The Polymega

Episode 400 - The Polymega from Playmaji is an interesting emulation device that hooks up to your HDTV which enables you to play your old physical NES, SNES, Super Famicom, Genesis, Mega Drive, 32X, Sega CD, 32XCD, PlayStation, Saturn, Neo Geo CD, TurboGrafx-16, TurboGrafx-CD, Turbo Duo. PC Engine, PC Engine Arcade Card CD, SuperGrafx, and Nintendo 64 games as well as use their controllers. Let's check how good or not good this is!
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[@GameSack]

What do you think of the Polymega? Yay or nay?

[@vegaspaul9428]

Super interesting concept that seams to work very well considering. But yeah that price point 👀

[@keijijohnson9754]

The fact that it straight up REMOVES the pre installed ganes with some system software updates makes that a MAJOR Nay for me.

[@Quimbyrbg]

Fantastic review as always. If I'm going to drop that kind of coin on a retro console emulator, I want it to outperform the Ali Express handhelds. I could forgive occasional frame drops, but the the controller glitches just make it an instant nay.

[@ventisette.]

Isn’t it based on standard x86 PC hardware? Just use a PC then!

[@jamesburchill7522]

It's kind of junky for that price point. Good concept. Bad execution.

[@TheFirstHunt]

Damn, that is a LOT of problems for a bare bones emulation box that's more expensive than a PS5.

[@WIImotionmasher]

Im glad Im seeing a lot of people agree. This is annoyingly priced. Especially of you want the cart expansions.

[@WIImotionmasher]

I'm interested in a Disc based emulator console like this. That can play all those Saturn and 90s CD consoles I missed out on. But the high cost of even the base console, plus the cost of those Saturn games on Ebay. Its just ridiculous. I've messed around with countless emulators and front ends and raspbarry pis and emulator handhelds. They all have terrible UI experience. And require a lot of manual fixing on my side. I would absolutely pay like $200 to play roms and discs with a cool and snappy UI and fully setup configs I never have to touch.

[@gamingwhilebroken2355]

@@WIImotionmasher I agree. I can do the same thing this thing does with my laptop and RetroArch. Being able to play cartridges was the only thing I saw that was valuable and that just makes the polymega way more expensive. Honestly, at least imo, if you are using an emulator just use a rom on a computer. I get the simulation hardware (like analogue’s stuff) as that is meant to recreate the hardware and give a more authentic experience, for better or worse. But for emulation just use a computer or something like a raspberry pi. That way you don’t risk damaging your games.

[@losnamerales3403]

​@@WIImotionmasher I just use batocera on a 5700g or 8700g APU PC for emulation yeah it takes some tinkering but once you get it perfect you can make a copy of the drive which will be basically plug and play on almost any dual boot PC system, I 1st used it on my beelink sei8 i5 8278u and it was able to play upto ps3 but not all games, so it will easily play Sega CD and Saturn games 💯

[@QuestionBlockGaming]

$500? For a system with 2GB of ram and a Celeron? Using software emulation? With 4-7 frames of audio delay? Yiiiikes. Seems hard to justify the cost when emulation is right there anyway. Not being able to pull your cart saves either? What's the point of the console then? Just for the novelty of putting in the cartridges you own? Hard pass, really. Great video though! Always love your production quality!!

[@ChairmanMeow1]

For that price point why wouldnt you just buy an old laptop or a Beelink mini PC...? The idea of this machine is cool but what are they thinking with those prices??

[@veghesther3204]

Correct its Not worth it especially if you don't even OWN physical games for all of those systems anymore and I don't even buy Physical PS3/PS4 games anymore.

[@Marmite101]

Performance looks kind of ass on this.

[@ChairmanMeow1]

@@Marmite101That too! RetroArch does too good of a job for me to consider alternatives really.

