Sega Reactor

Sega Reactor

Sega? Seriously? Do you really have to do this?

Developer:	Jungletac, Sega
Release Date:	2010
Predecessor:	Sega Dreamcast (for Sega) Zone 60 Wireless Gaming (for Jungletac)
Competitors:	Nintendo Polystation
Generation:	Seventh generation

File:Sega2.jpg

The inside of the box, containing the console, cables, and controllers. All of these are reminiscent of the Zone 60.

Sega Reactor (or Sega Mega Drive Reactor) is a system made by JungleTac (also called JungleSoft) and ATgames with licensing from Sega to make a console that plays Sega Genesis games.

Comparing and Contrasting to the Zone 60

The console's case, controllers, and even the shape of the box were reused from the Zone 60. The manual also looks similar to a Zone Console manual. Notably, the AV cables had stereo sound, and the Power Adapter was a large brick. The buttons were also changed. Zone 60 had A on left, B on bottom, X (Turbo A) on top, and Y (Turbo B) on the bottom. With this system, the buttons were rotated counterclockwise, meaning A was on bottom, B was on right, X was on left, and Y was on top (this layout matches the button layout for Xbox systems).

Reactor also has shoulder buttons (C for left, Z for right), which Zone 60 lacks. The Reactor controller lacked vibration, which Zone 60 had. The Reactor Controller also lacks the hole for accessories, which Zone 60 had. Reactor does not have any snap-on accessories so this makes sense. The strap is grey on Reactor, and on Zone 60 is was black.

File:Zone601.jpg

Zone 60 contents for comparison. Notice the various similarities.

All of these reasons that the consoles had similar features is because the European prototype of the system, the Zone Sega (Sega Zone), is basically the same thing. JungleTac made the Zone 60, so they probably just decided to reuse Zone 60 cases, as well as Zone 40 and Zone Mini games.

Why It Flopped

Absolutely horrendous sound quality, similar to the AtGames Sega Genesis Plug n' Plays.
The frame rate was also a little bit slower than the original Sega Genesis.
There is input delay partially due to the wireless controllers using infrared technology, and also due to the emulation of the console.
It reused games from other bad systems (Zone 40, Zone Mini, and ATgames Sega Genesis) which meant this system had no real purpose.
Worst of all, the Sega Reactor is basically a Zone console that is compatible with Genesis games.