Sega Genesis Flashback HD 2017 Console 85 Games Included

Our story begins back in early 2017. A company called Atgames had been making Sega branded products including Mega Drive and Genesis since 2008 as well as Atari Flashbacks since 2011. Business was good at Atgames but their Sega customers complained that the Atgames Sega Genesis Firecore Systems had poor sound emulation and that their infrared wireless controllers did not respond as good as they would like them to. This troubled Atgames because these problems were hurting their reputation with their customers. Atgames wanted to make their customers happy. So Atgames looked at the current market and saw that Sega’s former rival Nintendo had just released the NES Classic, a mini console, much like the ones that Atgames made, only this one had built in NES games instead of the typical Sega or Atari games that you would find on an average Atgames mini console. Atgames also heard rumors that Nintendo would be releasing an SNES mini before the end of 2017. Since the NES mini sold well, Atgames thought that the SNES mini would sell just as well or maybe even better and since Atgames already had a contract with Sega, Atgames convinced Sega to let Atgames license not only the Mega Drive games, cartridge slot, controller ports and controllers but also the very appearance of the original Model 1 Mega Drive and Genesis. This made Atgames very happy. They got right to work making their brand new retro console. It was going to be a console like no other, “The Ultimate Genesis”!!! Only one problem, in order to beat Nintendo to the gate and restart the 16 Bit Wars! Atgames had to have the console ready in 6 short months. The engineers and programmers were not very happy when they found out about this deadline because they knew that it would take an entire year to make a proper console. The corporate executives told the engineers and programmers that they had to release “something” for the 2017 holiday session, but promised that they would be able to finish their dream console for the 2018 holiday session. The engineers and programmers knew this was a bad idea but went along with it anyway firstly because they wanted to keep their jobs and secondly wanted to see their vision of the perfect Genesis console released in 2018. So this became a 2 part plan. Release one console in 2017 and revise and improve the console for 2018. Thus creating 2 separate and different consoles with the same name: “The Atgames Sega Genesis Flashback” (2017 & 2018 Models). So the engineers and programmers knew there was no way to have a finished product ready for review by the fall of 2017, so they just sent out “Alpha” prototypes of the system to reviewer with unfinished software. The reviewers were unhappy with these very early prototypes so they threatened to write bad reviews unless Atgames fixed the software problems. Atgames agreed and had the reviewers return the consoles to Atgames and Atgames did everything they could to fix the software problems, thereby creating “Bata” prototypes to send back to reviewers. The reviews of these “Bata” units were mixed, but Atgames had no choice, time was up, so Atgames had to release the “Bata” prototypes as “The 2017 Atgames Sega Genesis Flashback HD” in order to complete with the SNES Classic for the 2017 holiday session. Customer reviews were mixed as well for the 2017 Model. Many complained about the menu, controllers, appearance, emulation and compatibility. This made Atgames sad. All they ever wanted to do was make the perfect console and now everybody thinks they make bad consoles. This is not good. It even cost Atgames their relationship with Sega and resulted in Sega ending their contract with Atgames at the end of 2018 and Sega would no longer allow Atgames to work on Sega’s upcoming Sega Genesis Mini for 2019. So the engineers and programmers continued to work on the 2018 console and took all of the 2017 console customers feedback into consideration. They wanted to show everyone, even Sega that Atgames could make a good console. They worked as hard as they could and finally finished “The 2018 Atgames Sega Genesis Flashback HD” right before the 2018 holiday session. Atgames was happy again. They finally released a good console. Unfortunately, they were so hard at work on the Genesis Flashback that they mistakenly neglected another Atgames project, Blast! When Blast review copies went out, they did not have the same ROMS as the ones that went out to stores. This made the reviewers mad so they said that they would not review anymore of Atgames products. This made Atgames sad again because they finally made the perfect Sega Genesis, but there was nobody to review it. They released the 2018 Sega Genesis Flashback anyway, “under the radar” with almost no reviews and very little coverage. They had spent most of their advertising budget on the 2017 model and any money they had left on finishing the 2018 model. Because of this most people do not even know that a 2018 model exists. That’s too bad, because this is one of the greatest consoles that Atgames ever made and that, my friends, is why two consoles have the same name. The 2018 Atgames Sega Genesis Flashback HD has many upgrades, a few downgrades and a few things even stayed the same. For starters let’s talk about the CPU. It’s a Dual Core 32 Bit ARM Cortex A9 SOC rated at 1.5 GHz (1.6 GHz with Overdrive enabled) and a Quad Core Mali-400 MP GPU rated at 400 MHz. This CPU is 50% faster than the 2017 model. How’s that for Blast Processing! Next let’s talk about system memory. The memory is 256 MB DDR3 SDRAM (the same as the 2017 model) and the onboard flash storage is 256 MB Nand Flash (down from 4 GB for the 2017 model). As far as ports on the console itself; it has 1 HDMI port, 1 USB power port (new for 2018), 2 9 pin controller Ports, Mega Drive/Genesis cartridge port, SD card port (new for 2018), on/off switch, menu button and an LED power indicator light. The console shell is also new for 2018 including a cosmic volume slider, revised cartridge slot, revised logos, revised button and switch, revised light bar and revised dimensions (the 2018 model is slightly deeper giving the console a larger appearance without taking up much more space). As far as the controllers, the changes include removing the rewind and menu buttons from the second controller, converting the p1/p2 switches to on/off switches, easy access battery cases and p1 and p2 labels. An HDMI cable, USB power supply and instruction poster are also included. The box is almost identical to the 2017 model.

