Why are there no generic mass-produced power base converters yet?

[recorderdude]

Okay, this is something I never got.

Companies have gone out of their way to make games playable on other systems they're not supposed to be playable on: The retroport for NES to SNES and the retrogen for Genesis to SNES are so common you can buy one off of WALMART, and someone even shoved a gameboy in a NES cart!

So what's got me confused is...why the heck hasn't anyone made any generic power base converters?

It's literally nothing more than building a connection with a different sized slot; SMS games ARE supposed to be played on a genesis, as the hardware is already there IN the genesis, so costs for manufacturing would be super-low. It's pretty much the same thing as the GameGear Master Gear, except WAY more useful and practical (actually playing SMS games on a TV screen instead of a tiny GG one).

I'm sure there's a lot of people who'd happily plunk down a $20 for a generic version of the PBC to avoid the hassle of using a master system to play SMS games or just save space/hookups as well as enjoy the audio upgrades the genesis hardware gives for a select few titles.

It's also likely there's likely more people who'd buy that than a generic master gear for the same price (more genesis owners than GG owners by far), and WAAAY more people that'd buy a generic one than spend crazy money on a SEGA official one if it worked just as well (and it'd have no reason not to).

So....why hasn't it happened yet?

[Dashopepper]

I think because 98 percent of people have never heard of a Sega Master System.

[The Adventurer]

Actually I was wondering the exact same thing a week ago while pining over the Power Base Converter sitting at the local used game store.

[cholkavich]

why not just buy the PBC? i could be wrong but the last time i checked they went for 25-30 bucks a pop. I could understand if you have a model 2 genesis though.

[The Adventurer]

why not just buy the PBC? i could be wrong but the last time i checked they went for 25-30 bucks a pop. I could understand if you have a model 2 genesis though.

I believe the one I'm looking at comes attached to a Model 1 Genesis, and runs about $60. (they also have an actual Master System for $100. Yeah, they're a little over priced.

I don't think I've seen one on E-Bay for less then $40 or 50.

[wiggyx]

There's simply not enough of a market for something like that, nothing more.

[Gameguy]

So what's got me confused is...why the heck hasn't anyone made any generic power base converters?

They did.

http://www.tototek.com/store/index.p...products_id=74

http://www.gameoz.com.au/consoles-re...-consoles.html

[sloan]

They did.

http://www.tototek.com/store/index.p...products_id=74

http://www.gameoz.com.au/consoles-re...-consoles.html

Wow, if only they weren't sold out...

[kedawa]

Unless PBC are selling for big bucks these days, then it really isn't going to be worth it.

[recorderdude]

Unless PBC are selling for big bucks these days, then it really isn't going to be worth it.

They go for around $30-50 on average now, and they're pretty darned hard to come by in the wild. A good way to look at them is as SEGA's super gameboy, except the super game boy sold so well that it can still be found cheaply and there's no reason to make clones of it.

I'm surprised that those other clones went out of stock, though. Even though compressing the entire thing to a sonic and knuckles style lock-on cartridge is pretty nice, when the rare piece of plastic can cost LESS than the knockoff, I'd think more people would just go with the rare piece of plastic.