New Phøde ODE, supporting Dreamcast, Saturn, Sega CD, and more, launches pre-orders

If you’re looking for a device to play your digitized disc backups of your favorite Sega console classic games, then look no further than the Phøde, a brand new Optical Drive Emulator created by engineer Fixel. This single device supports almost every CD-Rom based game console from the 90’s, not just including the Sega CD (Models 1 and 2, Genesis CDX, and JVC X’Eye), Saturn (Both the 20 and 21-pin models), and the GD-Rom based Dreamcast (Models VA0, VA1, and VA2), but also various models of the Sony PlayStation and even the Philips CD-I, with more to be announced later. Fixel has just launched pre-orders for the Phøde in batches from their website. Batch 1 is still available, as of this writing, at $249.99 USD.

Check in after the break for extra info.

For the uninitiated, an Optical Drive Emulator, or ODE, is a device that can take the place of a console’s original optical drive, the device that reads game discs. Instead of playing games off of original discs, an ODE can play digital disc image files from a flash memory device, usually an SD card like in the Phøde’s case. These are good for replacing a failing disc drive, while also retaining a console’s ability to play games as long as the rest of the console’s parts still work. There are already multiple ODEs on the market for many consoles, including Fenrir for Saturn and the GDEMU for Dreamcast, as well as devices with the same functionality that don’t require you to remove the disc drive like the Satiator for Saturn and the Mega Everdrive Pro for Sega CD, but the Phøde aims to be the most universal and feature rich option yet. In fact, it’s also the very first ODE designed for Sega CD.

The Phøde’s features include

Full size SDCard with FAT and ExFat file system support.
easy configuration
iso, ccd, cue/bin/img and gdi support
Supports Philips CD-i consoles with solder on board
Supports Sega Dreamcast VA0, VA1 and VA2
Supports Sega Saturn (20 and 21 pin variants)
Supports Playstation PU7, PU8(2 variants) and PU18 (with more variants later)
Supports Sega CD 1, CD2, XEye, CDX console variants
Supports mystery mechanism (will be revealed in June) (Most likely the PC-Engine CD/Turbografx CD)
Supports mystery feline (will be revealed in June) (Most likely the Atari Jaguar CD)
Supports mystery friend (will be revealed in June) (Most likely the Amiga CD32)
QSB (quick solder boards) for all solder-on variants
Breakout FFC for future added consoles.
More consoles will be added with firmware updates

If that sounds lovely to you, head on over to Fixel’s website and pre-order a unit for yourself, and be sure to check out his store for other items you might find useful, including a PC-FX ODE, which is also brand new and up for pre-order. Tell us in the comments if you pre-ordered one or if you have any other ODEs.