The other day I was looking for Chicago Enforcers jerseys on Poshmark. That's an actual real thing I did, I'm not ashamed. Somehow that search led me to their video game section. I thought Poshmark was only for clothes. What do I know about anything though?
That's where I spotted this listing:
Now that's a terrible deal. I bought that same thing at a Dollar General for under $30. Sega Genesis clone systems like this were a staple of their "black friday" deals in the early-to-mid 2010s.
The first, so far only, question for this listing didn't floor me:
OK two things:
Right? They all do? Let's find out...
To make my life slightly easier, I'm going to finally unbox this:
This will turn a regular RCA cable, of which I have many, into an RCA extension cord. It's clearly been in a drawer of cables for a long time. I don't remember what plans I had in mind when I bought it.
Yes, I simply wanted to show a picture of something with a RadioShack logo on it. Also it saves me walking like 3 feet when I want to change systems. I probably upset someone by opening this.
With that out of the way, let's see the clones.
This is an imitation Sega Nomad with some built-in games. The quality of the system is not awesome. Mine came with a crooked sticker along the top. This was also a "black friday" deal at Dollar General. This site is not sponsored by Dollar General.
It includes an earphone jack and A/V out.
It plays most Sega Genesis cartridges. A non-supported cartridge acts like there is no cartridge at all.
The whole thing looks and feels extremely cheap, because it is. I'm not bashing it. I understand that buying a cheap system means I bought a cheap system.
does this have sonic and the hedgehog
Yes, it includes two games that meet the minimal definition of "sonic and the hedgehog". Although it does not include Sonic 1 or 2.
The full game list
OK, time to rate this:
Game Selection | Emulation |
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The game selection is good but not overwhelming. It's a pretty standard assortment of games in a Sega Genesis collection except for a complete lack of Sonic 1 or 2. Games play fine on it. The sound is funky but that's going to be reoccurring theme today.
This is the thing seen in the Poshmark listing. With the cartridge slot for scale you can tell it's very small. I would not use this as a primary Sega Genesis system. It's the kind of thing you'd throw in a guest room. I don't have a guest room, I imagine if I did it would include some games. That seems like a good guest amenity. I would overthink which cartridges to include in the guest room. I'd want to avoid looking like a hipster by including some virtually unknown sleeper games. I also wouldn't want to look like a poser by including extremely common games. I'd also want a couple different genres. See, I'm overthinking it already. Let's just go with OutRun, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego, Madden '96, and Super Street Fighter II. I think that covers it.
Alright, the console:
It includes two wireless controllers that are junk.
They look nice but don't work well.
That's OK because it has connections for original Sega Genesis controllers too.
It has mono AV out and requires a power brick.
Hmm... it's gotta be one of these:
I did not test it exhaustively, but it appears to have the same cartridge support as its portable cousin.
does this have sonic and the hedgehog
Yes, it has 5 games that people would recognize as "sonic and the hedgehog".
The full game list
OK, time to rate this:
Game Selection | Emulation |
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This is an impressive game selection. It could only be improved with some RPGs and I suspect they didn't emulate save batteries. The emulation is no better or worse than the previous system.
I'm unboxing two items today. I've been annoyed at how much space this takes up for years now.
It's not like I have this box displayed anywhere. It's in a storage cube with a dozen other cheap plug 'n play systems like it.
Before I destroy the box, here's what the back looks like:
Wait, what's that?
Interesting - the player names have been scrubbed. I vaguely remember Madden '95 being the first in the series with player names. This seems to suggest benching Dan Marino for Bernie Kosar. Also there was no 88 for the Detroit Lions that year and even so he would have been a receiver. The 52 for Buffalo would have been... John Holecek, a linebacker. No, I did not know that off-hand. You won't find another site that thinks this much about a blurry screenshot on the box for a cheap clone system.
Anyway, let's fire-up the original and compare:
So at a glance, this looks like a quickly thrown together product. I don't think that's the case now. Besides the removal of the names, they also replaced the licensed music. Doing the former while avoiding text formatting issues, and doing the latter at all, are not trivial ROM hacks.
I have to question their choice of games now. Madden '94 would have been less work because it lacks player names. NHL '94 has a hardcore cult following. I get it's a year older but it seems like a better choice. '95 wasn't the last year for these games on the Sega Genesis, they lasted 3 more. For the target demographic of these gizmos, '95 was the de-facto final 16-bit version of these. So I understand why '95 was selected.
