Analogue Mega Sg

[S3M]

Looks good, this video is apparently from the device.

Certainly looks good and sharp and after my SFC hardware troubles I'm tempted to get the SNES one.

Wonder if Sega might kick up a fuss as they are supposed to be releasing their one next year. From that video I can tell the Sound is a touch off and it's not a true Mega Drive 4:3 aspect ratio as you are missing the console side borders. I assume they've gone with a pixel aspect ratio instead?

[dataDave]

So I have a Megadrive, and the HD Megadrive thing from China that Yakumo once made a video about that works okay with the official controllers and whatnot (sound is not perfect though), just wondering what the benefits of this are?

FPGA, so hardware emulation with zero lag. It'll run exactly like your MegaDrive, only you'll be able to plug it in to a modern TV for pin-sharp HD picture.

I'm not sure how it'll handle Mega CD or 32X stuff. It does have a Mega CD port however.

[Brad]

So I have a Megadrive, and the HD Megadrive thing from China that Yakumo once made a video about that works okay with the official controllers and whatnot (sound is not perfect though), just wondering what the benefits of this are?
Does it also run Mega CD and 32X games? Is that from the SD card I am guessing or for 32x does it have the hardware built in to play carts?

Cheers

Been thinking a lot about FPGA emulation lately so this is a bit of a brain dump of what I currently think I know. I am prepared to be corrected...

They'll be emulating the original Megadrive hardware, on an FPGA. How good is the emulation? Tends to vary. The 68000 and Zilog CPUs are probably pretty good by now, maybe even 100% accurate? Are people allowed to reverse engineer these chips? If they aren't then it won't be 100% accurate but it might be so accurate that you can't tell the difference. The video though? If the megadrive videochip is custom then that might mean that just this one team have been working on it so it all comes down to how good they are.The sound chips (Yamaha and TI) were used in a bunch of Sega stuff and the TI 99/4A computer so maybe some work has been done on them elsewhere previously?

TL;DR The benefits are potentially* more accurate emulation than other systems, the ability to use real cartridges.

*We'd need to see real world reports I guess.

[dataDave]

Yeah, just wait for a DF Retro report if you're on the fence.

I don't have any MegaDrive at all, so I'm left a bit confused; I either get a classic one for my BVM along with an expensive SCART cable, or one of these for the living room.

Or none at all, as I struggle to think beyond a handful of games I actually want to revisit.

[ZipZap]

They'll be emulating the original Megadrive hardware, on an FPGA. How good is the emulation? Tends to vary. The 68000 and Zilog CPUs are probably pretty good by now, maybe even 100% accurate? Are people allowed to reverse engineer these chips? If they aren't then it won't be 100% accurate but it might be so accurate that you can't tell the difference. The video though? If the megadrive videochip is custom then that might mean that just this one team have been working on it so it all comes down to how good they are.The sound chips (Yamaha and TI) were used in a bunch of Sega stuff and the TI 99/4A computer so maybe some work has been done on them elsewhere previously?

According at Analogue, it's all been done by Kevtris who designed the Super NT, and people say he is very good!

(from Twitter) "Every system supported on Mega Sg has been implemented 100% in FPGA by none other than the legendary Kevin 'kevtris' Horton. No bull**** fake "hybrid emulation". No software emulation. This is the real deal-totally FPGA, totally engineered in house from scratch-just like Super Nt"

On this video, Kevtris talks a little about his implementation of the Super NT, which might explain the process a bit more:

[Ghost]

Why would you get one instead of an actual system, though? Genuinely curious. Is there something I've missed?

Well if you bought original hardware you're looking at a machine thats over 20 years old, so who knows how much longer it will continue to run. The Analogue machines will last much longer into the future than if you bought a 25 year console today.

[Colin]

You could say the same about the games.

[fuse]

Thought I had a few games kicking around but so far I have just found these:

[Leon Retro]

Thought I had a few games kicking around but so far I have just found these:

Castlevania is worth around £100 now.

[paulus]

Raspberry Pi like computer with FPGA that runs very accurate games - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jb8YPXc8DA

Seems a bit of a faff to get hold of all the bits though?

[_SD_]

That’s the same FPGA that Analogue are using...

[dataDave]

Raspberry Pi like computer with FPGA that runs very accurate games - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jb8YPXc8DA

Seems a bit of a faff to get hold of all the bits though?

This is precisely what I'm watching with keen eyes. Once they crack SFC and AES I can jump in.

[devilcrush]

This looks like a nice piece of kit (not too sure about the pure white offering but it certainly is different). Looks like there's no volume slider so I wonder how many menus you'll have to navigate to adjust volume when playing through headphones or whether you can do it through a joypad hotkey mapping?

I'm expecting this to be excellent, but I am going to wait for reviews before I order. Are there any UK based Super NT owners who bought direct from Analogue - did you get hit with customs?

[Cepp]

I always get a little tempted by these systems but I don't need one really. Looks nice either way.

[shiffy]

I'm expecting this to be excellent, but I am going to wait for reviews before I order. Are there any UK based Super NT owners who bought direct from Analogue - did you get hit with customs?

I've ordered directly from Analogue on 2 occasions. The first time with the NT MIni I did get hit with customs. With the Super NT I didn't. If I recall correctly they marked the value of the Super NT package as $10 and was shipped by DHL. For weeks I was expecting DHL to come knocking demanding more money! Who knows what will happen this time.