impurekind

@Samwise7 But, as you just said, the show literally had it, right, and it wasn't somehow hidden and hard to notice, right, so why make a comment in the article about "a small minority of narrow-minded . . ."?

Why not just review the show for the how it covers gaming, how funny the jokes are, how good the intentionally-bad effects are, and how fun it is? Why, be you straight or gay or whatever, do you feel it has to literally be mentioned explicitly beyond just having said stuff?

The way the show did it was actually okay, clearly very intentional and with purpose, but just integrated in there along with everything else, treated entirely normally rather than pointed out as something different, as I imagine you would surely like it to be, and fun. But imagine if it has said at the start "Now, we're going to include a non-binary and a gay couple, and if you even question why or ask why we thought it was necessary to then additionally point that out to you now, you're narrow minded", like in the article. . . .

Do you understand?

The problem in not the problem I think many people have convinced themselves it is.

@Damo By the way, Damien, rather than trying to make the site a nicer and safer place by banning people under maybe the wrong conditions and reasoning, I think that's just going to end up with a bunch of alt accounts where said people are even more extreme in their views and their desire to express them and be heard, precisely because they know how forcibly certain inclusive types will try to silence them as soon as they say something they don't like. My suggestion is not to ban said people but rather make the site a place that's not focussing on said polarizing topics so much, like it used to be before "social" media warped everyone's minds and got them all evangelising. If you stop mentioning socio-political stuff where it's not necessary--not completely but just stopping it when not necessary or relevant--maybe you would find that would actually have the result you desire. And I say that sincerely as someone who's been here for a long time and can see the change slowly happening, and, despite your obvious good intentions, it's not for the better. Everyone who comes here does so because they love articles on video games and Nintendo and stuff like that--it couldn't be more simple.

@johnvboy Exactly. And now he wants to pass the buck onto me and then literally ban me from the discussion, remove me from this community I've been a part of for decades, and literally silence my voice entirely, deleting me from this group and community. And I'm sure he honestly thinks I'm the problem here and that it will make the site a better place if he forcibly removes everyone like me, while continuing to post more and more content/commentary within the site's articles that creates all of this vile stuff in the first place. Me, I'd simply like to go back to the Console Wars--but that's just my opinion.

@Damo Read your own article, Damien, rather than trying to put it on me. But, if you want to silence my views on said things, expressed very reasonably throughout this thread, you go ahead and do exactly the kind of thing some people have been raising as objections around all this stuff, where you don't like the debate--that you literally fuelled by writing what you did in the original article "a small minority of narrow-minded . . ."--so you insult people who might want to continue the conversation you initiated, apparently unintentionally, and then silence their voice completely because it doesn't fit with your own subjective view. As before, that's on you, Damien. I can sleep fine well at night knowing I say what's true and stand for what's actually right, like getting rid of all the reporting of that crap from the site at any times where it's not necessary or wanted, while giving a perfectly fair and indeed positive review to the show as warranted.

@johnvboy After watching the show, that's the same for me. The show does what it does--this whole making a point of showing different types of people, even if it's not quite a true representation of the percentages in any particular reality, is just going to happen now (especially when Meta is sponsoring the show)--but it didn't try to make anyone else feel guilty about it or demonize them, and it did in fact mix white, black, straight, gay, [straight, white] guys and girls, which is what actual inclusivity is all about. Above all that though, it was actually well made (given it's GamesMaster) and fun. Credit where it's due.

OK, I watched the show and it's actually good. In my opinion, it get's pretty much everything right in terms of looking and sounding and feeling really just like a continuation of the old show but now in glorious HD--and that's a good thing.

But, Damien, maybe you should keep the socio-political meanderings to yourself and not make specific comments on it in Nintendo Life articles. The show clearly has a bit of an agenda as is, literally making the very first contestant non-binary and very visibly so, with everyone using they/them perfectly throughout, plus having a gay couple too, and specifically making a point of mentioning they are gay and asking them about the relationship. And I work in an office that is literally built around inclusivity and all that stuff, and even there people forget to say they/them regularly to one of the staff who goes by such pronouns, yet in this episode every single person gets it right every single time. That just does not happen in the real world, unless every single person is part of that kind of group and uses such terms constantly. It's clearly pre-scripted and very much intended to push a certain message about all of this being normal and easy to just adapt to and so on. So the show is already doing its part to teach us all how to be more inclusive and better human beings. You don't have to push it any harder, Damien.

