The Mega Sg makes Sega Genesis games worth collecting

The Mega Sg, a modern console built to play 30-year-old Sega Genesis games, is an impressive piece of hardware.

It was also my first foray into the world of classic gaming — by which I mean, not things like Nintendo’s official SNES Classic, but something that actually relies on the physical products that came out in the ‘80s and ‘90s. The Mega Sg, produced by Analogue, makes it possible to play Genesis classics (as well as Sega CD and 32X games). It also comes with a pre-loaded game called Ultracore (formerly known as Hardcore) that was almost 100% completed for the Genesis but never officially released.

The Mega Sg does a fantastic job of making old cartridges feel new again, thanks to HD and high-quality audio, and even replicating the experience of playing games on a CRT TV.

Of course, with the Genesis releasing roughly five years before I was born, it was my first time really handling anything Genesis-related. Sure, I’d played a friend’s Genesis in the ‘90s a couple times, but the console was pretty unfamiliar territory for me.

A quick story

My inexperience actually caused a problem that I feel compelled to share. When I got my hands on a few Genesis games, I tried popping them in the Mega Sg to play them, but none of them worked.

My inexperience was glaring

I looked up some cleaning techniques and decided to take all four games down to a local store and get them looked at, just in case there were any other problems with the hardware. After giving the connector pins a quick swab with a Q-tip dipped in isopropyl alcohol, the guy at the store checked each in his multi-system test console. They all booted up without issue.

I brought them back and plopped them in the Mega Sg again, but still nothing. After a frustrating couple of days spent messing around with the console’s extensive settings, I realized I just wasn’t pushing the cartridges down far enough.

That’s right: I wasn’t able to play any Genesis games for four days because I wasn’t pushing them down far enough in the slot.

I felt like a child who tries to tap and swipe on a magazine. Here I thought I was being careful by not being too rough with the old technology!

It’s not like I’ve never seen a cartridge before. I had a Nintendo 64, which had a similar top-loading design, and I’ve operated NES and SNES consoles without problems. Genesis games just require a little extra muscle.

Here’s a tip for anyone interested in a Mega Sg: You gotta give Genesis cartridges a good shove to seat them correctly.

Back in business

The process of cleaning decades-old games, thoroughly customizing the console settings and display settings to my liking, and booting up Genesis games I never had a chance to really experience before has been a lot of fun.

With the 16-bit style of the Mega Sg’s home menu, the compatible throwback controller from 8BitDo, and the classic look of games like Sonic 2, Altered Beast, Shadowrun, and Mortal Kombat, my experience with the Mega Sg felt like I was being transported back in time.

There’s an extra special feeling to playing a game like Sonic 2, one of the best side-scrollers of all time, using an actual Sonic 2 cartridge with a controller that suits the era. Playing it on a smartphone doesn’t really do it justice.

But that’s kind of a niche market. Ultracore, the only game that comes with the Mega Sg, is a game that never actually came out, so there’s no real nostalgia factor there.

The cost of classics

To truly appreciate the Mega Sg, you need to either already have a collection of Sega games or to start collecting them. And if you want to play any Sega CD games, you need the Sega CD accessory. These are available thanks to the online resale market, but they’re going to require a little care to make sure they’re in good shape.

The Mega Sg comes with an adapter for Mega System games. People can purchase other adapters for other Sega consoles as they come out later in 2019, which opens up a playable library of tons of games.

That’s a fun little hobby in itself, but with the recent announcement of the Sega Genesis Mini, which will come pre-loaded with 40 Genesis games, the Mega Sg is certainly not the choice for everybody, especially for someone who doesn’t really care about collecting classic hardware.

Still, the Mega Sg exists as an impressive, sleek console with tons of customization options. The SD card slot in its side (meant for firmware updates), means there’s potential for cracks, further customizations, and the option to run all kinds of games without actually needing to own them.

Of course, that’s not what the folks at Analogue are advertising, but it’s a fact.

Still, as with collecting vinyl records or buying music cassettes, which have been popping back up in stores in recent years, there’s an unmistakable release of dopamine that comes when you (successfully) pop in a 30-year-old game and run that cartridge as it was meant to be played. That’s a feeling the Mega Sg captures perfectly.