Why I Won’t Be Playing the New Sega Genesis Mini

Mortal Kombat — I don’t own the rights to this image, I’m borrowing it.

I remember in 2nd grade. 1995.

My friend Aly Sultan’s sleepover.

Had a bunch of friends there.

Even random’s like, Mitchel Gilbert.

One segment of the night?

Playing Mortal Kombat 3 on the Sega Genesis. Somehow or another, his older cousin Albert got onto the system and started beating the game, one level at a time.

Now, we’re little kids, beating a complicated game like MK3 in front of the whole room is an impressive feat.

And we’re all watching, as he takes down bad guy after bad guy. Him explaining all the nerdy nuances of how he’s beating them. Using freeze move, using fatalities. Things like that.

He gets up to the 2nd to last level of the game, Motaro, the half man half horse. I didn’t even know there was a centaur in the game. We’re all amped up.

Albert gets in there and loses the first game. The whole room starts to crowd around as he plays what could be his last game.

Game two begins and Albert starts beating the hell out of this guy. Doing all types of moves.

We didn’t get to see how this ends.

Gets him into a corner. Gets him into a web. Shoots missiles and stuff at him. Kicking Motaro’s ass.

Just as he’s about to finish him, the game shuts off.

The whole room goes “awww!!!! What the!?!?”

We turn around to see, Rafe, Aly’s younger cousin had tried to step over the wires that connected the game, and had knocked it out.

We went nuts. “Oooo!!! How could you, what an idiot!!!” And so on.

And we never turned the game back on, we just left it as is. We just switched over to another activity in the sleepover. I never knew what was going to happen after, how that game ends. It was such a mystery.

I guess, what I’m trying to say is, Rafe, wherever you are, Andy Miz still remembers.

I won’t be buying the new Sega Genesis Mini. Not because of Rafe, (well partly because of Rafe), but more so because I find it a waste of money.

1. Internet: Every game from that era can be downloaded and played online within minutes. Every game from Sega can be played online within minutes. Just do a search for any game “Sonic 2 play online,” and you’ll be playing this in no time.
2. Not User Friendly: The way the made the games back then were complicated and tricky. This was a new medium. Button combos, usually no tutorial built in, we would have to read a magazine to learn how to beat it. Nowadays, the games are way more forgiving and usually have a built in challenge system. You can also google how to play them in minutes. Today, there are games designed for toddlers to tap screens and enjoy themselves.
3. Old Technology: I’m just not into the old games any more. I would rather explore the depths of how far technology has come than live in the past where there were so many restrictions. Example: I had NBA 2K18 on my phone and compared it with NBA 1998 on the Playstation. The Playstation only enabled me to shoot and pass. My phone? Has post up moves, crossovers, different types of defenses, pick and rolls.

I guess if you are a diehard Sega person, the system speaks to you, and you want simple set up, then spend that $80 and go get it.

Me? I’ll stick to phone games instead.

What do you think of the phone games vs the old systems? Think I’m crazy? Let me know in the comments.

Andy

www.andymizrahi.com