Mega Drive Mini

Mega Drive Mini
Manufacturer: Sega, M2
Built-in games: 42
Release Date RRP Code JP 2019-09-19 ¥6,9806,980 JP (W) 2019-09-19 ¥8,9808,980 US 2019-09-19 $79.9979.99 DE 2019-10-04 €79.9979.99 ES 2019-10-04 €79.9979.99 FR 2019-10-04 €79.9979.99 PT 2019-10-04 €79.9979.99 RTGSE0874 UK 2019-10-04 £69.9969.99 PL 2019-10-04 349zł349 AU 2019-09-19 $139.95139.95 MY 2019-09-19 RM 359.00359.00 PH 2019-09-19 4,590 PHP4,590 PHP SG 2019-09-19 $119.90 SGD119.90 SGD TH 2019-09-19 ฿1,3901,390 AS 2019-09-19 ZA 2019-10-04 R R1399R1399 IN 2019-09-19 ₹1,499,0001,499,000

The Mega Drive Mini (メガドライブミニ), sold in North America as the Sega Genesis Mini, is a miniature Sega Mega Drive console with 42 built-in games. It was released in September 2019 for most regions, and two weeks later in October 2019 for Europe.

Hardware

The Mega Drive Mini follows in the footsteps of other hardware manufacturers; Nintendo with its NES and Super NES Classic Edition units, Sony with its PlayStation Classic and SNK with its Neo Geo X Gold and Neo Geo Mini systems. The unit is designed to resemble the original model of Sega Mega Drive (or Sega Genesis) at 55% the size of the original, but is incompatible with any of the original games or controllers, relying solely on its built-in library of emulated games and slots for two USB peripherals. Video is output at 720p 60Hz via HDMI.

Prior to the console's release, other "mini Mega Drives" were available, such as the Sega Mega Drive Flashback by AtGames and a similar cost-reduced system by Tectoy, however while both are officially licensed by Sega, the Mega Drive Mini is the only one of the three to be developed by the company (although the actual software emulation was handled by M2). It was therefore marketed as being the more "official" product.

Also, unlike these older systems, Sega acquired the rights to feature games by a variety of third-party publishers in the Mega Drive Mini, including the likes of Konami, Namco, Capcom, Interplay, Electronic Arts and Taito.

In Japan, two packages were released - a standard edition with one USB Six Button Control Pad, and a "W" edition with two. In all other territories, the Mega Drive Mini only ships with three button control pads.

Technical specifications

• System-on-chip: ZUIKI Z7213
• RAM: 256 MB
• Output: 1 HDMI port
• Storage: 512 MB NAND flash
• Power: AXP223
• Operating System: Linux kernel
• Other: 2 USB controller ports

Features

The menu interface from the European system.

The Mega Drive Mini presents the player with a graphical interface displaying the covers of every game included on the system. Twelve covers are displayed on the screen at a time, but the player can choose to display all games at once, displaying their spines. The games can even be sorted alphabetically, by release date, by genre, or the number of supported players. The menu music is composed by Yuzo Koshiro of Streets of Rage fame.

Changing the system language in the settings menu will do more than just change the menu language; it will also change the menu interface to match the selected language, changing to a Japanese Mega Drive-themed menu for Japanese, Chinese and Korean, a Genesis-themed menu for English (with the exception of European/Australian systems), and a PAL Mega Drive-themed menu for French, Italian, German and Spanish. Most of the covers will also change to match those of the respective region, and alternate regional versions of the games can be played. Most intriguingly, changing the language of a Western system to Japanese will change Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine into Puyo Puyo. All games run at 60Hz regardless of system region, including the European versions of certain games such as Castlevania: Bloodlines which have been fully optimised to run at NTSC speeds; however the European version of The Story of Thor still runs at 50Hz. Not all games have an alternate regional variant available and will remain the same.

During a game, the player can call up System Menu at any time by pressing  START  and together on a Six Button Control Pad, holding the  START  button down for a few seconds or by pressing the RESET button on the console. From this menu, the player can save their progress to a savestate, with each game supporting up to four savestates. Savestates will also remember which region the game is set to, so if the system language is changed, and the savestate is loaded, the regional variant of the game that was played when the savestate was created will be loaded.

The settings menu gives the player the ability to alter the display in various ways. Games can be displayed in a 4:3 aspect ratio or they can fill the entire screen, along with an optional CRT filter that blurs the image and displays scanlines. When playing in a 4:3 ratio, the player can choose to have one of two wallpapers displayed around the game screen to fill the blank space. The menu also includes a QR code that takes the player to a site hosting the original game manuals when scanned using a smartphone or tablet.

