Sega Nomad

ncfiala

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I grabbed one of these off ebay on a whim the other day since I never had one. Kind of a cool idea in theory but pretty lame in reality. And they aren't kidding when they say it will freeze up if you move it in the slightest while playing.

Were there ever any other official handheld consoles that came out that played the same media as their home console counterparts besides this and the Turbo Express?
 
Not that I recall, but I could be wrong. My cousin had one of these and loved it. Said the graphics looked a lot better on the smaller screen. He used to take that thing everywhere :p
 
Yeah if your cartridges and systems connectors arent super clean they will freeze up if you bump them. But let's face it, back in the day these things were awesome! I wanted one so bad but it never happened. Picked one up a year ago and have had some fun nostalgic times playing NBA Jam, Mortal Kombat, etc., playing two players on it. Nice that you can hook it up to a TV screen too! Pretty cool stuff for back then. How about that huge battery pack lol.
 
I have two at the moment... one is a parts machine. The LCD is out on it.

I don't think there were any official handhelds to do the same media format as home stuff.

Ben Heckendorn does some awesome work, though.
 
I'd like a Nomad for my collection, but there's not much of a point other than completeness or OCD. But for playing? With emulators out there, it's just easier to do the same thing on a GP2X or PSP.
 
Were there ever any other official handheld consoles that came out that played the same media as their home console counterparts besides this and the Turbo Express?

To my knowledge, no. But there were add-ons, like the master gear converter which turns a Game Gear into a portable Master System. Same engine, why not? Now if only someone would come up with something that does the opposite.
 
I have a Nomad, never had any problems moving around with it and it cutting out though...

With most of these games being emulated well on the PSP I almost never have the want/need to break it out.

Now this guy's work might get my attention, The lcd in these are pretty washed out looking and with his mods on the lcd and battery pack I'd play mine a whole lot more.

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=17415
 
Yeah, the Nomad was awesome when it came out, but looking back, it's a terribly designed handheld. To fix the freeze from happening, we'd jam some folded paper behind the cart to keep it from shaking. To take it around as a portable, you had to use a battery holder attached to the back and use like a billion AA batteries because it would drain them so fast. The LCDs get dim over time. The original one I have is playable, but like Mattroid said, much easier and logical to just play on a better handheld that can emulate Genesis games. It's a great collector piece though.
 
That does look like a neat idea. I wonder if he will do this with a Game Gear also?

Probably not, because the Nomad has a video output directly for composite video.

I immagine the mod for a Game Gear would be much more difficult.

I may end up doing this to my broken nomad... If I remember correctly, everything works, but the screen.

edit:
I have seen cap kits for one of them... can't remember if it was the nomad or the game gear. But still, pretty neat
Edit again:
It was for the game gear... saw a video on youtube about it
 
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Nomad is awesome.. I was lucky enough to be collecting console stuff early (started collecting strongly around 93) and found several Nomads and Virtual Boys at Toys R Us for $20 each. I still them new in box. Also bought a bunch of those Nomad carrying cases for $1 each.
I like the fact that it plays original carts and has video output to the TV.
 
Nomad is awesome.. I was lucky enough to be collecting console stuff early (started collecting strongly around 93) and found several Nomads and Virtual Boys at Toys R Us for $20 each. I still them new in box. Also bought a bunch of those Nomad carrying cases for $1 each.
I like the fact that it plays original carts and has video output to the TV.

I remember those days... I was just getting in to gaming more when Toys R Us was liquidating that stuff. But, I wasn't in to collecting at that point. I was the young dumb one throwing boxes away and stuff.
 
I didn't have a bump n freeze problem on any of the ones owned, so clean those edge connectors noob! :p

They destroy batterys at an alarming rate though, portable my ass!
 
Im pretty sure I bought an external battery pack or something for mine.
Either way, I think its cool :)

jon

tHAT EXTERNAL BATTERY PACK IS STANDARD EQUIPTMENT, like a freagin after thought for it to have a place for batterys, awesome huh!
 
I still have mine with the matching logo carry case.

I had two NiMH battery packs for it and they have both died.

I've sat in the middle of a parking lot with Bomberman, the multi-player link, and 3 more controllers with 4P bomberman action before. Everyone crowding over someone's shoulder to see the screen. It was awesome dedicated gaming.

Mine works fine and never froze when it got bumped but maybe I just play very focused and still when I play. I've been thinking about selling this thing actually. Times are changing and I really only need my Sega CDX w/ 32X on top.
 
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