But, anyhoo, it's fun and worth watching, so long as you can just ignore the aforementioned stuff, which, admittedly, isn't subtle in even the slightest. Anyone who's tries to claim otherwise is lying to both you and themselves.

PS. The fact Meta (ex Facebook) is the sponsor of the show really should tell you volumes, whatever you read into that.

PPS. I think there actually is some good old fashioned innuendo snuck in there, which is welcome.

Anyway, I've now made my objections explicitly clear, and pointed out exactly where they stem from based on the content of the original article (bringing up gender politics in a gaming article for no good reason, calling people "narrow minded" in an attempt to ultimately try and ridicule and silence any contrary views before other people have even had a chance to speak, etc), written long before a single comment was made on said article. I'm out and off to watch the episode. . . .

@nessisonett I hope you're talking to Damien here, because he's the one who decided to include such socio-political content in the article out the gate, before a single comment was ever written, and for literally no good reason at all that I can see. It simply was not necessary to educate us that some person in the episode was gay and another was non-binary or whatever. Get your objections straight.

@Moistnado Because none of it is authentic. It's to get certain people watching for that reason and no other reason. If it were authentic and handled with respect to all involved, which means not needlessly advertising it for no reason, then I think we'd all be happy. Some gay/bi/trans/whatever person would be hired on the show (hopefully not solely for that reason, of course) and we'd not even know about it (because why should we need to know such details while watching an episode of a show about some people playing some video games). Now that would be inclusive and diverse, and that would be authentic.

@Reprise You go listen to him.

And I didn't start this vile and insidious conversation around gender politics and all that utter crap I wish was banned from all places other than socio-political blogs and the like. It's right there in the original article, written before a single comment on said article was even made--literally creating the very platform and topic of heated debate for such conflict to now exist and grow and infest this site--so maybe direct your animosity to the person who started the ball rolling, Damien, and not the person literally saying to stop brining stuff like this into the conversation and on a site that's supposed to be about video games!

If Damien wants to talk about gender politics and the like, he should start a blog called "Gender Politics and the Like" and not a site called "Nintendo Life"--because look at what it's actually done, contrary to what he thinks he's doing. . . .

Do you not think?

@Reprise You mean, after it was very clearly made a point of in the main article, kinda trying to call out and basically ridicule such people for having any kind of contrary view before a single comment in said article had even been made--you mean like that?

How insightful of you.

But isn't it interesting that Damiem, in trying to not make a big deal of out it, has indeed made it a big deal by bringing it into the discussion in the first place (in a place, once again, where I do not believe such socio-political content is necessary or even wanted by the vast majority of readers--on a gaming site) and the inevitable conflict around such topics has now begun. . . .

I mean, I simply wanted to watch new GamesMaster, but before even a single episode had aired, I was getting called out for being a straight white male in an earlier interview with the show's new host. And now, before I've even watched the first episode, this article is, once again, trying to single out people based on gender and sexual preference (like somehow such a thing is special and worthy of specific mention), and foreshadowing any objections to the show focusing on such things and indeed trying to paint anyone who makes such objections in a bad light beforehand.

Do you maybe see the real problem here?

@Damo So, I've not watched it yet--I'm going to do so in the next few minutes--but you're saying they've not went out of their way to actively "inform" the viewers that "these people are gay", "this person is non-binary", "they use they/them" and they like? Because, if they did, that would be "a political statement", Damien. Otherwise there would be no need or normal reason to mention it in this show about some people playing video games. So, it it wasn't forced, and if they didn't mention it, how did you know these details to write about them in your article? And why did you write about them in your article then? Because, if that's not pushing it--when otherwise there would be literally no authentic reason to mention such things when a couple of people get up to play some games--then when would it be pushing it or "making a political statemen" in your opinion? Basically, convince me it's authentic and not pushed on the viewers in a way that was utterly needless other than to tick boxes, knowing people like you would write a few extra lines about it as a result, as well maybe try to convince certain others to watch purely based on said boxes been ticked in such a way as to basically advertise it to those people?

