Mega Drive Mini 2

From Sega Retro

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Mega Drive Mini 2
Manufacturer: Sega, M2, DARTSLIVE EUROPE (EU)
Distributor: Amazon
Built-in games: 60
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP 		¥9,980 (10,978)9,980e
CERO: C
Sega Mega Drive
JP
(Genesis) 		¥9,980 (10,978)9,980e
CERO: C
Sega Mega Drive
US 		$99.9999.99[1]
ESRB: Teen
Sega Mega Drive
EU
PEGI: 16+
Sega Mega Drive
DE
USK: 12
Sega Mega Drive
UK 		£104.99104.99[2]
PEGI: 16+

The Mega Drive Mini 2 (メガドライブミニ2), sold in North America as the Sega Genesis Mini 2 (セガジェネシスミニ2), is a miniature Sega Mega Drive 2 console with 60 built-in Sega Mega Drive and Sega Mega-CD games. It was released in October 2022 worldwide as a successor to the Mega Drive Mini.

Hardware

As a successor to the original Mega Drive Mini, the unit is designed to resemble the Sega Mega Drive 2 (or Sega Genesis Model 2) 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.

The hardware for the Mega Drive Mini 2 is largely the same as its predecessor, though with larger internal storage to include Mega-CD games. Much like its predecessor, Sega acquired the rights to feature games by a variety of third-party publishers in the Mega Drive Mini 2, including the likes of Game Arts, Namco, Capcom, Interplay, Electronic Arts and Taito.

The original plan was to create an entirely new mini console, though parts shortages as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic led to those plans being shelved and the Mega Drive Mini 2 to be made instead. This also resulted in a smaller production run than the Mega Drive Mini, as well as limited retail distribution through Amazon.

All models, including the North American and European models, include only one USB Six Button Control Pad, though all controllers manufactured for the Mega Drive Mini are also compatible. The design of the North American and European models are not accurate to the design of the original systems as they use the Japanese model's power switch as opposed to a power button, likely to save manufacturing costs. The North American model was also sold in Japan as a separate product.

Technical specifications

  • Output: 1 HDMI port
  • Storage: 8 GB NAND flash
  • Other: 2 USB controller ports

Features

The menu interface from the European system.

The Mega Drive Mini 2 presents the user with a graphical interface displaying the covers of every game included on the system. Ten covers are displayed on the screen at a time, but the user can choose to display all games at once by pressing B, displaying their spines. The games can even be sorted alphabetically, by release date, by genre, by the number of supported players, by recently played, or have Mega-CD games listed first. The menu music is once again composed by Yuzo Koshiro.

Changing the system language in the settings menu will also change the menu interface to match the selected language, changing to a Japanese Mega Drive-themed menu for Japanese or Chinese, a Genesis-themed menu for English, French, Spanish or Korean (with the exception of European systems for these languages except Korean), and a PAL Mega Drive-themed menu for Italian and German. Most of the covers will also change to match those of the respective region, and alternate regional versions of the games can be played, however not all games have an alternate regional variant available and will remain the same. On the European system, most games are the North American versions, though a small number of games such as Robo Aleste, Sonic the Hedgehog CD and Soleil use the European versions though have the North American versions available via a menu that appears when starting the game or by changing the system language.

During a game, the user can call up System Menu at any time by pressing the  RESET  button on the console. From this menu, the user 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  MODE  button may also be used to open the System Menu, which can be configured in the settings to open the menu instantly (Quick Load) or to require the user to hold  MODE  for one or three seconds, or hold  START  instead. Configuring this setting to any setting other than Quick Load will allow the  MODE  button to be used in games that have a use for it (e.g. to enable free movement in Vectorman 2).

The settings menu gives the user 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 user can choose to have one of eight wallpapers displayed around the game screen to fill the blank space. The menu also includes a QR code that takes the user to a site hosting the original game manuals when scanned using a smartphone or tablet. New to the Mega Drive Mini 2 is a setting to choose between emulating the audio output of a Model 1 or Model 2 Mega Drive. Viewing the staff credits will display the boot ROM screens in the background, with the type being determined by the user's language and sound settings (e.g. setting the language to Japanese and the sound setting to Model 1 will display the Japanese Model 1 boot ROM screen).

List of games

While both editions of the Mega Drive Mini 2 contain 60 games, the lineup has been adjusted to better suit the region. Note that Sangokushi III is listed twice for both versions of the game, though both are officially counted as one game.

