The Nomad: Genius or Folly?

[Melf]

This month marks the tenth anniversary of the Nomad's release! Sure, we all love it, but it turned out to be, how can I put this..."less" than was expected. Join Sega-16 as we take a look at why it was destined to failure from the start in Sega Nomad: Genius or Folly? (http://www.sega-16.com/2005/10/sega-nomad-genius-or-folly/)

[David J.]

I tried getting a Nomad from someone and wanted one back in the day. I got neither. :(

It's not high on my list, nor is it on there.

[Drixxel]

The Nomad was a pretty groovy concept, but that article makes it excruciatingly clear why it was swallowed by the hellfires. Too bad portable console-equivalent gaming didn't take off.. I would have loved to see the TurboExpress sell millions, but that's a different tale entirely.

[Ro Nova]

My Nomad is the pride of my game collection! There's something undeniably cool about playing console games on a handheld. I bought one because I travel A LOT. It makes sense to haul this around instead of my Genny. I usually use an AC adapter when I play it, however. Batteries cost way too much!

A lot of good points were brought up in why Sega shouldn't have released it but I'm sure glad they did.

[Genesis Knight]

I'm still kicking myself for not picking one up when a friend was selling it for 10 US. I could kill myself...

But wouldn't those super nifty NimH (or whatever) Rechargables work better?

[j_factor]

Did they even so much as try to market this? I don't recall them ever doing so. It was just some neat little thing they quietly released.

[Melf]

Nope, virtually no marketing at all. They had all but canned everything but the Saturn by October '95, and basically released it just to get rid of all the hardware.

Sega at its finest.

[David J.]

I saw it mentioned in a TRU ad once.. I think.

[Flash1087]

I saw a couple GamePro ads, and that's what cemented my desire for it.

Got one last November, actually. About $40 with a handful of games, and honestly I only bought it to say I had a Nomad. I can't really use it without the wall adapter, and even then I'll be getting an X'eye soon so that should cover my Genesis needs.

Still, it was a valiant attempt on Sega's part.

[lordofduct]

yeah... I remember when this bad boy came out. The only marketing I saw of it was a small article in the back of a game magazine talking about it... I read it one day sitting at Barnes and Nobles waiting for my mother to do her usual book shopping. You know you can only read so many freaking books in a week and I certainly wasn't keeping up with that speed reading bitch!

Anyways, I drooled and drooled over it, but ney I shall not receive one as my pocket is rather small at 12 years old and my mother whom was on welfare certainly is not paying that hefty price tag for it.

this right here is exactly why when I moved to Florida and turned 13 I went right to selling the doobage and cid'... gotta play the video games!

[Drixxel]

is right here is exactly why when I moved to Florida and turned 13 I went right to selling the doobage and cid'... gotta play the video games!

OMG SEGA = CORRUPT YOUTH


At the very least Sega settled on a semi-cool name for their portable. I don't think anyone today would be waxing nostalgic over the Sega Vagabond, originally packaged with limited-edition burlap sack!

[Flash1087]

Dude, I would've preordered three of them had they called it the Sega Hobo.

[David J.]

Sega Hobo?

I wouldn't be too suprised...

[Melf]

"Sega Red-Headed Step-Child!"

[Flash1087]

Hilarious, although slightly more appropriate for the Virtual Boy, given it's color.

[1CCBirdfly]

I love my Nomad. I had it custom modded to order 4 years ago by former Shmup member Matt so it can play region locked games like Rockman Megaworld and convert PAL titles to normal screen ratio (for when I finally buy Alien Soldier). Playing Sonic, Gunstar Heroes, MUSHA and Rockman to go = sweetness. 4-6 hours of battery life is abysmal you say? That's a heckuva lot better than the PSP's current battery pack can do.

I don't think it's a disappointing handheld at all, it sure came out at the wrong time as the article states but I don't think Sega's mistakes should overshadow it. And re: the "buyer's guide," not all shooters are unplayable on it, MUSHA's bullets are very visible. Dunno about Thunderforce though.

The screen is much better than the GG's aneurism enducing blur vision, but the Turbo Express screen still aces it (the TE is also better designed overall IMHO)

[Melf]

Is Matt still around? He doesn't post at TNL anymore, and now you say he doesn't go to Shmups. He was a cool guy and a master modder (he did both my Duo and Genesis).

[loxthefox]

Ah, the Nomad. I still remember getting that for Christmas. Pretty shocking to me cause I didn't know it even existed. It is something I still use to this day.

P.S.
Who wants to sell me an AC Adapter. 4-6 hours my ass.

[1CCBirdfly]

Is Matt still around? He doesn't post at TNL anymore, and now you say he doesn't go to Shmups. He was a cool guy and a master modder (he did both my Duo and Genesis).

Sadly no, he is still gone 'though his supergun website is still up. He did return to the Shmup forum briefly this summer. He also built my made to order JAMMA/supergun rig w/hacked Saturn pads which I use to play Storm of Progear on.

