As great as the Genesis Mini is, it most definitely isn't an original idea. Nintendo and Sony had both offered small-sized versions of their classic consoles already, so how can SEGA's miniature Genesis compare to the systems two of the current console manufacturers offer? Let's check it out:
- The shells
Arguably the most important part to get right in these consoles is the plastic shell you're buying the product for, and while it obviously won't feel 1:1 with the real thing, some are closer to it than the rest. If I had to rank them, the NES Classic is probably the worst of the bunch: on top of the already super-basic design of the original NES, the plastic feels very cheap with details like being able to open the cartridge slot completely missing, it's doesn't feel like a small replica of the console at all. Then we have both the SNES Mini and the Playstation Classic, which are already much better: while the cartridge slot and disc tray aren't openable, both consoles feel close enough to the original hardware (and the plastic also feels much better than the NES Mini's, too).
However, the king here has to be the Genesis Mini. SEGA brought back the original designers of the console to design this product and it shows: the cartridge slot is not only openable but can hold actual mini cartridges, all sliders are movable (although they're purely cosmetic), you can even connect a mini SEGA CD and 32X to it; it's seriously amazing. Out of all of them, this is the only one that feels like a proper replica of the original hardware which is very impressive, considering it costs just as much as the SNES Mini and it's cheaper than the Playstation Classic.
- The controllers
While the shells are, in my opinion, the most important part of the package, the controllers need to feel right too: it's what we use to actually play the games included on the consoles. Once again, the NES Mini is the clear loser here, as the console only includes one out of the box and the cable length is laughably short - on top of having Nintendo's propietary port which means you'll need an adapter for using it with a PC. This is also why despite being a great replica of the original SNES controller I'd also put the SNES Mini's controller just a tad below the Playstation Classic's and the Genesis Mini's; but considering how you're most likely just going to use them with the console it isn't a deal breaker or anything of the sorts.
That said, the Playstation Classic and Genesis Mini controllers do have a disadvantage as well here: they're based on the original models. This isn't much of an issue for the Genesis as all the games are perfectly playable with the three button pads, but the Playstation Classic should've included at least one DualShock. Not only because cheaping out on the pads meant games like Ape Escape simply couldn't be included on the system, but because many of the games in the PS Classic just play better with analogue sticks and rumble. This is why I think the SNES Mini's the winner here, as the SNES controllers are just as good as they always were and there's no games that could've been improved with the inclusion of another model of the controller, plus if you own other Nintendo hardware the propietary port won't bother you too much as it's compatible with the Wii and Wii U.
- The games
Probably the most subjective aspect of these consoles is the library, everyone has their own opinion regarding which games should've been included in these consoles and maybe what I consider an absolute classic isn't a game you have in mind. That said, I think we all can agree that the Playstation Classic is the clear loser here with very few games that can really be considered classics of the platform and a lot of filler - besides Metal Gear Solid, Tekken 3, Resident Evil and Ridge Racer Type 4, pretty much all games have either been chosen because of the popularity of the series now (GTA, Rainbow Six, Persona) or because the licensing was probably cheap (Mr. Driller, Intelligent Qube, etc.). There are some glaring omissions here, with actual games that helped define the platform like the Crash and Spyro series, Tomb Raider or even Sony's own games like Medievil or Wipeout missing likely because of licensing issues or to avoid competing with remakes, kinda ruining the whole point of these consoles.
The Nintendo mini consoles compete fairly well here at least: the NES Mini has 30 games with a lot of classics and the SNES Mini has "only" 21 but it more than makes up for it with some genre-defining titles and even Star Fox 2, a game that had been cancelled back in the day. The king here has to be the Genesis Mini though: twice as many games as the SNES Mini with arguably the same level of quality - also including extremely rare games like Mega Man: The Wily Wars which was only available via the SEGA Channel in America, Tetris, a game where only 10 copies of the game exist, and even an entirely new port to the system, Darius. So despite some weird omissions like Ristar, I think it's an excellent game selection and the best out of all these consoles, at least for me.
- The emulation
None of the mini consoles run their respective games natively, so emulation quality is a factor to consider when comparing these products. As expected, this isn't an issue at all for the NES Mini, SNES Mini and Genesis Mini, as these consoles are quite easy to emulate accurately with good performance (it won't be 1:1 with the original hardware as modern TVs and emulation will always add some input lag and audio lag, but you'll likely never notice this unless you've got the games burned into your head), which makes the terrible emulation quality of the Playstation Classic stand out even more. Games often perform worse than on original hardware with lots of slowdown which makes a lot of these titles certainly less fun to play at best and borderline unplayable at worst, like what happens with GTA or Tekken 3. This is not to mention the fact that for some games Sony included the PAL versions, which is absolutely unacceptable in a modern product as it'll never let the 9 PAL games feel smooth due to the slower default framerate (For the first Playstation, PAL games were made to run on 50hz displays, which means they target 50FPS instead of NTCS' 60 and 25 instead of 30 - effectively making these games worse). So, while there's no clear winner here, there's certainly a clear loser: the Playstation Classic.
- UI and features
Just because these mini consoles were made to replicate the feeling of the originals doesn't mean that extra features to enhance the experience aren't appreciated, in fact many of these games can potentially be more enjoyable with these upgrades. Nintendo understood this from the start, which is why even the NES Mini has features like multiple save states, sorting orders, backgrounds and filters which definitely add to the charm as you can, for example, make the games look like they are running on an old CRT or save the game in games that didn't originally support the feature - all included in a very clean retro-styled UI with original music that can put anyone into a retro mood. The same can be said for both the SNES and Genesis Mini, which pretty much feature the same things (although there's only two backgrounds on the Genesis, with a not-so-great CRT filter), but not about the Playstation Classic which once again fails to include some of these features or implements them worse than the competition, like including only one save state.
However, the Genesis does include a very cool feature which is why I think it's probably the best of the bunch here as well: region swapping. By just changing the region of the console in the settings you can not only change the whole UI to get different looking covers and UI, but the region of the games changes as well. This way you can get around any regional differences in the games included, which should be the standard for these consoles as some games can change completely depending on where they were released.
Considering all of these, I think the Genesis Mini is the clear winner here with the SNES Mini very close behind, the NES Mini a few steps down and the Playstation Classic losing in pretty much every aspect. That said, I think that no matter which one you pick up there's definitely some fun to be had with any of them, and none is particularly bad to the point where the experience would be completely unenjoyable.
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