# Talk:Genesis Nomad

I edited some anti-Nomad and false statements from this article. This whole article reeks of somebody who just doesn't like the console. It needs to be re-written and many even combined with the Genesis article, which is a ridiculous mess, because of the way too International POV in that article. These console articles need to broken up into subsections in regards to each region and variation of system, in chronological order of release.
Also, the battery pack, which I've used from 1996 to the present, when BRAND NEW, can allow the Nomad to function for over 12+ hours. That's from me playing it for over a decade. After constant recharging and such, the battery pack, as of this year, holds a charge for about 3 hours now. Also, the Nomad functions with the Game Gear's battery pack just fine, and now, the 32X, Power Base Converter and Sega CD can't work at all with the Nomad. If so plugged in, the Nomad will just display a black screen, like a computer that has crashed upon start-up.
To this day, I carry the Nomad and five Genesis games with me, and it's a very good portable system. It's not pocket-worthy, due to size, but it seems to fit just fine in a laptop bag.

I took out the part about the nomad being revolutionary because it played console games, since the TurboExpress always did this, and is years older. I also took out the part about extended color palette via hold and modify, since this probably didn't work on an LCD screen (correct me if I'm wrong, but until there's a preponderance of evidence, I'm assuming it can't.) I also corrected some spelling.
I tried to look up the TI 76480 sound chip and I couldn't find it. I suspect this is a typo and the chip is the same as the one in the Megadrive, i.e. the SN76489. It this is wrong, please revert the change.--Malcohol 17:58, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Kevin Horton had a project where he was trying to develop a portable NES, he used the Sega Nomad as the testing ground for the graphics screen. The name of this project was Portendo. Should we put trivia on this article? --SuperDude 21:41, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Just because someone modifies his VW Beetle with another engine doesn't qualify it for a mention in Wikipedia. IMHO the same goes for a modified (read: raped) Nomad. --32X 00:09, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
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I am pretty certain that the nomad does NOT have an active matrix LCD. I think someone should fix this.
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The article contains two different references to the Nomad's codename, one being "Mercury" and the other being "Venus".  Someone should fix this.  I would, but I'm not sure about what the true codename was. Segafreak 07:21, 28 Feb 2006 (UTC)
I think it is "Venus" because the Game Gear's codename was Mercury.
I second that; I remember reading in an old issue of Sega MegaZone (an Australian Sega magazine) a preview of a 16-bit handheld being developed by Sega under the codename "Venus"; this is undoubtedly the Nomad, as I do not recall Sega releasing any other 16-bit handhelds (apart from the Mega Jet, of course). I have updated the article with the proper codename. --Lumina83 22:20, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

Couldn't you just use Energizer? 67.188.172.165 05:47, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

It doesn't really belong to this discussion page (which is to discuss the article) but if we argue that this question could've been answered in the article ... 
Batteries are expensive, especially if they only last for a few hours. It doesn't matter whether that are 2 or 4 or even 5 hours, it's just too short. The article claims that rechargeable batteries weren't recommened do to the lower voltage (6*1.5V = 9V, 6*1.2V = 7.2V), and "Ni-MH AA batteries weren't available at the time". Well, I've used rechargeable batteries in the Game Boy and the Game Gear, both worked without problems. Back then there were capacities of the rechargeable batteries were about 500 to 750 mAh available, today even 2700 mAh and above isn't a problem any more - I can't give any information on standard batteries but I expect equal changes. With todays cappacities (and some back up batteries) these  systems are quite enjoyable, but 10 or 15 years ago it was just an expensive fun (or you had to use some AC adaptor). Short answer: yes, Energizer could help here a bit, but the problem still exists. Hope that answer helps. --32X 00:06, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
It's also worth noting that the Nomad battery pack (Model No. MK-6102) is rated as DC 7.2V 1600 mAh Ni-MH. Charging that battery pack using the model number MK-2103 power supply takes several hours, up to 13 hours for a full charge if the battery pack was drained all the way to the Low Battery state where the Nomad powered itself off, so it's obvious that the charge rate is slow. With other rechargable battery cells exceeding 1600 mAh, any issue of shorter battery cell life vs. the Nomad battery pack could be an issue of slow charging vs. quick charging of those other rechargable battery cells. Also, with other rechargable battery cells exceeding 1600 mAh, there isn't really any reason to use alkaline batteries over the rechargables except for if one does not have immediate access to charged rechargable battery cells.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.19.254.216 (talk) 07:23, 23 May 2010 (UTC) 
I had a Sega Nomad battery pack (MK-1602) and it failed very quickly. It wouldn't hold a charge for very long after just a few months of intermittent usage, charging before each usage. If one is going to use conventional NiMH batteries in the standard supplied Nomad battery holder, be aware that the Low Batt red status light is about five minutes away from insufficient power at moderate audio volume or less than a minute at high audio volume. Then, the black screen occurs immediately (there is no fade to dimming before a black screen). Also, don't even try conventional Carbon/Zinc battery cells since they seem to light Low Batt after about five minutes of gameplay at high audio volume (though I didn't test to see how long I could play in Low Batt status). In contrast, I can get about 2 to 3 hours of continuous gameplay before Low Batt status and 10 minutes or more even in Low Batt status using alkaline battery cells... good for arcade style games or even most shumps even if they loop, but even Sonic platform games can last over 3 hours to finish all levels plus trying to get all the Chaos Emeralds (e.g., it took me 3 hours 45 minutes to finish Sonic and Knuckles, even using continues, and I still didn't get all the emeralds). The Genesis power adaptor model MK-2103 is also supported by the Nomad, but then that's not using batteries. 76.122.221.218 (talk) 07:31, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

