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Megadrive 1 vs 2? Pros and cons

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 6:38 pm
by santefering
Okay it's probably been debated before so please forgive me.
I've owned both throughout my life but now instead of playing emulators, I want to buy a megadrive again.
So what differences are there? Not sure how true this is but I've read megadrive 1 Rgb scart works better than a model 2 with Rgb scart. Also the model 1 has stereo sound through headphones ( I'm not fussed as won't be wearing them ) but I've heard model 2 is less likely to die??

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:07 pm
by santefering
Anyone? Seriously I need advice. Have 2 weeks until I buy one.lol

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 10:54 pm
by KC
Sorry, can't really help you here. I've only had an MD1. I have heard the same about the model 2 being less likely to die, but have no real knowledge about it.

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 1:07 am
by supersega
Mega Drive 1 is all around better quality than the second one. Better video/sound encoder, better PCB design, etc. RGB SCART will look better and work easier on an MD1 than an MD2. Model 2s are newer marginally and use slightly newer capacitors, and that is the only reason I could think it would last longer. Overall, go for the MD1.... or an X'Eye. X'Eyes have superlative sound and video quality as well as karaoke!!

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 8:32 pm
by Kaito-kun
There are two models of Mega Drive?!

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 10:24 pm
by supersega
Kaito-kun wrote:There are two models of Mega Drive?!
Yup. How are you even a Sega fan? You should be put in Sega Jail! Lol.

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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 7:15 am
by Gavvie
Sorry to totally rock your world here Kaito, but there's actually three. The third one only came out in North America though, and it looked bloody awful:

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Ignore the picture of the pad, the Genesis 3 didn't actually come with one of those - it came with its own 6 button controller.

There was also a Mega Drive III released in Brazil in 2007, but it looked just like the MD2, but white, and with no cartridge slot, so you could only play the games that were supplied on the console itself.

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:30 am
by Kaito-kun
supersega wrote:Yup. How are you even a Sega fan? You should be put in Sega Jail! Lol.

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I never said I was a SEGA fan...

Also get the first model: It looks way cooler.

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:34 am
by Gavvie
There's just something about a volume slider on a home games console that makes me smile.

Almost as good as the Master System II and the massive pause button it had, because the pad only had two buttons so you couldn't pause on it. Bit of a bugger if you needed to pause in a hurry and you wasn't near the unit, though.

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:52 am
by Killer French Bread
As far as reliability goes, I've owned both models and they both croaked. The model one was a lingering death, where it slowly broke down, losing vital abilities over the month such as the ability to output colour or play for longer than 10 minutes without freezing. It was a tragedy to see a treasured childhood possession end up like this but we got to say our goodbyes over a game of altered beast. Within 3 months we'd lost her. The model 2 just woke up dead one day.