Say it isn’t so, but Sega has just delayed their Mega Drive Mini to 2019. The system was previously announced during the Sega Fes event in Japan and was slated to release sometime this year in celebration of the original console’s 30th anniversary. That said, it seems like fans will have to hold out a bit longer before they can get their hands on the console.
Despite the wait, Sega has a good reason for holding out until the next year. They announced that while the Mega Drive Mini was meant to launch in 2018, they have received an overwhelming response for the system – particularly overseas. To that end, they are prepping a Genesis model for North America and Mega Drive model for Europe along with plans to launch a simultaneous worldwide release next year.
【お知らせ】セガフェス 2018で発表した「メガドライブ ミニ（仮称）」の発売を2019年に変更いたします。本年発売に向けて開発を行っておりましたが、特に海外のお客様からの反響が大きく、改めて北米は“GENESIS”、欧州は欧州版”Mega Drive”を再現したモデルを準備し、全世界で同時期に発売予定です。
— セガ公式アカウント🦔 (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) September 19, 2018
It also seems like Sega is tweaking the Mega Drive Mini design, stating, “…in order to achieve the quality which can satisfy all of Sega fans more, we reviewed the design centering on the original members of MegaDrive and took a system to cooperate with domestic developers with proven software development.”
On that note, Sega apologized for the Mega Drive Mini delay and asked fans to “please wait a while with expectation.”