Build material: Cheap lightweight plastic. Controllers: Semi functional but suck for Mortal Kombat. Cheap plastic and have latency. System: Is nothing like the original Sega Genesis, has frame Drops on the fighting games like: Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2 and Mortal Kombat 3. If you are not getting it for the Mortal Kombats then I guess it works fine. I got it for the MK1,MK2 and MK3 as well as Shinobi and Sonics. It does not play Mortal Kombats 1, 2 or 3 well, not sure if its the shitty controllers, Frame Drops caused by system that is an emulator and not a traditional system, or if its caused by Latency from the system? For example combos drop all the time and inputs don't always go through when playing MK3. I gave it 3 stars because its functional with most games but wanted to be clear so others know its nothing like the Original Sega Genesis. Pros: - has alot of old games, 45 Sega games and the rest are from something else. - HDMI and works on HDTVs. - has two 2.4hz Wireless Controllers. - Has 45 Original Sega Genesis Games built in its emulator. Including Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, Virtua Fighter, Sonics, Shinobi III, Vector man 1/2. Con's: - System/Controllers are Made from poor 3rd world Chinese plastic and that's being generous. - System has Frame Rate Drops when playing Fighting games like Mortal Kombat-MK3(Hard to do combos). - Controllers have lag on Mortal Kombats 3. - Controllers are made out of a very cheap Plastic. - System won't play all Sega Cartridges! But plays most.

Don't buy this one .....even though this one has 85 games as opposed to 25 or 35 or 45 this one doesn't have any of the good games like the other Sega's seem to come with ....this one has all the Mortal Combats and Sonic's and kid chameleon but that's about it . 30 of these games are unplayable.... No earthworm Jim no Streets of Rage .

