Best Genesis HD Clone Console?

[SpikeSlania]

I just preordered a Analogue SNES and was looking at my Genesis thinking it would be nice to have some newer hardware with hdmi support to last longer. Who knows when my Genesis will finally die, so was wondering what everyone here thinks the best way to play Genesis in HD. The only other requirement I have besides playing Genesis games is that it supports the Master Power Base Converter which I'm thinking about buying the addon cart that gives FM sound to Master games that support it. That or am I better off waiting and hoping that Analogue does the Genesis next?

[samsonlonghair]

I just preordered a Analogue SNES and was looking at my Genesis thinking it would be nice to have some newer hardware with hdmi support to last longer. Who knows when my Genesis will finally die, so was wondering what everyone here thinks the best way to play Genesis in HD. The only other requirement I have besides playing Genesis games is that it supports the Master Power Base Converter which I'm thinking about buying the addon cart that gives FM sound to Master games that support it. That or am I better off waiting and hoping that Analogue does the Genesis next?

You might want to wait this one out for a couple more years. There are currently two options for HDMI clones of Sega Genesis. Neither one is perfect satisfactory.

[samsonlonghair]

Option one

The Sega Genesis Flashback HD. Yes, there is an at@games logo on that clone. You can guess what that means. The best review I have read is available here:
https://www.polygon.com/2017/10/13/1605 ... -hd-review

Option two

Chinese factories are cranking out an HDMI genesis clone. This goes by many names including "Fei Hao" and "HD Retro Game". The quality of this is also unsatisfactory. This teardown video shows why:
https://youtu.be/Pvix_-SENao

I haven't see a head-to-head comparison to see which one is "better". Most reviewers are pretty harsh on at@games, but they have a lower expectation for generic Chinese clones. That's why a review of the Sega Genesis HD is more likely to contain the phrase "hot garbage" and a review of the Fei Hao is more likely to include the phrase "not as awful as you might imagine." To me it's all the same though. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if these were manufactured in the same facility.

[Gunstar Green]

I agree that the current options aren't great. The best option for playing Genesis cartridges in HD at this point is probably the Retron 5 or Retro Freak really. There's no Genesis specific clone that's not without issues.

[marurun]

Why on earth does Sega keep licensing shit to AtGames? And why hasn't AtGames figured out by now how to emulate these games for shit? Is everyone involved asleep at the wheel?

[SpikeSlania]

Yeah, sounding like I really should wait for maybe Analogue to take a go at it, if AtGames finally loses it's license. I was debating on the Retron 5, but it's like I'm already getting the SNES Analogue model, I don't collect for the NES, the added Game Gear support sounds interesting but at the same time I have like interests in like maybe 2 games on it? The Tails game and maybe something else that I can't remember. Then I own a GBA SP and the Gameboy Player for the Gamecube, so that module doesn't really interests me on the Retron 5 ether So then the question becomes is the Retron 5 good enough to just be used for Sega Games or should I try my luck trying to track down one of those hdmi cables for the genesis and wait it out until Sega lets someone else give the Genesis a better HD Clone.

[racketboy]

Yeah, sounding like I really should wait for maybe Analogue to take a go at it, if AtGames finally loses it's license. I was debating on the Retron 5, but it's like I'm already getting the SNES Analogue model, I don't collect for the NES, the added Game Gear support sounds interesting but at the same time I have like interests in like maybe 2 games on it? The Tails game and maybe something else that I can't remember. Then I own a GBA SP and the Gameboy Player for the Gamecube, so that module doesn't really interests me on the Retron 5 ether So then the question becomes is the Retron 5 good enough to just be used for Sega Games or should I try my luck trying to track down one of those hdmi cables for the genesis and wait it out until Sega lets someone else give the Genesis a better HD Clone.

I'm not thinking Analogue really needs the license, do they? AtGames only has the license for all the Sega markings and design, I would assume.
I don't think Analogue has Nintendo license --they just are doing reverse engineering of sorts.

[marurun]

I don't think there's a single 16-bit era or earlier console that is still covered by any patent protection. It's all legally available for reverse engineering.

[Gunstar Green]

You'd think the Genesis wouldn't be that difficult considering it's mostly comprised of off the shelf parts. Back in its day there were really solid pirate versions of the console out there. I don't know what I'm talking about so someone can tell me why I'm wrong but I'd think if you could reverse engineer the SNES that the Genesis would be a piece of cake by comparison.

[racketboy]

You'd think the Genesis wouldn't be that difficult considering it's mostly comprised of off the shelf parts. Back in its day there were really solid pirate versions of the console out there. I don't know what I'm talking about so someone can tell me why I'm wrong but I'd think if you could reverse engineer the SNES that the Genesis would be a piece of cake by comparison.

I'm sure part of it is that they may be less demand for a higher-priced Genesis clone.
The NES and SNES units are more expensive than a Genesis model. You can also use HDRetrovision cables on a stock Genesis (and SNES -- at least the Analogue SNES unit is cheaper than the NES) so there's less motivation for me to spend a bunch of a Genesis clone right now.