After what feels like a lifetime of waiting, the Polymega console is finally a solid reality, and we were lucky enough to be sent a unit as part of the company's ongoing beta testing phase.
The system formerly known as RetroBlox has come under fire over the past few years following a series of design changes and delays, but we can indeed confirm that this retro wonder-console is indeed a real thing – and we're currently putting it through its paces ahead of posting our hands-on impressions.
Given the high amount of interest surrounding the system, we wanted to ask you – our dear readers – if you had any pressing questions we can address in our review. Is there any element of the system you're unsure of? Is there a particular feature you'd like to know more about, or a game you'd like us to test (assuming we have access to it)?
The key thing to note at this stage is that we've only been sent the base unit, which means we can only test (and give our opinion on) the performance of CD-based games. That means PlayStation, Saturn, Mega CD, Neo Geo CD and PC Engine CD (that's right – not a single Nintendo format! Egads!). We've been told that the cartridge modules are on the way and we'll hopefully be able to include our impressions of those at a later date.
So there you have it – the floor is open to you. Ask away!
This article was originally published by nintendolife.com on Tue 28th July, 2020.
Comments 111
This looks amazing for sure, can't wait for review to see if its up to scratch.
But can it run Crysis?
Serious question though, what are load times like for neo-geo CD games?
Does it play the games right from the disc or it can do backups and play them after that?
Does it actually work? Is the emulation decent for Saturn games? Does it only run discs or can you boot digital back ups?
@Zuljaras It makes a ROM from your game and uses that
What is a Polymega?
@Octane Same here.
@Carck So far, it's pretty much faultless as far as I can see. I've got a Japanese Saturn so I'll try and compare side-by-side if possible.
@Zuljaras You can play from the disc or you can install to the console's internal storage and never have to use the disc again
@judaspete Load times are MASSIVELY reduced on NGCD stuff.
Any ideas where I can get one in the UK? I've found it impossible
Does it have an operating system with a user interface (if so, what's it like?), or do you just insert the media and boot directly into whatever's on the media?
Edit: I've seen the reference to internal storage above. Guess that partly answers my question.
Can it run crysis
Kidding. Looks cool though.
What about region-locks? I've been hankering to play some US PS1 games in the UK.
Is the Saturn emulation OK? I would like to play D and Sega Rally.
When you get the cartridge modules, I would like to know if it works with the everdrives. Thanks a lot
On the Saturn side, will this run Japanese and EU? I have loads of Sega Ages Japanese Saturn Games, but I haven’t got a Japanese Saturn. I had a cartridge converter but it doesn’t work. I also have a Saturn Japanese Chase HQ and SCI on 1 disk. Really want to play these.
Thanks
Saturn emulation details please especially for games that use the 4mb ram cartridge
@Damo That sounds fantastic! Thank you!
Test the PS1 version of final fantasy 5 from FF Anthology? On the PS2 there is a visual glitch on the save screen which makes it painful to play, and on the PS3 it soft locks, making it literally impossible to save your progress. I'm curious how third party retro consoles will do.
Fingers crossed this thing works out well. I'm sure it'll be expensive, but it's really cool that it could play all disc based games (aside from there being attachments for cartridges etc). Hopefully it's quality!
@bluemujika The pre-order trailer claims that it is region free. That would be amazing.
@Damo Is it FPGA or is it a Rom Dump system like earlier clone systems.
What are the scaling options like (linear within 720p/1080p/4K windows)?
Considering 32X support is nominally on a separate module, does the basic unit handle 32X-enhanced Mega CD games without having the module? Not that I can imagine anyone is desperate to play the games in question, but maybe it's illuminating as to what you actually get in those modules?
Also, and this is a slightly backdoor way of asking "does it treat pirated disks the same way as a real Mega CD treats them" , but does it work with Mega CD homebrew such as Sonic Megamix 4.0?
A lot of these questions were answered already in the first beta. A streamer called sarumaru did loads of live streams, and someone from Polymega was online answering questions.
I mostly want to know about the online store, when it will ship and also how long can I play a game from the hard drive without having to put the disc in? Is there any sort of check? Can I borrow someone else's game forever basically!!
Maybe not expecting it here, but I’m only interested in a highly detailed technical analysis of things like input latency when compared to original hardware and maybe even vs an FPGA based system. I don’t care what it looks like or how versatile it claims to be, if it’s just another giant potato like the rest of the emulators out there, it’s an easy pass from me.
I have a few!
Is it region locked?
Have you tried multidisc games (IE FF VII)?
Has anything been said about support for DVD based consoles specifically - PS2, Xbox, Dreamcast & GameCube?
Is the console compatible with original controllers (I think it's no but I can't remember).
How is the emulation and is that how games are playable on all systems? I don't think it's using an FPGA to run games native.
