Wednesday, October 14, 2009

RetroGen and GenMobile User Reviews

While I've been happily playing my Sega Nomad which recently has returned to me (thanks Mom and Dad!), others have been receiving their RetroGen and GenMobile handhelds and have written or taped reviews. Rather than scour the internets and the Google to find these, I've conveniently linked and posted them here for you Sega fans. Are these the Nomad killers we've been waiting for? Or simply the Nomad's smaller dumber cousins? I'll give my opinion after the reviews.

The first RetroGen review comes from The Coolinator, you can read the full review at his blog. Here are some snippets:

The device itself is incredibly light and well made. The screen is a good size, it's not as big as it appears on the box or in pictures, but its a solid 2.8". The buttons are nice. It takes a little while to get used to them because they are set at an angle but they get the job done.

The only thing that isn't too good about it is the D-Pad which surprised the hell out of me because the D-Pad on the Retrogen "looked" a whole lot better then the GenMobiles one.


Next is a YouTube review of the RetroGen from EddieJ1984:



QuickSciFi created this two part review:





Finally we have a review of the GenMobile:


GENmobile

DDRGame|MySpace Videos


So there you have it! Both portables have been released and are receiving fairly positive reviews. What do I think? Maybe it's the cranky old man in me, but I'm not impressed. Sure the screen quality is great and the battery is awesome, but the control scheme, screen size and especially SOUND are all nothing compared to the Nomad. The Nomad even has the extra advantage of having a second control port. Sure, the Nomad has a short battery life, but batteries have improved greatly since 1995. Batteries exist that have nearly twice the juice as old batteries, and with rechargeable batteries you don't have to repurchase at every draining.

My final word: If you need to play Genesis games on the go, and aren't afraid to look like a dork, stick with your Nomad. If you are Nomad-less, don't care about sound quality and want to look cool, buy a GenMobile. The GenMobile controls seem to beat the RetroGen, and the built-in games save you the trouble of carrying a bunch of carts.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the plug! I really enjoyed QuickScifi's and EddieJ1984 review. Good Looks!

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  2. Does the sound on the GENMobile suck with Sonic 3 like it does on the RetroGen?

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  3. I cant say for sure, but I'm guessing the sound will be the same.

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  4. The way I see it every Genesis handheld has it's ups and downs, but if you ask me the Nomad and the Genmobile are a tie for the best.

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  5. the sound sucks because it Uses YM2203 frequencies instead of YM2612 frequencies so unless you mod it to play YM2612 Frequencies. It Will Play Low Pitched Music And Sound Of The Genesis Games

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