List of games

While all editions of the Mega Drive Mini contain 42 games, the lineup has been adjusted to better suit the region. All regions contain English, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Korean menus which affect the language the game is in.

Japan

• Alisia Dragoon
• Assault Suit Leynos
• Bare Knuckle II
• Columns
• Comix Zone
• Contra: The Hardcore
• Daimakaimura
• Darius (Never released before)
• Dyna Brothers 2 Special
• Dynamite Headdy
• Game no Kanzume Otokuyou
• Golden Axe
• Gunstar Heroes
• The Hybrid Front
• Landstalker: Koutei no Zaihou
• Langrisser II
• Lord Monarch: Tokoton Sentou Densetsu
• Madou Monogatari I
• Monster World IV
• Musha Aleste: Full Metal Fighter Ellinor
• Party Quiz Mega Q
• Phantasy Star: Sennenki no Owari ni
• Puyo Puyo Tsuu
• Puzzle & Action: Tant-R
• Rent A Hero
• Road Rash II
• Rockman Mega World
• Shining Force: Kamigami no Isan
• Slap Fight MD
• Snow Bros.
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Space Harrier II
• The Story of Thor: Hikari o Tsugumono
• Street Fighter II' Plus
• Super Fantasy Zone
• The Super Shinobi
• Tetris (Never released before)
• Thunder Force III
• Vampire Killer
• World of Illusion: Fushigi na Magic Box
• Wrestleball
• Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Makyou Toitsusen

United States / Europe / Australia / Southeast Asia / Middle East / Africa

• Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
• Alisia Dragoon
• Altered Beast
• Beyond Oasis
• Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
• Castlevania: Bloodlines
• Columns
• Comix Zone
• Contra: Hard Corps
• Darius (Never released before)
• Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
• Dynamite Headdy
• Earthworm Jim
• Ecco the Dolphin
• Eternal Champions
• Ghouls'n Ghosts
• Golden Axe
• Gunstar Heroes
• Kid Chameleon
• Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole
• Light Crusader
• Mega Man: The Wily Wars
• Monster World IV
• Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
• Road Rash II
• Shining Force
• Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball
• Space Harrier II
• Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition
• Streets of Rage 2
• Strider
• Super Fantasy Zone
• Tetris (Never released before)
• Thunder Force III
• ToeJam & Earl
• Vectorman
• Virtua Fighter 2
• Wonder Boy in Monster World
• World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck

China / Taiwan / South Korea

• Alien Soldier
• Alisia Dragoon
• Assault Suit Leynos
• Bare Knuckle II
• Castle of Illusion: Fushigi no Oshiro Daibouken
• Columns
• Comix Zone
• Contra: The Hardcore
• Daimakaimura
• Darius (Never released before)
• Game no Kanzume Otokuyou
• Golden Axe
• Gunstar Heroes
• Landstalker: Koutei no Zaihou
• Langrisser II
• Monster World IV
• Musha Aleste: Full Metal Fighter Ellinor
• OutRun 2019
• Phantasy Star: Sennenki no Owari ni
• Puyo Puyo
• Puyo Puyo Tsuu
• Puzzle & Action: Tant-R
• Road Rash II
• Rockman Mega World
• Shining Force: Kamigami no Isan
• Shining Force II: Inishie no Fuuin
• Slap Fight MD
• Snow Bros.
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Space Harrier II
• The Story of Thor: Hikari o Tsugumono
• Strider Hiryuu
• Super Fantasy Zone
• The Super Shinobi
• Tetris (Never released before)
• Thunder Force III
• Vampire Killer
• Vermilion
• Wonder Boy V: Monster World III
• World of Illusion: Fushigi na Magic Box
• Wrestleball

Production credits

MEGADRIVE MINI / GENESIS MINI

• Project Lead: Hiroyuki Miyazaki
• Production Lead: Tomoki Kaji
• Contents Lead: Yosuke Okunari
• Project Manager: Yasushi Yamashita, Yuuki Takita, Yasuyuki Hattori, Akemi Kamata (SEGATOYS)

