To commemorate the console’s upcoming 30th anniversary, Sega took the opportunity to unveil its own miniature “classic edition” version of the legendary 16-bit Genesis (or, as it was called in the rest of the world, the Mega Drive). The so-called “Mega Drive Mini” will be released in 2018, in Japan at least, Sega announced at a fan event today.

This could be a change in direction from the company’s long-standing relationship with AtGames, whose Sega Genesis Flashback console tried, and failed, to match Nintendo’s efforts last year.

Just last week, Sega’s COO said the company was interested in getting back into the hardware business, following the explosive success of Nintendo’s classic reissues. Sega famously exited the hardware business after the failure of the Sega Dreamcast in 2001.

As promising as that sounds, the source interview linked appears to suggest that Sega is simply interested in distributing the AtGames Mega Drive Flashback which, per the review above ... is not great. The model in the image above, with a cleaner version shared by Sega on Twitter which you can see below, don’t resemble the AtGames variant. For starters, it’s smaller than the Flashback console, missing a full-sized cartridge post and adding the console’s original volume slider.

Of course, we don’t know many details about the Mega Drive Mini; the hardware quality, what games will be included, the software emulation powering the games, whether Sega plans to release it in the west, or whether it’s just a redesign of the AtGame units all remain a mystery for now. We’ve reached out to Sega for details and will update this post accordingly.

30th anniversary of "MegaDrive" birth! "MegaDrive Mini" (provisional name) Decided to be released in 2018! A lot of memorable masterpieces games can be enjoyed with this one!

# Sega Hex # Mega Drive # Mega Drive 30th Anniversary