I've removed the sales numver (9 million units) since no source is mentioned _and_ that would mean that  about every fifth Mega Drive / Genesis system is a Nomad. Even the Game Gear has "only" been sold between 3 and 8 million times. After checking the other user changes it looks he's a sega fan boy who gloryfies Sega consoles by adding faked sales figures. While the first thing isn't bad, the second one is. You might compare the activities of the IP 69.153.100.147 with 69.150.41.38's. See also Talk:Sega Mega Drive. --32X 00:56, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

How does one properly reference personal experience? ```` —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lostinlodos (talk • contribs) 11:02, 1 March 2007 (UTC).
My friend had one and never had much trouble with it.

I wholeheartedly agree, my cousin own(s/ed) one (not sure of its current situation) and I was amazed that while he was playing what ever on his genesis I could be playing sonic elsewhere not waiting for him to get off. Yes it was heavy, to me it weighed about the same as an N64. The battery life was a bother since he had the rechargeable batteries and added about a pound or two to the weight.Oruko 14:55, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Here's the best way I can break down ¶2-4 under Issues:
"However, the Nomad was bulky and offered very limited battery life in comparison to contemporary handhelds."  It weighed less than the PC Engine GT or Atari Lynx. And stood up to abuse better than both systems. 
"It consumed much more power - nearly two times more - than the Sega Game Gear. " The Game Gear was a full generation back! You're comparing apples to broccoli. They're not even in the same category! According to Collector's Guide and Extreme Tech Collectorz, The Nomad lasted for 2-5 hours an Duracell, up to 8 hours on Energizer, 5 hours on NiCad, and 8-18 hours on the three variations of battery packs. All of those times beat both the Atari Lynx and the GT
"Six alkaline AA batteries offered only about 2 hours (depending on volume and screen brightness settings)[1] of play time, making batteries a significant expense for use on the go. A rechargeable battery pack was offered separately for $79. It offered even less play time and was not widely available. Rechargeable AA batteries were not recommended due to voltage problems (Ni-Cd provides 1.2V instead of the 1.5V that alkalines output, and also requires full discharging before recharging; Ni-MH AA batteries were not available at the time)." See above
"At the time of the Nomad's release, many felt that the console showed Sega had not learned lessons from the relative failure of the Game Gear, as many of the problems gamers identified were the same. Like the Game Gear the unit was too bulky to be easily portable, it consumed batteries at an alarming rate and was designed for playing what were in effect home videogames (the Game Gear having been in effect a handheld Master System in the same way the Nomad was a handheld Megadrive/Genesis). It is therefore considered to have failed against the Game Boy for largely the same reasons as its predecessor - the Game Boy was much smaller and therefore more portable, its non-backlit monochrome display gave it many times the battery life of its competitors and its games were often built from the ground up to suit a handheld machine." Who's many? Nintendo fans? Interesting since the Nomad STILL to this day has a large fan-base AND an active mod scene. Bulky compared to the (by raw numbers) inferior Game Boy? Yes. But easier to carry than the Lynx and lighter than the GT! Built from the ground up for a less-powerful machine does not make a better game, on its own. Entire ¶ not only POV but sounds like it's from a rabid Nintendo fan!  
"Despite a $100 price drop, the handheld did not garner enough support to continue. By the time it was released, the Genesis was almost at the end of its lifespan — already being replaced by the Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64, and general indifference towards 16-bit era titles hastened its demise." This is not a strict enough paragraph to be used on its own. The last 32X game released by Sega was in 2005 (Classic Collection X). Well the general population moved on, slowly, the system was not abandoned for a few years yet, and even then not totally.   Anyone care to tackle this as I can't find an easy way to R-POV it other than to delete, which is not the best choice I'm sure. Lostinlodos (talk) 00:03, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Taking this point by point: 1) It was still bulky. Just because Canada is smaller than Russia doesn't mean Canada isn't a big country. 2) Again, nobody's saying it was the most power-hungry inefficient waste of battery acid ever designed. Just that five hours of battery life was not ideal. 