The Sega Genesis is no stranger to connecting to online services. Previous options included the Sega Channel and Xband, neither being the “Internet as we know it today”, more akin to logging into oldschool America OnLine (AOL) if you will. Well, a recent Kickstarter project has popped up that aims to revive that online connectivity with the Sega Genesis called MegaWiFi. The interesting thing is, it is close to funding already, even if details are quite scarce.
Getting Online and Kicking Butt May Not Be Great
From what I can gather from the Kickstarter project page, this new add-on aims to give the Sega Genesis both Internet access and direct connection for gaming.
The trailer shows off Battle City, but the FAQ section refers to it as BattleTank. A slight annoyance but there are bigger concerns with this Kickstarter project to worry about.
You will see in the video a bit of lag between the player on the left and the player screen on the right. They are quickly out of sync with each other.
This lag is hopefully going to be fixed somehow because at this rate, I could not imagine how badly a fighting game would play. Forget playing something like Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat based on the connection quality shown in the trailer.
Very Little Information Available Hurts This Project
The lack of information on the project is a concern. I don’t care that they used A.I. to get advice on decision making. I do care that the project page is lacking on MANY details.
What is said though, mostly in the FAQ section – not the main body of the Kickstarter project (a mistake in my opinion) is that you are not going to be able to play just any Sega Genesis title online. No playing Sonic 2 in two player simultaneous play with your friend across the country, or even living room.
Games must be programmed to take advantage of the MegaWiFi adapter. This severely limits the potential for support as, well, game development takes time.
It will be interesting to see how this develops but right now, I would not hold my breath for a success story to come of this.
Check out their Kickstarter page and see for yourself.
Thanks to Time Extension for the heads up on this project.