In the last few years, Sega, Nintendo, and Sony have sought to make retro games and consoles a bit more accessible to players for a premium price by releasing miniature versions of classic consoles. While the NES Classic Mini was victim to supply issues and scalping, and the PlayStation Classic's emulation didn't impress many players, Sega's Mega Drive Mini remained in Japan and sold well enough to lead them to create a Mega Drive Mini 2, which was announced early this morning.
It's understandable that Sega would make a Mega Drive Mini 2 with how well the first sold. Across all regions, the miniature console sold over 1.5 million units in less than a year. Some versions of the console had different games depending on what region the device was sold in.
After Sega stated that it had a special announcement for June 3, a livestream revealed that this announcement was indeed the Mega Drive Mini 2. While it has games from the same franchises that were represented on the first console, the second version includes different games from those series. The Mega Drive Mini 2 can also play Sega CD games along with the original Mega Drive ones.
This new miniature console has been said to feature over 50 games from the Mega Drive and Sega CD consoles, mixed in with some arcade games with a hint that a "mysterious new title" will be included in the package as well. As part of the announcement livestream, some titles were revealed and demonstrated to viewers. These titles can be found in a list below.
- Slipheed
- Thunder Force 4
- Shining Force CD
- Shining in the Darkness
- Sonic CD
- Magical Taruruto-kun
- Popful Mail
- Fantasy Zone
- Mansion of Hidden Souls
- Virtua Racing
- Bonanza Bros.
These titles make up only 11 of the "over 50" titles that the Mega Drive Mini 2 comes with, which may excite fans with how many games in this lineup are rather obscure. Interestingly, the presenters also made a point to state that Sonic CD in particular comes with both its American and Japanese soundtrack, which may be a small hint that the Mega Drive Mini 2 may be available internationally just like the first one, albeit most likely with different games.
If that isn't the case, however, then fans who wish to own this miniature console may need to look for a way to import it from Japan. For their trouble, the device comes with Sega CD-themed accessories that make it look like the original conjoined console, as well as miniature cartridges and discs. It will cost fans ¥9980 yen, which comes out to be $76.71 dollars after conversion.
The Mega Drive Mini 2 will release in Japan on October 27, 2022.