****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
So, I've recently been feeling nostalgic for the days of video gaming past. When games were, by today's technical standards anyway, simple but no less enjoyable. The Sega Genesis, in the late 80s/early-mid 90s, was a shining example of that and I wanted to get back into it.At first I thought of going with a Retron unit, but I've had bad luck with those in the past and decided against it. I then went ahead and ordered some original Genesis hardware from a site called DKOldies.com. Great prices and all but the system I ordered (Genesis 3) arrived heavily scratched, missing one of the covers on the cartridge slot, and the piece of crap controller they included stopped working after less than an hour of gameplay. No joke. Fortunately, the company made the return process very simple.Perusing Amazon for something comparable, I stumbled upon the Minigen. I was hesitant to give it a try because I'd never heard of Gamerz Tek before, and I figured it'd be a piece of crap like the Retrons I've had. But for $30 including two six-button controllers, it was worth a shot.Well, color me surprised, because this is easily the best clone system I've ever used. I wasn't expecting much at all, but my expectations were surpassed. The controllers are very well-made and responsive. Better than anything a Retron or AtGames system includes, for sure. I'd price the controllers alone at about $20 for the pair. They aren't quite as heavy as the original Genesis units, but they're more than sufficient.The name "Minigen?" Fits perfectly. This thing is actually smaller than the Genesis 3. It fits comfortably atop my Sony Blu-ray player with room to spare. See the included photo for reference.Above all else, the gameplay is smooth and flawless. Sure, it's not HDMI output, but for $30 that shouldn't be expected. The standard AV cable does the job just fine for games that are 20+ years old. It's my understanding that the system won't play Genesis games with certain "special" chips, i.e. Virtua Racing and Gargoyles, but I don't recall there even being too many titles like that anyway. You can always get an original Genesis 1 or 2 on the cheap if you really want to play those. I've tried the Minigen with each of the following games and they have all worked perfectly: Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 3, Streets of Rage, Maximum Carnage, Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition, Columns, Golden Axe, Revenge of Shinobi, Super Hang-On, Road Rash II, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, X-Men, and Disney's World of Illusion. Flawless, all of them.My only criticism: the grip on the cartridges in the slot is *very* tight. Like, visegrips-tight. The trick to getting a game out is to pull up from the left or right side of the cartridge, as opposed to straight up from the middle.But aside from that lone flaw, this was $30 well spent and I can't recommend it enough. Well-done, Gamerz Tek.
