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Sega Has Considered Dreamcast & Saturn Mini But Is Worried About Extreme Costs
- Thread starter Bullet Club
- Start date
BlackTron
Member
I'm pretty much over the mini console thing, I like having the SNES and Genesis as a novelty. Thing is, I could already play those games in MANY ways many times over, it's also redundancy. Here's yet another marginally better Genesis Mini to add even more.
Dreamcast games have been ported everywhere and I already have a real one and even my Xbox emulates it easily. I might even be tempted to buy a theoretical DC Mini just because I'm a rabid fan, until I think that the only way to add more games will be to buy the Dreamcast Mini II, which adds PSO and online, making the first one a clearly redundant waste of money.
This is getting trapped in a pattern I don't get much out of in the first place. No thanks, mini consoles.
Dreamcast games have been ported everywhere and I already have a real one and even my Xbox emulates it easily. I might even be tempted to buy a theoretical DC Mini just because I'm a rabid fan, until I think that the only way to add more games will be to buy the Dreamcast Mini II, which adds PSO and online, making the first one a clearly redundant waste of money.
This is getting trapped in a pattern I don't get much out of in the first place. No thanks, mini consoles.
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Dreamcast has plenty great exclusives or games that were ported on now equally dead platforms (and in lesser form) like Power Stone PSP. Saturn even more so.
Granted the games they'd choose for minis would largely be those that have been ported but there could still be some exclusive gems.
They could even do something like Nintendo's Star Fox 2 and officially include cancelled games like Propeller Arena.
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SCB3
Member
Or Half Life
Kokoloko85
Member
Maybe they can do both. Have a wifi/online shop on a “box” Mini Saturn/Dreamcast etc or any box like you said.
But also have the Sega store on these boxes: PS/XBOX/Switch/PC. Where you can download games. Even mobile for the weirdos that play there lol. They can make loads of money.
Sega just seems to hype up some classics, talk about more to come, and release a few and then they just stop. Then do it again, here comes Sega Forever, release Sonic 1 and then never speak about it again.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Real Sega fans already own the Dreamcast & Saturn’s but and have them respectfully connected to a CRT of the era
Real Sega fans bought them when they released.
Azelover
Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
I would...
cash_longfellow
Member
I will pay $150+ for a Dreamcast mini with Skies of Arcadia 
diffusionx
Gold Member
We deserve a Saturn Mini, that system had too many great games stuck on the platform and they’re really hard/expensive to source these days. It just sucks. Also would be nice to have HDMI for modern TVs obviously.
Dreamcast Mini, I would be fine with Steam ports of the stuff we haven’t gotten yet like Skies of Arcadia and Mars Matrix.
Dreamcast Mini, I would be fine with Steam ports of the stuff we haven’t gotten yet like Skies of Arcadia and Mars Matrix.
D
Deleted member 1159
Unconfirmed Member
GabeN has already provided a Saturn/Dreamcast mini…but I still like my original hardware
The hardware Sega is using in Mega Drive Mini 1 and 2 is a rebranded Allwinner chip, Zuiki is Japanese side of Allwinner. I suspect the Z7123 is just an A33 model which came out in 2014, so it can't cost Sega much for that kind of chip (it was used in a 9$ computer project), they are squeezing every dollar of profit they can from it. Allwinner do make hardware that can easily handle Dreamcast emulation some of their SoC's even have modern PowerVR GPU's though I doubt Sega would spend the money on those. They definitely need a newer chip to output 1080p or higher.
Something Sega could do to make a Dreamcast Mini stand out is add support for Sinden Light Gun out of the box and put as many light gun games from console/arcade on it. The Sinden works on modern flat panels displays and could be an easy way to deploy such games.
Something Sega could do to make a Dreamcast Mini stand out is add support for Sinden Light Gun out of the box and put as many light gun games from console/arcade on it. The Sinden works on modern flat panels displays and could be an easy way to deploy such games.
the_master
Member
So, are they doing it now?
I still need both of them, also, an xbox mini
I still need both of them, also, an xbox mini
nkarafo
Member
Accurate emulation of the Saturn will need more a powerful soc and a more sophisticated emulator. Something like Mednafen Saturn requires a pretty potent 4 core i5 CPU, 4th gen at least. That's way beyond the hardware of any mini console so far.
Though SSF was more performant but still more demanding than similar PS1 emulators (which is the most demanding console in the mini collection so far). And i'm not sure such code is good enough for retail. Unless Sega's standards are as low as Nintendo's lately.
Though SSF was more performant but still more demanding than similar PS1 emulators (which is the most demanding console in the mini collection so far). And i'm not sure such code is good enough for retail. Unless Sega's standards are as low as Nintendo's lately.
Tarin02543
Member
Nice idea but it cannot be executed in the same good way as the megadrive minis.
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Yabause forks are much less demanding. Also less accurate and what not, but they can probably tweak and tune each game in a limited lineup to work as it should. Not that they will use Yabause or Mednafen, just saying if they get emulators in a similar vein. SSF is still more accurate I believe and less demanding as you said, sans the games it has trouble with (if they haven't been fixed, last I tried the SNK fighting games had issues with sprite rendering), but anyway, it just shows it varies by the implementation and development and one emu being demanding doesn't mean all will be.
