When it seemed that the trend of mini consoles was coming to an end, Sega surprised us this week with the announcement of Mega Drive Mini 2a new miniature console that include 50 games from Mega CD and Mega Driveand which will be released in Japan next October.
An idea that would have been very expensive
Of course, this has caused many fans to dream again of the possibility of the company launching two much-desired mini consoles in the future: Sega Saturn Mini y Dreamcast Mini. In fact, seen in perspective, it might seem strange that Sega has preferred to release a second version of Mega Drive instead of trying his luck with another of his consoles, something that Yosuke Okunari, the company’s hardware producer, has explained.
“There are a lot of people wondering why we didn’t put out a Saturn or a Dreamcast Mini, but it’s not like Sega hasn’t explored this idea. The Mega Drive Mini hardware cannot adequately offer Saturn games and to achieve this we would have had to develop and manufacture new chips, something that during the pandemic would have been an expensive and difficult process.Okunari commented in Japan’s Famitsu magazine. “So if a Saturn Mini had been made, it could have been extremely expensive.”
In fact, Okunari even joked that the price of a Saturn Mini could have been similar to that of a current console. For this reason, Sega decided to bet on Mega Drive Mini 2, since it was a much cheaper and more affordable product.
As for its possible release in the West, Okunari has commented that he is aware of the demand for our landsbut that they are currently focusing on launching this new device in Japan, since it is a market that the development team knows quite well.