Synthatron_Prime

Always loved this game so this is a welcome patch. My buddy had a Genesis and I loved Shining in the Darkness. This was the closest thing to it on the SNES so I grabbed it. The most annoying thing for me was finding a new party member in a dungeon then having to leave and equip them because they were only wearing rags and using a trash can lid as a weapon. Otherwise, awesome game!

@KingMike The US version has professional mode which is arcade mode. You have to beat it first though if I recall.

Oh Sega. There's so many reasons you failed in the past and you continue to drop the ball now. What a disappointing decision from a company with such a great game history.

Great article. Brings back memories of me importing games for the Saturn and PS1 in the 90s. I'm in America so I used a company called NCS initially. I'd call up to make the preorder and it was always the same woman who took my order for years! Even had my Saturn modified so I could import KoF 95 with the cartridge.

Die Hard Game Fan was the first company I used though. I called all their stores until I found one with a copy of Scrambled Valkyrie for the SFC. I sent them a Western Union payment and had them overnight ship it to my house. It was great times! I miss it but at the same time appreciate the convenience of today. Similar to easy it is to get anime now compared to how it was to get fansubs back then.

@JasmineDragon I have no issues with people hoping the Amico comes out and want to buy it. But I do get tired of people pretending it's something new or more than it actually is: an overpriced android device with a smaller Wii U controller.

@JasmineDragon my daughter has been playing on the Switch since 4. It's all about the games and not the system imo.

@Turbo857 genuinely curious, what potential do you see? I have seen nothing that screams new or innovative or original. What separates Amico from other consoles that you can buy for the same price in your eyes?

This system already looks 15 years old based on that menu and those graphics. Who is this even for??

Way too wordy. Like a used car salesman. This thing is just too expensive for what it does. The controllers look like a nightmare and the Intellivision was only relevant for a couple years anyway.

Nothing in what I read of this article changes my mind. People play mobile games for convenience and in quick bursts. Not for hours at a time on their TV.

@Slowdive It's cool if you're looking forward to it but the mismanagement and multiple falsehoods that have already occurred with this product are not good. It's shaken even some hardcore supporters' faith. For those that want one I hope it comes out and does well enough to satisfy them.

Too expensive for a mobile gaming on TV system. The games look really bad too. All the pluses he tries to point out are not exclusive to the Amico. Also this thing was supposed to come out last October and you still have no full software too show? All 5 second clips. There is a reason most people bashed the E3 presentation.

No surprises here. Thank goodness MiSTer is most likely getting PS1 and Saturn support. I've sold my preorder of this to my buddy because it no longer holds any value to me. Hopefully it gets fulfilled so I don't lose $350.

System seems fine. But a funny thing the article mentions is that the system is for people that want to use their own games....yet they get dumped onto storage and are played from there, like every other device mentioned. I seriously doubt people using this system will put their games in every time.

It's like when people try to argue they buy Analogue systems because they want to use their own games but then they just leave a flash cart in it. If you want to use your games every single time just stick with original hardware without a flash cart.

@Damo I have to say I don't care about the Wal-Mart customers. I paid for my system a long time before them and I have to get to the back of the line? If not for my money and others like me they wouldn't have gotten this far. It sucks that Walmart is doing this but at the same time Polymega should have not dreamed so big without a finished product on hand. This shows little care for their actual supporters. Analogue manged to get going as a small start up with a similar idea. This is disappointing.

This runs burn discs and you know it will be hacked to load iso. Looking forward to that. I have a MiSTer for all the systems I want except Saturn and PS1 so I'll use Polymega for that. I don't have the money or inclination to bother collecting old games anymore.

I bought Macross Scrambled Valkyrie from a Die Hard store. I had a list of their locations and just called all of them until I found it. I had to overnight a payment to them and they shipped it. This was early internet so no easy way for a 20 year old to do this. I still own that copy. Great memory. I loved the magazine of course too!

@Damo You may be correct but I think most people that put money into this would rather see support for other older consoles worked on (either disc or module) rather than time and resources wasted on modern game streaming. You can already stream a million ways. Why add 1 more? Especially to what is supposed to be a retro gaming console. They are spreading themselves too thin when it's already proven they can't keep up with what they have.

Worst idea ever....no one that bought this wanted modern game support. If they wanted to do this they should have just pushed it as a firmware update. I'm sure the release date will slip again too.

@sleepinglion you did exactly what me and my buddies did. We were all ready to grab Polymega until they did a last minute 180. I may still be interested in it as a CD unit though.

I'm glad they finally communicated something but overall it was not very informative aside from the delay info. All their talk basically was saying "yes, it works as you should expect it" with the SNES info/compatibility stuff. Emulators do this now. They should have posted videos first then dumped info. Storage info is ok but overall nothing to really take away from this but marketing talk and a delay.

Still I am interested to see the disc demos today. It's odd they won't demo carts though...

@roadrunner343 lots of people won't admit being wrong. It's admirable to see your follow up. I also appreciate @Atariboy and his clarification.

@roadrunner343 I am not sure why your reasonable explanation got two thumbs down. So I gave it a thumbs-up and I appreciate your clarification for those who do not know.

For that price and portability I can deal with emulation. I might wait for that other Nomad clone that's releasing later this year and see which is best.

Do we know if this is an open preorder for a while?

