit: "Darryl Ross is an accomplished producer, musician, songwriter, arranger and vocalist. Artists he worked with are Michael Jackson...".

Geoff Grace - arranger for Michael Jackson. Credited for arranging the music for Jackson's Dangerous tour.

Brad Buxer - performed arranging, keyboards, sequencing and more for Blood on the Dance Floor and Invincible.

Doug Grigsby - unknown credit on HIStory.

Of all Michael Jackson's keyboard virtuosos, Greg Phillinganes is notable by his absence! He has toured with Jackson and was a session keyboardist on his Sony solo albums.

Latterly Michael Jackson makes a cameo appearance in both Sega's Space Channel 5 and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2.

Wii Wins!

This afternoon I received a belated e-mail from Virgin Media in response to the BlogSpot issue. Here's an extract:

Thank you for contacting the Virgin Media Econtact Support Team.

I am sorry to hear you have been having issues with your broadband service.

This issue is happening due to a new address range being released to Virgin Media. Some sites filter out access attempts from addresses that are not currently in use. However, they need to update their filters when they are advised that a new range has been released, which some sites have not done. We are in touch with the hosts of BlogSpot to try to get them to update their filters, and until they do there is nothing further that we can do...

Virgin Media's explanation is congruent with Blogger's and therefore I wanted to post this for the purposes of balance and fairness. And to address any concerns that readers, also affected by this issue, may have had. For me, the matter is closed.

I can now connect a brand new Belkin High-Speed Mode Wireless G Router to my cable modem and update the Wii's firmware and download the latest addition to the burgeoning Virtual Console gallery - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. But first, I need to buy a 2000 Wii Points Card. A Wii Points Card is used, in much the same way as an iTunes Gift Certificate, for downloading extra features and content, including the greatest games from the NES, Super NES, N64, Sega Mega Drive and NEC TurboGrafx video game consoles.

Tron Scherzo

The release of PIXAR's Cars has prompted me to reprint an article that I wrote, for my online portfolio, a few years ago.

An interest and appreciation of CGI began, like many of my contemporaries, with watching the movies 'Tron' (1982), 'The Last Starfighter' (1984) and playing video games at arcades and on consoles - from the Atari VCS CX2600 to Sega Genesis/Mega Drive - in the 1980s.

In the summer of 2000 I began reading 3Dworld. The inclusion of Bryce, a 3-D landscape generation application, reignited further self development within this flourishing arena.

Off-the-shelf software, such as the Academy Award®-winning Maya and Shake, had developed to the point where many of the DTP (Desk Top Publishing) skills for fine art and graphic design can now be successfully transferred to a 3D context without exhaustingly steep learning curves! The artist can now focus on issues of composition - colour, movement through the frame et al - without trying to reconcile with an alienating UI (User Interface).

Alias' decision to provide Personal Learning Editions (PLE) of Maya and now MotionBuilder (from its purchase of Kaydara) is fostering consumer loyalty. Using their free FBX Converter I'm now able to import older projects into Alias applications for future enhancement. The FBX SDK will be worth investigating.

This is a sample collection of original 3-Dimensional images created using Bryce, Corel Photo-Paint, Maya 6 PLE, Painter and Poser (and retouched in Photoshop).

Now you can add Google SketchUp to the Mac OS X application honor roll!

Another World

Beautifully cinematic, impressively coherent, challenging and elegant; Another World (known as Out of this World in the States) is a stellar example of nineties game design and was the brainchild of one Eric Chahi and his team at Delphine Software.

"You play Lester, the young physics professor, who suddenly finds himself in a strange alien world after lightning striked his particle experiment."

In 1991 Another World became the poster child of Gallic gaming and adoring magazine editorials in C&VG and the official Nintendo magazine elevated it to blockbuster status.

I first played this on the superlative Super Nintendo, which was, somewhat astonishingly, eclipsed by Sega's Mega Drive console port. Too late, I'd already sold the latter to a College friend who was trying to kick the console habit to no avail.

Its stylistic cousin, Flashback, arrived in 1992 but never distilled the mood of its predecessor nor its downbeat ending. The Macintosh version was ported by Mac Play and requires Classic to run or there's the Windows version that runs in DOSBox.

The look and feel of Another World is unique to this day. Oddworld's developers clearly derived inspiration from Delphine. The game's creator, Eric Chahi, has made the Game Boy Advance (GBA) ROM legally available here.

All I Want For Christmas

In keeping with the spirit of the upcoming holidays. The following list features all my computer and video game hardware owned to date. Most of which were received as gifts at this time of year!