[@QuestionBlockGaming]

@@ChairmanMeow1 I got a beelink mini-PC for half the price of this, with a modern Ryzen CPU, 16GB of RAM, 500GB of M.2 storage. I can download all of these emulators, put them in a front-end, and use whatever controllers i want. The only thing i wouldn't be able to do use insert my physical copies, which doesn't even remotely matter in this case anyway since you can't dump unknown games nor can you import your own battery saves. It's a novelty for sure but that's a LOT of money for something that's not an FPGA/Mister

[@linkvagar2336]

The price of this thing is obscene

[@blakebortles6098]

ha HAHAHA

[@The_Badcompany]

People will find a reason to complain about anything

[@jeffro9252]

@@The_Badcompanythe cost of things is usually a pretty good reason.

[@The_Badcompany]

@@jeffro9252 Complaining won't change anything. All it does is make you and others around you miserable by being negative.

[@Nordlicht05]

​@@The_BadcompanyI have a solution. Let it be, don't complain and most important don't buy it 😅

[@Cyclingismywholelife]

No Philips CD-i? Well excuse me princess

[@MarquisDeSang]

What about Amiga CD 32?

[@mark6302]

lol

[@Valthonis]

Or 3DO?

[@kosmosyche]

I don't know about CD-i, but good 3DO emulation would have been nice. I have like 50+ games for it somewhere since the 90's. I have some legit good memories about 3DO. Other than it was too expensive at release, it was a solid console for the time.

[@mark6302]

@@kosmosyche I wish I didn't know about CD-i xD

[@skins4thewin]

How the hell is this thing still so unfinished after all this time? Specially considering it uses free Emulators that have existed for years? The shimmering in the output is absurd for such an expensive device...

[@flandrble]

super underpowered CPU

[@sjake8308]

Some of the issues relate to the choice of emulators: Mega Drive emulation is somewhat fragmented, but Kega Fusion hasn't been updated for almost 15 years now and the only reason to use it at all at this point is the 32X support (the Mega CD emulation is especially ropey). It seems really weird that they didn't license Genesis Plus GX, BlastEm or Ares instead.

[@fiskburk2908]

@@flandrble and probably does not use the RAM properly

[@Trainy2]

@@flandrble It's not even expensive to upgrade the CPU with something way better

[@kidthorazine]

The fact that this thing costs so much and requires physical modules to expand its capabilities makes me think this was envisioned as a hardware emulator at some point before they realized that it would be to difficult/expensive to do that but decided to go ahead anyway. So my guess is that this is basically a highly compromised zombie project, which would explain a lot.

[@Johnnygrafx]

Man, for 500+ bucks to get up and running, this has way too many issues for me. I love the concept of a definitive modular retro box, but it needs either a massive price drop or a lot of work to smooth out some of those issues. Thanks for the in-depth review!

[@Deep_wolf]

500 for emulator station.

[@TheJacklikesvideos]

i'd rather just buy a desktop PC at that price and forget about having to swap hardware.

[@SeveredLegs]

But you have to set it up yourself with the image library, etc. ​@@baysidejr

[@superstimulatedminotaur3681]

@@Deep_wolf Exactly. I thought my Retron 5 used to be kind of cool back in the day...until I realized using my cartridges was meaningless and it was all emulation. Either use the actual hardware or just use an emulator on your computer

[@HaakonAnderson]

It's pretty cool but, running emulators on a 6 year old laptop you have sitting around in your basement through HDMI is surprisingly competent for a fraction of the cost.

[@TheJacklikesvideos]

better hardware in the laptop, based on some specs i'm seeing here.

[@danhectic5629]

my 10+ year old laptop ran PSX games till about 7 years ago. thanks windows update & computer illiteracy

[@Dorelaxen]

And near perfect emulation, too. None of that frame skips with the audio.

[@MrMegaManFan]

I have a free 12 year old Mac my neighbor gave me and it can do everything the Polymega can.

[@johnnybyrd300]

My Wii U does all of these consoles AND it's a Wii/Wii U and it runs GameCube games.

[@skins4thewin]

Imagine paying $550 for a freaking Celeron based Emulation box... Yeah, no thanks.

[@TheWarmotor]

Yes, that is insane. Elitedesk mini running a Ryzen5 with embedded graphics and 8 times the RAM is $100…

[@strawmanfallacy]

Seriously. It's basically manufactured e-waste at this point.

