Sega has officially announced that it is not planning to release any more mini consoles, marking a shift in their approach towards modern gaming instead of nostalgia-driven hardware. In an interview with The Guardian, CEO Shuji Utsumi clarified, ‘We are not a retro company. We appreciate our legacy… but want to deliver something new.’
Sega has previously released several successful mini consoles celebrating its iconic franchises such as the Genesis/Mega Drive Mini, Astro City Mini, and Game Gear Micro series. However, no further mini consoles focusing on the Saturn or Dreamcast platforms are in development.
- Utsumi’s Statement: “I’m not going for the Mini direction. I want to embrace modern gamers.”
- Sega now concentrates on reviving classic IPs with a modern twist, such as new entries in Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, and Virtua Fighter series.
How do you feel about Sega’s decision?
Nah, they realized that emulating the Saturn and Dreamcast are more demanding than the SoCs they wanted to use for their mini consoles can handle.
I mean, I just bought a $60 portable that has a screen as well, and it can emulate Dreamcast no problem. I assume bulk hardware costs are maybe half that price. For a $120+ priced retro console, I suspect hardware pricing is not the issue.
how do you like that portable? mind sharing the model?
Sure, it’s the RG35XXSP (link). I mainly bought it for GBA emulation (since it’s a GBA SP lookalike with good reviews). It’s played every PSX and DC game I’ve thrown at it as well. The game pad works great and the screen is nice, and the default software doesn’t have any real annoyances, not much to complain about.
The downside is it doesn’t have analog sticks, so if that were my primary goal I’d probably look for another system. But plenty powerful.
I got an R36S, which is shaped more like a DMG GameBoy and has dual analog sticks. It can play Dreamcast, but only at native resolution and sometimes it needs to be tweaked further. Saturn is actually a tad slow, dipping into 40fps usually. It can also do some less intensive PSP games. For a $60 handheld, this is fine. But considering SEGA is SEGA, I suspect that they want a much bigger profit margin than whoever is selling the R36S is making. Which is why I mentioned the SoCs in my comment.
Yep. They’ll probably change their tune again when more powerful SoC’s come out.
ha yes! that is depressingly likely to be 100% correct.