Here’s why the Mega Drive Mini is Better than the Mega Drive Mini 2

This sounds nice, but I can't help to think that I won't play it more than once when or if I get one.

I wish it was a Sega CD mini only maybe 30 – 40 games.

Both are pretty awesome IMO.

My thoughts on this are that the Genesis/MD1 is for the average Sega fan. Sega added quite a few of the big hitters here. I feel the Genesis /MD2 is more for the hardcore Sega fan. Curated with some amazing cult hits (Alien Soldier, Gain Ground, Elemental Master, Herzog Zwei, Truxton, Rainbow Islands EX).

Then you have the games that you can't believe weren't on the first Mini (Revenge of Shinobi, Phantasy Star II, Ristar, Golden Axe II, OutRun, Thunder Force IV, Shadow Dancer, Super Hang-On, Virtua Racing), along with something that actually made me buy this when I was on the fence (a version of SPACE HARRIER II, reimagined as if the Sega MD/GEN had hardware sprite scaling. The original release is infamous for running at a very low frame rate, and having choppy sprite redrawn sprites. So as a huge fan of the original I'm very happy to have something this special. Not only that, but you can also play the entire SPACE HARRIER arcade game (unreleased on a 16-bit Sega home console).

Finally you have Sega/Mega CD games. Sonic CD is better than Sonic 3 IMO. It's pretty underrated. They give you the ability to play with the choice of USA or EUR/JPN OSTs. Like the first Mini the new one allows you to switch regions and play the import versions. So Streets of Rage 3 becomes Bare Knuckle 3, Revenge of Shinobi becomes The Super Shinobi, and Night Trap is hilarious with Japanese dubbed. 🙂 Silpheed and Robo Aleste are top tier shooters on the Sega CD, and Final Fight CD pulled off a better, albeit less colorful, version than the SNES offering.. You get the two player co-op, more on-screen enemies, and an amazing remixed OST.

Overall I like the Mini 2, but at $145 USD /w shipping, I'd really only recommend it to hardcore Sega fans. For a bit more you can buy an Analogue Mega Sg FPGA based console, which can play SMS and GEN/MD (region free) with zero latency, all Sega controllers/accessories, original carts. You can also buy cart adapters to play Game Gear, SG-1000, Mark III, and Sega My Card games. Not to mention it'll also play every SMS/GG/SG-1000/GEN/MD/ColecoVision rom (with exception of Virtua Racing, due to the use of an SVP co-processor), right from an SDcard. This is currently on pre-order for $199. Or buy a Pocket for $220, and play nearly even portable (real cart/roms), and many consoles (via roms), with a $100 dock that can connect the portable to an HD display.

As I had the first Mega Drive with Mega Games, it’s all about memory lane for me. No need for the mega drive II. I do have Mega CD and 32x titles on the Mega Drive Mini I, at least the games I wanted to have but didn’t (and the CD versions of eternal champions, Ecco and Earthworm Jim are the definitiv versions for me).

Id love to have the m1…ssdly they are more expensive now and harder to find

I bought both. I got the Mini 2 and realised I wanted the Mini 1 so I picked it up from CEX for a reasonable price

I didn't even bother with the mini 2.
I just love the look of the original mega drive.
I would never actually use them when there's so many easier ways to play these games.

Was on the fence about the Mini 2 as it had about a dozen games I thought should have been on the 1st, but features way too much shovel. (Clayfighter?) Similarly, the Mini 1 (which I have and mostly love) could have been way more interesting by swapping out, like, 5 games. Put Herzog Zwei on there and you've introduced a whole other genre!

For me I think I prefer the second one and like you it is based on my opinion and probably my memories also. I didn't own a Mega Drive 1 but I did own a Mega Drive 2 so for me that is a big thing. You hit the nail on the head at about 8:30 when you said you think this one was aimed more at collectors…. I'm not actually looking at playing it much (although both my kids and I have done a lot surprisingly), I mainly bought mine to go on a shelf and look pretty and come out occasionally to "scratch that itch"

Sega by saying they wouldn't be making as many also pretty much confirmed that for me…. BUT the bits that annoy me, the missing power LED that you mentioned and why oh why does it have a red version of the Jap power switch and not a button?! Two unforgivable things in my mind from Sega, they made this for collectors and then cheaped out on something that is not only visual but you touch.

Crusader of Centy AMAZING GAME

There was a time when the 1st mega drive mini was around $50 and I passed on it then, do you know why?
Because Every game on there is either on every Sega Collection released on every platform already or they are so common that they could be easily purchased at any time.

Still with the scumbag scammers below??

Every video with a woman has said women with her cleavage out and in this video she actually leans 4wd To Give Us A Look . I Love Women But I Appreciate A Modest Women

I disagree, although the original Megadrive Mini has it's solid games listed, the titles are very abundantly available on modern consoles. The Mini 2 offers unique titles that aren't on offer on say, the Switch.

Both are great.

Comparing different games as an example for sound qualities, and then side by side but different parts of one game doesn’t really show anything unfortunately.

MD2 wins for me just for the amazing Space Harrier arcade port!!!

💋💋💋

What happened to the hack for Mega Drive Mini 2, never heard a thing since it was released ?

You can add more games to the mini 1 also. You can't do that with the mini 2. I got the mini 1 for $50 . The mini 2 is double and triple the price. You pay more for less games. I won't waste my money.

I can't really agree that the Genesis mini was better than the mini 2. Since I am primarily a computer gamer these days, I have the Sega Compilation and the Castlevania Compilation on Steam. With that in mind, there's only about 10 games on the original mini I could want.

Whereas, the mini 2 has a bunch of games not easily obtained beyond owning an actual Sega Genesis. Even then, many of the games are outrageously priced on the secondary market. There is some games that are on the Sega Compilation, sure. I think it is much less of a percent of the games, if not the entire amount overall (I think it is like 4-6 games).

Don't get me wrong, between the two Sega minis there are a bunch of great games. And my argument is weakened if one doesn't pick up a Sega, Castlevannia and/or Sonic compilations (which are cheaper and easier than getting a mini 1 at this point). And neither have any team sports (football, basketball, baseball, etc.) titles which the Genesis was well known for. This is the only really gap in either.

I passed on the mini 1 because it didn't have that many games I couldn't get else where cheaper. The only thing I don't like about the mini 2 is that I never did like the look of it compared to the Genesis 1 design. Which is far more iconic to me. But it makes a lot of sense for the mini 2 to be the Genesis 2 design. Especially if you happen to have both to know which one is which.

9:42 Wow, she barely even touched her skin and instant dots that fast lol….