This review may be somewhat influenced by the great memories this platform brings back to me, but to focus on what's important and being completely honest, the Mega Drive Mini is the best retro mini console I've played so far. And I'm going to tell you why.
Mega Drive mini, analysis
The fashion for miniature retro consoles has me hooked, why am I going to fool you. I have been able to test all the consoles released on the market and what they offer is great news for retro lovers. Thanks to an excellent emulation, we can play a great collection of titles from many years ago using a gamepad identical to the one from then.
And yes, you can say that there are emulators and accessories to do the same, but we have not come here to talk about that. The Mega Drive Mini presents a spectacular aesthetic aspect that perfectly copies the model that hit the market in 1990, with the difference that this model is 55% smaller than the one with which many spent the afternoons in their childhood.
The construction is very good, and the buttons and moving elements are functional as on the original console. The cartridge lid moves with the help of a spring, the volume control is adjustable (although it has no function), and the power and reset buttons work as such. Along with the console are two replicas of the original controls, although this time in a USB version to be able to connect them to the console, drawing their attention to the extreme similarity in the response of the buttons and the crosshead when pressing them with respect to to the original models, something that has good points and bad points, since the control could be a bit rough for some.
In the back we find the current HDMI port and a micro-USB port that will be used to power the console, a detail that, by the way, reminds us that the console does not include a power adapter to start it up. It is something that we have seen in other miniature consoles and whose reason is to save costs and the ease of finding USB chargers in any house. And it is that the mobile charger is enough to make it work.
42 games to not get bored
Yes, it's not all the Mega Drive games (obviously) and you're probably missing one that marked you, but summarizing a catalog of games that has grown for more than five years is impossible. We do regret the absence of great titles like Aladdin or The Lion King, games that have probably fallen out of the selection due to the recent remastering released for current generation consoles.
In general terms, the selection is magnificent, with Sonic and Sonic 2, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Street of Rage 2, Street Fighter II, Kid Chameleon and two exclusives that were never released and that come by surprise with this Mega Drive Mini: Tetris and Darius. Fun to bore.
What novelties does this miniature format include?
With so much game included, SEGA has included a fairly comfortable interface from which we can navigate through the games in a 6 x 7 grid in which we can comfortably see all the covers. We will have the option of viewing them as a bookstore/shelf and sorting the games by release date, AZ, gender, and number of players, but the news at the software level go far beyond a simple interface. Games can be saved at any point thanks to 4 status slots that will be available in each game. To access this menu to save and load the game we will have to hold down the Start button for a few seconds, a waiting time that honestly seems excessive to me. But it works.
In the general configuration menu of the console we can also adjust the aspect ratio of the screen (original or stretched) and apply a CRT screen effect that will include the scanlines that so characterized televisions from before.
A tower within the reach of very few
But if the exquisite exterior design of the console had not been enough, SEGA wanted to round off the product with a great accessory in the form of a wink that only the most fans of the 16-bit console will know how to appreciate. SEGA itself seems to smile at its own past with the launch of this Tower Mini, and that is that after the launch of various accessories and accessories for the original console, the old Mega Drive became a giant monster in the shape of a tower that it called attention 25 years ago. Mega-CD was added to the basic console, and later came the 32-bit accessory with which to run games like DOOM. The combination of all these accessories gave life to the well-known Mega Tower, something that SEGA wanted to immortalize in a very special version.
The problem is that this edition does not seem to have plans to reach Spain at the moment, so the only solution is to look for a version imported from Japan. A pity.
A collector's item that you must have
This little one Mega Drive Mini It is practically a collector's item that you cannot miss if you are a lover of video games. Its excellent design, manufacturing quality and a very complete collection of games make this miniature console an essential piece, whether to play alone, with friends or to tell the little ones what we played a few years ago.
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