This isn't a bad console at all. Yes, it's by AtGames, not Sega. Sega hasn't made a console since the Dreamcast. The last unit they produced that played Genesis games was the Nomad, even the Genesis 3 was made by a different company (Majesco.) However, this is officially licensed, that's why they're allowed to model it after the Sega Genesis model 1. It's very light, because it's basically a couple of boards inside and not much else. The plastic isn't super cheap feeling, it has a solid feel to it. It has an on/off switch, menu button, (instead of reset) two controller ports, an HDMI hookup, power hookup and a cartridge slot. That's about all there is to it. The controllers are OK, 2.4 GHz wireless instead of the old IR "line of sight" controllers AtGames used to do, so I've experienced no issues with them not working. Also, you can use wired controllers with it. The controllers are a bit on the small size, about the size of the 6 button controller from the Genesis 3. The main negatives (for me) are the fact that the battery cover on them is screwed on, assuring that quick battery changes won't be so quick, and there's an annoying blue LED that flashes whenever you push anything on the controller. That gets aggravating in your peripheral vision. The unit also takes longer than a regular Genesis to boot up because it's running modified Android, and loading a cartridge takes an additional few seconds. Game play is actually pretty smooth on this. I play with my TV on GAME settings, which some people probably aren't doing. This turns off all HDTV "enhancement" filters, allowing for smoother game play. Is it perfect? No, but it's good. I haven't noticed any slowdowns, and I've played a good portion of the 66 official games on this. (I won't be playing any of the 19 shovelware titles) I've also done considerable cartridge testing and the only issue I've noticed is a slight popping sound in the audio on one game (Captain America and the Avengers.) I know it's not my cartridge, because I play that game regularly. The real value of this console comes in the bundled games. The Raspberry Pi crowd won't be impressed, but some of these games are quite up there in price, most notably Shining Force, Shining Force II and Golden Axe III. Those three games alone will cover the cost of the console. In fact, Golden Axe III was produced in tiny numbers and is pretty rare, so even reproduction carts are over $30. Anyway, if you add up all of the games and source them on the web, then you've got at least a couple hundred dollars' worth in games, possibly even more. I personally only already owned 4 of the games on carts, so it's a great deal for me. Plus, it comes with several Master System and Game Gear games, which would require additional hardware to run their carts. As I said, the number of actual Sega games is 66, the largest number on an AtGames Genesis console. That leaves only 19 "bonus" games to pad the number to 85 games. Another nice feature is save states, even on cartridges. It seems each game gets a generous 10 save slots. I've tested it with cartridges and it works great. In fact, when you go to load the cart, you get the option up front to continue your save or start from the beginning. Even if you start from the beginning,the save state stays where it is. So, all in all, this is a good console. I wouldn't recommend it for hardcore gamers or purists, most of them will be playing on original hardware and CRT TVs anyway. This is more for people like me, people who were alive during the Genesis era and remember how great it was and just want to play some games. Some of us still have cartridges and no Genesis, and we want to game on a HDTV. We aren't worried about absolute perfection, though I haven't found many flaws in this console. It's also good for people starting out with the Genesis who want a console that works great on a HDTV and that comes with a great collection of games built in.

