A group of people born between the 70s and 80s and passionate about SEGA consoles, have announced their project to manufacture a super console dedicated to all the video games of this Japanese firm, seeking funds to produce a first batch this year.
The Spanish video game sector is beginning to learn about a project developed by several software experts, which aims to create a new physical console capable of using all SEGA brand video games, from the oldest to some of the most recent. As a way to meet the nostalgic demand of video game lovers, the team seeks to obtain the necessary funds through crowdfunding to make the model they have shared in a press release a reality.
Through a Xilinx FPGA/ASIC (owned by AMD), this new console, baptized “SUPERSEGA”, would allow players to use the original cartridges to play their favorite titles from the retro consoles manufactured by the Japanese brand again. . For other more modern titles, you could also insert a CD or DVD, as well as use an SD card. They will use an UltraScale+ platform, which has somewhat more affordable prices than other technologies.
The console would also have 8 ports for joystick controls, being able to use both the original ones and other modern ones via USB, WiFi connection and Bluetooth. With all this, the device would have dimensions of 500 x 200 x 10 mm, according to the information shared by the project. They have official websitestill empty, in which they will soon publish more information about the project, and will probably collect their financial objectives to be able to move forward with production.
Specifically, these are all the SEGA models whose original games would be compatible with this new device:
- Sega SG-3000
- Master System
- Mega Drive or Genesis
- Sega Saturn or Dreamcast: in disk form thanks to the built-in CD and DVD reader
A Spanish initiative
The idea is headed by Alejandro Martín, a computer engineer and developer, and Tony Hernández, a CAD designer. Carlos López and Cristina Burgués, who also have experience in the technology sector, are also part of the team.
Cristina Burgués says: “Until SUPERSEGA has a working prototype, they won’t launch any funding campaign. We currently have almost all of the Sega console games up to the Saturn in a functional and playable state, and some Dreamcast games that are playable so far, so good. But until we finish the prototype, we won’t consider launching the project.” On the other hand, Alejandro Martín assures that they had been “working on an SS Core for a few years. Until now, there was hardly any suitable FPGA hardware, but with the Ultrascale+ platform, things have changed and prices seem more reasonable than before. With a minimum of 100,000 to 1,000,000 logic cells, it is now possible to make Dreamcast behavior with sufficient speed.”
There is still no planned date for the possible launch.
