Why Didn't Sega Make a Saturn or Dreamcast Mini? Blame the Pandemic
After announcing a Mega Drive Mini 2 console last week, Sega has now explained why we aren't getting a Saturn Mini or Dreamcast Mini console.
The Sega Mega Drive Mini 2 is launching on Oct. 27 in Japan for $75 with 50 games preloaded, and will no doubt make it to Western markets eventually. The new Mini console was a surprise, mainly because it was more of the same following the Sega Genesis Mini back in 2019. However, Sega is well-aware gamers want those other consoles to get the Mini treatment, but has a very good reason why they aren't being made.
As NintedoLife reports(Opens in a new window), Sega creative producer Yosuke Okunari gave an interview to Japanese publication Famitsu where he tackled the question of why there hasn't been a Satrun/Dreamcast Mini. It turns out, the pandemic is to blame.
His explanation, thanks to a translation by Twitter user @gosokkyu(Opens in a new window), made the reason clear:
"He's sure [people] will be like "what about Saturn/Dreamcast Mini?" [and] it's not like they [Sega] didn't explore the idea—the MD Mini's internals can't adequately handle Saturn games, and both developing and manufacturing new chipsets during the pandemic is a difficult & expensive process ... so, even if they'd forged ahead with a Saturn Mini anyway, it might've been extremely expensive—he jokes that he might like to release a mini that costs as much as an authentic modern console."
With that in mind, the Mega Drive Mini 2 makes perfect sense. The chipset was already designed and ready to be manufactured again, and the 1988 console still had plenty of highly-desirable games to include as part of a second hardware release.
The positive to take away from this is the fact Sega knows there is demand for its
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