I finally scored a Nomad, tell me what to expect

Post by **Scooter** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 5:55 pm

I almost bought a Nomad when they were new but were going for low prices when the plug was pulled on the whole concept. I've regretted not buying one ever since. Over the past two years I've been looking for a nice NIB copy that wouldn't cost me a fortune. I recently snagged one on ebay for a pretty reasonable price for a NIB copy which comes along with a NIB official Sega Genesis control pad, official Sega power pack and an official Sega battery pack (holder). Everything is complete with really nice boxes, all the packing and instruction sheets. I'm a collector nut so that's what I like.

Anyway, my purpose for wanting a Nomad now is that it is portable and I can take it to my friend's house when we have a gaming day. It's always been impossible to take my Genesis due to the size, all the wires, cords and power packs and the fact that my Genesis is hooked up with a Sega CD2 and a 32X. Now I can take the little Nomad and play all the Genesis cart games we want and I have a pretty good sized Genesis game collection, probably around 60-70 games. A CDX would have been even better as that would open up the Sega CD collection I've got too, and they are just so cool, but I've yet to find a really nice one with all the boxes, packing, instructions and such. Well, I've seen a few but they went for silly money.

ANYWAY, my real question is: will I notice any issue playing games on the Nomad vs. the Genesis? Is the Nomad hardware entirely as powerful as the Genesis console or were some corners cut to make it fit into a handheld that cause gameplay issues not found on the console?

Regardless, I'm still jazzed about getting a Nomad. Now if I could just find an official Sega Nomad carrying case in nice shape.....

Post by **Pullmyfinger** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:21 pm

Things about the nomad

-No reset button

-Playing on a TV looks just fine

-Your battery pack won't last very long, you're better off with an AC adapter

-Replacing the screen lens is easy and replacements are very cheap (if you ever scratch it)

-The screen has a terrible refresh rate, you can play street fighter just fine but don't try playing sonic, all you'll see is a blur

-You'll still have to carry an AC adapter, AV cable and spare controller to play with your friend

-Filing the edges of the cart slot very slightly will let you play most japanese games

-So far I have not found any game to be incompatible, but probably the early EA releases won't work

Post by **D.D.D.** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:23 am

If you happen to have Alien Soldier, it does not work on the Nomad.

Post by **Scooter** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:14 am

I don't have that one but it's good to know.

Post by **racketboy** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:26 am

Congrats -- I remember this guy had one in college -- I so jealous.
If it wasn't for the battery life, I would be all over one now

Post by **racketboy** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:27 am

D.D.D. wrote:If you happen to have Alien Soldier, it does not work on the Nomad.

Because of the game specifically, or just because its an import? (although, I realize you're in Japan)

Post by **Scooter** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:41 am

racketboy wrote:Congrats -- I remember this guy had one in college -- I so jealous.
If it wasn't for the battery life, I would be all over one now

Yeah, but like with my Game Gear I probably won't ever use it with batteries anyway, I'm all about the AC and car adaptors. I'm really excited to get it!

Post by **D.D.D.** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:35 pm

racketboy wrote:
D.D.D. wrote:If you happen to have Alien Soldier, it does not work on the Nomad.
Because of the game specifically, or just because its an import? (although, I realize you're in Japan)

The game specifically; (but I was in CA until 2006).
I picked up Alien Soldier in '97 on a trip to Japan but I didn't have a converter nor a MegaDrive to play it so it just sat in the box looking pretty.
Then in '99 or 2000 (while I was still living in California), my friend had picked up a Nomad brand new from a local game retailer and he told me he was playing YuYu Hakusho on his lunch break. So after work we met up, I brought AS and other than having him already shaving the cart entrance down a little, it didn't play (it gave us the same "not for your region" message). So it looks like AS has some sort of BIOS check in the code or something like that...

And about the battery life, he used the GameGear's battery pack on it and that lasted about 10 hours. I never verified that though...

Post by **Scooter** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:05 am

Well, the sausage shaped Game Gear battery pack lasts a lot longer than 6 AA batteries, I can tell you that. It can also be charged while it is being used and is powering the Game Gear.

Post by **Pullmyfinger** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:05 am

If you want to play it so badly you can use a genie, it works on the nomad but if you shake it even slightly your game will freeze.

Here are the codes from one of racket's articles:

Alien Soldier (EUR/JPN PAL, A version)
RECA-A6XJ
RECA-A6XL
RECT-A60J

Alien Soldier (JPN NTSC, B version)
REBT-A6XN
REBT-A6XR
RECA-A60R