Mega Drive, Small

I was a Sega kid before I switched to Nintendo. The games were something—Sonic, Ecco, Golden Axe, and then the RPGs: Phantasy Star, Landstalker, Shining Force. Games that still make sense when I think about them.

So Sega just announced a Mega Drive Mini. Exactly what it sounds like: the whole console shrunk down, pre-loaded with the classics, Sega’s counter to Nintendo’s SNES Classic. I don’t know when it comes out, probably late in the year, but the announcement hit harder than I expected.

Here’s the weird thing about these mini consoles. They work perfectly, which makes them feel like something that’s done. You get the game exactly as you remember it—no emulation approximation, no changes—and that exactness turns it into a museum piece. This is what you loved, perfectly preserved. There’s comfort in that. There’s also something kind of sad about it.

I’ll grab one when it comes out. Not because I need to replay these games. I’m carrying them around already, in whatever the memory equivalent of muscle memory is. But something about holding that console again, even if it’s a fancy version for adults, feels necessary. Like proof.