@Octane
How does it handle the whole 50hz/60hz situation? Can you play unoptimised 50hz games in 60hz? Is there an option to maintain 50hz for the optimised games that mess up if you force them into 60hz?
@commentlife Agreed.
@Axelay71
and if it's up to scratch how it handles scratches
What kinds of controllers can you connect to it? Audio output options? And can it be played through S-Video?
@Tasuki It's not FPGA, that was confirmed a while back. It's 100% emulation – and very good emulation at that, from what I've seen.
@Gerald It's totally region free. Games are even sub-divided on the menu into the region they come from (so you have Saturn PAL, Saturn NA, Saturn Japan, etc)
I'm not quite aware of the format but can youbpmay rondo of blood on this?
delays wasnt this supposed to come out before the switch
Have you test any roms on it yet such as a PC Engine, Super NES, or Sega Genesis/Mega Drive roms? I just want to know cause that would save me a lot of time and money instead of investing in buying those expensive modules. If it had USB and/or SD card support and built-in emulators then you should be able to run roms off of it out of the box.
Does it run on emulation? There have been retrosystems before that do this, or does it have specialty made cores that actually run the game on hardware?
@roe I too would like to know what Polymega will do for us brain-dead slobs.
@Damo I think it is pretty cool over all but I am going to get an Analogue Pocket instead, portability is important and with the custom firmware's for all the analogue devices you can use FPGA cores for all the old consoles and run off the SD card.
On the topic of Saturn Emulation, how well can it run the consoles line-up, especially the much harder emulate, and exactly how much of the library is compatible?
how much will it cost..
@Fido007 It's software emulation.
Can you load a ROM file onto it? Before you go thinking I am talking about something illegal here, there are some great legal ROMs out there, like the lost Dizzy games
Does it run Magic Knight Rayearth well.......that is, if you have that Saturn game. XD
A very specific Saturn emulation question which you can only answer if you have the games available:
How do Shining Force 3 Parts 1-3 play and do the patched translations of scenarios 2 and 3 work?
Is there any way to play Genesis and SNES games without their relative module?
Does it play Sega CD, 3DO, Saturn, and Dreamcast? Can it play Atari Jaguar cartridges? If so this is a total must buy.
What is this thing? Does it have a Mario game?
How long does it take to copy a game to the hard drive? How does Saturn emulation compare to the best pc Saturn emulator.
Does it run Saturn games that required a RAM expansion cart, like X-Men Vs. Street Fighter or Metal Slug?
What’s the stock controller like? Also can you use any third party controllers? I’m thinking retro bit Saturn pad... Thanks in advance 👍🏻
@stevep Yeap also Xeno Crisis. The dev even let you download the Mega Drive rom for a reduce price on their website.
@kupocake You’ll be given cushy jobs!
Nintendolife.....”ask us anything”
which translates to a few very vague answers from Damo. Internet journalism at its very worst!
Can you only insert one cartridge expansion at a time?
How well do Sega CD games work? Have you tried any of the Sega CD repro discs that are available on the internet?
@Damo thanks, looking forward to your review
Will it be able to directly load roms/ISO's for translated games/back up's without the use of the OG disc/cart?
@Rodan2000
Not to mention nearly all these questions can be answered by watching one of the many YouTube review/preview videos that have been online for months.
@Frontiersmann I really think that depends on which version of the game you have.
I haven't heard confirmation but I'm almost positive the Greatest Hits version fixed that.
I've seen the bug consistently playing a PSN copy on my PSP. But I've never seen it on my actual GH disc on my actual PS2. I even ripped an ISO of the CD and tried it on a PS1 emulator for PC and opened the menu a bunch of times with no glitch. (can confirm from the file dates on the disc that some of the files were updated for the GH release.)
Need a cube version of PolyMega My cash is ready.
My Wii can use NES, SNES, Genesis, Atari 2600, Gamecube, and the X-Arcade on top of all the Wiis native periphals. I might already have a Polyomega or whatever that thing is called
Is there a module that takes a laser active module?
Do I have to install and set up drivers like I do with most emulators or will it play these games right out of the box?
I'm interested in how well it can run Saturn games.
Will it be possible to livestream games to YouTube?
What is it? I can’t think of any other questions
You noted a cartridge module. What kinds will that run? Any N64 suppport?
If it’s disc based only so far why not GCN? Is it because modern technology hasn’t figured out how to accept two different sized disc based media? Or because they want to sell you another adding?
@PortuGuy
Probably not powerful enough to run GCN emulation. This is essentially a really cheap PC running emulation.
How many versions of doom can this thing run?
1. How is the performance at applying patches for things such as fanslation? Is it automatic? Difficult to do? What file type is needed? (I’m particularly interested for SNES stuff)
2. How well does it perform with OG controllers, including things like joysticks and other third party controllers?
@GamerFromJump
They haven't released the snes module yet. $400 base plus $60 for snes module is a steep price to pay for snes emulation. I can't recomend the analogue super nt enough if you want accurate snes emulation that works flawlessly with snes peripherals.
