All of the old-school gaming systems are making a return with mini versions. We've seen the
original mini PlayStation, the mini Super NES, and even a mini original Nintendo Classic.
Well, Sega doesn't want to be left out, and today we're going to see how this tiny guy
works from the inside.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
Well, I think it's time we talk about the elephant in the room. If you had a Sega growing
up, you were probably only half as cool as the kid with a Nintendo down the street. But
hey, something is better than nothing. My mom would only let me have a Gameboy as a
kid. Probably so I would turn out normal or something. Which I totally did. Sonic the
Hedgehog is Sega's claim to fame, and this mini console does come with three of those
games, along with 39 other titles built right into the console – mega hits everyone's
heard of like Earthworm Jim, Golden Ax, and don't fall off the ladder while hanging Christmas
lights or you might break your wrist...you know...the classics.
Inside of the box we get an instruction booklet, along with a tiny 5 watt USB charger, 2 Genesis
controllers (we'll have to take these apart in a second), both of them communicate with
a six-foot-long USB cable that plugs right into the console. There is a micro USB power
cord along with an HDMI cable. Finally, we get the Sega Genesis mini in it's own little
tiny cardboard box, right here in all of its glory. The full size version was released
in Japan in 1988. Sixteen-bit graphics were a pretty big deal back then. Nintendo wouldn't
release a 16-bit system for 2 more years, in 1990. But then after that, Nintendo kind
of took over.
For a graphical reference, the Gameboy only had 8-bit graphics. The top slot does have
springy doors that open up but no pins inside, and no cartridges. We'll have to see if this
hole leads anywhere in just a second. There is one other random little door off to the
side which has nothing under it and goes nowhere. Not sure if this has anything to do with the
original system or not.
To get inside of the Sega Genesis mini, there are 6 Phillips head screws holding on the
back plastic panel. Once those are out I can pull off the top exposing the motherboard
and the underside of the top plastics. We can see here that the little cartridge slot
in the top is just for aesthetics. Pretty cool that it opens up though. You could totally
hide all kinds of stuff in here. The mini Nintendo version just had solid pieces of
plastic covering these slots. So Sega's attention to detail is pretty nice.
The backside of the console has its micro USB power port along with the HDMI output.
The two USB ports for the controllers are on the front. I'll pull off the metal heat
plate over the motherboard. It's got 3 screws of it's own. When the metal plate comes off,
we can see that there is a tiny square of thermal foam on top of the processor. No fans
or anything. Just a simple board and metal plate for the heat dissipation. Kind of like
how smartphones work. The motherboard has one more screw holding it to the base and
there's nothing else really super interesting down here.
The upper side of the board has the power slider and reset button. What is pretty interesting
though is that the volume slider on the exterior is just for decoration. There is nothing connecting
that slider to anything inside of the console, so controlling the volume of the console will
be done through the HDMI and the TV. I wonder how many people got tricked by that button...probably
like all 5 of them who bought this. Well, six including me.
With the metal plate back on we can see that there is an LED built right into the motherboard.
And this shines up through the power on light on top of the console. The LED is pretty far
away from the actual exterior though. Once I get the console put back together I can
set it off to the side and grab the 3 button Genesis controller. These guys have the 6
foot cable which is a huge perk over the three foot controller cable that came with the mini
Nintendo Classic. Once the 6 Phillips head screws on the back of the controller are removed,
I can pop off the back of the controller exposing a bone-white circuit board. I'll be super
careful with removal because bones are bones, and bones can break. It's green on the other
side. Each of the exterior plastic buttons are solid plastic. And each of them have custom
pegs on the back that only allow the correct button to fall into the correct corresponding
hole. We've seen similar fail safe assembly designs in basically every controller we've
taken apart, including the new Nintendo Switch.
On the underside of each of the plastic buttons is a rubber pad. This would allow the buttons
to be pressed and then spring back up into place. The motherboard has little contact
pads on the surface. And like and Switch, when the two sides of each button area are
connected with this conductive material, the Sega console gets a signal that the button
has been pressed. The rubber pads each have their own black conductive area on the bottom.
Pretty smart design. No mechanical parts or springs to get lost or jammed. Just rubber,
which should last for a pretty long time.
The way the cable ties into the back of the controller though are not quite as strong
as what we saw inside of the Nintendo controllers. This only has one point of contact and could
probably be broken if twirled around or thrown. The Nintendo controller cables were much more
secure. The cable was wrapped around inside of a few posts inside of the controller before
extending out the top. So don't abuse the controllers too much.
Basically, if your mom never let you have a gaming console growing up, now's your chance
to buy the mini versions of all of them. The Sega mini is like $50 on Amazon right now.
I'll put a link in the description. And if your mom ever comes over, you can just hide
them all real quick since they're so small. She'll never even know.
Personally, I think this thing is pretty awesome. Thumbs up to Sega for making a comeback. Now
I think I want to see a mini Nintendo 64 with its 64-bit graphics. Now if you'll excuse
me, I'm going to go look up cheat codes for the Christmas light hanging game because I
definitely lost my last round.
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And thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.