Polymega console to start shipping next month for early pre-orders

AlexMCS · Aug 5, 2021

Waste of money, but it's meant for those who waste money in the first place (rich collectors), so meh.

Deleted member 194275 · Aug 5, 2021

grcd said:
But why not simply have one console that plays our originals instead of all this trouble, all these cables? This new system will presumable also have all the new tech display bells and whistles that retrotink offers. I simply cannot see what people don't find this an attractive option.

The concept is attractive, the point is that it is already available for a much cheap. The fact that it can rip CD-ROMs without a PC is the only thing new here, and this come at the expense of not be able to run cartridges (unless you pay even more for the dongles).

Side note: Steam deck is coming couple of months after it, with similar price and capable of running things like the Wii. (Probably even newer systems).

lordofcombo · Aug 5, 2021

I think people dont understand the polymega story or didnt follow the story back then.
When the project was in its early developement polymega was claiming to top off Analogue solutions by bringing the FPGA to the 32bit consoles.At that time analogue were going strong with the nt mini and were hinting at the super nt.
Back then the purist were ready to pay alot for a 32 bit fpga ,imagine a company promessing a whole bunch of 32 bit console in one Fpga console.Thats what Polymega promessed at first.The game backup and controller thing were features later added to the promesses.
From there stuff begin to take a wrong turn:
Delays and delays throughout the months to finally reveal that the console will not be a FPGa but an hybrid between emulation and fpga.
So going from fpga analogue killer to a bastard ETA PRIME gadget of the week is what polymega did to us.
I know most of people can make do with emulation but for some others , console fidelity is an absolute requirement to enjoy a game.It also explains the explosion of the flash cart market.
Me and few purist here in gbatemp were really rooting for polymega when they promissed an fpga experience.
Guess well stick with analogue and our lord Kevtris.
My 2cent on the subject...

Bladexdsl · Aug 5, 2021

$450 for a shitty emulation box that probably ripped off the emus from the play store. the people who pre-ordered this are idiots

cvskid · Aug 5, 2021

grcd said:
Still, we are comparing apples to oranges. Many of these old consoles are now past the point of servicability. I recently lost my Sega Saturn as the drive no longer reads discs. My Atari Jaguar CD unit also kicked the bucket a few years ago. My Playstation original needs to be put upside down to read discs. My Sega Dreamcast needs a bucket of water on top of the disc unit in order to 'think' the top loading system is actually closed down and not ejected. My NES can barely read cartridges anymore. My Master System died when the external AC sparked and fried the motherboard. Yes, we can buy another console - true. Or go full emulation (and I assure you, most of retro gamers do that too).

But why not simply have one console that plays our originals instead of all this trouble, all these cables? This new system will presumable also have all the new tech display bells and whistles that retrotink offers. I simply cannot see what people don't find this an attractive option.

In your case there are some fixes that can be done for some of your systems so you won't have to buy new ones. Sega Saturn can use either a TerraOnion ODE/Optical Drive Emulator or a Satiator which bypasses the need to replace/remove the laser.

Playstation 1 can use a TerraOnion ODE. If your sega dreamcast has the number "1" on the bottom of it you can get a GDEMU clone for it, and the nes probably just needs a new 72 pin connector if it's the original fat model. Can't speak for the other systems though.

Veho · Aug 5, 2021

lordofcombo said:
I think people dont understand the polymega story or didnt follow the story back then.

I don't think the story really matters, the end result is what's important, and the end result is what we're commenting on here. The makers could have had some noble goals at the start, but we can't pick up and play what could have been, only what's being released.

MetoMeto · Aug 5, 2021

poly what?

grcd · Aug 7, 2021

cvskid said:
In your case there are some fixes that can be done for some of your systems so you won't have to buy new ones. Sega Saturn can use either a TerraOnion ODE/Optical Drive Emulator or a Satiator which bypasses the need to replace/remove the laser.

Playstation 1 can use a TerraOnion ODE. If your sega dreamcast has the number "1" on the bottom of it you can get a GDEMU clone for it, and the nes probably just needs a new 72 pin connector if it's the original fat model. Can't speak for the other systems though.

I'm aware of most of these solutions, and I will look into salvaging my systems. The point was to keep using the original media however. These modifications would allow me to run ROMs instead. The Polymega seems like a decent bridge for using my current media. After all, I also do emulation and have never denied the attractiveness and ease of that method.

mario5555 · Aug 7, 2021

cvskid said:
In your case there are some fixes that can be done for some of your systems so you won't have to buy new ones. Sega Saturn can use either a TerraOnion ODE/Optical Drive Emulator or a Satiator which bypasses the need to replace/remove the laser.

Playstation 1 can use a TerraOnion ODE. If your sega dreamcast has the number "1" on the bottom of it you can get a GDEMU clone for it, and the nes probably just needs a new 72 pin connector if it's the original fat model. Can't speak for the other systems though.

You do realize that the option you provided to him costs about €600 or $800 USD (to fix the readers on all three systems). That's insane for trying to keeping using original hardware over moving over to a Polymega.

Keep on reading Polymega is only for rich collectors... :wtf:

' Not sure what that's about, considering one person above mentions the Steamdeck (starting at $350), same for the guy who complains about Polymega then praises Analogue ($250+ per system to play only one game at a time....nahhh)

It's an all-in-one box for someone who wants the convenience of having everything in one place, that should be simple enough to understand.

The Polymega team screwed up big time on many different levels, the FPGA issue, the lack of transparency with delays, the delays themselves, giving out beta units to YT personalities to shill instead of sending them out to early buyers, and much more.

But the promise of what it can do and what it might do if it takes off is still there (N64, DC, PS2?) all in HD is what excites a lot of people, having it all on one box, apparently the interface is very nice as well, with a very comprehensive library built into it.

Still point being they have a lot to prove to win trust back.

But I know what site I'm on, I've been here long enough and who the crowd is, so I'm not telling anyone anything they know or what they should think, I know better being here this long.

grcd · Aug 8, 2021

Exactly my sentiments as Mario5555. There are alternatives to Polymega, but unless one wants to go full emulation, none of these alternatives is truly superior to the Polymega, either in terms of price, or space, or ease, or combination thereof. Not saying Polymega is a holy grail, but I have not yet heard a sufficient argument against it.

cashboxz01 · Aug 9, 2021

Why not just build a compact ITX desktop with yesteryear's components? It'd be half the cost and would smoke this thing. You'd just need a front-end like big box which is pretty cheap.

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