Sega fans will have their own high-end retro console

Analogue, the Seattle-based retro console manufacturer, has announced its latest project: the Mega Sg. Using a technology configuration similar to that of its Super Nt released earlier this year, Analogue indicates that the Mega Sg will be able to play all Sega Genesis, Mega Drive and Master Drive games, and able to produce videos in 1080p. with zero latency when launched in April 2019.

The Mega Sg is priced at $ 190, the same as the Super Nt, and as its predecessor does not come with any pre-installed game. It is a reenactment of the original material rather than a glorified emulator. You will need to provide the cartridges yourself, which would make or cancel this agreement, depending on whether you already have a collection of old games or that she is interested in starting one. . Analogue CEO Christopher Taber insisted that Kotaku in a phone interview that he makes passionate products for an enthusiastic audience. In other words, the Mega Sg, like its brothers and sisters, is intended to occupy and, in a way, define the high-end retro console game.

"Something like Switch's online service, the NES Classic or the SNES Classic, these are toys," said Taber. "It's a ready-to-use item that includes some of the best games of all time, its price is reasonable, it works well and, for most people, rock'n'roll. ; roll ". For those who want to explore "entire pieces of video game history without compromise," says Taber, there are analog consoles like the Mega Sg.

For those who want to explore the rest of the catalog of a modern HD console, beyond thirty games for which a manufacturer manages to compete for licenses, here are the consoles Analogue and those of its competitors, as the HyperN series at a cheaper price. However, what is supposed to differentiate the consoles as the future Mega Sg is the company's use of Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology to really mimic everything the original console did. Since there is no emulation, there is no lag and the approach is hardware based, the pixels and sounds produced at the other end are often of better quality than what you will find elsewhere, unless you start the original systems themselves.

Our sister site, Gizmodo, and other outlets have issued positive reviews from Super Nt. It will be very useful if you are looking for a substitute for SNES that can play effectively with modern TVs. The Mega Sg is more ambitious because it tries to cover a much larger catalog of games. A side connector on the side of the Mega Sg is supposed to connect directly to a Sega CD or Mega CD so that the games of both can also be played in 1080p. Analogue plans to release additional adapters for the rest of Sega's pre-Saturn. hardware, like Game Gear and Mark III, at $ 10 after the console release. It also does not come with the controllers, the M30 recommended by 8bitdo (date of February 2019) costing $ 25 more.

The Mega Sg could also become one of the first preferred ways to discover Sega's catalog of 16 and 8-bit disks. Although the publisher has made considerable efforts to release the high-quality ports of its old games with additional features on the switch, and is also working on its own SNES Classic-type Mega Drive Mini, this market was previously cornered by third-party emulation machines. which has rarely worked well.

"All licensed systems or third parties, I mean they are so bad," said Taber. "I mean these are just terrible products, terrible products." Although Taber is a stubborn item, most players may not notice it, but he says the increased quality of the Mega Sg is especially noteworthy.

The YM2612 audio chip from Mega Drive and Genesis is infamous for producing iconic sounds ranging from the spoken "Sega" that introduced the games to the first part to the Sonic 1 by 3Vibrant soundtracks and poppies. Taber says the recreation of the Mega Sg, which produces digital audio in 16-bit 48KHz stereo, is unmatched. "It is built around audio file components and audio file circuits, so the sound is legitimately better than any Sega that ever took place, including the originals by far," he said. declared.

He gave me a Flac file of audio from the beginning of Sonic 3 to compare with the AtGames Sega Genesis Classic version. Does the Mega Sg have a fuller, warmer, clearer sound? Absolutely. Does it sound better $ 190? This is something we will not know until the release of the Mega Sg next year.