[ary incorparated]

Yeah i bought one to i tought it was so cool that i could play megadrive on my nomad,ooh no not al megadrive games the still uge nomad could play.eh eh only the ones that fitted the reion code,i saw on intenet how i could mod it ect i knew how to do it then,i played it still with adapor oh yeah i remeber,i took it too the gameshop to show it of and then my baterys run out luckely i had my adaptor with me but still it was a bit dull with adaptor.I wanted to keep the nomad origenal but i also wanted to play al my pal games so i was seaching for a pall conecerter(dont know if there are any of them)but then suddenly the adaptor input was broke,this is a uge and shitty problem,i was trying to fix that,the first time,hey its working aggian great,then it went broke aggian bummer.second time my dad melted whires to prints,couldnt be wrong looked very nice and it made contact fot shure,still didnt work.oke third time i melted a iron pin to a diode,finally it worked,i had to be carefull with that it would brake aggian.I never played that thing aggian and its now collecting dust,served him right.i think nomad is too much trouble esspecially for europeen gamers,you could play it for 6 hours,if oyu have very good batterys or a batterypack.it could have been better only if sega also tought of the improvements by the time.I like it as a collectors item but nothing more.

[Zebbe]

I would like to dig up this old thread and feature to complain a little. I think the article should talk more about if the Nomad is worth buying, not only if it was a good idea to release it by Sega. Pretty much everyone knows that every decision Sega made in the mid-90s were extremely wrong, so there's too much talk about the strategical failure. What I really want to know when reading an article about the Nomad is if it's worth buying, how much I should pay for it, what I must have except the unit itself, its quality, issues for Europeans who want it, etc.

And by the way... who would except a portable 16-bit system (from 1995 or even today) to be able to use it's cd add on or 32-bit expansion??? The Master System was dead in the US since 1990 or so, so a converter for that would be a little bit pointless, and you can buy one for the Game Gear anyway.

I'm planning on buying one Nomad when my next salary checks in, so some answers on what I didn't find in the feature and mentioned above would be appreciated. And finally, I'm not pissed, this is just constructive criticism. :p

[Blades]

Yup, I Would Truly Recommend it. It hasn't failed me and is one of my favorite handhelds.

Blades

[Melf]

I would like to dig up this old thread and feature to complain a little. I think the article should talk more about if the Nomad is worth buying, not only if it was a good idea to release it by Sega.

We have a feature that does that. The Nomad's Buyer's Guide is supposed to do that, but it hasn't been updated in ages because no one has a Nomad. If anyone who has one is willing to update it, I'd be obliged.


Pretty much everyone knows that every decision Sega made in the mid-90s were extremely wrong, so there's too much talk about the strategical failure. What I really want to know when reading an article about the Nomad is if it's worth buying, how much I should pay for it, what I must have except the unit itself, its quality, issues for Europeans who want it, etc.

The article was a retrospective and not meant to do that, but this would be a great idea. I would have written one myself, except that I stupidly traded away my Nomad years ago. :(

Any takers?


And by the way... who would except a portable 16-bit system (from 1995 or even today) to be able to use it's cd add on or 32-bit expansion??? The Master System was dead in the US since 1990 or so, so a converter for that would be a little bit pointless, and you can buy one for the Game Gear anyway.

When you spend $160 on a 32X and Sega releases the Genesis/Sega CD CDX hybrid around the same time, you'd expect SOME degree of compatibility. Not being able to use anything eliminated the Nomad as a serious choice for those who wanted the complete Sega 16-bit experience in one package. Thankfully, the CDX fills that role nicely.

[Blades]

Oh, I would definitely love to write it! That would be so cool. I'd gladly write both articles!

[Blades]

So how does this work exactly, do I wait for Melf's response, go to Cont. Corner or send PM?

This is my first time so help would be appreciated.

Blades

-EDIT-
OH, go to Contribute Section on main site.

Sorry!,
Blades

[Lemmi_Is_God]

i bought mine from Toys R Us in 1997 for $100 brand new

the batteries die quickly no matter what kind you use
i used to take mine to work and play NHL 97 at lunch time with co-workers on the breakroom's TV, i even made a padded box for all the stuff needed to play on the run. my nomad doesnt have a single scratch on it and its almost 10 years old :D


wow i forgot how much the 32X costed as i didnt start collecting seriously untill early 1997 and they were $20 new by then, i didnt know the CDX exsisted at that time untill i bought a bunch of old game mags and i saw the Ads in them for the CDX, and i just had to have one, my first CDX i paid $40 at a flea market but it was alittle flakey with the sega cd games, but the genesis games worked everytime, i finally broke down and bought a new one off ebay for $130

sega was really creative with their hardware but their timing sucked monkey butt :)

[Benjamin]

I technically bought a Nomad from some guy named Dan Peori in Canada only to find out I was scammed. :( The bit I played in a Toys R Us demo really impressed me. The big thing was being able to hook it up to a TV. Since I never had any use for portables, I thought that was a brilliant design decision, so it could both take the place of the Genesis more or less, and you could take the game with you when it was time to leave.