@bluemujika It's all regions for all of the systems listed. You can sort by region, etc. All of the game metadata and cover art is included on the system the moment you buy it.
@PortuGuy It reads CD's, not GD's or DVD's.
@GamerFromJump Patches are applied almost instantly, and the system remembers which save states used which patches, etc. It's a sub-menu once you select the game to apply the patch. It also can tell whether or not a header needs to be removed/applied (that's what they promised anyway). I think ips and xdelta patches work.
The element modules have connectors for original controllers, and if they were designed to work on an original system, they'll work on this. For the base unit (which handles the CD-based systems), they include a generic controller, but Retro-Bit replicas are currently supported for Saturn and Genesis (both wired and 2.4 GHz), the PlayStation Classic controller works via USB (and alters the button names/symbols on the menu), and the NEO-GEO X Arcade Stick works natively via USB. They have stated that they wish to support any controller that the developers will work with them on.
@Shworange N64 support may be possible in the future. Separate "Element Modules" can be purchased for NES (USA/Europe only, potentially Famicom in the future), Genesis/MD (all regions), SNES/SFC (all regions), and TG/PCE (all regions). The modules include original controller ports.
@DrDaisy It plays the cartridge games instantly, and installing an entire CD-based game takes 1-3 minutes roughly. Games can be played while installing. The system includes includes metadata for all games in all regions already on the hard drive.
@Sir_Ronson They provide support for Neo-Geo X arcade stick (USB), PlayStation Classic (USB), and Retro-Bit Genesis/Saturn controllers (both wired and 2.4 GHz). There might be others as well, and they will work with any third party company to extend additional support. Don't expect third party USB converters to work, though, because those have a whole different sort of thing going on.
@GoodGoshJosh It appears that bootleg CD games work just fine and if the data is the same as one of the versions of the game that they have on the system, it installs it as if it was a real disc. This was a big selling point for me, since I have a ton of Saturn / NGC / TGCD / etc. games that I've never played before.
@Fido007 It's software emulation, but based on all of the live streams I've seen on this guy Sarumaru's YT page, it's extremely high quality on all systems. The company has licensed specific emulators, and in some cases worked personally with the developers of said emulators in order to increase the quality. Obviously many people are going to have an FPGA-or-bust mentality, but for people like me that never actually played TGCD games, I'll take something that's 99% that I don't have to configure since I don't know the difference anyway. Input lag and sound/video synchronization appears to be excellent. Didn't notice and sync issues, and input lag is going to depend on what type of controller you're using (USB/wireless/original/etc.).
@kupocake The Genesis module plays Genesis / Mega Drive (J/E) and all regions of 32X in the same unit. As for backups, it appears the system recognizes copies of CD-based games. If you have a repro of an officially released game, it should recognize it. As for actual carts of games that weern't officially released, the system will play them just fine, but it won't install them unless the developer/whoever has the rights to it supplies Playmaji with information on the game. In short, Playmaji isn't out there looking up cool rom hacks that people put on cartridges and manually adding stuff. They may in the future, they may not, but their official goal is 100% support of officially released games on all systems.
@retro_player_77 There is not any support for uploading roms to the system.
@GrimmFTW The way translations work is you put the original disc/game into the system, and you sideload the patch from an SD card. Then with the game, you can pull up a sub-menu and apply/remove different patches (as many as you want). Supposedly the system knows when the rom/iso needs headers added/removed, and if you use save states, it automatically knows which save state corresponds to which patch, etc.
@Axlroselm There are a few games built into the system for each system, but they're not great ones for the most part. You have to use the module to install the games, but once the games are installed, the module isn't required unless you want to use your original controller. In the case of SEGA Genesis, Retro-Bit has worked with them to make their Genesis/Saturn controllers work (both the USB wired and USB 2.4 GHz versions), so you could obviously play Genesis games without the Element Module physically connected. Other features may be added in the future, they said.
Never heard of a Polymega but am I correct in thinking it’s a system that plays old retro games? If so that is sick and I’ll be getting one
You rock, Kevvylava.
Thank you for being more professional than the pros.
@cleveland124 $60 for a module? That seems overpriced to me, there are whole systems you can buy for less than that. I know they are emulation but still...
@Rodan2000 I'm providing short replies to these comments to hold people over until the full review, which will address the points raised in more detail (I've only had the unit less than a day). Did you bother to even read the post? Internet commenting at its finest.
@DrDaisy What @KevvyLava said
@Damo I read the post and asked a question myself. You’ve literally barely answered anyone’s questions. Maybe test the product first before writing some half hearted filler article......there’s a pattern to your journalism that crops up on here often
@Rodan2000 You clearly didn't read the original post very well, then:
"Given the high amount of interest surrounding the system, we wanted to ask you – our dear readers – if you had any pressing questions we can address in our review"
This is intended to gauge what questions people have so they can be addressed in the full review, which is coming soon.