We'll see. After all his woke, virtue signalling garbage pretty much attacking or at least signalling out straight white men for basically no good reason in the previous Nintendo Life interview, as well as pushing the whole "inclusivity" and "diversity" agenda a bit too hard and completely unauthentically--You do understand, Damien, that they're not doing this because they give one crap about such things but because they know ticking such boxes will get people like you to give them more words in your articles and that certain other people will tune in for that reason and no other reason and so on, right?--I'll watch this first episode and decide for myself. They don't get a free pass just because they're ticking some boxes, and they don't get any benefit of the doubt when they attack straight white men like me before the show has even started. So my first few viewings are out of curiosity to see what it's actually like for pure nostalgia's sake and nothing else. Let's see if the show is actually good, or at least cheesy and cringy fun like the original (I know it's almost certainly not gonna have any of the sexiness or double entendres and the like that made the original something a little bit edge and risky, which was much of its appeal to many of the people watching back in the day--because 2021 and such things are all "evil" now). . . .

PS. The more people like you, Damien, continue to write about and actively push all this polarising stuff around gender politics and race issues and "inclusiveness" and "diversity" and so on in places were it's doesn't really belong (keep it to the blogs and "social" media and "news" media channels and political sites), the more you're going to see this site change from something that was once pure and innocent gaming fun into some socio-political hateful nightmare where everyone is just at everyone else's throats, and not over some relatively harmful and ultimately fun Console War, but over stuff most people never wanted to be involved in in the first place--and that will be on you. So you decide what kind of site you want this to be: A site about video games, or a site that, yes, also still has video games, but ends up constantly focussing on socio-political "news"-piece trash that in reality just breeds division and conflict and animosity and hatred--look at this comments section, Damien--and ultimately results in exactly the opposite effect and end outcome to what you naively thought it was about. Look at "social" media and tell me if the world is actually better for it. . . . And if not, why would you want the site to become like that too? Well, it doesn't have to--if you just stick to the joyful and innocent and fun gaming stuff, which is why the vast, vast majority of us actually started coming here for and still come here for, and keep the politics off the site. Again, it's on YOU.

@YANDMAN Yes, and the SNES used enhancement chips in many of its games too. But I was just checking, because now I know it's not the stock Genesis doing this, I can relax knowing it's nothing the SNES couldn't do with enhancement chips and extra memory too. For a while, outside of extra storage space, I thought the developer had pushed the stock Genesis to some magical point that really the SNES would utterly struggle to compete with. That's not the case. All is good.

Ah, OK, so it's using a few enhancement chips to achieve what it's achieved? As in, the standard Genesis console technically couldn't actually do this on its own and it's not just a [modern version of a] typical Genesis cartridge but with more storage space?

Cringe.

And having glasses on the Games Master when he can clearly get a bionic eye is just dumb. Also, that's a huge forehead and tiny little face they've given him.

The original was mostly only decent because of Diamond and his cheeky/edgy humour, which is I bet the one thing they've removed--because 2021.

Not feeling this.

Edit: Wait . . . are those supposed to be AR glasses he's wearing? Double cringe, not because the idea is bad but just because of how bad that effect looks. I honestly thought it was meant to be some tech on his eye behind the patently normal and indeed very slim-frame glasses initially--not a good way to portray AR glasses as most people current visualise how they would look just now--but I guess that's his little HUD as displayed on the glasses.

The only thing I don't like about it is having all those different modules and even the extra controllers for them that you're going to have to store somewhere when not in use (assuming you want more than just the base unit and maybe even all the modules, which I think a lot of people). If it were truly a single system with one set of controllers then it would just be magical, but I get how that would be hard to nail because then certain controller aspects wouldn't be perfectly matched to each system and you'd somehow have to fit a bunch of different cartridge slots on the one box too. But, yeah, that's my gripe. Outside of that, it looks pretty awesome from what I've seen.

Interesting. . . .

My ten cents:

It's a real shame, because I love the ideas and principles behind most of what you guys are doing here, but I'm just not a huge fan of the physical design/look of either the console or its controllers, and that's also true of the visuals in most of the games as well. It just looks too much like some third party knock-off product with potentially cool hardware/tech ideas that had to be realised within a hardware budget and via a product designer that just couldn't quite do them justice in terms of making this thing truly aesthetically appealing to basically all kinds of consumers and gamers--the Amico hardware and controller design is no Wii, that's for sure--and that's true of the games I'm seeing too, which often look a bit like some Flash games you'd get for free on the Internet or on some smartphone and the like.