[@SpencerMckenithWilliams]

​@@strawmanfallacy you can thank Soulja boi. His scam console is even trashier than the poly mega, even by raspberry pi

[@Coldsilfur4]

@@TheWarmotor the elitedesk looks awful, cant read physical disks etc though. its also that console feeling you get and all.

[@TheWarmotor]

@@Coldsilfur4 You're not wrong, although you COULD use a DVD or BR over USB but that would look even worse. I had one running PS2/GC roms on my CRT gaming setup (I have a 90's themed sitting room for my classic games collection) but I never really used it... it does kill the aesthetic. My point was just that the price for this thing is way too much for the hardware you're getting.

[@Nobard0]

$500 for an underpowered Retroarch machine is a hard ask.

[@Starwarsgeek-98]

Retroarch runs games a bit better

[@The_Boctor]

@@Starwarsgeek-98And gets upstream support from its authors without needing to go through a vendor. And you're allowed to apply patches to it yourself if desired.

[@nintendo1889x]

Careful, you'll upset the Polymega apologist fanboys 🤣

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

Not buying the thing, but consider it a Pi + a bunch of retrode modules. Those are expen$ive. It's a pretty niche project nonetheless and would have sold probably very well about 10 years ago.

[@hazy33]

@@nintendo1889x looking thru the comments there genuinely don't seem to be any which is surprising. Some owners posting about liking the product but none of the crazy PS5/Xbox like fanaticism.

[@JimmyRaptis]

Originally announced in 2017, 7 years ago. So many better options today with a smaller price tag.

[@TheCoolDave]

yea, and it's such a buggy mess after all this time...

[@Cimone90]

Yeah, I mean you could buy all the analog consoles for less than the cost of this thing. And at least there it's perfect fpga hardware emulation.

[@J937-h3o]

​@@Cimone90 Fpga is still isn't perfect

[@Cimone90]

@user-se9dz1wy3y it's damn near 100% though. I have all the analog fpga consoles to date and they are indistinguishable from playing on real hardware. Aside from the better video output from the analog consoles, of course.

[@nintendo1889x]

@@J937-h3o Oh and this underpowered CPU it's using clearly is? 🤣

[@gabrieldias3479]

Wow. $500,00 + $80,00 a module for a lot of plastic waste running a CELERON, with a free OS (Linux) and free emulators, that has a lot of bugs. How is that price even justifiable? How can the devs put on the market something like that?

[@DodongoVideos]

I mean anyone could see this thing was a disaster years ago

[@StormsparkPegasus]

For that price they should be using something much better, and except for the attachments for cartridges/controllers, you can easily do everything with Retroarch.

[@DesertRainReads]

I mean, it's cool that you can upgrade the CPU but I agree, it should've been tweaked and fixed. 2GB of RAM? Should've been 8GB instead. Makes me wonder if there's ways to upgrade the RAM too.

[@daakrolb]

Oh yeah I am seriously worried about the plastic waste.

[@thomasgebert6119]

Yeah, honestly you can buy a brand new Raspberry Pi 5 for like $80, and a USB DVD drive for like $40. Rip the games on the computer you already have, send them over to a Retro Pie install, and you'll get the same (or better) experience.

[@DilbertDoubloon]

$580 and it can't even run Ocarina of Time properly? Just get an old laptop or a Steam Deck or something.

[@Pridetoons]

Or just buy almost any Retro Handheld and plug that up to your TV instead. 😕

[@thomasboehnlein5205]

I appreciate your brutal honesty. Companies need to bring their A game before you review their product.

[@tim7-l2m]

i got mine a few months ago. Started boot looping out of the box. Never got to play a single game on it. The company takes over a month to respond to emails. Should have kept my money.

[@koolaid33]

I'd heard of the name around the block, but never really knew what a Polymega was. This not only educated me on what it is, but also why I don't want one!

[@MrMegaManFan]

I canceled my preorder and got my money back. I have no regrets.

[@riddleiddle]

Same. I knew this thing was going to be bad but I didn't expect it to be this bad

[@Aki_Lesbrinco]

Me too. I cancelled my preorder years ago. Ended up building a mini itx pc with a bunch of emulators, then I dumped my whole PS1 and Saturn discs. Couldn't be happier.