For a more detailed list that specifies what language versions are available for each game, click the following link:

Main article: Mega Drive Mini 2/Versions.

Japan

Mega Drive

Mega-CD

North America / Europe

Mega Drive

Mega-CD

Production credits

SEGA MEGA DRIVE MINI 2 / SEGA GENESIS MINI 2
SYSTEM DEVELOPED BY M2
  • Directors: Naoki Horii, Tsuyoshi Matsuoka
  • Planners: Tsuyoshi Matsuoka, Kazuki Kubota, Ken-ichiro Kikuchi, Yujiro Yamamoto, Yuuta Yamanaka, Masanori Yagi
  • Programmers: Shintaro Ishikura, Daisuke Koizumi, Makoto Harashino, Hiroaki Okabe, Yoichiro Watanabe, Takayuki Kawanishi, Nobuhisa Shinoda, Tetsuya Abe, Hiroyuki Sawai, Yuu Igarashi, Akira Sakuma, Junichiro Minami, Akira Saito, Jumpei Issiki
  • Menu Designers: Yoshimi Mishima (TORO KIKAKU), Moriwo Ashizuka (TORO KIKAKU), Ami Fujii (TORO KIKAKU), Marina Mitsuhashi (TORO KIKAKU)
  • Graphic Designers: Naoki Takahashi, Goh Takahashi, Highma Fuyuno, Makoto Shiina, Yoshiyasu Matsushita, Satoru Hasegawa, Ryoetsu Ino (WAMSOFT)
  • Package Art for "Thunder Force IV": Taisuke Kanasaki
  • Package Art for "Viewpoint" (Japanese&EU Package): Highma Fuyuno
  • Package Art for "Devi & Pii": Takashi Ohtsuji (SEGA)
  • 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)
  • Contract Management: Yukiko Karashima
  • Project Manager: Takehiro Kawachi
  • Special Thanks: Jemini Hirono, Keisuke Koga, Takaaki Hashimoto, Keiichi Sato, Shinnosuke Nemoto, Ryohey Miyaki
Fantasy Zone for Mega Drive
  • Directors: Naoki Horii, Kazuki Kubota
  • Planners: Kazuki Kubota, Hideki Konishi
  • Program & Design & Sound: Hideki Konishi
  • Supervisor: Masato Nishimura (SEGA)
  • Special Thanks: K.RALPH, Takeshi Kano, Takashi Kato, zen_nif, HED.HOJO, WING☆, Tsuyoshi Matsuoka, Tatsuhiko Kasuga
  • Powered by: M2 ShotTriggers
Tricycle SAN (Spatter) for Mega Drive
  • Director: Naoki Horii
  • Program Unit: Renya Iizuka (TAIYO SEISAKUSHO Inc.)
  • Package Art: Yoshiki Kawasaki
  • Development Support: Kazuki Kubota, Hiroyuki Sawai
  • Special Thanks: Ryohey Miyaki, Masayuki Fukui
Super Locomotive for Mega Drive
  • Director: Naoki Horii
  • Program Unit: Renya Iizuka (TAIYO SEISAKUSHO Inc.)
  • Music: Ryzeen (O.M.Y.)
  • Sound Supervisor: Haruomi Hosonoe (O.M.Y.)
  • Sound Manipulator: Sakuoki Kudo
  • Sound Converter: Tatsuhiko Kasuga
  • Development Support: Kazuki Kubota, Hiroyuki Sawai
  • Special Thanks: SuperSweep co., ltd., Ryohey Miyaki, Masayuki Fukui
Space Harrier · Space Harrier II for Mega Drive PLUS
  • Director: Naoki Horii
  • Main Programmer: Hiroshi Sakurai
  • Sub Programmers: FAW LAB., ITOKEN
  • Hardware Architect: Tsuyoshi Hasegawa
  • M5 Development Environment: Makoto Harashino
  • Sound Edit: WING☆
  • Sound Support: Sakuoki Kudo
  • Graphic Conversion: Hiroshi Sakurai, ITOKEN
  • Graphic Support: Keisuke Koga, Hayato Takano
  • Supervisor: Masato Nishimura (SEGA)
  • Special Thanks: Tsuyoshi Matsuoka, Kazuki Kubota, Keiichi Satoh, Hideki Konishi, Masanobu Kumata
  • Director & Planners: Guts Nakamatsu, Yuuta Yamanaka, Yujiro Yamamoto
  • Programmers: Shimpei Yamada, Hiroaki Okabe
  • Graphic Designers: Romyu, Goh Takahashi
  • Package Art: Ichi
  • English Localization: Ken Senda, Jaelyn Nisperos
  • Sound: Tatsuhiko Kasuga, Sakuoki Kudo
  • Supervisors: Jemini Hirono, Hiroyuki Sawai
SEGA Co., Ltd.
SEGA TOYS Co., Ltd.
SEGA of America, Inc.
SEGA Europe Ltd.
Special Thanks
In memory of Rieko Kodama
Presented by SEGA
© SEGA
Source:
In-game credits

