The Sega Genesis (called the "Mega Drive" in the UK and Japan) is one of our all-time favourite consoles. It's the console that Sonic first appeared on for starters.
Over the last few years, we've seen traditional consoles re-released as mini home games systems. These all-in-one builds plug directly into your television and enable wisened gamers to relive gaming glories of their youth.
Radica is one such console. It's an all-in-one Sega Genesis/Mega Drive solution with a built-in controller. It looks like a miniaturised version of the classic system.
See also: DevSter's Sega Radica Know-It-All Page
There are loads of these consoles around, and you can pick them up on eBay or in hardware exchange shops for minute amounts of money. Even Nintendo is jumping on the bandwagon with the Nintendo Mini NES Classic Edition.
But no retro re-released console is as good as a Raspberry Pi running RetroPie. With the open source operating system you can emulate all the different systems, and upload just about any game as a ROM file.
Sega Genesis Radica Raspberry Pi video tutorial
We love this Radica Raspberry Pi video by Michael Lyons from Florida. Michael starts out with a second-hand Radica Sega Genesis system, takes it apart and wires up the Raspberry Pi 3 all in one session.
" I purchased this off eBay for a dollar," says Micheal, "plus shipping it was like
five bucks."
"So the idea is to use the original controller and fit the Raspberry Pi in this little console here."
Michael takes the console apart and squeezes a Raspberry Pi 3 inside. He uses a multimeter to test the connections. He wires the joystick from the original controller direct to the Raspberry Pi board.
The video lasts 20 minutes, and at the end, he has a working retro games console that looks just like a mini Sega Genesis. Watch this video to pick up some skills for your next retro games build.