I mean, Christ, even the console's logo falls fowl of the same errors imo--looking like something a college student might come up with in their first year of a graphic design course, rather than the simple and fun and appealing but still very proffesional and slick logo design I would have liked to have seen here.

And honestly, I think really commiting to say old-school pixel art might have been a better choice than settling for these Flash/web-looking visuals that seem to be there in most of the games, because at least then the console's games would have a strong [retro] visual identity, rather than just being generic meh. Obviously going the other direction of trying to do cutting edge graphics just wasn't an option, so I get that. But, to be fair, I think the visual appeal of the in-game art is really more a fault of the developers and artists involved in these games rather than the hardware not being able to display truly appealing art, at least from everything I understand about it. Although, it's maybe also on the shoulders of the people making the device for accepting and maybe even encouraging this look/style as basically being the visual default language for the console's games.

I dunno . . . I guess it's too late to really do anything about the hardware now, but someone needs to have a more critical eye in terms of picking and supporting and pushing games that just have a much higher level of artistic awareness, because what amounts to [give or take] Flash-style art never has and never will be a great choice--unless you really have low/no taste/standards and want to sell this console to customers who are the same.

But hey, maybe none of this matters so long as there's a large market of consumers out there who don't hold things up to the same high/picky [mostly design aesthetic] standards as me, and who will just find the novelty of it all enough to jump in. I kinda hope so, because I like so many of the core ideas and principles behind this product, but just not the end product design itself.

For me though, I guess maybe an Amico 2, if the company survives long enough to seriously think about such a thing, will solve my issues with the current design and be something that I can properly buy into. . . .

@nessisonett Yeah, I actually really like the look of the Collector's Edition version of the console with the proper wooden panel on the front. And both of the controllers are really nice too imo (gamepad and joystick). I'm just not convinced at all with the library of games, or the menu/UI design either. I guess we'll see how this things fairs in the near future. . . .

Christ, it's like with both this and Amico they just said "Hey, let's get every random tiny Unity developer out there to chuck whatever game they're currently working on onto the system and call that a games library". I'm not really sure 99% of those random Unity games games are truly worthy or more than a few mins of play at most though; we've moved past the days of the original Atari when basically anyone could slap together a game in a week or four and release it as an official title for the system. It just feels a lot like casual unpolished/clunky shovelware, of the variety and level I haven't seen on a proper console as part of the main library of games since the likes of Wii--that's not a compliment. This is not a great way to launch a brand new console imo, but I guess we'll see how these two consoles fair in the longer term. . . .

@GrailUK Bad Influence! should have been your thing then. That was a proper kickass video game show back in the day, and even had stuff like E3 premiers of N64 and Mario 64 and early VR and that kind of thing as I recall. Probably the best all round video game show I can remember watching.

Wasn't it like the most popular show on UK TV at some point (as in highest viewing figures) ? Pretty impressive for a video games show. And, from what I can gather, it was actually the first dedicated video game TV show in the world too. I mean not just a random show that had some gaming stuff mixed into it but a show that was literally centered on and entirely about video games news and reviews and gameplay footage and game challenges and so on, with maybe some other bits and bobs mixed in for entertainment purposes.

@Damo Something the size of the OG Xbox really would have been a beast.

I just wish it wasn't like four additional modules that you have to get for the full setup, three of which are going to be lying around when not in use.

Maybe, at the very least, the base unit could have come with one of the modules of your choice. Or at least there could have been like a deluxe bundle option with one of modules of your choice attached by default, so you don't have to have the default model with that big chunk of plastic that just wastes natural resources and takes up storage space as soon as you decide to purchase at least one additional module.

Also, the base system is actually pretty huge already, and certainly compared to the size I thought it was going to be from the images. I was honestly expecting it to be like the size of an original PlayStation or something like that, but it looks like it's way, way bigger than that from what I have seen recently, and actually closer to the huge modern consoles we have now, which is rather shocking to me.

Outside of those annoying size and practicality issues though, it does sound pretty dang amazing.

