Hyperkin’s Mega95 may still be inching its way toward reality, and now there is a clearer picture of why this “Genesis Nomad for 2026” is taking so long. The company just posted a short update confirming that the handheld’s hardware is finished, and the remaining holdup is all on the software side.
Hyperkin says the Mega95’s internals are “locked in and finished,” but the problem is how the current firmware is handling video output, with visual artifacts and occasional tearing when rendering game graphics. Admirably, they are not willing to ship in that state, and say they have been “grinding on this for months.” Once visuals are clean and stable, they will move ahead with mass production.
Like their Retron GX for PC Engine, the Mega95 does not use an FPGA; it dumps your original Genesis cartridges to memory, then runs them via emulation. That approach is convenient but fussy. Bad firmware can mean broken effects, weird dithering, and compatibility roulette even when the hardware itself is solid. Given how rough the GX launch was before later updates smoothed things out, it makes sense that Hyperkin is being picky about quality this time.
On paper, the Mega95 still sounds great: a 5‑inch screen with 4:3 and 16:9 switches, up to 10 hours of battery life, and a dock that lets you hook it to a TV and plug in original Genesis controllers. For anyone who cannot justify a real Nomad in 2026 (and really, who can?), this is probably the closest official-ish portable Genesis experience you can find right now. There are cheaper emulation-focused options already out, and purists will keep side-eyeing Hyperkin until they prove the firmware is dialed in, but “late and good” is absolutely the right call for a handheld built around one of the most beloved 16‑bit libraries.
Source: Games Radar
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