Which minis do you have and what's your use case for them?

gsk

I would definitely classify the inclusion of Rainbow Six as a surprise.

The Japanese PS Blog put up a ton of developer blogs in the run-up to the PS Classic and I remember the Tekken producer had to browbeat them into including Tekken 3, of all games.

James-

downchasm it really is interesting how elegant the other minis are and the effort put in compared to the ps classic. I get that a new title might have been a bit much to ask for, but a licensed fan translation or even some assorted demos? Just… something?
I’m genuinely curious why the calls were made the way they were - it could have been such a massive opportunity, but it just was a swing and a miss.

sleepynice

I’ve been considering getting the SNES Mini for no other reason than to play FFVI on my TV with minimal effort. Bad idea: yes/no?

rootfifthoctave

sleepynice having just finished FF6 on my snes mini, my vote would be “absolutely do that”.

i only have the SNES mini because, until they brought them to the Switch, it was clearly the best way to have a decent version of Super Metroid/SMW/Zelda 3 ready to go on a HDTV. the controllers feel exactly like the originals, the emulation is pretty good, the savestates/rewind is implemented very well and it’s got a really nice, subtle scanline filter.

the SNES is the only one currently out with a library of stuff (including added ROMs) i’d want to return to regularly, aside from maybe the PS1, but it sounds like that classic unit isn’t great and I have a lot of PS1 stuff on PSP/PS3 already.

would love a GBA classic with a decent screen and link cable support.

James-

rootfifthoctave I hadn’t even thought about that - some consolized handheld classics would be amazing. And I’m not just saying that because I’m really really into Game Gear - the Game Boy series and DS series have a lot to offer, and that’s not even getting out into the Wonderswan and Neo Geo Pocket wilds.

GcDiaz

In order, I’ve bought the SNES, Genesis, and NEOGEO minis. Primarily as a way to have these games outside of Wii/Switch/PS3 Sega Collection emulation. Secondarily as way to get some cute hardware with original controllers. I play them, my kids love them, although I’ve failed in my original plan to start them off on 16bit and move up later. The 6yr old is all over the Switch and will not look back unless it’s for Turtles in Time/Streets of Rage co-op.

hellojed

How about that Game Gear Micro

Not sure who this is for or why, since it’s so gosh darn tiny. Personally I’m fine with only 4 games per unit, but I cannot abide by Sega only making the magnifying glass add on available if you preorder ALL FOUR. Having this in my pocket to whip out for some Outrun would be cool, but I think in that case I’d rather have a Sega Nomad Micro.

Last hot take: missed opportunity to make an orange one with All Tails Game Gear games on it

hellojed

Game Gear Micro reminded me of a long lost memory: the Game and Watch LCDs that were shaped like micro-gameboys. I had one or two of them. They ran on watch batteries and were cool as hell despite only running for about a week. They were a lot better than any other LCD game at the time and had better buttons.

robinhoodie

hellojed Those little key chains are actually one of the only ways to get the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch for a reasonable price. It is arguably the best Game & Watch game and was never ported to the Game & Watch gallery series.

downchasm

I’m fine with the size of the GG Mini, if anything I’m kind of a sucker for ridiculously ultraportable things like this, but spreading the games across four different variants is a buzzkill.

exodus

yeah, I saw these tiny things and was like “oh no, I am going to have to buy one!” then I saw that it was 4 games per unit and that became “I guess I don’t have to buy these!”

almost 50 bucks for four game gear games, sort of randomly scattered across various colors? feels like Sega has more confidence in the game gear now than they did in the 90s, somehow.

GcDiaz

exodus Plot twist! The batteries are fucking tiny and need constant recharging.

James-

It’s cool that they’re trying to capture the original feel, but maybe the batteries being an ongoing issue is not a part of the feel worth capturing?
I was really excited about these at first, as I’m a giant Game Gear fan, but between four games a unit and the idea of trying to press those buttons, I think if I do buy one it’ll be hanging out in the box. Or maybe I’ll let my 6 year old check it out - it might be a good fit for her hands.

exodus

Yeah, it’s a bit too far into the gimmick camp! I’m real happy sylvan tale is getting a focus like this, but just make it a little less of a joke product.

Usernamedrop

I got the Famicom mini on a whim in Japan because of the way it looks but the controller and cord are so tiny i hardly ever use it. I recently got the PC-ENGINE mini also because of the way it looks and i was too cheap too many times back when you could easily get it for cheap : /
I play some PC-E games in RGB on Wii, but after seeing a tweet of someone hooking his Switch up to a CRT with a cheap convertor. After finding another chunky buddy i did the same with the mini’s as well and it works well enough.

The Famicom mini doesn’t fill the tiny screen though and one usb controller port for the -otherwise real good controller - of the PC-E failed me already. It seems to be a commom issue but i’d love to hack it someday and have quick access to Bloody Wolf and other games ^^

antillese

Never had a TG16/PCE, etc., but you can bet when it drops to $50 I’m going to impulse buy one.

billy

While it’s not an official mini console, I have one of these and I love it.

The build quality and screen are great, it emulates most 8/16-bit consoles and handhelds (plus some 32-bit games), and it scratches the nostalgia itch while providing something that’s actually practical. While it’s excellent for playing console games, it really comes into its own emulating handhelds, as playing them on a TV never felt quite right to me. It’s slightly smaller than a full-size Game Boy, and has X, Y, L and R buttons in addition to the standard GB buttons.

It’s based on the Pi Zero (Raspberry Pi’s own ‘mini’ variant, so post is super-double relevant) but there are also mod kits available for those who want to jam the bigger, more powerful Pi models in there.

exodus

There are a lot of emulator handhelds out there now, and I’ve been curious to try one, though I know I will probably play it for a bit and abandon it myself. Somehow I’ve never quite stuck with one of these. But people seem to reeeeeeeeeally like this one, and I’m kind of tempted to try it out: https://retrododo.com/rg350m/

billy

exodus I bought this one a couple of years ago and it arrived completely dead. The replacement unit arrived with a broken screen, so I gave up, took a refund and bought the GPi Case. I’m fairly confident with Pi/Linux stuff so figured the GPi would be a reliable, tweakable option.

edit: that new RG350 does look good

hellomrkearns

exodus the 350m does look cool. I got my RG350 shortly before this one was announced and i wish I held out a bit longer. The stick placement make way more sense and the metal body looks solid.

That said, still really happy with the RG350. The price is pretty great for what you get. Playing Mega Man Legends on it now!

exodus

wow, I love that the two things we linked here both got reviewed on retrododo (which is a site I don’t actually know at all) and that the headline in both cases was basically “the best retro handheld?”

I guess they can just keep making that statement with a question mark as many times as they want!

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