[@randy7894]

You have dodged a bullet there.

[@Hamid8472]

The fact that you even preordered one LOL!

[@PengutheFoxVR]

I still have mine and it’s collecting dust

[@AAWinnerMichaelCaine]

Overpriced. Give me FPGA for that price.

[@doctorbutters]

who would pay $500 for this junk when you can emulate? Embarrassing!

[@therealone1288]

or spend that and build a purpose built emulation box

[@NanomachineExE]

8 minutes into your 32 minute video was all I needed to pass up on this thing. Who is this for? It's too expensive for casuals and it's not feature-rich enough for enthusiasts.

[@DilbertDoubloon]

Looks like it's for people who want to get into retro gaming but aren't knowledgeable enough to realize how bad of a deal it is.

[@Alanzice]

Thank you for showing and trying the Polymega so we don't have to

[@C-Murph]

So, it's a piece of outdated shit like everyone thought it was going to be. If you're going to spend several hundred dollars for retro gaming then just buy a Retrotink 4k from Mike Chi.

[@wraithcadmus]

"Huh, guess the next Game Sack vid will mention a portrait video mode of some sort" - Joe's neighbours

[@zg-it]

Lol, Joe's neighbors moved away years ago

[@JaredConnell]

Don't you mean taint mode, I mean tate mode?

[@JeffBreyer]

Im glad i never bought this. For the price theres no way there is any value here

[@desmabr]

Just wanna say, I am very sensitive to audio delay. That's one thing I just can't get over

[@andrewcamacho3364]

$500 U.S. for the console... then $80 additional, depending on the module you want? ...I'll stick with the MiSTer.

[@jonniefast]

i wanted to like the poly but im just gonna keep hoarding OG hardware 😅

[@BigBillKelly-x2z]

You own a MiSTer? You da man!

[@devilmikey00]

Yeah but can the MiSTer quench my ever more perverse obsession with inserting ancient plastic discs/cartridges into things? I didn't think so, check and mate. *Throws $550 dollars at polymega to watch a disc go into a drive while his eyes roll into the back of his head from pure bliss*

[@NarmyHiiragi]

Yeah for that price you could just get a Retrotink and original hardware.

[@spayseghost]

at least a mister can PLAY GAMES CORRECTLY. this machine is the best joke of the day

[@MysticGargoyle]

I want a multi console based on FPGA, not a weak Celeron based system from 2017 running high latency software emulation.

[@BRKsEDU]

A friend of mine recently bought one… that arrived without booting 🤡 he hasn’t heard back from Polymega yet. I don’t see the point of buying one instead of buying a MiSTer FPGA or a RetroTink 5X and proper SCART / component cables. And, finally: awesome content, as usual.

[@XVa-uj8m]

I think if you gave the MiSTeR cart and cd playback like the Polymega has and ripped off the interface most people wouldn't look twice at the latter.

[@TooBokoo]

People put up with delay after delay just to get an extra-glorified Retron 5. LOL! SMH. Why wouldn't you just build a cheap PC or buy a little $300 pre-built? All the Polymega is doing is emulating the games the same way a PC would.

[@michaelseitz8938]

Sorry, but this Polymega looks like a scam. You get an outdated and extremely overpriced computer with overpriced card adapters. Add to that the bad emulation and reliance on Polymega to fix problems and not abandon the project.

[@berserkerlonewolf]

I've watched some video reviews of this in preparation before I made the jump to order and this one by far is the most damning. While I understand that emulation isn't perfect on other devices and in some cases I don't mind, the constant need for configuration from booting a game to just plugging in a controller on top of the emulation issues is a major deal-breaker for me. Though I'm intrigued by the convenience of getting to have access to various game libraries on one console, this is gonna have to be a hard nay for me, especially for $500. Great in-depth review., brother. This is why I subscribe. 👍

[@duhmez]

80 bucks for each module too on top of the 500 bucks. And u lose all svae game progress when u dump your cart, it does not transfer over.

[@QF_Dan72]

why would anyone buy this at an absurd price? You can literally find easier way to play games for different system.