Although, for me right now, I'm extremely pleased with my [diminutive] hacked SNES Classic Edition to be honest (along with a couple of basically essential controller cord extenders), which I have installed around 170 classic games on from a variety of retro consoles (SNES, Genesis, Master System, NES, PC Engine, Neo Geo, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, MAME). Honestly, it's one of the most satisfying little consoles I've even owned, and in some ways feels like the ultimate SNES to me (still my all round favourite console of all time).

All the business stuff around the system is a bit unfortunate, because it seems like the actual console itself is getting a lot of praise.

Should have been maybe 50% bigger, had a better quality screen, and came with maybe 20 of the best Game Gear game pre-installed--then it would have been something to get more excited about.

@Damo My logic is that your response to him comes across like "If all you have to contribute is yes then your comment isn't really good enough or worthy enough to warrant inclusion in the discussion, but we'll certainly take it contributing to our poll--and whatever else you've done on the site that helps us generate the money that pays our bills via the included ads that popped up while you were navigating the various pages along with your click-through contributions and the like, thank you very much", which I don't appreciate and so I'm calling it out. He wanted to post a simple comment and something in the site design got in the way of that, and you don't have to subtly passive-aggressively defend it and query him like he was doing it wrong.

@Damo Nothing to answer other than your attitude towards someone who's taken the time to come in and contribute to your site. The guy was simply expressing his frustration with the comments not letting us be straight to the point at times (while still being and feeling like part of the actual discussion, part of the community, and not just a mathematical stat on a poll), and you're response was unnecessarily snippy and missing the point imo.

@Damo Because he clearly wants to join in the discussion with everyone else in a way that's actually visible to everyone else, which is basically the whole point of these "social" online sites and platforms. You know, with the comments sections where everyone can add their say and be part of the discussion and the like. Now, even with that, maybe he just wanted to make the initial point as succinctly as possible with a simple yes. Don't be a douche and knock him for doing nothing wrong. Maybe you should instead think about whether your moderation/filtering system is quite as perfect as it could be. Yes, it's goal is to filter out small spam-like comments or whatever, but at times it's also a pain in the *ss when you just want to say one or two words that perfectly fit the bill but you can't. Luckily, I rarely have that problem of not having enough to say. lol

@Reprise And, if I recall correctly, you could use the d-pad just like the c-buttons in this setup (as move forward, backward and strafe left and right), so even with the single analog method, it was possible to actually have standard [digital] move/strafe on the left thumb [pad] and the [analog] turning/looking on the right thumb [stick], which is the same way around that we all have it now.

@DownRightSam Actually, moving around using the dual analog setup is extremely simple and intuitive, and basically exactly like any modern fps game on consoles that use dual analog. Only the reticule aim mode was a little bit clunky because of the way that mapped basically 1:1 with the angle you were pushing the stick and then flicked back to the the center of the screen if you released the analog stick.

Yes, I think. Although it might have actually taken me some time to even discover it. But once I did learn about this, it was the only way I played it. It was basically dual analog back in a time when very few other games used it. The DualAnalog controller was actually already out for PlayStation by then, itself a response to Nintendo having the revolutionary and paradigm-shifting analog thumb stick on the N64 first, but it had only been on the market for a few months and there was like a small handful of PlayStation fps games out there, and I don't think any of them that released before GoldenEye 007 used dual analog controls. So Rare deserved/deserves major kudos for including this option in GoldenEye 007. Once again, despite some gamers being completely ignorant and not showing GoldenEye 007 the respect it deserves, even suggesting it's not worthy of any such praise, GoldenEye 007 shows why it was one of thee most ground-breaking and important fps games in history. And, yes, it's still a blast to play even to this day!

I'm still extremely pleased with my hacked SNES Mini to be honest. I have controller extensions so I can very comfortably play sitting on my couch, along with the hack that lets me easily reset the machine via a simple button combo rather than having to go over to the machine to do so. The games look and run great on my 50" 4K TV. The menu is really nicely designed and simple and intuitive. I have a whole bunch of NES, SNES, Master System, Genesis, GB/GBC/GBA, PC Engine and Arcade (including Neo Geo) games on there (a little under 200 games in total). There's no worry about setting up online accounts or agreeing to EULAs or bothering with constant system patches and the like (other than some SNES games that I specifically patched to add the likes of English translations or to completely remove any slowdown the original versions suffered from). It's really a very tiny and neat package, other than the controller cords. It only cost me £80 (plus I think it was a fiver for the additional extension cords). And it's just great all round. Seriously, it's one of the most satisfying products I've owned in a long, long time, and it brings me no end of joy. The Polymega looks very cool for what it is, but I'm beyond happy with what I have with my awesome little SNES Mini.

