Launch for free 'Worm Jim', 'Sonic' and other hits from the Sega Mega Drive console, without fiddling with settings.
Remembering the past
I noticed that companies began to actively play on nostalgia. The new Nokia 3310 was the main announcement at MWC 2017, Nintendo is re-releasing the SNES console, and the previous NES Mini was in short supply. It is clear that this is a simple way to draw attention to a brand through people's memories.
If Nintendo approached this responsibly: these are the same consoles, only in a reduced case and with support for modern TVs. The over-the-top Nokia has made a blatant hack: only the name remains of the same Nokia 3310.
New Super Nintendo
The nostalgia trend has been joined by Sega, a renowned console maker that currently only develops and publishes games. The company announced the Sega Forever project and released five games at once with Sega Mega Drive for Android and iOS At the same time, it promised to add one new game every month.
This, of course, is cool, but the developers have not been able to properly adapt games from Mega Drive to smartphones. The gamepad buttons in the game are very inconvenient: you cannot change their size, move them, it is very difficult to set the exact direction of movement. And this spoils the whole experience of the game.
It is strange that a large publisher cannot make a normal emulation of games from 20 years ago.
Sega's Official Comix Zone Port
But Sega still offered a good option to remember the past: play for 10 minutes and delete. Plus games are given for free, but you have to watch ads.
If you want to enjoy going through, for example, the dynamic game Comix Zone, then you need to find a normal emulator. Which I did.
Affordable nostalgia
CoolGenesis Emulator is a Sega Mega Genesis console emulator with a built-in game catalog. It has some of the biggest hits: Comix Zone, Sonic, Streets of Rage, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Toy Story, Golden Ax, Castlevania and many more. A total of 69 games. If your favorite is not on the list, you can download and run the rom-file separately.
The beauty of CoolGenesis is that you don't need to configure or download anything. Launch the app, choose a game, and play. But it is necessary to clarify that the application contains ads: banners are displayed almost every time you launch, there is no new gameplay advertising.
Coole Genesis has a huge menu of options. You can choose the frame rate, increase the image resolution, adjust the order, position, size and transparency of the buttons. Also, the emulator supports wired and wireless gamepads for two-player games.
I also like that the emulator has a vertical mode – it's much more convenient to play this way, fingers do not overlap the image.
Conclusion
The main advantages of CoolGenesis are that it is free, available on Google Play, and has a built-in catalog with cool games. Otherwise, this is a regular emulator of an old game console, but there is no hassle with searching for rom-files, loading bios and other settings.
I enjoyed playing Worm Jim through CoolGenesis. Playing on the touchscreen is not as comfortable as on a gamepad, but it can get used to.
Download Cool Genesis
Write in the comments which old consoles you like and share your favorite games.