Now that retro games are more booming than ever, there are many manufacturers who want to take advantage of the market pull to launch new products and solutions. The clearest example is Nintendo, which revolutionized retro consoles with the NES Mini and SNES Mini. But what if we have a good collection of cartridges?
Polymega is the perfect console for lovers of retro systems
Those collectors who have a large number of cartridges from different platforms will find in the polymega the perfect solution to your problems. This device is based on a modular design that will allow adapting different modules in which to connect the cartridges of different platforms. For example, if you want to play your MegaDrive games, you will have to place the corresponding head to be able to connect the cartridges.
The console will have several modules available (sold separately) to be able to offer compatibility with a total of 30 different systems (counting Japanese and United States versions), although the base configuration of the equipment has a CD drive that will allow you to play games from PlayStation, Saturn, SEGA CD, Neo Geo CD, and TurboGrafx-CD. According to what they say, the interface will allow you to install the games in the internal memory to be able to create your own game library, so it seems that we can save a copy of the cartridges and play them as ROMs.
Modules pic.twitter.com/0mg40dvbpR
— POLYMEGA (@polymegaHQ) July 25, 2018
A project about to hit the stores
The project is currently nearing completion, and the company intends to ship a second round of bookings in May. He hardware it's finished and all that's left are a few tweaks to the software. Its creators take great care of all kinds of details, and in addition to optimizing the operation of each of the platforms (they all run Polymega's own code or code with a legal license), the developers also pay attention to details such as the filters with which it will run each game, in order to achieve an image similar to what we used to get with the tube TVs of yesteryear.
Update 1: Polymega hardware is finished. Running a powerful 35W Intel Coffee Lake S series Processor which can be UPGRADED in the future, if necessary, to support future systems and functionality (by authorized service only). pic.twitter.com/83Gj1JdnFt
— POLYMEGA (@polymegaHQ) March 21th 2019
The hardware that gives life to this console is focused on a processor Intel Coffee Lake S 35W that can also be upgraded in the future, so system compatibility will not be limited by processor power. As for the internal capacity, SD cards of up to 1 TB and various NVMe M.2 2280 SSDs can be used through the expansion port located at the bottom of the console, so that the total capacity of the equipment could be reach 3TB. There are a lot of games in there.
How many amazing Sega Saturn games will you play on your @polymega ? pic.twitter.com/jIuuovgJxX
— POLYMEGA (@polymegaHQ) March 22th 2019
Games in physical and digital format
The curious thing about this console is that we will not only enjoy a system that is compatible with our old games in physical format. The company is also preparing a virtual store where you can buy digital games that will start at $3,99 for cartridge originals and $5,99 for CD games, so that we can download them over the Internet and install them directly to the internal memory.
In addition, the modules for the different platforms will include 5 legally licensed games installed on internal memory, so if you buy the module for NES cartridges, you will receive 5 games installed inside.
Can I buy a Polymega?
Currently reservation requests are closed, since the project achieved its goal especially quickly. For now, the Polymega team is focused on filling orders from reserves, and we'll see when they're able to open production publicly. The price of the reservations was $249,99, so the console should not increase that price much when it officially hits the market.