[Update: As I write this update, the pictures here seem to be of the same thing that I reviewed, but the product is now described by Amazon as "Sega Genesis Flashback by Sega," not "Sega Genesis Flashback HD 2017 with 85 games"; also, judging from the offers for it (or for whatever is currently being sold here), it is more scarce and MUCH pricier. I'm not sure if what *I* bought is not what is currently being peddled here (although the pictures seem to be the same); if different products (either including or excluding what I bought) are being lumped together under the same product link (which would be classic Amazon); or if it's just that Amazon's description has changed (erroneously, since it says "by Sega") and the product IS more scarce and so much costlier. I'm going to leave my review here, though, in case people might for SURE find the product that I actually reviewed somewhere!] First off, I'd like to make it absolutely clear that I am writing about the console that is on display here, the Sega Genesis Flashback HD 2017 with 85 games (no card slots), not any other version. So far, I like this console. It was put out by AtGames, not Sega themselves, although it is a Sega-licensed product, so it is "legitimate." I haven't played ALL of the games here (I don't know if I ever will), but form what I've experienced so far, I think it's pretty cool. It has an overall really nice selection of games and set-up is a snap. Some of the games are actually Game Gear or Master System games, but that's OK with me. Actually, only 66 of the games here are ones that came out for the Sega systems, as 19 of them are so-called "bonus games" that were not related to Sega in any way. I don't personally care so much for some of the "Sega" games, but I think most of them are good selections. (More on the "bonus games" below.) As for the controllers, to me they seem to be put together pretty well, and they feel fine in my hands --- a pretty much perfect fit. I would probably be completely satisfied with them if not for the fact that one of the ones I got doesn't work. Fortunately, my bro has "real" Genesis controllers (which the console works with!), but using any of them would require some digging, as they (and the "real" Genesis) are in storage! One review I read complained about the little blue light that flashes on the controller when you press a button being in your peripheral vision. I've found that if I hold the controller facing toward me, rather than holding it flat, the light isn't noticeable. Doing this doesn't make using the controller any harder, at least not for me. (Incidentally, the light on the defective controller I received flashes whenever a button is pressed, although nothing else happens.) It seems that people have also complained about other technical problems, such as lag and bad sound. Well, on the TV that I'VE been using the console on, the games have both looked and sounded fine (no, they're not full-screen, but that isn't really bothersome to me, although I would have preferred them to be full-screen), and I've experienced zero lag. Another problem for people, it seems, is the interface; I don't find it THAT hard to navigate. At least one person has even said that Sonic 1 and 2 are only demos... not true, at least not on MY console. As you can see, I have found the technical complaints about this console, or at least the ones I know of, to not be true (or, with the flashing-light one, easy to overcome), at least in my case. However, I HAVE read that the console did have some technical issues at launch, but these were corrected later; I don't really know if MY console is a "later" one, but I figure it probably is, since I bought it ("new") very recently. Given the console's current 3-and-a-half-star average rating out of 140+ reviews, I'm thinking that a large number of the reviewers probably got "early" ones, though I can't say for certain; it just seems to me that if this were not the case, the console would have a higher average rating. Maybe that's just me. Anyway, I figure that if you buy now, you'll most likely get a "corrected" one, at least if you buy a new-condition one. One complaint (albeit not a really big one) I have that actually concerns the games themselves is that (like one or two other people whose reviews I read) I would have preferred to have the Streets Of Rage games instead of the first three Mortal Kombat games. Another, relatively minor game-related complaint I have is that your characters on certain "Sega" games seem to have ice physics going on, as they are rather slippery. This is how it was on the original cartridge releases, or at least I assume it is, as neither my bro nor I have the cartridge releases. Although the "bonus games" on this console seem to be none too popular with reviewers, I think the ones I've played are actually kind of neat, even if there isn't much to them. (They are clear rip-offs of other games, or some of them are, anyway; for one example, Cross The Road is basically Frogger). I would have preferred to have 19 more actual "Sega" games, but I don't really mind these. Really, they aren't THAT terrible (at least, I don't think the ones I've played are). One great feature this console has is that you can save any of your games at (I think) any time, and it seems there are plenty of save slots (10 of them!) for each game. As of yet, no cartridge games have been tried on my console, but it's really cool that the console can play them (from what I've read, the console can play not ALL but MOST Genesis cartridge games). If any are ever tried on mine, I may update and say which ones did or didn't work. I think that overall, this is a really good console; worth the price I paid for it (about $58 new) --- even if mine did come with a non-functional controller!

Owning both the SNES Classic and the Sega Genesis Flashback HD 2017, and being happy with both systems, I have chosen to write a review because of all the scary negative reviews, especially on You Tube. Likes: It plays Shinobi III. It looks nice sitting in front of my television, dare I say better than the SNES Classic. The ability to play actual cartridges is an amazing plus. Especially aesthetically when compared to the cartridge less SNES Classic. The wireless controllers are a definite plus to live with day in and day out. I personally have forgotten how annoying wired controllers are over the years. A huge plus, game state saves and the ability to exit the game from the controller. Just OK: The interface. Others have discussed this in other reviews. That said once you set the game you are playing into favorites you wont need to mess around with the interface. Dislikes: The emulations have crashed on me at least once. The controllers are not as refined as the SNES Classic controllers, but that being said mine shipped with both wired and wireless, both very usable. Honestly, I figured I'd end up buying replacement controllers, as this system will use classic genesis controllers and have never felt the need. Conclusion: If you would like to relive a little of your past, buy this bad boy. Every house guest and friend has demanded a chance to play it upon seeing it in front of the television. Just a reminder, 16 bit gaming is what it is. The games did not magically improve past their limitations in the past 28 years. That being said I have now played through all of Shinobi II a game I never completed as a child. So for me, worth every penny.

The system arrived on schedule and has some of my favorite games from the 1990s. That said, there was no instruction book with it, either to set it up or for the games on it (even though the box it came in said it was supposed to have one), all the batteries that came with it were dead, and if I play it for more than an hour at a time, I am almost guaranteed that the system will freeze and need to do a hard reboot to get it working again. I don't recommend this system unless you are willing to put up with these issues. Don't depend on in-game saves, use the systems' save process instead.

Not perfect, occasionally glitches or freezes but not as much as their cheaper model that I returned in order to purchase this. Wireless controllers work fine and much preferred.