There is a manual included:
And the system itself:
That beat-up looking system there, that is exactly how it was out of the box. It's also heavier than it appears.
The d-pad is kind of funky but functional. It has an internal battery for saving.
The games look kinda off. These are not just bad pictures, they really do not look right.
They play well enough though. This is fine for a quick nostalgia hit if these were someone's old favorites.
does this have sonic and the hedgehog
No, of course it does not.
The full game list
OK, time to rate this:
Game Selection | Emulation |
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I was going to knock the emulation score down to 2 but remembered it supports saving which is a nice addition. I suppose that makes up for the odd graphics.
I could swear "Radica" was the name of a 90s alt-brit band. Anyway, I bought this in 2009 and haven't used it much.
They made an interesting design choice with this system. The miniature Sega Genesis is mostly a battery compartment. It probably but not definitely has the chip running the games crammed in there too. That could also be in the controller. I'm not doing a tear-down.
The look of the controller is alright. I could see a 3rd party controller in that color selling in 1992. The competition that year was not great, this controls better than the average 3rd party controller of 1992.
does this have sonic and the hedgehog
Yes, it has the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
The full game list
OK, time to rate this:
Game Selection | Emulation |
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Kind of a meh selection compared to the AtGames clones. The games all look and sound just enough off to knock it down a point on this totally arbitrary ranking I invented out of nowhere.
This is the first of these systems that I've played close to heavily.
This is a small enough system to throw in your backpack for a business trip. I have done this many times. If I'm given a choice between (a) go out to dinner with co-workers or (b) eat at the hotel bar alone then play poorly emulated Genesis in my room - I will choose (b) every single time. 10/10, would recommend. The wireless controllers let you kick back and play from a distance.
I mean the controllers aren't any good but the range is fine and I'm usually not playing action games.
The real reason I've brought this system along so many times is the SD card support.
You know, for playing homebrew games. Just homebrew games. Here it is playing one now:
It includes some knock-off Wii Sports games:
These are OK. They were probably a lot of effort. 90% of the golf game is watching the ball landing animation which goes on forever. I don't think the controllers have any precision to the motion. For example, in the baseball game flailing the controller at the right time will always produce a home run. If you had an extremely gullible child in 2006 perhaps you could convince them this was a Wii.
does this have sonic and the hedgehog
It does and it's weird. The menu has dozens of entries that are names of Sonic stages. Choosing one starts the game as normal but after the title screen you immediately start at the selected level. Perhaps I should have chosen screen shots that match to explain this better.
The full game list
OK, time to rate this:
Game Selection | Emulation |
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It's not an amazing game selection but that's not the appeal of this clone.
I believe the official name of this is the "Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Player". It was another sub-$30 deal one weekend in November. The screen and buttons are an upgrade from the first AtGames portable device on this page. This is one of the better clones covered on this page, really the best one so far.
It does not have a cartridge slot but has an SD slot. You know, for homebrew games.
See, it runs homebrew games just fine. Maybe other games work off the SD card too.
Here's a close-up of the button layout, I can't recall why I thought this was important to include.
I think I wanted to illustrate they are better than the other AtGames portable clone. It's a cheap system for sure, but it feels slightly less cheap than the others.
does this have sonic and the hedgehog
This one also has 5 games that people would recognize as "sonic and the hedgehog".
The full game list
OK, time to rate this:
Game Selection | Emulation |
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Including the Mortal Kombat games is a big licensing win for AtGames. This is also the first clone system with RPGs included.
This is the newest Genesis clone as of whenever I posted this. It is an attempt to recreate the NES Classic craze that enriched so many scummy scalpers.
This is an HDMI system that I assume runs Android. It supports USB controllers and includes an OK reproduction of the original controller. It's a 3 button controller despite the system including at least one game that really needs a 6 button one. The emulation is very good, that's the biggest selling point of this. It costs more than the other clones but it's overall a better experience.
does this have sonic and the hedgehog
This whole article was just an excuse to try out a very cheap HDMI capture device I bought recently. For all the other systems I took bad pictures from my fairly old phone. Anyway, this has fewer "sonic and the hedgehog" games than some of the cheaper clones.
The full game list
OK, time to rate this:
Game Selection | Emulation |
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This is going to be the overall winner. It cost about as much as all the other ones combined so the quality should be a lot better. The game selection is a tad eclectic. It feels like it is going for a "greatest hits" compilation.
That's all I have this time around. I already declared this article would be "brief". I know there are many clone systems I did not cover. If I acquire any new-to-me ones I will likely add them to this page.
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