SYSTEM DEVELOPED BY M2

• Directors: Naoki Horii, Takayuki Komabayashi
• Planners: Takayuki Komabayashi, Tsuyoshi Matsuoka
• Programmers: Daisuke Koizumi, Shintaro Ishikura, Tetsuya Abe, Yuu Igarashi, Hiroyuki Sawai, Makoto Harashino, Nobuhisa Shinoda, Takayuki Kawanishi, Jumpei Issiki
• Graphic Designers: Makoto Shiina, Yoshiyasu Matsushita, Satoru Hasegawa, Goh Takahashi, Moriwo Ashizuka (TORO KIKAKU), Yoshimi Mishima (TORO KIKAKU), Ryoetsu Ino (WAMSOFT)
• Package Art for "Value Games in a Can": CASIO Matsushita, Satoru Hasegawa, Takayuki Komabayashi
• Sound Designers: Tatsuhiko Kasuga, Sakuoki Kudo
• Library & Tools: Jun Okada, Hiroaki Goto (GORRY), Toshinori Yuuki (WAMSOFT), Go Watanabe (WAMSOFT)
• Theme Music Composed: Yuzo Koshiro (Ancient), Mucom Dev Team (gasshi, onitama, OXYGEN, WING☆), Masanobu Kumata, quad
• Project Manager: Takehiro Kawachi
• Special Thanks: Jemini Hirono, Kazuki Kubota, Keiichi Sato, Shinnosuke Nemoto, Ryohey Miyaki

Darius for Mega Drive 2019

• Planner & Programmer: Hideki Konishi
• Supervisers: Hiroshi Uemura (Taito Corporation), Katsuhisa Ishikawa (ZUNTATA), Yuichi Toyama (Taito Corporation), Masato Nishimura (SEGA)
• Special Thanks: Satoshi Fujishima (fupac)

Tetris for Mega Drive 2019

• Programmers: Num Kadoma, Satoshi Fujishima (fupac)
• Sound: WING☆
• Music Driver: MUCOM88 ©YUZO KOSHIRO

SEGA Holdings Co., Ltd. / SEGA Games Co., Ltd.

• Head of Japan Asia Publishing: Osamu Ohashi
• Sales: Toru Yasuda, Tetsuo Sasaki, Katsutoshi Memezawa, Toshiyuki Tanaka, Nagayuki Nou, Shinya Oosaki, Yuichiro Shimada, Takafumi Osaka, Keigo Kimura, Daiki Tanaka, Rey Irie, Keigo Endo, Teruyuki Awaji, Yoshihito Endo, Tomohiko Hayashi, Taku Takeuchi, Kahoruko Shiiki, Field Crew Service Co.,Ltd.
• Sales Promotion: Mitsuru Takahashi, Aiko Matsuda, Eishin Miura
• SOJ Business Development Dept.: Tatsuya Shikata
• Promotion: Chifuyu Sakata, Risa Araki, Ikuo Ishizaka
• PR: Teruyuki Kaida, Nana Yamaguchi
• Web Design: Yukinobu Ushio, Kaori Ojima, Tohru Yoshida, Yoshiro Shimizu
• Asia Business: Go Saito, Shintaro Tanioka, Nobuhiro Tanaka, Mamoru Kodama, Ko Yamawaki, Takeyuki Iso, Ryota Sakamoto, Takuji Konuma, Risa Nakamura, Manting Huang, Mayumi Kou
• Quality Assurance: Kazuhiko Morii, Minoru Matsuyama, Yuji Nakamura, Hiroyuki Arai, Shunya Shimizu
• Software Quality Control: Akira Nishikawa, Osamu Sato, Yoshiaki Yamazaki, Atsushi Hirano, Yuki Takahashi, Satoshi Kuwano, Takuya Kojima, Akihiko Morita, Tetsuro Nakanishi, Ai Matsubara, Mitsunori Hirosawa, Shinobu Kobayashi, Kazuma Sato, Mikiho Suenaga, Takehiro Sekiya, Jun Imamura, Anna Naruoka, Tomoe Kuriyama, Mitsuhiro Oishi
• Package & Manual Production: Yoshihiro Sakuta, Toshiki Yamaguchi, Hiroki Osawa, Colin Restall, Sunao Murayama
• Legal: Kenji Miyagawa, Noboru Hosaka, Hiroki Mochinaga, Hideki Morita
• License: Shigefumi Tanzawa, Namiko Masaki, Nana Ishizawa, Yuma Yanagihara, Katumi Baba, Kensuke Kurimoto, Kohei Takiguchi, Junichiro Takahashi, Rie Kondo, Saki Nakamura, Rihoko Katsura

SEGA TOYS Co., Ltd.

• Akito Sasaki, Yasuhiro Hamada, Kenji Otsuji, Hirotsugu Tomizawa, Satoshi Shimokawa, Nobuaki Ishida, Naoki Takasu

SEGA of America, Inc.

