Sega Genesis Wumbo announced exclusively for North America and Sega Mega-Drive Micro announced exclusively for Japan (April Fools)

In a most bewildering twist, Sega have announced their next big vision for mini consoles, and I do mean big. They’re returning, once again, to the Sega Genesis well with the announcement of the Sega Genesis Wumbo for North America exclusively and the Sega Mega-Drive Micro for Japan exclusively. Nothing has been announced yet for Europe.

Both consoles are essentially the same thing as the two Genesis Mini consoles before them, but now with a new and unexpected gimmick. Japan’s Mega-Drive Micro will be half the size of the original Mega-Drive Mini. It will be so small, in fact, that it will come with a special, separate USB-C adapter for both HDMI out and power input, as the console will be too small to fit an HDMI port and a power port on it. North America’s Genesis Wumbo will be twice the size of an original Model 1 Genesis console (Not the Genesis Mini. The original Genesis console from 1989). Controllers will also follow suit, with the Mega-Drive Micro’s controller being half the size of an original controller while the Genesis Wumbo’s controller will be double the size.

Sega have not yet announced a release date for the two consoles, but they have announced a starting lineup of ten games. Have a look past the break to see what those games are, along with more information.

Here are the 10 games that have been revealed so far. The rest, as usual for the various Genesis Mini consoles, will be revealed at a later date.

1. Ariel: The Little Mermaid (1992)
2. Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure (1994)
3. Red Zone (1994)
4. Insector X (1990)
5. Lethal Enforcers (1994)
6. Frogger (1998)
7. OutRun 2019 (1993)
8. Outrunners (1994)
9. Landstalker: The Treasure of King Nole (1993)
10. Sonic X Cream MD (202X)

No, that last game was not a typo. In a surprise twist, M2 have been confirmed to be working on a Genesis demake of Sonic X Cream Advance, the new HD remaster of Sonic Advance, which was already announced just earlier today, titled Sonic X Cream MD. They have not yet shown footage of either version of the new game, however. Hmmmmm…

Unlike last year’s Genesis Mini 3, which definitely came out, this console will feature Sega CD and 32X games. However, as you’ve guessed, those will be revealed at a later date. However however, they have left a hint that one of them may be a game that was changed heavily from its original Japanese version, only to have that changed version cancelled and a more faithful version released to the west. Some have speculated that this may be Sister Sonic, which was the Sega CD Classic Popful Mail (1995), but changed to be a Sonic game, must like Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, before Sega and Nihon Falcom cancelled these plans, leaving Working Designs to release Popful Mail to the west instead. Only time will tell, of course.

EDIT: Right after this article went live, Takashi Iizuka of Sonic Team deconfirmed Sister Sonic coming to the Genesis Wumbo or the Mega-Drive Micro. Guess now we have no clue what this altered game could be.

Sega also revealed that they tried to get Tommy Tallarico to compose the menu music once again, but he was too preoccupied with junior backgammon tournaments to come onboard this year. Instead, longtime Sonic the Hedgehog composer Jun Senoue will be on board to compose music with authentic Genesis hardware, as he was most eager to do so, feeling betrayed by Tommy having tricked him by passing off music someone made at his studio for an old PC game for Senoue-san to fully master as brand new music for Sonic and The Black Knight (2009). Senoue-san seems to hold a grudge for that and wants to make things right by fans this time. (No wonder we never got any sources proving he was the first American man to work on a Sonic game.)

For now, pre-orders are not yet open and a release date wasn’t yet revealed either, but keep it here at Segabits to hear more news as it comes… in Advance. Yep. The joke was so funny I felt like telling it a second time. You better leave a comment below telling me about how hard I got your sides splitting right after leaving a comment about how excited you are for the Genesis Wumbo and/or Mega-Drive Micro and which one you think you’ll be ordering.

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