I have a dream for the Genesis. Meet the "Sega Fusion Rising".

[sonicdude10]

Hey every one. I'm new here. I signed on to share some ideas I have for the the classic Sega Genesis or Mega Drive for you outside the USA. The idea comes from a video on YouTube called: "Sega Fusion" by user thomas3120. The Fusion is a combination 16 bit Genesis, 32X, and CD system rolled into a Saturn case. I thought I would copy his design and improve it with some additional features. I don't have all the stuff right now but will get it over a few months. My project will be called the "Sega Fusion Rising". Here are the details as well as some ideas I may use. May not...

Remember having lots of games for your console and having to turn it off and switch the cart out for a new game? I sure do. Pain in the rear. Enter the Everdrive MD (for Mega Drive, the other name for the Genesis). This cart is a flash cart. You put up to a 32 Gb SD card in and put your ROMs or apps on it. A menu lets you select your game or app of choice. If done right, it is possible to put every Genesis ROM in the world on it. All of Sega's Genesis days in 1 cart. This cart also supports the Master System, CD system, and 32X system (with the correct add on parts). The only game this cart won't play is Virtua Racing because of extra video hardware the game cart has in it. I'm sure a lot of you know about it already.

I also want to make the Everdrive hidden inside the case. Make it to where it is connected to the Sega connector as well as the original slot connector is usable. After watching a NES mod video showing a Fanicom adapter being hard wired to the cart connector making both the original and Fanicom connectors usable, I realized that both slots can be wired up to the points on the main board. To combat the problem of having both slots filled when you turn it on and messing things up, the power and ground wires will be isolated and run through switches to only allow power to one slot at a time. If this works the way I think it will, then it is possible to have as many cart slots as you want on the system. Just make sure all the others don't get power while the one you want to play has power to it. Other planned things will be component video out, stereo out through the CD base, overclock, region mods, BIOS hacks, the 32X inside the main unit, one power adapter for it all, the still unreleased Mega Everdrive flash cart for the second cart slot or the current version if I get impatient (there will be no second slot, it will be hard wired in... I think...), custom paint job later on in the build (I'm no painter so it will be simple, give me some ideas), the controls for the console on a cord to a remote box, and if what I hear is right, then I will have every Genesis, 32X, Master System, and possibly Game Gear game in the flash cart on 2 very large SD cards. If it will support it, then the main SD card will be the new 128 GB one and the micro one will be 64 GB. Surely that will hold all the games in the Sega universe up to the Saturn. Hold both original and hacked ones. This flash cart may get an emulator for the '80s NES in it running on a FPGA (look it up if confused). If so, there's a whole 'nother world of ROMS that will need to be downloaded. The CD system will probably get an idea mentioned next.

I have another really cool idea for this project that can be implemented in any other optical disk based device. My idea is to make the disk drive into a changer. I don't mean one of those simple little 5, 6, or even 10 disc changers. Not even close. I'm talking like 200, 300 or even up to 400 disks (400 capacity is the largest I can find). This idea will take a lot of understanding of electronics and mechanics to work right. I want to use this as a second CD drive for my "Fusion Rising " project to hold every Mega CD game out there, original and hacked games each on it's own disk. Be warned, these changers are quite huge.

This works by taking all of the electronic controls off of the disk changer and leaving just the servos for the disk movement operation, the ones that spin the storage rack and drop the disk onto the player. Next, I will need to mount the disk drive out of a Sega CD system. I suggest a model 2 because they have a mechanical door that you open by hand, no electronics involved. The model 1 drive had an electric sliding drive door that was controlled by the Genesis console's reset switch and will be harder to make work. Using the model 2, the only electric that will need to be modified will be the connectors for the data transfer to the Genesis and the door open switch will need to be moved or replaced to work with the mechanism that lowers the disk onto the drive. This way, when a disk is loaded up, the Genesis see it as "door closed". When the disk is put back in storage and no other is selected, the Genesis sees this as "door open".

To control the movement of the disk rack, I plan on using an Arduino (look it up if confused). It will control the motors that move the rack and lower selected disk onto the drive. Still need to figure out the sensor for knowing what disk position the rack is at. Maybe a magnet based one for a full 360 degree rotation and no wires to bind up. Potentiometers have limited movement. Maybe I can use ones that have full 360 degree rotation capability. Control will be a standard 12 button keypad like in house alarm control pads with an LCD screen to display the # of the current disk selected and maybe even show the game title. Also plan on a remote to do the same thing from the comfort of the couch. Because I plan on using an Arduino, it will also be re programmable for if the collection changes or more disks are added.

As I already said, this idea can be used for any disk driven device. The ones that have a button and a motor to open up the disk tray will be harder to do because this ejecting function will no longer be used. Might be able to hook it to the Arduino as another control input to activate the changer's disk return to storage operation. May even be able to use the servo from the device for this operation.

Well, there you have it. Imagine your game console having 400 games right there able to load at the push of a few buttons. There are players with this high capacity storage for CD, DVD, and even Blue Ray already out there. This would be more for a computer drive or game consoles like the X Box, PS3, and maybe the Wii. You will also need a cheat sheet since remembering what game is at what position # will be impossible with 400 disks.

I know this is a very long post but there is a lot of things going on with this. I'll make updates once I get to building. Look for updates in a few months on my YouTube channel. Look for MegaSonicdude10.