Never doubt the unbridled power of nostalgia - or what people 30 or over will do to rekindle that feeling of child-like wonder playing videogames again.
After the huge and, quite frankly, unexpected success of the NES Classic Mini, both Sega and Atari are cottoning on to the fact that there's a lot of people out there - casual players and the hardcore - who are willing to pay to play the games of their youth.
It's been confirmed that a microconsole of the Sega Genesis / Mega-Drive and the Atari 2600 are now headed to the market this September, both with an impressive array of games. Developer AtGames has licensed both consoles, as well as a couple hundred games for both, and are cashing in on the retro revolution.
The Sega Genesis Flashback will include 85 games, including Mortal Kombat II and III, Columns, Sonic & Knuckles, and Golden Axe I, II and III, and the same clunky controllers you remember. Meanwhile, the Atari 8 Flashback will feature 105 games and the distinctive joystick paddles of the Atari 2600. There's also a special Atari 8 Activision Gold version, which will have old Activision titles from the '80s.
Not only that, the Sega Genesis Flashback will have cartridge support - meaning you'll be able to play old games as well as the in-built games on the console - and the Atari 8 and Sega comes with pin connectors for old-school controllers. There's no word yet if the Sega Genesis Flashback will support PAL cartridges or just NTSC / American ones, but it's still a cool feature regardless.
Both microconsoles will come with 720p HDMI outputs and the ability to save, pause and rewind games as you see fit. What's even better is that both microconsoles will come with wireless controllers, meaning you won't have the problem you had with the NES Classic Mini, or the original consoles themselves for that matter.
No pricing has been announced for either the Sega or Atari Microconsole, but you can expect these to be in high demand come Christmas.