Magistr Drive

The Magistr (Магистр) Drive series is a selection of clone consoles based on the Sega Mega Drive that were manufactured and distributed in Russia and other parts of Asia. Most Magistr Drive consoles were made by New Game, a company which specialises in bringing Mega Drive content to Russia.

As is perhaps predictable in these markets, 8-bit Famicom clone consoles (or Dendy clones as they're known in Russia) known as the "Magistr Savia" and "Magistr Sniper" (among possibly others) were also produced by New Game, although these are unrelated to the Mega Drive clones on this page.

Unlike many other clone consoles, Magistr Drives were produced extremely cheaply and thus the contents displayed on the box often do not match the products contained within. The colours of buttons for example range significantly across Magistr Drives and may have been determined by what colours were in stock, not necessarily the type of console. For this reason the true number of Magistr Drives has not been determined.

Promotional material

Print advert in Velikiy Drakon (RU) #38: "xxxx xxxx" (1998-04-12)

Print advert in Velikiy Drakon (RU) #48: "xxxx xxxx" (2000-04-15)

Print advert in Velikiy Drakon (RU) #54: "xxxx xxxx" (2001-05-01)

Print advert in Velikiy Drakon (RU) #56: "xxxx xxxx" (2001-12-15)

Print advert in Krutoy Geymer (RU) #9 : "" (2002-10-23)

Print advert in Krutoy Geymer (RU) #9 : "" (2002-10-23)

Print advert in TRICKS Gold Strana Dreamcast (RU) #5: "" (200x-xx-xx)

Magazine articles

Main article: Magistr Drive/Magazine articles.

Magistr Drive 2

This console is the mother of all clones. Released in 1999,under the name Mega Drive 2.On the surface this Magistr Drive 2 is largely identical to a Japanese Mega Drive 2 , but as with all Magistr Drives, the innards are much simpler, being effectively a "console on a chip".

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  Box

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Magistr Drive 2 (alt)

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Magistr Drive 2 (25 games)

One of the more common Magistr Drive 2s is this model - one with 25 built-in games.

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Magistr Drive 2 (25 games; alt)

There is an alternative model to the above, distributed in the same packaging. Aside from colour scheme changes the controllers have turbo switches instead of buttons.

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Magistr Drive 2 (160 games)

There is an alternative model to the above, distributed in the same packaging. Aside from colour scheme changes the controllers have turbo switches instead of buttons. In December 2016 a new version was released.

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  Old version box

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  Old version manual

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  New version

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  New version

Magistr Drive 2 (mini)

Almost unique to the Magistr Drive series is the concept of "mini" Magistr Drives - functionally identical to the above but packaged in much smaller shells. This particular Magistr Drive is otherwise largely unremarkable - there are no built-in games and aesthetically it copies the European Mega Drive II.

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• MagistrDriveMini 1 RU Box Front.jpg
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Magistr Drive 2 (mini; 9 games)

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Magistr Drive 2 (mini; 12 games)

This 12 game version of the mini Magistr Drive 2 is also quite common.

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  Front of console

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  Back of console

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  Front of box

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  Back of box

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  Inside of box

Magistr Drive 2 (mini; 25 games)

A 25 game variant was also produced, presumably identical to the larger edition above.

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Magistr Drive 2 (mini; 65 games)

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Magistr Drive 2 (mini; 160 games)

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Magistr Drive 3

Released after the first console in this series. Like the original, it has the name Mega Drive on the console.

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Magistr Drive 3 (alt)

The small shell was recycled with the Magistr Drive 3, though aside from a different color scheme there's not much separating this one from its predecessor.

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  Front of box

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  Back of box

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  Inside of box

Magistr Drive 5

The console was redesigned with the Magistr Drive 5, and although still features Sega branding on the box and console, swapped its controllers to PlayStation 1-esque ones. The awkward button placement that also appeared in the Mega Drive V and Mega Drive X was used here, though the colors are different. The Magistr Drive 5 goes back to using the regular size Mega Drive 2 shell, though this time it's white (although there are some variations for button colours).

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  Front of box

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  Back of box

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  Inside of box

Magistr Drive X

The Magistr Drive X brings back the Sega Mega Drive six button controllers and paints them white. It also brings back the shell of the Magistr Drive 2 Mini and paints that white too. Something worth noting is that the middle buttons are vertical. There is also a version that includes Sega Saturn-like controllers.

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  Front of box

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  Back of box

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  Inside of box

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  Alt

Magistr Drive Z

A departure from previous attempts, the Magistr Drive Z features a Genesis 3 shell and sometimes ships with less awkward PlayStation 1-style controllers. The console comes in a variety of colors including white and blue.

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  Front of box

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  Back of box

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  Inside of box

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Magistr Drive (65 games)

Despite having created a smaller shell for earlier projects, more recent Magistr Drives still use the original Mega Drive 2 style shell. This one has 65 built-in games.

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Magistr Drive One

Uses a PS One style shell and comes with PlayStation style controllers.

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Magistr Station

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Obuchayushchiy Magistr + FD/Magistr 16

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Obuchayushchiy Bakalavr/Magistr Bakalavr

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Sega Magistr X

Model released in September 2017.

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Magistr X

The latest model from the Magistr series released in February 2019. Very similar to Sega Magistr X.

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Magistr Titan 2

Model released in January 2015.

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Magistr Titan 3

Model released in April 2018.

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Magistr Drive 2 (98 games)

Model released in March 2018.

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Magistr accessories

For many years, New Game has released sets of many accessories for their consoles often modeled on the original from Sega.

Unknown

Aside from being Magistr Drives we know nothing about the following systems.

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• MagistrDrive2Mini.jpg