*Atari VCS 2600
*Binatone Mk6 Game System
*ZX Spectrum 48K
*ZX Spectrum+ (same as above, but with 'improved' keyboard)
*Commodore 64 and 1541 Floppy Disk Drive
*Nintendo Game & Watch (various Mario titles)
*Sega Megadrive (Genesis)
*Atari Lynx II
*Super NES
*Apple Macintosh Performa 5200
*N64
*PSOne
*iMac DV SE
*Sega Dreamcast
*PlayStation 2
*XBOX
*GameCube
*LCD iMac G4
*GBA SP

Over the years I purchased innumerable video games from The Fuse Box. During my teens the store, an independent brick-and-mortar retailer located in Exeter's Sidwell Street, was a treasure trove - Rescue on Fractalus!* and Koronis Rift, displayed on the in-store monitors, held me spellbound - before its untimely closure and the advent of etailing. Somewhere in the attic of our house is a dusty old cardboard box that contains Atari, Commodore and Spectrum games (cartridge, cassette and diskette formats) in their original packaging! I've no idea whether or not my Commodore 64 still works (1992 being the last time it was used) and the first ZX Spectrum was passed on to a younger relative only to meet an untimely demise.

Watching Back to the Future II (1989) I noticed Nintendo's PlayChoice-10 in the Cafe 80's scene (a veritable advertising blitz). To reiterate comments made in a previous post. PlayChoice-10 provided Nintendo with a platform to profit from the lucrative arcade market, and uniquely showcased NES titles including Mega Man 3, Super Mario Bros II and III before their home cartridge launch. PlayChoice-10 existed for 5 to 6 years and was briefly superseded by Nintendo Super System. MAME emulation of PlayChoice-10 is not yet 100% accurate, but all known titles are available including The Goonies.

nVIDIA is to produce a bespoke GeForce GPU for Sony's PS3 after Microsoft allied itself with ATi. Combined with an IBM PowerPC G5 processor and possibly OpenGL, the PS3 shares APIs with Apple! Curious said Alice. In a contractual twist, that inspires literary allusions to the one ring, IBM will power all three next generation consoles from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Can you say NDA?

*Rescue on Fractalus! was the first time I'd ever seen the Apple ][ logo. Little did I know that years later the Apple Macintosh would have a profound impact on my creative life.

Desktop Arcade

The Atari® Flashback™ Classic Game Console has been announced for the holiday season. My earliest memory of owning a games console was the Atari VCS 2600 (introduced in 1977 and distributed in the UK by Ingersoll Electronics). It was an unwanted holiday gift for a cousin. So, my Uncle graciously gave it to me on my Birthday (mint in box)! This was alongside Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, which has a connection other than purely nostalgia!

After only a few minutes playing Space Invaders, Frogger and The Empire Strikes Back (you see there was a connection) I was hooked! For the next two decades I owned a Spectrum 48K, Commodore 64, Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) and Dreamcast, Atari Lynx, SNES and N64, PSOne and PStwo, and XBOX.



The thread that binded these machines together was the relentless pursuit to acquire games that were arcade perfect. Sega's Mega Drive produced an excellent conversion of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Yet this was a flawed premise in that a conversion, by definition, is anything but (not to diminish the fun that was had). However, the Dreamcast console was based on the NAOMI (New Arcade Operation Machine Idea) PCB that powered Sega’s coin-ops, which culminated in near-definitive releases Crazy Taxi and Dead or Alive 2.



The first time I heard about MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) was from a former coworker (2001). MAME was started in 1996 by Nicola Salmoria as a means of archiving, and by extension preserving, arcade games that would otherwise disappear forever. For example Star Trek (1983), which is a very rare Sega vector game featuring the voices of the principal cast. Also it allows gamers to experience titles that they may never have otherwise played such as the Japanese-only Gaiapolis, replete with gorgeous graphics, and quirky horizontal shooter Parodius and its sequels, both from Konami.



Unlike music or film, arcade hardware is expensive and therefore it’s commercially prohibitive to continue production runs over an extended period of time. As a pleasant side effect, one can play game ROMs (dumped from arcade Printed Circuit Boards using an EPROM reader) under software emulation! The notion of playing the original Gauntlet, After Burner II, Out Run and many others was mouthwatering!



In what can only be described as an act of serendipity, earlier this year I wrote a review of Jedi Academy (for Inside Mac Games) and discovered that Aspyr programmer, and fellow Star Wars fan, Brad Oliver was the author of MacMAME! Subsequently, I downloaded 0.77u2a and my ROM searching odyssey began in earnest.



With the release of 0.87, MacMAME has been extensively rewritten and further optimized to be a better Mac OS X citizen. Sporting many enhancements including preliminary support for Sega's Model 1 PCB (i.e seminal releases Virtua Fighter and Star Wars Arcade) and the removal of legacy code. This release requires Mac OS X 10.2 (or higher).



It is worth noting that the legal ownership of ROM images (for the purpose of backup) may be contingent on possessing the original arcade game. However, it is not clear if it is legal for an individual to have ROM images (even if not for profit) for a game they don't own. Please read legal implications on MAME rom usage from Northwestern University Law School before downloading any roms to ensure legal compliance. Do not ask me how ROMs can be obtained. Some ROM images, such as Atari's, are available for legal purchase here.