That'd be pretty sweet, I guess they could do it like Taito's Egret II Mini's trackball/knob/flipper controller, where the main system has normal games and you can get a premium bundle or separately buy the extra and it comes with an SD card or something that has all the relevant games on it.
That said, as amazing as Sega's lightgun games are (even with underwhelming ports like HOTD on Saturn), neither Saturn nor Dreamcast have all that many each sadly. PlayStation systems have way more good ones from different companies even without Sega's top tier stuff (though they put some on PS2 anyway). Dreamcast really only has Virtua Cop 2, Confidential Mission, HOTD2 and a couple dodgy non Sega stuff. Saturn only has Virtua Cop 1 & 2, HOTD, and again various dodgy ones like Area 51, Crypt Killer, Die Hard Trilogy's lightgun part and support for specific portions of other games like Policenauts. I guess they could expand on this a little bit if the Dreamcast mini can also emulate Naomi (1 of course, but I don't think 2 had any lightgun games anyway) with the likes of Lupin the 3rd The Shooting, Ninja Assault and Maze of Kings but it doesn't quite fit.
They should probably do an arcade mini for them instead. Maybe instead of making specific models like Astro City do one with 2D games, one more advanced with super scaler focus (on all the different boards those were done), then Model 1 & 2 level games with lightgun option for the latter two. Of course they have many more amazing lightgun games that require beefier systems, like Virtua Cop 3, Ghost Squad, Operation Ghost, newer HOTD games, they should totally work a deal with Sinden and release them on consoles/PC tuned to lightgun play, not like the recent HOTD remake.
Also so many great Sega games used licenced IP making re-releases harder, game licenses should really apply for that software on any kind of release/port/re-release, as long as it's not somehow an all new experience like a sequel or full remake, it should be allowed with the original agreement.
And of course all these systems also had many great third party games for which they'd have to consult their developers and publishers, like it would be silly to have Dreamcast mini without SoulCalibur (it's still the best version afaik).
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NES Mini and SNES Mini had cheap hardware, the only reason why Nintendo didn't release a mini N64 was they wanted to release the console with the same hardware they already bought for cheap, but it wasn't enough powerful.
Same Sega with the Megadrive Mini.
They probably don't want to spend more than 20$ for every unit (board/cpu+package+promotion+shipping).
Same Sega with the Megadrive Mini.
They probably don't want to spend more than 20$ for every unit (board/cpu+package+promotion+shipping).
Ev1L AuRoN
Member
I would pay 100 for a Dreamcast mini, but I find it hard to SEGA to produce one in this price range.
The Dreamcast has a compicated controler design to produce cheap, and there is the hardware, It will need a Better SoC than the 16bit systems and
also more flash memory to store GD-ROM's.
I would love to play some Soul Calibur, Marvel vs Capcom 2 and Resident Evil Code Veronica...
The Dreamcast has a compicated controler design to produce cheap, and there is the hardware, It will need a Better SoC than the 16bit systems and
also more flash memory to store GD-ROM's.
I would love to play some Soul Calibur, Marvel vs Capcom 2 and Resident Evil Code Veronica...
Trogdor1123
Member
Yes! Saturn mini with dragon force!
pramod
Banned
The Megadrive Mini 2 with its enhanced versions of Space Harrier 2 etc have made me realize Sega should just make a real new Megadrive 2 console.
Make it a beefier Megadrive. More colors, more spirtes, hardware scaling, and fully backwards compatible with MD and Genesis of course. Make it an open system so you attract tons of indie devs. Then port all the Sega super scaler games to it.
It would be the new Sega console we need, but maybe not the one we deserve.
Make it a beefier Megadrive. More colors, more spirtes, hardware scaling, and fully backwards compatible with MD and Genesis of course. Make it an open system so you attract tons of indie devs. Then port all the Sega super scaler games to it.
It would be the new Sega console we need, but maybe not the one we deserve.
Soltype
Member
I'd kill for a new super scaler game.
pramod
Banned
We kinda got one with the enchanced Space Harrier 2.
Hopefully someone hacks the MD mini 2 so indie devs can make new games for it. It would almost be like a new console.
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RAIDEN1
Member
Its all a load of bull about Sega being worried about costs...they could have brought out the Dreamcast mini in 2019 to coincide with the 1999 anniversary but they didn't...same is the case with the Saturn, but they didn't....so now they are hiding behind "financial reasons" for dragging their heels, yet for the past 18 years, they haven't been hesitant in reviving the Megadrive/Genesis brands in various forms....how much did each of those projects cost them?
cobaltorange
Neo Member
What's wrong with that?
What's wrong with the color for NTSC? It was orange by the way. Goes with the color of the light on the console. Wait, so do have a problem the light color too?A DreamCast mini?
Id buy that for 200 dollars easy work.
As long as it comes with a controller, a VMU, Emulation+ mode and PAL coloring.
Fuck that NTSC red.