[@COIFISHGAMING]

I use to be a warrior like you, but then I took a HD temporal blur to the knee

[@faenethlorhalien]

If I want an emulation box, I can connect any old controller to my pc and emulate there, with better quality, playing literally any of the... ALL? of the roms that you can find online, for free. I don't see the point of these devices. Either you play with original hard, or you go FPGA or just use a pc.

[@sjake8308]

Meh, people should just play these games in whatever way they find most enjoyable. The real problem here is how little you get for your money rather than the concept itself.

[@lifestream_real]

If you gonna spend that kind of money, just get a MiSTer, and go with superior FPGA emulation instead. 😒 Boy, does this thing look like a disappointment. That’ll be a *hard pass* for me.

[@jamesburchill7522]

So like....an absurdly expensive emulator that makes you feel better by using official software. Interesting. Not really.

[@thechuckwagon6951]

if the Polymega was based on an FPGA ,that could drastically improve its quality. A more user friendly, consolized version of MISTER would be pretty awesome.

[@theunbearablejuan]

Originally it was meant to be an FPGA system, but something changed and this is what we ended up with.

[@cubeflinger]

Yet it is still priced like an fpga

[@targuscinco]

What does the female pro golf association have to do with a shitty emulation box? Did they sponsor it?

[@josephrowe2202]

Emulation works well enough for 99% of us without OCD. This is just a shitty product

[@devilmikey00]

I'll translate your comment: This would be better if it was a completely different product.

[@andorius]

You always upload on sunday mornings here in the Netherlands, thank you for waking me up with TATE MODE!!!

[@Retro_Royal]

I had high hopes when it got announced, I could deal with the change from FPGA to Software Emulation (if done right) and they announced the Polymega with an Intel i7 / i5 at the start, seeing it run on a lowly Intel Celeron now while still carrying the hefty price tag is stunning. I applaud myself for going MiSTer years ago :)

[@the.real.Deano.]

You shouldn't even have to deal with software emulation over fpga given the $80 price tag for the modules. For those things being emulators that are simple and a big waste of plastic, that thing should be $40-$50. And I only say that high because of the included controllers.

[@WarioSaysSo]

I really love the concept of the Polymega and have been a supporter since its early announcement. The Base + Ultra Expansion was the package I really looked forward for. However to see that it has still so many baby-illness problems unfixed after all this time is bad, and for such a heavy price-tag it is difficult to justify such a big investment....

[@sanyr80]

Graphics bugs, audio bugs, controller bugs, response time issues, game compatibility problems, and general UI uselessness. Too much of a "fix it in post" mentality for something that costs $800 for the deluxe set. For that amount of money you might as well get a Steam Deck and an eyepatch.

[@voteDC]

You could get an older office PC that still has its optical drive and get almost the same experience as the PolyMega, at least when it comes to the disc based systems as Retroarch lets you play those games directly from the drive or will copy them for you. Sure you'd be giving up being able to use real cartridges but since you aren't actually playing the game from them using another cart dumper to get your roms would be no different, if a few extra steps. All in all you'd get almost the same experience at a far cheaper price and with more systems available to play.

[@DakovP]

If its not FPGA, it seems pretty pointless to me to get consoles like this. Theres so many ways to enjoy roms nowadays that it really doesnt make any sense.

[@garethLLB]

FPGA is pointless

[@theshadowman1398]

Base unit at 500 USD. Not a chance

[@vitacilina555]

Hey Joe! Just wanted to say that over the years I’ve watched your channel grow, and your content constantly improve (as well as your humorous delivery). You have a knack to make technical info delivery understandable and entertaining, I honestly think that in the retro space your content is the best out there. Much appreciation from a fellow Gen-X

[@thegreatoni]

I live for the TATE MODE call outs

[@ru5t397]

I'm surprised he is still saying it wrong

[@thegreatoni]

​@@ru5t397gotta commit to the bit.

[@ericjohnson6634]

@ru5t397 He intentionally says it wrong to irritate Japanophiles and pronunciation nazis. It's part of his personality and style of humor.

