GENESIS/SNES portable project...

FLEX · Post by **FLEX** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:05 am

Hi all, new to the forums and have been reading a lot of the topics, man there is a wealth of info around here!!
My quick intro:
age 30
live in Aus,
Been playing vid games since Atari2600.
owned most common console, Atari, master system, mega drive, Snes, N64, Ps1, Ps2 blah blah blah, now mainly PC for games. Lost interest in consoles when all the games seemed to be getting repetative. Still have a soft spot for the older consoles and thats why im hear

. So hi hi to everyone! Now to the project...

Im sure that this isnt the first time someone was asking about a combined GEN(known as Megadrive II in Aus)/SNES system but I cant seem to find much about it. Im looking at combining a SNES and an Australian Megadrive II into a portable device and was just wondering if anyone had any tips and maybe some info on problems that may arrise? I found the dimensions of the SNES mainboard but I am still trying to find the Megadrive II ones so I can start getting an idea of how big the unit will be, if anyone can help me with that it would be great. I dont plan on including a screen, just the video outs so it can be connected into a portable DVD player (I do a lot of flying) or anything really. Ive seen the clone portable systems but they just dont cut it, everyone of them seems to have issues with something or other, thats why ive desided on this kind of setup. Plus I can use SNES controllers

.
So anyway this is my quest, your input would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:43 am

Hi FLEX. I live in the UK, so use PAL too. I'm 42, soon 43; so you aren't the oldest here (I am

, also older than Ben by about 3-4 years). There are a handful of members here in their 30's too, although by far the most here are teenagers or in their 20's.

The Megadrive II was a smaller version of the original Megadrive (or Genesis as it was called in the USA). It is just a Megadrive system, not a SNES. As per usual, PAL users don't get the nice toys!

Our USA friends can get a combined SNES/NES unit and also a combined Megadrive/SNES/NES unit and also have Megadrive III (smaller again) - however, all these are NTSC and not PAL. So, you have two options - get one of these and an NTSC screen and NTSC games (for Megadrive) or the Retro Duo for SNES/NES and an NTSC screen; but takes PAL and NTSC games, which is handy.

Hope this helps.

If by some stroke of luck you can in fact get a combined Megadrive and SNES system as you mention, AND it is PAL not NTSC, as normal; please let me know - it would mean it would play my PAL games and on a PAL screen too.

FLEX · Post by **FLEX** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 6:05 am

Hey Bacteria, thanks for the reply!
LoL, I didnt think I would be the oldest

.

FYI though, I wasnt planning on trying to buy a combined system, im planning on making one. I am wondering if the Megadrive II mainboard is roughly the same size as the SNES. If this is the case (hopefully) then when the system is finished it would'nt be any bigger than my portable DVD player and it can fit in the same case. I decided on trying to combine these two because both systems have great games the other one doesnt have, I thought if Im going to go to the trouble of building one system I might as well try and include both whilst im doing it

. Hopefully it can be done.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 6:56 am

Megadrive II has a bigger board.

Yes, you can make such a system but you need to keep them both independent, including the grounds - or one system will cause unexpected results on the other.