Hyperkin are making a handheld Sega Genesis – WGB

I’m personally hyped for this story as the Sega Genesis (known to me here in the UK as a Sega Mega Drive) is the very first console I remember owning and playing. My earliest gaming memories are of Sonic the Hedgehog and Taz in Escape from Mars. And now I can relive those memories while chilling in bed because hardware maker Hyperkin has announced the Mega 95, a handheld Sega Genesis machine capable of playing original Genesis cartridges.

Hyperkin already actually have a machine that does just that called the MegaRetroN HD Gaming Console. It uses some witchcraft, better known as emulation, to get classic games running on modern TVs. Their new Mega 95 seems to be a shrunk down version of the MegaRetroN which hopefully means the cost hopefully won’t be too insane.

Perhaps the closest comparison would be Hyperkin’s own Supaboy Portable Pocket Console that plays SNES games on-the-go. That retails for around $120.

The Mega 95 will come packing a 5″ screen and a battery life of around 10-hours, according to Hyperkin. Official cartridges can be slotted straight into the machine, while a switch on the back lets you toggle between 4:3 and 16:9 ratios. Pretty nifty.

It also has a trick straight out of the Nintendo playbook: it can be docked in order to play games on your TV as well. The Mega 95 will come with a USB-C dock in every box and it will allow extra controllers to be plugged in for some multiplayer fun.

As for the name, The Mega 95 is a reference to the Genesis Nomad, an actual hand-held version of the Sega Genesis that Sega launched in 1995. It was capable of playing Sega Genesis cartridges and could even be hooked up to a TV.

In the end, the Nomad would manage to sell around 1 million units in its 4 year run, resulting in it being viewed as a commercial failure.

And here’s a stupid fact to wrap this story up: I only found out a few years ago that the Sega Genesis and the Sega Mega Drive are the same console. I grew up knowing it as the Sega Mega Drive but when I talked about the console with others online they were confused because in North America it was called the Sega Genesis due to a copyright problem. Doh!