Mega Everdrive Pro

[English Invader]

I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger for this. The main selling point is the Mega/Sega CD and the SVP support.

How good is the CD support? Is it compatible in the sense of "all games work 100% no questions asked" or is it compatible as in "some games may work but most won't and expect bugs and glitches"?

I've been using an Everdrive MD v3 for the last five years and instant loading and unlimited lifespan are both no brainer upgrades from the MD v3. It's just a question of whether the Pro is worth the extra £100 from the Mega Everdrive X5. I don't think I can justify the £100 for only SVP but if the Pro can open up the Mega CD for me then I really can't justify not buying the Pro.

[chilled]

Totally go all the way when upgrading, you'll regret going only half route for just a few bucks less, in the long run.
Also beware of the cheating feeling if you have it. I own a v3 and I already feel like this is somewhat emulating even if it's not, so if you go for the Pro and are like me, you'll probably feel you are just emulating the Sega CD just like in Fusion. That's why I haven't bought it.

[djcc]

I've had an Everdrive MD v2 for the longest time and I like it and everything, but boy I'd sure like an X7, at least for USB connection support. Can't swing the 200+ CAD for it, though, or the Pro.

[chilled]

The only thing I wish my ED v3 had is the instant loading thing. Well, at least this way you feel the game loading hehe. Also the Sega CD on the Pro version is in fact emulation through FPGA IIRC though many people intentionally omit the term as being emulation via hardware (vs software), some people will tell you it's as much emulation as the Genesis 3 or any previous console with consolidated chips is. I'm not sure they are right, though.

[Devil N]

I can't speak for the Mega Everdrive Pro but I do own a Mega SD and I can easily recommend it. However if this is the thing for you is very much down to personal preferences. Clearly it's not an authentic Mega CD and falls somewhere within the emulation/clone hardware spectrum. Whether that's a problem, that's up to you.

Personally I've never owned an actual Mega CD so I do not have any particular nostalgia for it, and I can't be bothered to fiddle with 30-year old first generation CD-ROM hardware, or to track down rare and expensive Mega CD games. What I do care about is an authentic *experience*, i.e. playing with a real 6-button gamepad on a CRT with RGB output from the console. For me the Mega SD fits the bill perfectly and allows me to play the relatively small amount of Mega CD games that I am interested in, without all the hassle of actually owning a Mega CD.

[English Invader]

Totally go all the way when upgrading, you'll regret going only half route for just a few bucks less, in the long run.
Also beware of the cheating feeling if you have it. I own a v3 and I already feel like this is somewhat emulating even if it's not, so if you go for the Pro and are like me, you'll probably feel you are just emulating the Sega CD just like in Fusion. That's why I haven't bought it.

I've long come to terms with the fact that originals are out of reach for me. I was actually looking at a Mega CD system recently and the main things that stopped me from buying was the shortened lifespan of the optical drive through running bootleg CDs, the complicated process of creating bootleg CDs from iso files (anything that requires special software is usually out of the question for me as a Linux user) and the rising prices and questionable functionality of original disc games. I won't buy a system unless there is a reliable digital solution for it. The last system I did that for was the Atari Lynx about 7 years ago and I was able to pick up a library of 40+ games without even trying but times have changed.

I couldn't get behind the Mega CD with Kega Fusion. I think I played Batman Returns, Final Fight and Sonic CD for a bit but then some of the other ones I tried didn't work and then I gave up on it. A reliable go-to solution for both the Mega CD and 32x is definitely in order as this is the only way that many people will get to experience these systems (add-ons) but it's not clear if either the Mega SD or the Pro are there yet.

With the MSD, I'm put off by the shipping from Andorra and not being able to pay through PayPal; especially in our Covid-restricted, post-Brexit times. Terraonion needs better distribution to compete with Krikzz IMO; if the MSD was available from Retro Towers I would probably choose it over the Pro but as things stand there are too many questions.

[XeroShinobi]

I highly recommend the Mega Everdrive Pro, and I'm a Mega SD owner. Both are fine flash carts, but the Pro is cheaper, loads slightly faster, has more save states per game, and has—albeit rather poor—NES emulation support. Unless the Mega SD is on a particularly good sale at any given time, I don't see any reason to get one over the Pro. I suppose if you value the ability to assign images to the roms in the menu, the Mega SD might appeal to you more. I don't bother with that feature myself.

With that being said, the Pro isn't enough of an improvement for me to bother selling my Mega SD in favour of it.

As far as authenticity is concerned, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between an authentic Sega CD and the FPGA implementations in either the Mega SD or Pro unless you had them side-by-side and possess incredibly discerning ears, as the audio is what you'd most likely notice.

Sega CD hardware and discs are notoriously frail, and better left on the shelf as collectibles in my opinion.

[English Invader]

It's done. After much deliberation, I bought the Pro.

[Devil N]

Cool. Just to clarify: when I bought my Mega SD, the Mega Everdrive Pro didn't exist yet so I didn't have much to choose from. I own a Mega Everdrive X3 as well and I've always been very happy with that one, so if I had to choose today I may very well have gone for the Mega Everdrive Pro instead. As it stands I'm pretty satisfied with my Mega SD and see no reason to want anything else.

[nihilblack]

The only thing I wish my ED v3 had is the instant loading thing. Well, at least this way you feel the game loading hehe. Also the Sega CD on the Pro version is in fact emulation through FPGA IIRC though many people intentionally omit the term as being emulation via hardware (vs software), some people will tell you it's as much emulation as the Genesis 3 or any previous console with consolidated chips is. I'm not sure they are right, though.

Mostly people who know the facts and don't call "emulation" something that it's not

[chilled]

so FPGA implementation on modern chips isn't emulation? Or you were reffering as the mention to consolidating chips BITD (which of course isn't emulation)?

[eukara]

Let's just all settle on calling it 'hardware replication' instead because 'hardware emulation' is widely recognized these days as being a software-layer that talks to a host-system running a general purpose operating system.

[Sarge]

I'm going to quibble on one point, and that's using burned media and shortening the life of the laser. So long as the laser is not having trouble reading the media in question, it won't shorten the life of the laser. The issue is when the laser has to constantly re-read areas from a bad burn or bad media, adding to the wear. If you're using high-quality media, this should not be a problem. Where you run into issues is a system with an already-failing laser. In that case, it will have trouble with burned media but still function fine with pressed discs. I'm in this situation with my Dreamcast - (most) pressed discs work fine, but certain types of CD-Rs just don't really work during the boot sequence.

[xelement5x]

Between all the burns I have done for my SegaCD, PC Engine hardware, and Saturn, I also feel that disc quality is a big factor. I also believe in using 650MB discs instead of 700MB ones, but those are much harder to come by anymore. I have a stockpile of 650MB silver discs I've been using for the most part though. I'll do initial burns on a cheaper disc to make sure the ISO works, then switch up to a nice quality disc for a permanent copy that I'll use for playing.

That said, I got a MED Pro myself recently and love it. I'm debating dropping my SegaCD hardware to the side completely at this point.

[Sarge]

I would really like to get my hands on some good 650MB discs that don't cost an arm and a leg. I've heard MAM-A discs are good, but man does shipping kill it. And now that I check, it looks like the website may be down?

Anyway, my PC Engine Duo is super duper finicky, to the point that even Taiyo Yudens don't work that great, yet Verbatim DataLifePlus discs work very well (although I still get problems with occasional games like Last Alert).