3) See above as well. 4) Lots of things have fanbases on the internet. That's neither here nor there. There's no need to accuse the article's editors of being Nintendo fanboys. The Nomad sold a paltry amount of units compared to the Game Boy, and a significant reason for this was that the Game Boy was designed for "on the go" gaming, whereas a good portion of the Nomad's library was not meant to be played on a small screen, and would often outlive the batteries of the unit. This article is merely answering the quite logical question: "why would this unit, with a huge library and umpteen times the power of the black and white Game Boy, proceed to flop?" (and I mean that in cold, heartless commercial terms) 5) You say it yourself: "the general population moved on". Joe Consumer wasn't about to go schlepping about from store to store to buy an adaptor just to play some random 32X homebrew. Your statement regarding Classic Collection X is incredibly misleading - the 32X was dead by 1995, and no game by that name shows up in any database that I'm aware of.
All that said, the end of the paragraph you highlighted is a bit strong, and I will correct it right now. --Badger Drink (talk) 19:48, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Looks better, 'though I still consider "bulky" and the related terms to be POV. I have a laptop. It's bigger. It's truly bulky and makes my Nomad look like a small little.... Otherwise great edit! Lostinlodos (talk) 20:15, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
Well, that's the trouble with relativism - compared to my desktop, your laptop is tiny. And compared to ENIAC, my desktop is downright small. Compared to the size of Earth, ENIAC is kinda little, and compared to Jupiter, it's amazing nobody's lost the Earth in a garage somewhere. So rather than go that route, let's say that "bulky" is best defined as "something so large as to be unwieldy in the purpose it's been designed for". I'd say that once a portable console can't fit in a jean pocket, it's become "bulky" - similar to how a Game Boy-sized "portable" razor would also be bulky. --Badger Drink (talk) 07:54, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
;) Understood, I was pointing in reference to other systems in use at the time. The Nomad was the lightest and therefor most portable out of the "power portables". i.e. the Turbo Express, PC Portable, Lynx.... Today, the DS weighs nothing, but if the Nomad were re-released today, aside from the mandate on size (the cartridge format you know,) it would probably weigh about the same as the DS does. It's just not in the Game Boy category, and it can't be compared to the Game Boy. Based on what it was, you can compare it to the likes of other "power portables" where it is the most portable, or to other home systems (it was a portable genesis, ala the CDX and the like) where it is still the most portable. Anything compared to the Game Boy is "bulky" and by such raw (Earth to Jupiter) terms, the Game Boy will win. Even today the far less powerful Game Boy Advance (the last true Game Boy, Game Boy) is far more portable than the PSP. I don't see many people putting them on the same level either. If that makes my statement more understandable. It's not the wording I'm opposed to, it's the inclusion of the Game Boy in the same comparison as the Nomad. They're not in the same category. Actually, the terminology is probably wrong; as the Game Boy was a "hand held" gaming system, where the TXP and Nomad and all the other power systems were "portable" home systems. But with that argument, I'm not sure where the PSP would then fall. Which is why the POV comment. :end rant:Lostinlodos (talk) 13:43, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Much softer, and much better. However, is there room for a mention, if not short comparison to the other systems that were in it's class (as opposed to the Game Boy which was always a generation back, technologically); possibly with a link to the subsection of the generational page.? Lostinlodos (talk) 14:02, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

I've always been curious, was there ANY thing that a nomad could do that the genesis couldn't (besides be portable)?  Any specific games just for nomad or marketed as being for the nomad.  Or any specific accessories aside from obvious things like battery packs and the TV cord.Mwv2 (talk) 06:34, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
Very few accessories were Nomad specific and these were with the battery supply or headphones. The AC adapter and TV out accessories (AV cable or RF Modulator) were shared with the Genesis 2 console. The Nomad is a battery portable Genesis 2 without most of the accessory compatibility (no Sega CD or 32x) and with an integrated (likely commercial off the shelf) LCD screen, speaker, and six button controller. Kb3pxr (talk) 00:39, 18 November 2014 (UTC)
Somebody must correct the audio info... NOMAD IS STEREO SOUND, NOT MONOAURAL, MONOAURAL GAMEBOY  — Preceding unsigned comment added by LFEFER44 (talk • contribs) 21:08, 30 March 2020 (UTC) 

