Rumour: SEGA could be gearing up for low cost 2D centric handheld device

· My Nintendo News

SEGA has successfully dipped into the mini console trend and released two Mega Drive Mini consoles but what’s very interesting is that an individual who says he works for a small specialist electronics manufacturer received a Request for Quote from a company that has worked on licensed SEGA hardware before. The request was for what appears to be a modern low cost 2D centric handheld gaming device. This could be SEGA dipping its toes into the handheld market with a modern handheld that plays classic SEGA games. Here’s what the post author wrote:

  • Low cost handheld gaming device
  • Low power ARM processor, not x86
  • 5″ OLED panel (same form factor as the Vita), aggressive cost cutting elsewhere to accommodate this
  • Seemingly pretty limited internal storage
  • Removable game cartridges
  • No mention of 3D acceleration beyond basic UI/compositing
  • References being designed for “modern 2D titles” and “pixel art presentation”

The cart design is the the most interesting part:

  • Not the usual high capacity consumer NAND you’d expect of a modern handheld
  • Looks like low capacity industrial eMMC modules – these are readily available and not caught up in the AI memory price inflation
  • Smaller storage, makes sense if the target games are 2D Indies etc.

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