[@bonesjackson81]

I remember when it first got started and was supposed to be fpga and compete with Analogue. Can't remember the original name it had. Scammed down to being a ridiculously priced emulation machine that requires physical carts and discs. I see no purpose in this device. Retropie, odroid and crappy Chinese boxes are the same but with all the games. This would have been a great emulation box in 2002.

[@hteekay]

Ooofff... the sheer gall to ask 500usd for a console that never play anything right..

[@cubeflinger]

I like the slick interface and design but vlaue for money is poor. In the UK this bundle is 650 pounds.

[@Mr_Wheez]

I actually liked the original idea but since that got lost during development, I stick to my expensive hardware from Analogue 😂

[@Starwarsgeek-98]

Analogue may be expensive but at least you know you're getting crisp fpga emulation

[@darrellsmith9727]

Oh no Joe! You missed it. "We're gonna rock down to NEC avenue!"

[@markula_4040]

It seems this thing tries to do way too much and ends up not doing anything well at all... and for that price? That's a HARD no.

[@skins4thewin]

Thanks for the review! My god what a waste of money... Unfinished, laggy, blurry, etc. How did this thing sell at all? I have to assume that mostly casuals bought this who don't really know any better.

[@firisrozley5768]

IMHO, Polymega is pretty much dead on arrival. If Polymega were to use AMD AM4 motherboard with iGPU support up until Ryzen 7 5700G + upgradable external memory, perhaps this could be an emulation beast.

[@GregsGameRoom]

It was over for this system when they dropped FPGA for software emulation.

[@BloodiTearz]

1.Started at $250, ended up costing $550. 2.Abandoned Features: Dropped FPGA support after pre-orders. 3.Performance Problems: Reports of bugs, lag, and compatibility issues. 4.Expensive Expansion: To get other 5 modules , they will cost your around $400. 5. Dated hardware Unlike Analoge pocket, which bundled expansions together, Polymega requires users to purchase each module separately, increasing the overall cost and making it less convenient for consumers seeking a comprehensive gaming experience.

[@warchild9381]

I love the skit callback to the "too much blast processing" gag, one of my favs from the show.

[@mukiex4413]

5:10 You know you're watching a good channel when you start to smile as soon as you see a game sideways 'cause you know you're about the hear the thing XD

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

Joe do the thing, do the thing!!! "tAte MoOoO00oodDde!!"

[@JaredConnell]

Come on Bart, say the thing

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

@@JaredConnell "I didn't do it..... err I mean TATTTTEEE MOOO000DDEE" Or was it "1 million MEEGGAA POOWWAAA"??

[@Retro64_]

Love to the concept but the execution is lacking, as it's using real disc / cartridges but via emulation why haven't the emulators got any of the benefits of emulation, upscaling, shaders, retro achievements etc.

[@keijijohnson9754]

The fact that they remove some pre installed games from the system after performing a systen update really makes this such a major downgrade here. That right there sounds like such a major Apple move right there and I hate it when they pull that sort of BS with their devices!😤

[@dcashley303]

You spend a whole bunch of money and then it's a hassle to use... I thought after all these years it'd be really polished. Oh well.

[@endersblade]

$600+ to play old games on a console that barely does what their original consoles could do AND cost silly amounts of money for the modules Play old games for free on my PC Hmm, tough choice

[@Zellio2011]

So you can buy a ps5, a 6900xt on sale, or.... this thing with a ton of issues...

[@12ealDealOfficial]

Two Xbox Ones or an XSX is my preferred way to go. The deal might not be as sweet with Retroarch patched out of retail mode, but it's consolized emulation and it works pretty well. My XSX only gets used for Retroarch.

[@wettuga2762]

I like these concepts of newer hardware running older games,. The main downside I can see is that if the main unit breaks down and the manufacturer stops making that specific unit, you're left in the dust, and getting another used unit will most probably be VERY expensive due to the sparse availability. On the other hand, finding original consoles is easier, much more affordable, and in some cases easier to repair due to being older hardware and the existence of several videos and tutorials spread all over the Internet. AND it's also easier to just buy a second or third console as backup in the eventual case your original consoles also start breaking down and you can't repair them 🙂

[@WithoutParole]

Man I love this machine. It definitely needs some updates and yes it's expensive but I'm having a blast having access to my full retro collection again

[@devilmikey00]

My guy, there are like 20 other ways to do this without having wasted 500-1000 dollars lol You got absolutely fucking hosed buying this shitty low power computer running a bunch of free emulators badly. Just get over the weird obsession with needing to stick a cartridge or a disc in things and download the roms for the stuff you own.