It might be worth mentioning that the hit game Sonic & Knuckles could not be played on it due to the sloping design of the shell of the Nomad and the unique shape of Sonic & Knuckles' cartage. You had to use something like a Game Genie to play on it and with Sonic 3 attached.... it hurt my little kid wrists after a while holding all that top weight.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.208.89.71 (talk) 06:19, 25 November 2008 (UTC) 
I would disagree with the claim that Sonic & Knuckles could not be played without the use of another component such as a Game Genie. Even though the shell is slanted on top, Sonic & Knuckles is absolutely able to be played using the Nomad (Model No. MK-6100). The game powers up and plays without any graphical, sound, or control issues whatsoever. There is nearly 1/4 inch of clearance at the very left side of the cartridge slot and nearly 1/2 inch of clearance at the very right side of the cartridge slot.

I've never heard of, or seen any Japanese Sega Nomads. Hopefully this is corrected as the article is worked on.--SexyKick 23:41, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

The sources I've found corroborate this, too.  I think the confusion is that it was based on the Mega Jet, which was Japan-only.  We're ready to go.  Red Phoenix build the future...remember the past... 01:39, 23 October 2013 (UTC)
I got one in France, don't know if it was import or not but it played my European PAL games just fine. 2A02:1812:6:DB00:1981:9285:5A9C:E331 (talk) 19:28, 16 April 2015 (UTC)bart2A02:1812:6:DB00:1981:9285:5A9C:E331 (talk) 19:28, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:Sega Nomad/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: New Age Retro Hippie (talk · contribs) 19:41, 17 November 2013 (UTC)
Alrighty. Anything I don't bring up - ie, prose and the such - should be interpreted as a pass.

Are there any references that support the idea that it qualifies as a fifth generation console?
 Done Sentence removed - this is a remnant from before I rewrote the article.  There's really not anything because it's more or less in between eras; not a true successor to the fourth-generation Sega Game Gear, and really before the fifth generation was in full swing for handhelds.
Apologies if I overlooked it, but I don't see anything in the lead to corroborate the idea that it's a collector's item.
 Done I'd wanted to finish that idea after Retro Gamer referenced it, but I think it needs more reliable sources to say that and make a subsection, and my research just didn't really turn up more than their statement.  So, I've removed it.
I feel that it perhaps goes overboard w/ the use of quotations, though that's not a big deal. It'd be nice if the reception tried to sum up their praise or criticism is all. - New Age Retro Hippie (talk) (contributions) 19:41, 17 November 2013 (UTC)
Stripped this down a little bit.  Agreed, probably a little overboard.  Red Phoenix build the future...remember the past... 20:15, 17 November 2013 (UTC)
All problems seem to be addressed. - New Age Retro Hippie (talk) (contributions) 00:23, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

 See Talk:Sega_Genesis#Mega_Jet czar ♔ 00:20, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

As explained earlier in the thread "Genesis sales revised", it is extraordinarily improbable that a handheld version of the Genesis that was released only in North America sold one million units before being discontinued after a mere five months on the market. Snow's GamePro article is full of demonstrable errors and is based exclusively on citogenesis/Wikipedia; as such, it has been a great source of misinformation that several editors (not just myself) concur should be purged. For example, see Indrian's comments in the same thread:

"That GamePro source is an unmitigated disaster of lies and misinformation that is known to have inaccurate 3DO, Dreamcast, Sega CD, and 32x figures at the very least. It should absolutely not be used as a source for anything (and yes, I realize the handheld article is technically a different article from the console piece, but they are a pair written by the same author and published on the same day, so they are one body of work for these purposes). I've said it before and I will say it again, an article that is demonstrably full of errors and poor research is unreliable on its face regardless of whether the larger source is generally accounted as reliable."
In sum, yes, my description of Snow's article as "dangerously worthless" is quite apt; it is, in fact, worse than nothing.TheTimesAreAChanging (talk) 20:43, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