Well this is a very interesting development. Let's see how it pans out. . . .

@mesome713 This is as good as the NES/SNES in all areas of quality, and it even does a few things better, like having a really easy button shortcut to get back to the main menu and decent length controller cords. Other than the lineup, which is a matter of personal preference, it might even be the best realised all round of the three main mini systems of its era (Mega Drive, SNES, PC-Engine).

Yeah, I'm not sure why their CRT filter is sooo bad, but other than than M2 is doing stellar work.

I'm sorry but everything about this looks like something you'd find while browsing an Argos catalog, and I genuinely don't see anyone other than a bunch of ignorant parents and some truly hardcore old-school Intellivision fans picking this thing up. That's not to be a **** but just to express what I'm thinking and feeling whenever I see and read anything about this console. I feel that this is a product that doesn't really have a customer base outside of a small handful of people, and, if I'm just being blunt, I don't think it really needed to exist.

Those print ads that were in Viz were/are just utterly brilliant. lol If only the likes of Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo had the balls to put out stuff like that now!

Yeah, Sega really did have some brilliant advertising campaigns back in the day. I mean, I was a total Nintendo fanboy then, but even I couldn't deny that Sega did a much better job at positioning itself as just this really cool and edgy company. Of course, not enough to convince me the Mega Drive was actually better than the SNES though. And, just a little side note, playing both the SNES Mini and Mega Drive Mini again these last few weeks has reaffirmed in my mind all the reasons why Sega's system was/is great but the SNES beat/beats it in almost every single way that actually counts, especially the games library of truly timeless classics that honestly still hold up brilliantly even to this day in most cases. So, really, "To be this good actually takes Nintendo". Let the 16-bit console wars rage on!

@Damo Like I was basically trying to say, it's the inclusion of SF2 that should be thought of as a loving nod to fans (as in Sega trying to get as many of the most beloved and best games in the limited 42 game list as possible) rather than the non-inclusion of the 6-button pads as there being something missing.

Yeah, the Japanese version confuses me too in terms of what Sega was/is thinking. Did Sega maybe release an official version of the Mega Drive with the 6-button controller at some point in Japan, which basically became the standard box version that everyone associated with the Mega Drive once it was released, and that's what it's going with because it's both the one everyone remembers and also happens to include the 6-button pad? Did Sega ever release an official Mega Drive version with the 6-button controller included here in the UK (although I know it's definitely not the one most people think of when they think of Mega Drive if they did)?

Because, remember, almost everything about these Minis is taking us back to the past, hitting us right in the nostalgia sweet spot, even so far as the boxes for the systems being very close replicas of the boxes the systems came in at the time too, with almost exactly the same imagery and all.

But maybe Sega just thinks about Japan slightly differently to other territories or something--it clearly does (different included games, 6-button controllers included, Mega CD/32X tower add-ons and mini carts, etc).

By the way this whole rosey nostalgia thing is also the exact same reason why I absolutely do not want them to include all the convoluted crap of letting us add more digital games via some kind of online account and store that requires inputting our personal details, adding credit card info, joining some online service, downloading patches and updates, having EULA and DRM, etc, which some people are asking for (the adding new games part) who clearly don't know what the entire point of these systems is. If we're going to be allowed to add more games then it should be via new physical Mini single or compilation carts imo; that totally makes sense here and would just be very cool.

@Damo Not "odd".

I find the hardware choice spot on for what these Mini systems are supposed to be--a return to the original as I remember it from my childhood--and I find the inclusion of SF2 simply Sega showing respect for its customers by giving us one of the very best games for the system as part of the 42 included titles, which most people would have absolutely raged about if it weren't included, even with the Mega Drive with only the 3-button pad included.

Sure, I would like to be able to play SF2 with a 6-button pad, but including those instead of the 3-button pads simply is not the Mega Drive as I recall it from my childhood--regardless of the fact that some people went out and additionally bought the 6-button pad later down the line (which they can still do here if they really want)--and that's basically what these systems are supposed to represent.