[@Thoushaltplaymore]

So many issues and such a hefty price tag

[@esotericmissionary]

_Two_ 32Xs? Why, that's 64 Megabits of POWER!

[@tommybahama9350]

Megashits

[@michaelturner2806]

Do the math!

[@AmberShort]

Not for me. Sorry.

[@gamerdude0]

I say nay, just use a pc you already own and retroarch with controller adapters if you want to use original controllers.

[@sjake8308]

RetroArch. 🤮🤮🤮

[@ianchandler6086]

It’s like a £60 Celeron pc for £500. What a bargain…..

[@ShelfWarmer]

I'm more annoyed that the Polymega exists and we had to waste a Gamesack episode on it rather than on a gaming topic that actually makes me happy. Oh well, looks like a hate watch this week.

[@Captofthisship]

Gimme that Lightening Force model 1 synth soundtrack any day of the week!

[@BigBillKelly-x2z]

Yep, blew the other ones comparing out of the water.

[@DaveDoc1984]

I would suggest most people pass on this. The amount you are paying for effectively a cheap, low end, small form factor PC that runs a bunch of emulators. Do yourself a favour, pick up a cheap Small Form Factor Dell, HP or Lenovo PC that will be a lot more powerful than this... hell you could run PS2 and GameCube games on that compared to this thing. This device was originally meant to be "FPGA" like the MiSTer Project but.... well it amounts to just being an emulation box.

[@jong2359]

2:14 -- God I hope it runs faster than 2.9 Mhz... emulation be pretty slow at that clock rate.

[@h1ghju1ce]

My ears pricked up when I heard it too 😂

[@PikaLink91]

1:00 You’re kidding me? Not only is the design boring as hell (someone mistakenly took notes from Microsoft), but then you are telling me that 40% of it is just plastic waste??

[@megan_alnico]

I remember asking the "value" question when this thing was first announced. I was told "this isn't for the enthusiast who knows about emulation. Its for the person who just wants to put in their game and play." So its an expensive toy for people with little to no understanding of tech... I think we all know what to call something like that.

[@NinjaxShadowXx]

Nah for the price it is not worth it. If I am gonna pay that price it better be the best FPGA multi console system ever made

[@NickTaylor-Phantom-Works2]

Loved the ending 'tower' bit - vintage gamesack!!

[@Marmite101]

Its reallly nothing much more a pile of overpriced Junk

[@Kevinsyel]

Thank you Joe! I was so excited for this, and was trying to save up for this... Now I don't need to waste my money! I was under the impression that modules were needed for near hardware level emulation... not simply to adapt the cartridge. So glad youtubers like you exist.

[@AntneeUK]

As soon as they switched the concept from FPGA to software emulation I was out. The fact that it doesn't actually play from the cartridge makes it no different to playing emulators on the PC, frankly. I can get adapters for genuine controllers to use on the PC and have a better experience than the Polymega controllers

[@XVa-uj8m]

Apparently it was because they got more interest on this thing playing CD based stuff and they said the FPGA they had planned couldn't handle the 32 bit consoles. The smarter idea to me now given the look would have been keeping the same size, including an FPGA instead and upgrading it seamlessly. Like the front end we see now would have functioned the same but the back end would have lifted off the drive bottom vertically so as to be invisible to the naked eye. This could have switched out to a newer more powerful FPGA or they could have even created a combo unit of an FPGA and traditional processor. I think our best hope now is to BEG the head of Framework, after they offer an OLED screen option on that laptop, to look at giving us what the Polymega was meant to be.

[@powerfulaura5166]

Atrocious price-to-performance ratio.

[@richardpage9474]

Dongles for every controller made by man are pretty much available for 5$ for PC...

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

When you use youtube reviews as your QA department.

