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The SEGA Genesis Nomad console is probably the coolest yet most hardly known piece in the long list of crazy hardware SEGA's R&D team created based on the Genesis. Thankfully the gaming community is beginning to notice this console again- you might have found yourself here after watching a review of the Nomad on YouTube. You might find yourself in debate on whether to purchase one of these handhelds- being that of all the SEGA hardware I own my Nomad is my most prized possession, I absolutely can recommend to you yes it is worth it.
Ok, you've probably heard all of the complaints regarding the Nomad already (it's so huge! It devours batteries! The screen looks like crap!), but come on- it's an entire Genesis crammed into a handheld that was on store shelves next to the original black-and-white Gameboy. It is a large device but surprisingly it's actually really comfortable to hold. The case has a slight curvature on it and there are some slight indents on the rear for your fingers. Coming from a Gameboy the Nomad definitely feels like it was made for adult hands, versus the small square package you got with Nintendo. Another small but really nice point- the Nomad has an amazingly good D-Pad, probably the best I've ever felt. Rather than the traditional 'plus' sign the Nomad has a little circular button that has an indent for your thumb to rock back and forth in. I play my Nomad a lot, and whenever I go to play one of my other Genesis consoles with a regular SEGA 3-Button controller, I find myself missing the D-Pad on my Nomad almost immediately.
A stock Nomad is pretty well worth it as long as you purchase some decent rechargeable AA batteries for it. I've heavily modded my Nomad though with a modern replacement LCD screen and a LiPo battery. The mods weren't the hardest things to do (if you can use a soldering iron, Dremel tool, and a hot glue gun you can pretty much do these mods yourself), and they've improved the functionality of my Nomad ten-fold. The Nomad becomes even more useful if you invest in an Everdrive flash cartridge like I have- while expensive, it's so much easier taking the thing around with me when I have all of my games (and then some) on one cartridge. Even so, most Genesis titles aren't too expensive to start with (thank goodness the SNES collectors haven't targeted the Genesis yet) so if you're starting off with a small library it's easy to expand.
My Nomad gets a surprising amount of use- it's just nice having a portable Genesis. I can relax in bed or on the couch or at the kitchen table or wherever and not be tied to a television, I can take it out onto my patio on nice days and play some games in the sun, I bring it with me when I'm in the waiting room at the dealership when I'm getting my car worked on, and I love bringing it to my local video game store and seeing other gamers' reactions to seeing it ("is that a Game Gear?" "No, it's better than a Game Gear!").
All in all, the SEGA Nomad is a fantastic handheld that can play an already awesome library of games, and it has some great modding potential to overcome the few flaws that it has. I still have a hard time understanding everyone who claims that the handheld was 'awful', because my Nomad is probably my most fun (and most used) video game item I own.
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Nostalgic gaming, with caveats
This thing plays your Genesis collection on the go, and does it with vintage style.Why only 4 stars? The thing sucks down the batteries. I ended up modding it with a rechargeable lipo battery. Also, the screen has a wicked slow refresh rate (Sonic truly becomes a blue blur). The next mod will be a new screen.All in all, a happy purchase!
