The 16-bit wars are back on, 30 years after they first started. Sega has announced its own miniature retro games console, presumably in response to the huge success of Nintendo's SNES Classic Mini.

The Sega MegaDrive Mini (also to be known at Sega Genesis Mini in the States) was unveiled during its Sega Fest event currently underway in Japan. Like the SNES Classic Mini (and the NES Classic Mini before) it will host a healthy selection of classic MegaDrive games, which you will be able to play on your modern flatscreen TV.

Little else is known about the hardware at this time. Sega has said that it will be coming in 2018 as part of the original console's 30th anniversary and to Japan first. Other territories will follow.

Sega takes on SNES Classic Mini with own MegaDrive Mini this year image 2
Sega

It is being manufactured by AtGames, the company behind the already-available MegaDrive Classic. That sports 81 games built-in, but only comes with analogue video output. Hopefully, the big change with the MegaDrive Mini will be HDMI output and upscaled images to 1080p at the very least.

The MegaDrive Classic costs £59.99 and comes with two controllers. If the Mini has a similar games list (which you can find here) but with superior video scaling and digital output, you are likely to find it nearer the £80 you'd expect to pay for its main rival from Nintendo.

During Sega Fest, the Japanese software giant also revealed that it plans to bring classic Sega games to the Nintendo Switch.