View Full Version : Magic Drive Plus and Heat.net controller
I recently purchased a bunch of games/hardware from a colleague who is no longer a hardcore gamer. He had a lot of interesting stuff including a “Magic Drive Plus” for Genesis and a Segasoft Heat.net controller.
I haven’t been able to turn up a ton of information about the Magic Drive Plus and hope some of you can shed some light on it. It’s a pretty neat little pirate device from what I’ve observed that lets the player rip Genesis games to floppy disc. Any idea on rarity, print runs, etc.? Same with the Heat.net controller.
Thanks!
Blanka789
01-31-2011, 11:12 AM
Any pictures of that controller?
http://i53.tinypic.com/b8ty79.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/2u5etcp.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/2prchg2.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/2lcmlvr.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/2vv2jc8.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/15rbajs.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/mre1jb.jpg
Sorry about the giant pics, but here's the stuff including two NES pirate carts. What do you guys think?
JLukas
02-01-2011, 05:54 PM
That MD Plus has a built-in floppy drive, right? AFAIK, the older non-Plus units were much more common, but had less RAM (16MB or less) and needed an external floppy drive that connected using the parallel port. It had a second parallel port to connect directly to a PC also.
You might want to find out what BIOS version it has, and see if there's a newer BIOS online with features upgrades.
Also, it would be a good idea to open it up and take a look at the PCB. I don't know if that particular model used a save battery, but many units did, and leaking batteries are a real concern.
Yeah, this version includes a self contained drive which works flawlessly. I'm not particularly concerned about the bios, and doubt i'll bust it open to check for a leaking battery, but thank you for the suggestion.
I'm probably going to end up selling this, but wanted to know a lot more about this cool and somewhat rare device along with the other curiosities I picked up. If anyone else has any info it would be much appreciated.
Blur2040
02-02-2011, 04:10 PM
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The Magic Drive is certainly cool. It's obsolete in the face of modern devices. I like them though, as I like sketchy gray market Chinese items. Not common by any means, but easy to get if you're on the lookout for one. Not worth too much. Print run is anyone's guess. Learn Chinese and then ask!
I'm guessing that the Heat.NET controller is a prize that someone got by turning in their Heat.NET points. Either that or a pack in to a SegaSoft Game---I think the first one is more likely, though. Probably quite uncommon, but I doubt anyone would be willing to pay much for it.
NES multicarts? Zillions made. Just generic Chinese bootleg crapola. More common in other parts of the world with lax laws on such things. I'm sure someone from Mexico or South America could regale you with tales of multicarts.
Yeah, none of these items are particularly practical for sure. Hell, you could argue playing old consoles isn't practical anymore in the face of emulation, but crazy old school players and collectors still do.
In terms of value for Magic Drive and Heat.net contrgoller (I'm not selling the NES stuff, was just curious), I'm interested to see what they'll go for. Rare/uncommon stuff like this is only worth what some crazy collector (I use that lovingly) will pay, obviously.
Blur2040
02-02-2011, 06:01 PM
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Thanks again for your insight.
rbudrick
02-15-2011, 08:04 PM
I vageuely remember heat.net having a partnership with Sega in the late 1990s. I think I got some Sega/Heat.net flair from one of the E3 shows (1999 or 2000). However, is that a Saturn or Genesis controller?
-Rob
SparTonberry
02-15-2011, 10:34 PM
I'm pretty sure heat.net was an online gaming service that was run BY Sega.
rbudrick
02-17-2011, 02:21 AM
I'm pretty sure heat.net was an online gaming service that was run BY Sega.
Well, that makes a hell of a lot of sense. Hah!
-Rob
Cauterize
02-17-2011, 12:57 PM
The Super Magic Drive Plus version you have is the revised model and the only one which will play Street Fighter II.
The original version required you to plug an external disk drive in, so you've got the better one without a doubt :)
The Super Magic Drive Plus version you have is the revised model and the only one which will play Street Fighter II.
The original version required you to plug an external disk drive in, so you've got the better one without a doubt :)
Good to know. I'm actually selling both the Magic Drive and Heat.net controller if anyone is interested.
My buddy told me he received the controller with a copy of Scud for PC.