Sega Genesis Mini 2 will come in much shorter quantities than the original

Enlarge / The Sega Genesis Mini 2 will only be not sold in traditional brick-and-mortar stores, so it's more of an artistic approximation of the system's apparent rarity. Aurich Lawson | Getty Images

The fad for miniature consoles has died down since its heyday NES Classic and SNES Classic, with fewer companies giving the concept a chance. Sega, however, remains an exception, launching not one but two new retro machines by the end of the year.

Only one of them, the Sega Genesis Mini 2, is coming to the United States. And Sega confirmed to Ars Technica that the system in question will be in incredibly limited supply: "about one-tenth" the number of Sega Genesis Mini 2019.

Mini production for Mini 2

The news came as a surprising answer to a completely different question. Ars contacted Sega shortly after the Genesis Mini 2 was announced, as we wanted to know exactly who was producing and shipping the system.

The Genesis Mini 2 was confirmed months after Sega announced a similar parlor box for its Japanese audience, the Mega Drive 2. The "2" indicates that it is a follow-up to the concept of 2019, only with an all-new selection of built-in and emulated classics from Sega's 16-bit console generation (this time with Sega games on CD).

Sega of America handled the promotion and shipping of the 2019 Genesis Mini, while this year's Genesis Mini 2, slated for delivery on October 27, appears to be handled entirely by Sega of Japan. For one thing, its official site is in English, but it's hosted on Sega's Japanese domain. More importantly for interested buyers, the Genesis Mini 2 is only available through an Amazon US listing, which claims that all purchases will ship from Japan, avoiding Amazon's usual Prime shipping discounts and guarantees ( and may cause US buyers customs problems).

My questions about Genesis Mini 2 shipments were forwarded to Sega's Japan headquarters, who eventually confirmed that the new miniaturized console was a "Japan-only project" for the company. "The Sega Genesis Mini 2 could only be produced in small numbers due to the worldwide shortage of semiconductors," reads a letter from Sega's president's office, so the company opted to produce a small western batch of Genesis Mini 2 alongside his Mega Drive order. Mini 2s.

“The number of units for this project is approximately one tenth of the total for the previous Genesis Mini,” the letter states.

Might need to make your preorder decision

Since Sega has never announced total sales figures for the original Genesis Mini, or Mega Drive Mini sales in other regions, we cannot accurately estimate how low this number will be. Manufacturing. Anecdotally, the original Genesis Mini seemed to fall somewhere between the frenzied sales of Nintendo's own systems and the underperforming and rapidly shrinking fate of 2018's disappointing PlayStation Mini. remained stable and accessible even through early 2020 (and had its own deep discounts in May 2020). These days it's discontinued and hovers between $160 and $200 at both official retailers...