Polymega, a retro game console for the CD-ROM generation

Unusually for retro game consoles, Polymega includes an optical drive and they offer five custom controllers to make it more fun to play games from all the old systems.

Polymega is a modular multi-system game console that lets you enjoy original game cartridges and CD’s for classic game consoles on your HDTV.

Polymega was created by a team of passionate game developers who formerly worked for Insomniac Games, Bluepoint Games, and others. The team has a diverse background and has shipped products such as AAA video games like Ratchet & Clank and Titanfall. We’ve also shipped digital storefronts like the Google Chrome Store, consumer electronics like the Vizio M-Series TVs, and TV boxes like the Roku 2, 3, and 4k. In addition to our internal team, we also have many external development partners who are listed in the About page on Polymega.com.

If you’re a person who remembers playing classic games from the 80’s and 90’s and would like to re-experience those games in a modern way on your HDTV, then Polymega is for you! If you’re someone who doesn’t want to spend days or weeks building and tuning an emulation PC, and wants a solution that “just works” with your original game cartridges and CD’s — this system is for you. If you have children and want to share with them the joy of playing classic games without needing them to handle cartridges or navigate clunky, unfamiliar interfaces — this is for you.

At $500 (at least for the deluxe multi-controller set) it's pretty fancy. The basic system, with one modern-style wireless joypad, is $300. It's upgradeable, though, so exists in the "custom low-end game PC" tier moreso than the "custom Pi-like gadget" that most retro consoles belong to. Note, however, that there "is no method for loading ROM files directly on to the machine." For people who don't want to use physical cartridges and disks, there will be a Games Marketplace.

Polymega is powered by a 35W Intel Coffee Lake S series Processor which can be upgraded in the future, if necessary, to support future systems and functionality. An upgraded processor in the future may allow us to add more demanding game systems to the Polymega, or add features like in the box Twitch streaming.

You can also add a huge amount of games to your Polymega library with support for NVMe M.2 2280 SSD’s via expansion port on the underside of the console. SD expansion remains intact, up to 1TB. In total, you can install up to 3TB of games on Polymega now.

Pre-orders are open, and it ships later this summer.