Sega announced the Mega Drive Mini 2 last week, its latest mini console featuring 50 Mega Drive and Mega CD titles including Sonic CD, Virtua Racing, Thunder Force IV, and more for ¥9,980 ($75). Yosuke Okunari, Sega’s classic hardware producer, has now followed that announcement up with more disappointing news for gamers who had been expecting a Dreamcast or Saturn Mini to be revealed instead, suggesting that both are unlikely to happen due to their “fairly expensive” manufacturing costs. These systems are fondly remembered for being home to some of Sega’s most iconic titles, such as Panzer Dragoon Saga, Nights into Dreams, and Radiant Silvergun, the majority of which were initially exclusive to the Saturn before finding their way to other platforms. Dreamcast, Sega’s last and presumably final console, counts Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, and Soul Calibur as some of its best-rated titles.
“Some of you may say ‘this isn’t a Sega Saturn Mini’ or ‘I wanted a Dreamcast mini’, it’s not that we didn’t think about that direction,” Okunari said. “The development of new boards has been stagnant due to the Coronavirus and, of course, it would be a fairly expensive product in terms of cost.”
The Mega Drive Mini 2 will include 50 Mega Drive and Mega CD titles, including arcade ports and what Sega describes as a “mysterious new work”.
The Mega Drive Mini 2 will be released on October 27 in Japan and will cost ¥9,980 ($75). Sega has yet to confirm a western release.
The first Mega Drive Mini was released in 2019 and included 42 games, with the libraries differing per region. It included new ports of Darius and Tetris, which had never been released before.