Analog Mega SG review – An excellent console for old Sega games



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If you want to play some old Sega games, the options are not lacking. You can get the Genesis Classics collection on a computer and consoles. You can grab classic material and physical games. Or maybe you could use a downloadable emulator. But in 2019, all of these options come with compromises or require additional steps. And these are problems that Analogue was trying to solve with its new Mega SG console.

Software emulation can often pose many accuracy problems. And even if your setup is operational, independent updates to the graphics drivers can potentially cause headaches. It's good to play on classic material, but not on modern screens. You can solve this problem by getting a CRT for old games or by getting something like the Open Source Scan Converter (OSSC). But Analogue has created an alternative that is probably more practical and affordable.

The Mega SG is now available for $ 190. This is a box that plays many retro versions of Sega on HDMI without introducing additional latency or latency.

Analogue has already done so with Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo. Now it's Sega's turn.

What you will like

Impressive compatibility

The design echoes the original Sega hardware. You can get it with color accents that mimic the Japanese or European Mega Drive or the American Genesis. It also includes the official Genesis controller ports, so your old game controllers will work. But 8BitDo (a sister company of Analogue) sells the M30 controller, a wireless update of the Genesis 6-button gamepad.

But this dedication to authenticity is not limited to an exhibition, it is at the heart of what Analogue does with its devices.

The Analogue Mega SG is able to run the Genesis and Mega Drive cartridges, as well as the Sega master system with an included adapter. Analogue also offers adapters for playing Mark III, Game Gear, Sega MyCard, SG1000 / 1000II and SC-3000 games.

Above: The Mega SG is available in four different colors.

Image credit: Analgoue

But these games are not running on a software and RetroPi emulator. Instead, it recreates the actual hardware using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips. With an FPGA, analog engineer Kevin "Kevtris" Horton can force a piece of modern silicon to behave just like Sega's original material. Then, Analogue adds an HDMI video and a customization layer so that Sega classics work well on modern screens.

The result is a console that is both new and 30 years old.

Excellent precision

I was a fan of Nintendo growing up. I did not want to waste my limited birthday and my Christmas gift requests with anything that was not a NES and later a Super Nintendo game. The reason I'm talking about it is that even though I noticed a bad emulation of Genesis, especially when it comes to sound.

My first experience with Sega material when I was a kid was at my friend's house. And yet, even if I notice a bad emulation of Genesis. Even the official versions of Sega have trouble recreating tunes such as Yuzo Kushiro's music in Streets of Rage 2.

The Mega SG does not have this problem. He plays all the games I've tested exactly like the original material. It's likely that people will end up finding games with strange behavior – this has happened with the Analogue Super NT. But Analog is usually great for quickly updating its firmware to solve these problems. He already did it with the Mega SG before it came out.

Tons of options

The Mega SG can run games like the original equipment, but this gives you a lot more control over how they display on your TV.

You can play the game at a number of resolutions, at 60 frames per second, or at 50 frames per second. Video options also include customizable proportions and scaling. This allows you to fill as much as possible a modern screen without seriously distorting the image.

You can also add scan lines of software that mimic the appearance of a cathode ray tube on a modern flat screen. If you dive into advanced video options, you'll discover many features to make scanning lines and everything else as accurate as possible. You can increase the gamma, for example, to give the visuals a shiny cathode ray tube even when the scan lines darken the image. You'll even find a dither mix option, which tries to create transparencies from water and pixel shadows.

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