[@mickeymaus1]

Wasn’t it planned that it will be an FPGA system? That was the reason for the high price at the beginning I guess… Now it’s an cd based retro pie…. so naaah

[@DLCOrganization]

NO ONE was expecting Game Sack to cover this! This should be interesting!

[@stewartbladensb]

So this is just an emulator. If it rips the game to memory then it’s emulation.

[@HaakonAnderson]

Jeez, I remember when it was announced, like 8 years ago? They kind of pitched it like a retron for CD based consoles. They should have worked harder for that vision, I thought that sounded cool.

[@D.E._Sarcarean]

Intel Coffee Lake CPU running at 2.9 megahertz!?!?

[@corngames8982]

I think he meant GHz

[@deadbunnies]

I thought about getting one of these, but I kept talking myself out of it. The idea of being able to play multiple console games on one system is great, but every time there is something positive to say about it, there is always a "but" that you have to take into consideration. I think if Analogue were to release an FPGA based system like this, it would be the way to go. For now, I'll stick with the original consoles or my Analogue consoles. Great video!

[@XVa-uj8m]

Naw they want to be assholes and force you to drag whatever system out of your closet or keep it cluttered in your bedroom or living room. Seriously I think Analogue gets off on this otherwise why would they behave like this? Even Kevtris wanted to offered a bundled FPGA system at one point. Sadly now with FPGA's we may soon have to compete with jackasses using it for AI learning which I could tolerate if it were for practical/exclusive purposes like language preservation. Instead they want to use it to put people out of jobs.

[@AcornElectron]

Probably just stick with my old PSP for retro emulation.

[@disky01]

This thing reminds me of the LaserActive from the '90s that I desperately wanted back then, only better. I'm not going to buy it but man, it's tempting. Love that stop-motion, by the way!

[@T0NYFERRELL1]

This should appeal to those who want a quality emulation based console replacement with no setup and no hassle. At that price with all those problems, potential buyers are just going to be swayed to making their own emulation box that will work better without the constraints off silly and expensive addons. Or learn about the Mister. Since these guys famously dropped the FPGA based hardware, I just don’t get who this really aimed at.

[@H8llguard]

Input lag is a MAJOR sin, inexcusable. Complete deal breaker

[@SuperDwango]

Ah yes the polymega aka the retron5.😂

[@jtthegame]

not really the retron plays directly from the cartdrige where as you copy the cartdrige to the system with the ploymega. you can play from the cart on the ploymega but it is easiar just to dump it to the system. both are great systems but retron is a lot cheaper so that would probally sell more i would imagine.

[@SSJfraz]

Dude... get a Lenovo Tiny or HP Prodesk from like 10 years ago with a 3rd/4th gen i5, install an SDD with Batocera and loaded up with all your roms. It'll run 10 times better than this, remember your settings, allow you to alter the menu and interfaces. Choose which emulators and settings you want to use for each console... etc and it'll come in at under $150 (including a controller).

[@williammoore1030]

Looks like Playing emulated games on PC or a hacked handheld is still the way to go.

[@SpencerMckenithWilliams]

Fun fact: the polymega sold quite well when it first was produced because of an old school rapper named soulja boi. See soulja boi was scamming people with his trash console turns out it was just a box with a small raspberry pi microcomputer with old school Nintendo roms that led to customers becoming spiteful, and Nintendo suing soulja boi over the nes roms. He even had the nerve to call Nintendo a bunch of haters. So people spent the extra $200 for the polymega. Burned and spiteful from soulja boi led to the sales it did. I wouldve too but I rather make my own cpu and gpu chips. I started vengeful technologies with that idea in mind but im going to do other things too. But that decision came in retaliation from Sony's fascism. One thing you dont do is pissoff an angry black engineer without a hardspoton for money. I dont limit myself to just a chipset engineering however so I'm more than the integrated circuits I can produce 😂

[@ChairmanMeow1]

WAY too expensive to even consider. A ten year old $100 laptop is an infinitely better choice. Its a really cool idea but my god that price. $549 just for the BASE UNIT. $80 more for each module?? Is this a joke?? No thanks!!

[@quajay187]

I certainly know what YOU think about the PolyMega Joe lol.