Why You Won’t See a Sega Saturn Mini Anytime Soon
Last Updated on July 17, 2023
Following the release of the Sega Mega Drive 2 Mini, many retro Sega fans wondered why a “Sega Saturn Mini” wasn’t being considered.
Well, don’t think it hasn’t been. Sega has been working on a compact version of the 1994 console for some time, it seems, but so far it seems we’re in a “no dice” scenario.
Speaking to Famitsu, Sega President and COO Yukio Sugino inferred that work on a Sega Saturn Mini has hit hardware roadblocks. This seems to be mostly due to the unusual hardware specification of the original system, making the process tougher than building the Sega Mega Drive 2 Mini.
“The Sega Saturn is surprisingly high performance, so the difficulty of miniaturisation is also high.
“I don’t think it’s a case of saying ‘let’s make another one because it sells well’, it looks like it’s going to be a little longer.
“I’d like to think about it when we’re in a situation where we can openly develop it together with people who have always loved the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast.”
Arguably the highest specification console of that generation, the Sega Saturn was famously difficult for game developers to adapt to. The result of this was that the console was abandoned after just a couple of years.
It seems that hardware specification could be haunting any attempts to “miniaturise” the Sega Saturn 30 years later…
Gaming since 1984, retro gaming since 2004. Contributes to Linux Format magazine, TechRadar.com, and other publications.