The Nomad was sold in stores for years after 1995 though. The article says "Discontinued 1999" which comes from Retro Gamer magazine. I bought mine in 1998 direct from Sega...but regardless, this can be explained in the article to help prevent future people from writing in 1 million. Have it say "Unknown"[n1] and in a note, an explanation sourced to the GamePro article and text about how the vast majority of its sales information was wrong .--SexyKick 19:12, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
This brings us back to my comment in the aforementioned thread of November 19, 2015: "I am operating on the assumption that Sega stopped manufacturing Nomad after March 1996, when they decided to focus on the Saturn. The main Sega Nomad article suggests otherwise, but I don't trust it without having seen the source." Suffice it to say, while I do not claim any personal expertise on this matter, very knowledgeable individuals have told me that Sega only manufactured Nomad for five months, and I am not sure I would trust Retro Gamer over them. If you were able to order a Nomad from Sega in 1998, that does not necessarily mean it was still in stores, or that it was still being manufactured at the time. More to the point, from my position as an armchair analyst it's not obvious why Sega would have continued manufacturing the Nomad after it had stopped manufacturing the Genesis. In the end, however, this digression is of little utility to the larger point: Purging Snow does not require that I prove a negative.TheTimesAreAChanging (talk) 22:59, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
No, it doesn't require that. And personally I do believe it was discontinued in 1997 with the Genesis. Which means in 1998 it wouldn't be surprising to still see some in stores. My main point is that we should explain away the Gamepro article within this article so people won't add the information back and future writers may do some actual research into the matter instead of going with 1 million over and over, likely sourcing back to Gamepro.--SexyKick 12:41, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Sega-Nomad-Front.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on February 23, 2018. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2018-02-23. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 10:42, 5 February 2018 (UTC)

Is not the sega nomad among the hybrid consoles if you can also play on a TV with it? Maxeto0910 (talk) 04:38, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
No it is not. Nintendo switch is the first hybrid console to hit the shelves.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by ZezzInfinity (talk • contribs) 12:02, 11 February 2020 (UTC) 

Technically the Neo Geo X predates the Switch in terms of being marketed as a "Hybrid console". I'm not sure if the Genesis Nomad received such a designation while it was on the market though. --Mbrickn (talk) 04:22, 19 April 2021 (UTC)

Are there sales figures that show how many Nomads were sold? I'd assume it would be about 2 million. MightyArms (talk) 00:52, 2 October 2019 (UTC)

The infobox for this console lists it as a fourth generation console, the category it is in listed it as a fifth generation console. Console generations are arbitrary categories, but internal consistency is always a good thing. If it's any difference, the device is already listed under the Fifth generation of video game consoles page.
--Mbrickn (talk) 04:20, 19 April 2021 (UTC)

Right you are. I don't have a real opinion on how the Nomad should be categorized in terms of generation, and recent discussions at WikiProject Video Games suggest that Wikipedia may soon be eliminating generational categorization for handhelds altogether (since reliable sources almost never describe handhelds as belonging to a generation, and certainly not as sharing a generation with home consoles), but for consistency's sake I'll go ahead and edit the article to say fifth generation. If anyone wants to challenge that designation, please post your reasoning here.--Martin IIIa (talk) 14:30, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Odd that this was chosen singly as a mod to include in the article. There are LED-backlit screen replacements (both composite-driven and LCDDRV RGB-driven), glass screen covers and upgraded speakers, and the Mobius Strip Technologies Triple Bypass kit which improves RGB video and audio amplification quality, as well as allowing for full Master System and Sega CD game compatibility with full expansion sound functionality (Yamaha YM2413, Ricoh RF5C164 and "CD" - WAV - audio) portably on the handheld when using an FPGA flash cart like the Krikzz Mega Everdrive Pro or Terraonion MegaSD. 80.229.16.57 (talk) 19:33, 31 May 2021 (UTC)

There is a problem with the "However, due to the smaller screen size it suffers from screen blurring, particularly during fast scrolling." sentence, because it's actually not confirmed by the source. The source says the following verbatim: "The graphics on the Nomad are much like the Genesis. The concern with most handhelds though is blurring. From what EGM has seen of the Nomad so far has been perfect as far as resolution goes with little blurring on most games but more blurring on fast side-scrollers like Sonic. Some EGM editors compare the quality of the screen to the Turbo Express handheld of long ago".
As you can see, there's no reference to screen size, and the issue is actually with display motion blur. Considering that it's also basically a review, this should be moved into the "Reception and legacy" section and reworded as "However, in their first 1996 review, reviewers from Electronics Gaming Monthly noted that the screen suffers from display motion blur, particularly during fast scrolling". --Sleeps-Darkly (talk) 09:09, 18 March 2022 (UTC)

No objections, so update is implemented now. - Sleeps-Darkly (talk) 21:59, 23 March 2022 (UTC)
I'm a bit late to the party, but I thought it might be appreciated if the editor who first added the statement about screen blurring to the article (me) said for the record that the edit proposed here makes perfect sense to me. Martin IIIa (talk) 01:32, 30 July 2022 (UTC)