Promotional material

Artwork

Japan

  • Captain Tsubasa JP cover

  • Dennin Aleste JP cover

  • Devi to Pii JP cover

  • Ecco the Dolphin CD JP cover

  • Fantasy Zone JP cover

  • Final Fight CD JP cover

  • Futari de Puyo Puyo Sun JP cover

  • Lunar: Eternal Blue JP cover

  • Lunar: The Silver Star JP cover

  • Mahou no Shoujo: Silky Lip JP cover

  • Night Striker JP cover

  • Night Trap JP cover

  • The Ninja Warriors JP cover

  • Party Quiz Mega Q 2022 JP cover

  • Party Quiz Sega Q JP cover

  • Popful Mail JP cover

  • Sangokushi III JP cover

  • Sanrin San-chan JP cover

  • Shin Megami Tensei JP cover

  • Shining Force CD JP cover

  • Silpheed JP cover

  • Sonic the Hedgehog CD JP cover

  • Space Harrier II JP cover

  • StarBlade JP cover

  • Star Mobile JP cover

  • Super Locomotive JP cover

  • Tenka Fubu: Eiyuutachi no Houkou JP cover

  • Thunder Force IV JP cover

  • Viewpoint JP cover

  • Wondermega Collection JP cover

  • Yumemi Yakata no Monogatari JP cover

North America

  • After Burner II US cover

  • Devi & Pii US cover

  • Fantasy Zone US cover

  • OutRun US cover

  • Rainbow Islands Extra US cover

  • Space Harrier II US cover

  • Spatter US cover

  • Star Mobile US cover

  • Super Hang-On US cover

  • Super Locomotive US cover

  • VS Puyo Puyo Sun US cover

Europe

  • SegaMediaPortal Mega Drive Mini 2 - Packshot.png

  • After Burner II EU cover

  • Devi & Pii EU cover

  • Fantasy Zone EU cover

  • Fatal Fury 2 EU cover

  • Final Fight CD EU cover

  • Golden Axe II EU cover

  • Night Trap EU cover

  • OutRun EU cover

  • Rainbow Islands Extra EU cover

  • Shining Force CD EU cover

  • Soleil EU cover

  • Sonic 3D EU cover

  • Sonic CD EU cover

  • Space Harrier II EU cover

  • Spatter EU cover

  • Star Mobile EU cover

  • Super Hang-On EU cover

  • Super Locomotive EU cover

  • ‎Super Street Fighter II EU cover

  • Thunder Force IV EU cover

  • Viewpoint EU cover

  • Virtua Racing EU cover

  • VS Puyo Puyo Sun EU cover

Physical scans

Mega Drive, JP

Mega Drive, JP (Genesis)

Mega Drive, US

Mega Drive, EU
Mega Drive Mini 2 EU Top.jpg
Mega Drive Mini 2 EU Back.jpgMega Drive Mini 2 EU Left.jpgMega Drive Mini 2 EU Front.jpgMega Drive Mini 2 EU Right.jpg
Mega Drive Mini 2 EU Bottom.jpg
Cover

External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.amazon.com/sales-North-America%E3%80%91SEGA-Genesis-Mini-%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B7%E3%83%B3%E9%9D%9E%E4%BE%9D%E5%AD%98/dp/B0B4D19JJ4/ (Wayback Machine: 2022-10-05 11:32)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/SEGA-Mega-Drive-Amazon-Exclusive/dp/B0B7BDN73B/ (Wayback Machine: 2022-09-05 15:42)


Mega Drive Mini 2
Versions | Comparisons | Hidden content | Development | Merchandise
Six Button Control Pad | Cyber Stick | Mega Drive Tower Mini 2 | Mega Drive Mini 2 Carrying Case
Book
 Mega Drive Mini 2 Perfect Book (2022)
Music
 Mega Drive Mini 2: Celebration Album (2022) | Mega Drive Mini 2: Multiverse Sound World (2022)
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