Mega-Bit Kickstarter campaign brings Genesis carts to life
If you ever stared at the loose SEGA Genesis cartridges sitting on your shelf and wish they had a bit more life to them, don’t worry because So Analog has your back. They’ve just launched an awesome Kickstarter campaign to release a line of officially licensed Genesis carts figures, complete with adorable eyes, arms and legs.
The first line of 4.5″ tall and 7″ wide carts will feature the “Not for Resale” Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, Altered Beast and Revenge of Shinobi figures. The campaign is looking to raise $30,000 to meet its goal, and a single cart figurine will cost $35.
The higher you pledge, more options become available, like getting limited edition colored cartridges and some sweet silver-colored SEGA Genesis 25th Anniversary figures.
What makes this campaign interesting is it almost didn’t happen. Nate Mitchell, who owns Squid Kids Ink, successfully funded a Mini 10-Doh! line of similar NES-style carts last year, although those didn’t feature licensed art. As Mitchell tells it, in December, a SEGA of America representative approached him at the San Diego Comic Con about creating an officially licensed line of Genesis figures, similar to his 10-Doh! line.
The idea was to go to Kickstarter to raise the money to purchase the licenses, but SEGA of America and SEGA of Japan would have to approve the designs. However, soon after, Mitchell was told that wouldn’t be possible and that SEGA wanted the payment for the license first.
“That means they wanted their money up front and I’d lose it, if the project didn’t get funded,” Mitchell wrote on the Squid Kids Ink blog. “Soooo, it pretty much died there. I couldn’t bring myself to risk that up front money, or borrow the money. I’d rather put that towards other projects that I have full control over.”
At some point between then and now SEGA and Mitchell were able to work out a deal that worked for both parties, and now the campaign has finally launched. Now, Mitchell is determined to get the campaign funded and finished in time for the Genesis’ 25th anniversary.
“Time is the biggest challenge on this project. The plan is to get these done before the year is over, so it’s still part of the 25th Anniversary of the Sega Genesis,” he wrote in the Kickstarter announcement. “I’ve already invested over $7,000 of my own money to jumpstart the tooling and make sure that will happen.”
Click here to check out the Kickstarter and get your Mega-Bit figures!