• CEO: Tatsuyuki Miyazaki
• President & COO: Ian Curran
• EVP of Publishing and Strategy: Hitoshi Okuno
• CBO and SVP of Sega of America: Ivo Gerscovich
• SVP of Publishing: Mitsuhiro Tanaka
• VP of Sales: Alaine de Leon
• Senior Director of Corporate Planning: Kenya Numata
• Publishing Manager: James Low
• Forecasting and Research Analyst: Jiyang Xie
• Business Planning Analyst: Yuko Shimura
• Financial Analyst: Sawako Yamaji
• VP of Production: Bill Alexander
• Director of Production: Samuel G. Mullen
• Associate Localization Producer: Damian Mougakos
• Senior Manager, QA & Dev Support: Carl Chen
• Assistant QA Manager: Scott Williams
• Submissions Specialist: Justin HQ Phan
• QA Lead: Logan Sandefur
• QA Testers: Matthew Aclaro, Joanne Choi, Nikki Flores, Charisse Lo, Jennifer Ly, Gerald Rempis, Nick Smith, Monica Tran, Nico Ruan, Ulices Heureaux
• Director of Marketing: Robyn Mukai Koshi
• Senior Marketing Manager: Sakura Minamida Harris
• Product Marketing Manager: Melissa Smith
• Associate Product Marketing Manager: Sara Chan, Mathew Roniss
• Product Marketing Specialist: Becky Li
• Community Manager II, Sonic Pillar Marketing: Aaron Weber
• Senior PR Manager: Jacob Nahin
• Associate PR Manager: Jonathon Stebel
• PR Specialist: Zachary Reese
• Associate Brand Manager, Sonic Pillar Marketing: Nathan Shabazi
• Traffic Manager: Ann Namie
• Traffic Specialist: Kenichi Linus Morita
• Events & Purchasing Manager: Elisabeth Hardy
• Manager of Creative Services: Ayami Haruno
• Graphic Designer: Amy Shimoshige
• Production Artists: James Ferrell II, Rod Raymundo
• Senior Web Developer: James Kaneshiro
• Web Developer: Erik Nuber
• Web Designer: Ben Schilling
• Senior Media Producer: John Tubera
• Media Producer: Alex Limon
• Media Associate: Jerry Yongjin Song
• Senior Manager, Sales Operations & Administration: Nate Harris
• Sales Manager: Danny Miscevich
• Digital Promotions Manager: Michael Manzanares
• Sales Administrators: Connie Chinn, Leary Salupen
• Digital Operations Specialist: Lauren Welch

SEGA Europe Ltd.

• Corporate: Gary Dale
• Sales: John Clark, Alison Gould, Eduardo Bolan Borges, Sam Sadeghi, Simon Inch
• Operations: Linda Kershaw, Natalie Cooke
• Creative Services: Elliot Kidner, Jeff Webber, Noud Tempelaere, Ranj Vekaria
• Marketing: Anna Downing, Ben Walker, Katharina Bareiss, Melaine Brou
• Comms: Ibrahim Bhatti, Mitchel Lineham, Sunil Kalotia
• PR: Pete Oliver, Sarah Wellock
• Finance: Deepak Sharma, Lenia Peros, Michael Riley
• Legal: Daniel Finegold, Ilan Pdahtzur, Nicky Ormrod
• Localisation: Firas Al Sekran, Miguel Lerma Garcia

SEGA AMUSEMENTS TAIWAN LTD.

• Hiroki Ohta, Nina Lin, Jayvee Lin, Max Hsu, Wayne Li, Chihyu Chang, Yihuei Chien, Jianchih Liou, Amy Chang

SEGA Publishing Korea Ltd.

• Hyunju Kim, Haechang Song, Chikyun Won

Special Thanks

• Charles Wu (ZUIKI), YI YIN (ZUIKI), Makoto Takinami (ZUIKI), zen_nif, Shigemi Ohmori, Yuichi Toyama, Kenji Tsujisaka, Akira Takeuchi, BEEP, Richard Williams, Eiichiro Zento, Takashi Iizuka, Ai Yamada, Ryo Kawabe
• Producers: Hideki Okamura, Kenji Matsubara, Akira Nomoto
• Executive Producer: Haruki Satomi
• Presented by SEGA
• © SEGA

Source:

In-game credits

Artwork

Europe

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Promotional material

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  RS promo

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  MEA promo

Physical scans

Mega Drive, JP

Mega Drive, JP (W)
Cover

Mega Drive, US

Mega Drive, EU

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Mega Drive, AS†

Mega Drive, PT
Cover
Manual

Mega Drive, PL
Cover

External links

• Official website: JP, US, EU/AU, Asia
• Game manuals: JP, US, EU/AU, Asia
• Mega Drive Mini at www.4play.pt (Ecoplay's official online catalogue)
• Mega Drive Mini PT Manual at ecoplay-ftp.ecoplay.pt