Sega has considered the Dreamcast and Saturn Mini but is concerned about the high costs

It was one of the highlights of the week Mega Drive Mini 2 announced – The next mini-console from Sega, loaded with 50 games from the Mega Drive and Mega CD libraries. It will be released in October in Japan and will include games like audio CDAnd the fan current And the Virtua Race.

Although this news is exciting, it hasn’t stopped fan requests for mini versions of Sega else Consoles – such as Saturn and Dreamcast. So why did Sega decide to release Mega Drive 2 instead of something else? During an interview with FamitsuSega classic hardware producer Yosuke Okunari explained how the pandemic has shaped the outcome.

Here’s what he said (Courtesy of Twitter user Tweet embed):

He’s sure his ppl is like “How about a Saturn/Dreamcast Mini?” [and] Not like them [Sega] He didn’t explore the idea – the MD Mini’s internals can’t adequately handle Saturn games, and developing and manufacturing new chips during the pandemic is a difficult and expensive process.

…so, even if they’d go ahead with the Saturn Mini anyway, it could be pretty expensive – he jokes that he might want to release a small device that costs about the same as a modern, authentic console.

That’s when the Mega Drive Mini 2 came into the picture, as an “extension” of the original – making it more manageable during the pandemic, in terms of schedule and manufacturing. It should be noted that there is still a “much less production run” for this machine – with the initial focus on stocking Japan. Okonari is aware of the demand abroad but remains focused on Japan for now, where the team knows the market.

Although the price of the second Mega Drive Mini is higher—due to an improved chipset, increased memory to fit Mega CD games, and an increased component price—Okunari is confident that the larger game library will justify the price.

Okonari also mentioned how the team looked at making another Game Gear Micro, but that high semiconductor prices made a portable microsecond unit costs “1.5 times the manufacturing price” of the original micro model. It is assumed that the team could not risk selling at the same price and did not want to increase the suggested retail price.

Yosuke Okunari previously mentioned how Sega has considered making other mini consolesFor now, however, the focus is on Mega Drive Mini 2:

Would you like to someday see a Sega release for mini consoles based on the Dreamcast and Saturn? Are you willing to pay more? Give us your ideas below.