Hyperkin Megaretron HD Gaming Console for Genesis/Mega Drive – Sega Genesis

Back in the day, Sega ruled the video game world. And I spent hours with my kids playing Sega games (I also bought them Nintendo consoles, but Sega games were my personal favorite). I’m retired now and have more free time on my hands and wanted to relive the countless hours of fun that I had playing Sega games. However, most of the current Sega retro consoles have games built in and don’t take the cartridges; and that’s a deal breaker for me because I actually still have the original cartridges from when my kids and I played the games. After searching the net and amazon for something that would accept Sega cartridges (but wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg), I came across the Hyperkin Megaretron HD. It cost a bit more than some of the other similar consoles, but the reviews were all great; and for less than $100, I didn’t mind giving it a try. Man oh man! This little system rocks! The set-up was a no brainer and took only a few minutes. The Hyperkin is much smaller than the original Sega units, but works just as well as the originals. For my test run, I put in Phantasy Star IV and BOOM! Home Run! The game looks great and the music was as I remembered. I’ve gone thru several cartridges to make sure they’re still working and yes they are! I’m in Sega Retro Heaven!!!The only drawback is that it only comes with one controller, but for me that’s not really a problem as I’m going to be the only one playing most of the time and when I need an extra one, I still have my original Sega controllers, so I’m good! If you’re looking for a retro console to play the Original Sega Cartridges, then look no further, the Hyperkin Megaretron HD is what you’ve been waiting for!!!

3 month update: I want to love this system as much as my initial impression but this system has one flaw and that’s how tights these pins are.In my review below I thought the pins would loosen up. But sadly they haven’t and I worry they are gonna hurt these old game contacts to the point I stop playing my Genesis games and only leave my Everdrive inside the system.Updated my score to 3 stars since it’s a great addition if you just want to get a everdrive and leave it in the system, but use at your own risk if you have original cartridges you wanna play.Don’t let the price tag scare you. The MegaretroN just works.I found a Sega Genesis and 40 games at my local thrift store. I plugged it in and the AC adapter was shorting out and the AV video was terrible and stretched. So I tried the Pound HDMI cable for $30 and I got a horrible static sound. So I immediately returned it and saw MegaRetroN, but I was unsure for $35.I watched some YouTube reviews and the complaints people had I didn’t even noticed, like color templates? I think it actually looks more rich personally but color is subjective. So I asked my Facebook retro group and everyone told me to stay away from a clone console and just mod my OG sega, but I don’t have the time, energy and money to do that.So I sucked it up and took a chance and you know what? It’s Sega! I plugged it in and it turns on, it sounds good, it looks great on my HDTV (compared to RF and AV), It’s under warranty and new hardware, so I don’t need to solder capacitors.The included controller is a nice player two and would be fine for player one but I purchased a official sega controller from retrobit and prefer it just a little more. But this will run any controller because it’s a Sega.I have 50 common NTSC games and it runs them all fine, saves included, it boots up fast and I’m playing games. According to youtuber collectors this plays games other clone consoles can’t like reproductions, multi carts, virtua racing and everdrives. So I got a everdrive in the mail.I guess this won’t do Master system games unless you’re plugged into A/V or switched to Pal? I dunno I don’t really care and if I do, I’ll just wait for hyperkin to refresh this console, because other than that one thing this is perfect!Can I get a Analouge system? Sure, would love one, but at $189 compared to $35 for something that runs great, sounds great and looks Rich and colorful. I can wait until I REALLY want SMS games and I get tired waiting for a refresh..I am seriously sold on this. I am eyeing hyperkins other clone systems now like the RetroN 77 and the new RetroN 2 HD.Their is one small gripe. Pulling the games out is a tad hard, but I feel the “death grip” will loosen with time and it doesn’t hurt the system pins or my games, so I’m not knocking points for it.

I love this thing. I really can not beat it for the price. Great system that plays games perfectly with good sound production and heavy bass. You get a great controller with it as well. Myne was even paired with all the cables and power plug that I needed. I have the mega sg as well and some games I like on the mega retron better since the colors pop more and there is more definition between objects since it’s not as pixelated. The sg is like an emulator where is very sharp and the tones are all the same resulting in some games becomming what I call pixel soup. aesthetically looks nice too, kinda like a mini dreamcast/genesis 1 model. There is input latency but it is consistent so after a couple of seconds it disapeers. Unlike software emulation where the cycles can be off sometimes resulting in a frame or 2 of latency. Since it’s a hardware clone everything plays extremely smooth and you can relax knowing that if you get far in a game that nothing is going to happen.

I loved this damn thing but one day past the 30 day return window and it dies. Was playing fine, then black screen and no longer will play any game I put in it. Sucks.

When I first took it out of the box and plugged it in, the video signal was dropping every three seconds. The switch underneath the unit was set to PAL. After turning it over to NTSC, everything works as it should. The colors are very comparable to an original Genesis with no noticeable issues (like the RetroN HD for the NES). The controller feels good and there’s very little to no noticeable lag.I’m keeping an eye out for when the Mega SG is released, but for the time being, this is an affordable and very well built Genesis clone with HDMI.