The system was just before its time. I don't think it really has any flaws given the technology of the time. Sure the battery life a fraction of the GameBoy, but how could anyone not expect that given the higher quality graphics and color display? From most of what I've read, the battery pack was a reasonable "solution" for the shortened unwired play time.

[MaximusDread]

I thought the nomad was the bomb. I mean, It was the first ever portable console-perfect system. I was like holy-s**t, a genesis in your hands. I could be able play all 3 Sonic and SOR games in my car. It even has the option of 2-players. I remeber playing it during "Gameday" at my elementry school. I brought my Virtual Boy and one of my classmates had the nomad and an extra controller to play this motorcycle game (forget the name.) BTW does anyone know where I can get a decent nomad?

[Ash]

In Oct 1999, Walmart in Fitzgerald, GA had two brand new nomads in their game case for $40. Needless to say I bought one, but couldn't afford to get both otherwise I would've. The screen blurring isn't as bad as the game gear, but it's still pretty bad. My favorite part of it was it could connect to the TV in a light-weight package and slow moving / large sprite games could be taken on the road.

My favorite experience with it was taking a flight from Atlanta to Pittsburgh and sitting between these two guys that were giddy as school girls watching me play Super Monaco GP on it..... SEGA released the Nomad so quietly, a lot of people missed out on a truly great machine.

I was always a bit surprised SEGA didn't continue the Genesis's saga by marketing the Nomad as their new handheld gaming device in the Saturn era, much how they used modified Master System hardware for the Game Gear in the Genesis era. Using half-height Genesis cartridges and selling it as Nomad software could've proved successful with very little r&d.

[Kikoskia]

Don't forget though, one of the main thngs that killed the Nomad was it's backlight; I bet if it HADN'T had a backlight, it would have done better as the battery life would ahve been far greater.

Just out of curiosity, I remember getting a car adaptor for my game boy a long time ago. It would connet into the place where that cigarette lighter thingw as and plug into the side of my game boy so I could play it in the car. Did the Game Gear or Nomad ever get such a device?

[j_factor]

Car adapters were produced for Game Gear, and they'll work for Nomad as well.

[Lemmi_Is_God]

Just out of curiosity, I remember getting a car adaptor for my game boy a long time ago. It would connet into the place where that cigarette lighter thingw as and plug into the side of my game boy so I could play it in the car. Did the Game Gear or Nomad ever get such a device?

yup
on my Nomad box it has a car adaptor listed as an accessory
MK-2104 or MK-2115

[Mr Smith]

This topic should be re-made in the Genesis Does section as a poll.

[Necrocheese]

I wanted one ever since I saw ads for it in ads that came with my genesis games. But I just couldn't afford it.

Recently, I finally bought one and I love it. I can play genesis games basically anywhere now, and its easily my favorite handheld ever now. Me and my friend even played streets of rage on two player when i took it to his house. The features it has are great, and the setbacks (battery life, small blurs in the screen) aren't nearly enough for me to care. The blurs I don't even notice really, and I'm buying a set of nimh batteries and a charger soon.

Good business decision? No. But for me, its the best handheld there is.

[Black_Tiger]

I bought my Nomad new from EB as soon as it got discounted. I've loved it ever since.

I used it all the time while talking transit. I played with a Nomad and Game Gear battery packs. Between the two, I always had more than enough battery life.

Even if the screen had been crystal clear, I wouldn't have tried to beat actiony arcade games on it while riding a bus or subway. Playing Shining Force and Phantasy Star games on the go alone makes the Nomad worthwhile for me.

To this day its my go to system when I want to quickly test a cart or check on a game feature like a sound test or something.

Back in the day, I thought that Sega should've marketed it the same as if it was an entirely new system and repackaged surplus Genesis carts of hit titles as Nomad games.

[ary incorparated]

its a great system to volley with.

[ary incorparated]

ive got a problem with the serial bus in the nomad for my adaptor,i tryd to solder it when i was like 10 years old i did a fairly job but not great,i had to wreck a md2 pal for the iron sticker foil or something to make good mass under the contact,its broke now and its ways too huge to enjoy.

[nat]

I've wanted to get a Nomad for a while... What are typical going prices these days??

[evildragon]

ive got a problem with the serial bus in the nomad for my adaptor,i tryd to solder it when i was like 10 years old i did a fairly job but not great,i had to wreck a md2 pal for the iron sticker foil or something to make good mass under the contact,its broke now and its ways too huge to enjoy.
what serial bus? :daze: Even the Genesis doesn't have a serial bus...

[jumbo11]

might have been a folly back in the day but now:

at $50, with a gaming library of 700, and pretty cheap rechargeable nimh batteries this is one of the best handhelds to own, especially if you own a Genesis/Megadrive.