Think of it like this (to take things to a slight extreme): Would it at all look or feel right if Nintendo's NES Mini had in fact been the arguably improved NES-101 top-loader model with the also [ergonomically] superior bone controller? No, because that's just not the NES or the NES controller from the good old days--but it technically is.

Well, this is not a Mega Drive to me (as cool as it is that the 6-button pads are included):

This is a Mega Drive to me (and if I want to buy a 6-button pad for really the 1-2 games that "need" it then I can, just like some people did back in the good old days):

Now, if Sega decides to release a Mega Drive Mini 2 with the 6-buttons pads included, and a few of the games we really would have like to see this time around but didn't get (TMNT, NHL '94, Ristar, Aladdin, Mortal Kombat II, etc), well that would be cool (because that particular model I don't really have a particularly strong childhood memory of, and it including the 6-button pads while being that alternative model would be kinda neat imo)

:

"We still can't fathom why Sega decided to ship the 3-button variant in the west"

Then you're REALLY not thinking about what these Mini consoles are supposed to represent properly.

It's just like when people ask why they don't have the option to go online and download more games--meaning you'd have to set up accounts, input credit card details, probably have EULAs, maybe even DRM, and random firmware updates/patches, worry about viruses, etc--totally missing the point of these simple, no fuss or hassle, all-in-one, pure-joy-of-your-childhood retro systems entirely.

These Mini systems are supposed to be about as pure as gaming was back in the day, without all the modern crap that, while adding more options and features, just makes everything sooo convoluted and frustrating at times, and that includes mimicking the actual original hardware and controllers just as the vast majority of us fondly remember them from our childhoods. And, yes, the 6-button pad is clearly better, but the 3-button one is still brilliant and does still work with every single game in these, and that's the one almost all of us grew up with, so it just makes sense for it to be the one packed in as that's the one that wets our nostalgia glands the most.

I'm not quite sure how you don't get that.

And if you really must just have that 6-button pad then go out and buy it separately just like you had to back in the day too--how much more authentic could it get!

PS. Personally, though I 100% would have made that little mini cartridge port actually work and let people buy additional mini game compilations going forward, with say 10-20 retro games in each compilation or something like that, as well as giving them modern devs the ability to actually release brand new games for the system today too. Now THAT would have been a way to offer more that's still totally in-fitting with what these retro Mini systems are supposed to be all about imo.

Well, one thing I just realised recently is that both the Japanese and American Minis will let you switch to languages that will let you see the Japanese, American and UK/European menu designs and box arts (plus I think the slight variations of games across all these regoins too, and possibly a few more), but the UK version will only let you see the UK/European and Japanese menu designs and box arts (and not be able to play the American versions of most of the games either). So, annoyingly, while I actually like the physical UK Mega Drive design the most, I'm a bit bummed we don't get the extra American versions of menus and games. But, if someone eventually allows me to EASILY had the machine then that shouldn't be a major issue going forward, so long as said hack is done as well as on the NES/SNES Mini and once applied you basically can't even tell it's ever been hacked apart from there being many more games and a couple of actually improved shortcut commands for getting back the menu quicker and stuff like that.

As I have said in previous articles: I actually really like the idea of this console, but I'm just not a fan of the overall design of the thing.

I'll be honest, it is pretty cool.

@Bunkerneath Pretty sure the actual hardware has been shown many times and trade shows and stuff by this point.

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNGEtIOBW50 & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZNauXoOw1Q

I'm telling ya (and I've been "telling ya" for some time now), this is what Nintendo, Sega and especially Konami should have been doing with their "Mini" systems imo, which obviously means I think they should have included working cartridge/card slots on their systems and let gamers use mini games on them (compilations of old games and brand new 16-bit games alike). With the PC-Engine "Mini" in particular they wouldn't have had to shrink anything and could have even let the people who bought that system play all the original HuCards too. Such a missed opportunity imo.

Now, back to the Evercade: I like the idea of the system, clearly, but I'm just not completely sold on the actual design of the thing, and that's a huge factor to me.

Well the idea sounds very cool--I've thought about something like this a few times myself--but it will all come down to the overall execution of everything, including how the actual physical handheld looks, which I'm still not really a fan of. It has potential as a concept though.