Sega Mega Drive Mini To Have Asia-Specific Version

Sega Games has recently announced that their upcoming Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Mini will have a separate version in Asia compared to its North American and Japanese counterparts.

This Asian version of the SEGA’s mini console is still expected to contain 40 games just like its North American and Japanese counterparts, and will also be releasing on the same day of September 19 2019.

The source also revealed the first 10 games confirmed to be on the console. Notably, the list of these first 10 confirmed games seems to be different depending on the region, a fact that wasn’t originally covered in our previous article on the console.

Below are the list of confirmed games on the console in each region, with the differences highlighted in bold.

Sega Mega Drive (Japan)

• Gunstar Heroes
• Comix Zone
• Shining Force
• Space Harrier II
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Castlevania: Bloodlines
• Puyo Puyo Tsu
• Madou Monogatari I
• Powerball
• Rent-A-Hero

Sega Genesis (North America)

• Ecco the Dolphin
• Castlevania: Bloodlines
• Space Harrier II
• Shining Force
• Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
• ToeJam & Earl
• Comix Zone
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Altered Beast
• Gunstar Heroes

Sega Mega Drive (Asia)

• Space Harrier II
• Sword of Vermilion
• Wrestleball
• Shining Force
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• OutRun2019
• Gunstar Heroes
• Castlevania: Bloodlines
• Puyo Puyo Tsu
• Comix Zone

According to Siliconera’s coverage of the console, there will indeed be differences between the 40 games included depending on region. This is similar to the differences between the lineup of the NES Mini and Famicom Mini, likely because some games would be more relevant to the Japanese audience than to the Western audience and vice versa.

However, going by these lists, it is rather odd that Sonic the Hedgehog 1 is exclusive to the NA version, while Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is exclusive to the Japanese and Asian versions. Its possible that not all of these “exclusive games” will wind up being so in the final release of the console, but we will only know for sure once the full list of games is announced for all regions.

What do you think of regional exclusives on Sega’s mini console? Which version would you get? Let us know in the comments below.