Oh hell yeah! Preordering today. Glad I didn't bite with Polymega!

@Deanster101 has the Kevtris Mega Drive been confirmed? If so that's awesome. I've been waiting for news on that.

@NinChocolate I'm about to mod my Duo R for s-video and combine that with the Turbo Everdrive and Retrotink for lag free gaming on my HD TV. It was my solution after Polymega changed things up.

I appreciate this interview and a few of your tougher questions. I am not too skeptical of the Saturn emulation but it is odd they are only showing capture footage. I was one of the diehard followers that jumped ship when they made all the sweeping changes last minute. I'm still interested in the base unit but not the modules. When you have good fpga consoles already out there and more on the way ( Analogue must be making a Mega Drive...) I'll opt for other options.

I agree they have put a lot of time and effort into this and I appreciate that. The system, controllers, and UI are attractive as is the modular idea. It's just too bad how they handled the info dump, launch, and their subsequent passive insulting of people that just want the quality that was promised for years.

Anywho I'll wait for reviews before buying but I hope it does well enough to reintroduce that tech they originally promised and maybe draw back the people this was originally intended for.

@Damo I just don't think we are going to get many fpga modules, if any. You have more faith than I. I'd love to see it but I need more than vague promises. Especially with all the last minute changes.

@Damo But that's the thing: it's not in the modules. I would be perfectly happy with that. All 4 launch modules have no FPGA. The Famicom module will have one if it gets made which is cool but no modules past these starting 4 are guaranteed to be made, let alone contain an FPGA. Especially at the current rate the system is preordering for. They mentioned that maybe a future SNES module will get FPGA but that means I either wait an untold amount of time or I double dip. This last minute crowd fund campaign puts future modules in doubt.

@Damo I was so hyped and on board with this system for the past 2 years. Then they made those sweeping changes last minute and it lost me. No FPGA broke my(and many hardcore gamers') faith in the system for the moment. I turned around that day and bought a Super NT instead.

I believe that it plays Saturn games and I'm still interested in the base unit but no way will I bite before reviews. Overall a huge disappointment.

@bazzaro @ThanosReXXX You're correct on all points, Thanos, except the pcb is a different size between Famicom and NES which is why there will be 2 different modules. That being said you could always grab a 72 pin to 60 pin converter and play NES games on the Famicom module to solve the fpga issue. So both of you are technically correct

@ThanosReXXX I fully agree with you on waiting. I went ahead and bought a Super NT so snes emulation is covered. I am interested in the cd and famicom emulation however so I'll wait and see reviews.

I'm excited. My buddy has one and loves it and I'm glad to hear another opinion. I figure even if Polymega turns out great it can't have better SNES emulation. I'm hoping Analogue is working on an fpga Genesis/Mega Driveas we speak!

@bazzaro @ThanosReXXX What bazzaro said. No fpga at launch with only 1 planned for certain IF goals are met. If they bother with the snes fpga model it means double dipping for early adopters. Its disappointing and not what they originally promised. I went ahead and bought a Super NT after reading this article. It's a shame because I have been following this for so long. I'll probably grab the base unit at some point after seeing real hands on analysis.

@EightBitMan After reading your post I find your username ironic.

Hmmm.... I have been a staunch supporter of this but now I'm not so sure. That previous promise of hybrid emulation sounds hollow. Why would i buy a non fpga snes module when I can get a better super nt? I like that it does cd games but no fpga except for very specific modules puts me off somewhat. Especially because they dropped this nugget of info last minute.

Aside from cd support how will this compare to a crappy retron 5? Im especially nervous about Genesis sound emulation now....ugh.

Edit: I reread and see a future fpga module for snes will be released. That's crap. Either I double dip or have to wait an unknown amount of time.

After this review I think I'll pass. The filter options are not good and too many KoF games taking up slots. Its a shame because it looks cool but the Switch does Neo Geo better.

@Alikan You're right about that. Atari and Intellivision was the first big console war. For the US at least. I lived it but was still young. Good times but I was more involved in Nintendo vs Sega!

@Moroboshi876 Same aside from the PAL issue. I'm in the US and I'm curious but the cost is more than I want to pay. Its pretty similar to the Coleco Vision I believe.

My wallet is ready!

Get the Retron 77 people. Avoid this emulator box dressed in expensive clothes.

@SmaMan I hope we find out all we need at E3.

@Yorumi Its all hdmi though so there's that. I plan on using it as my convenient living room system. I'll still keep my originals in the gameroom though.

@BRAINFOX It supports all the Turbo cd formats and I believe it supports Super Grafx as well.

@SmaMan Its good to be skeptical but its nothing like the Chameleon. That was closer to the Ouya, trying to be a new system. This is simply a versatile clone console. I'm not sure why everyone is so quick to compare this to the Chameleon. Its closer to Super NT.

@lillith Totally understand your skepticism and you're right to be that way. The Coleco Chameleon was a huge mess but was also a totally different type of product. It was attempting to be its own new console. Polymega is a clone console.
I'm cautiously optimistic. I'll wait to see how it looks at E3 before I make a decision but its perfect for what I need as long as its a quality product.

This is the one (technically many) I've been waiting for. Slick looking product and covers many major consoles. As long as the hybrid emulation is on point this will be the best option for those like me who collect for multiple systems. Bring on that kickstarter!