Retro Megabit

So I did something crazy and it feels great! I purchased the extremely high-end and very expensive Mega Sg by Analogue.

Easy now, stop your gasping. I did get the wife’s permission first.

I’ve been borderline desperate to get my hands on this (dare I say) perfect Sega Genesis / Mega Drive replacement console since it’s release on March 25th, 2019. However, the steep price tag of $190 USD plus $50 USD shipping had held me off. I just could not justify the ~$310 CAD grand total; regardless of all the high praise this modern 16-bit wonder has been receiving.

It’s true, a tremendous amount of skill and a quality has been poured into the Mega Sg and I do understand that this product has a very niche audience. I cannot criticize the price tag. It feels appropriate. But at the same time I could not justify it to myself.

So what happened? I found a used Mega Sg. In fact since it’s release this is the first Mega Sg I’ve seen for sale on the second hand market. I didn’t get away like a bandit but I do feel I did well and scored it for a fair price of $240 CAD (~$184 USD). Saving $70 CAD (~$54 USD) really helped. But buying it used also did more. It spared me the risk of duty. Had I purchased it direct from Analogue and had I been charged duty I would have been hit with another $88 CAD (~$67 USD) according to borderbuddy.com. Leaving me with a grand total of $390 CAD (~$300 USD). Ouch…

As a very nice gesture the seller included this retro-bit 6 button arcade pad for free. Which I can use on my new Mega Sg or my original Sega Genesis. Of course the Sega Dude is all wireless now but this was still a very nice thing.

What really made all this fall into place is a little bit of downsizing I’ve been doing. Just a few days after my Mega Sg purchase I managed to sell some Super Nintendo carts. I’ve decided that I want just some of the AAA titles complete with box and manual. As a result I’ve recently sold the following:

Axelay $65 CAD
Super Mario All-Stars (with BitBox Case) $30 CAD (with manual)
Super Mario RPG (with BitBox Case) $70 CAD (with manual)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV Turtles in Time (with BitBox Case) $60 CAD
The Legend of Mystical Ninja (with BitBox Case) $40 CAD
Parodius Da (Super Famicom with BitBox Case) $15 CAD
Pop’n TwinBee (Super Famicom with BitBox Case) $15 CAD
Super Genjin 2 (Bonk 2) (Nintendo Super Famicom) $20 CAD

Netting me $315 CAD which more than paid for my $240 CAD Mega Sg.

You’ll see a few games that I still have for sale in the images above. My prices have all been in-line with pricecharting.com; adding a bit extra if I had a game manual to go along with the cartridge.

I use to buy BitBox cases because I found it hard to find fordable complete SNES and NES games. But now that I’m reducing and looking for just some core games I’m letting go of some great games in favour of a smaller more complete Nintendo collection.

Below are the top three SNES games I’m hoping to track down complete someday:

Super Mario World
The Legend of Zelda
Metroid

I still feel Bitboxes from StoneAgeGamer look great but for me personally, I’m starting to change gears.

So, how is Analogue’s Mega Sg console?

I haven’t had it long so I can’t really praise it as 100% perfect yet but at first glance it seems like it could be. I’ve been testing my Mega Sg with Ghouls ‘n Ghosts and Tanglewood. I picked these two games because I’ve spent a lot of time with them very recently on my original Genesis console with my trusty CRT (tube) TV. The hope was that any differences on the Mega Sg connected to my HDTV would be easy for me to spot.

Of course there is a difference. The image quality of these 16-bit games running on the Mega Sg is off the charts. They run crystal clear as if running from emulation on a PC. And I love it! But that’s it. Everything else feels so incredibly authentic to the original hardware.

I am a very happy Retro Dude these days!