When switching between PAL/NTSC games, does it switch correctly between 50 and 60Hz? Are there any options to force 60Hz for PAL games? That last one I'm pretty sure is a no, but I've not seen anyone verify that first question, and it's really important for people in Europe, unless you're happy playing a juddery mess (which you shouldn't be, at this price...)
Main thing for me is the Saturn emulation as I've been debating buying one of these or modding an original console, so things I'd like to know are:
Can you turn on 60hz whenever you want for PAL games?
Can you use original Saturn controllers?
How does the Polymega compare to using an original Saturn with an HDMI cable?
Is it seriously £499 in the UK for the base unit?
@stevep The quality of Polymega is there for sure. Yes, it's not cheap, but this isn't like the Retron 5; it's a custom-made x86 processor designed from the ground up. It's not like these ARM chips that you're used to. Sarumaru has done countless streams of it on YT and aside frmo some random compatibility issues, which will be fixed, the thing looks impressive. When it comes to the modules, and the fact that it all integrates into a single piece of hardware that requires only a single HDMI port, I think there are some clear benefits. I think if you investigate it a bit, you'll know if it's for you. To me, the cost isn't a big deal because it does everything I want and I don't have to configure anything.
@KevvyLava
They've never released a product before. Many companies have issues when they start manufacturing. I'd think we'd have to see how the launch goes before we declare this quality.
It's also not a custom chip. They said it's a 35W Coffee Lake CPU. It looks like the G4930T which is an off the shelf $40 chip and is the lowest performing chip that intel sells. It's performance won't be much different than arm and it will get outperformed by premium arm chips.
@cleveland124 I meant custom-designed hardware on the whole, not the processor. The specs don't matter; only the performance. I brought it up because it's worth noting that this isn't some repackaged stuff made as a cash-in. It's a complete experience designed and refined for (too many) years.
But yeah, I mean...there's plenty of video evidence as to the quality of the thing. But like anything else, you don't know until it's released en masse. Looks like we'll know in a few months.
@KevvyLava
Specs always matter. That's why a Switch can't match a PS4 pro or Xbox X in performance. You can only do so much with that CPU. They licensed the emulators which were already built for PC hardware . I could download all those emulators for free and try on my much more powerful computer. Supposedly they tweaked some of the emulators but we won't know the quality improvements until someone sees them side by side. My guess is they are simply optimized for that really low end CPU. But if they did find a true improvement it will probably be patched into the free version at some point since it's an evergreen program.
Big manufacturers have manufacturing issues. Microsoft had the rrod. Nintendo had the Joycon issues, 3DS screen scratching. PS3 had the melting solder points on the original PS3s. Quality manufacturing is not a given.
@KevvyLava thank you so much! Guess I’ll need to pre order one.
What is exactly polymega?
How much storage space does it have?
So I can just put one of the CD games in and play it right away without installing any drivers?
@DrDaisy Yes, they will work instantly. You can install them to the hard drive, or play them from the CD.
@KevvyLava Cool. But you'll still need the CD in the drive for it to work, right? I hope I can get Golden Axe The Duel for a reasonable price.
Actually you can install games to the hard drive. And you can install an M.2 solid state hard drive for additional storage. Some people might want to play off the CD for nostalgic purposes, but the system is geared towards having a library saved into the machine so you don't need to constantly switch modules unless, for example, you want to use the original NES controller, etc.
It looks like Golden Axe: The Duel is going for about $80 on Ebay, but I'm pretty sure you'd have no problem just burning an iso/rom of the game and installing it that way, if you're into that sort of thing. Frankly, that's what I intend to do when I get mine.
@KevvyLava I wasn’t referring to the system, just the modules being $60 seems overpriced, they are basically plastic shells with cartridge connectors, no CPU inside them... I was saying that there are complete systems that have cartridge connectors, CPU, controllers, etc, that are cheaper than these modules. Not comparing systems, just that piece and if I read correctly, the system is still emulation... so if you think of that... the system is overpriced also
Oh no, I signed up on a nin site
So I'm interested in general how the workmanship and "value" of the console is and especially if Shining Force 3, Shining Wisdom and Shining in the Holy Ark is working well.
Also if it is possible to include own translations for e.g. Japanese games.
@stevep The modules come with custom designed controllers, which would be $30 alone. Cost-wise it's reasonable. You gotta pay money if you want good quality stuff.
I've got a few questions.
1. What games are incompatible with the Polymega?
2. Super Game Boy compatible?
3. Any future expansions?
4. Will any handheld consoles be involved with this system?
5. Total cost if you want everything?
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...