SUPERSEGA SSS

What's the new SUPERSEGA?

The new SUPERSEGA SSS is a new kind of retro console, designed by the DST Bench and SUPERSEGA team for the retro community, to provide different user experience: real cartridges, real gamepads, real discs, and the power of a modern Intel-based system that outputs up to 4K and with analogue video output to be playable on CRT monitors as well.

Instead of copying what other "handheld" consoles do, we built a portable new device.

It works as a standalone console with its own embedded screen, or as a living-room machine connected to any TV featuring integrated scaler.

The SUPERSEGA comes in two versions: the Standard and the PLUS.

Beyong the saga, to SEGA™

With the SSS we put everything we learned into a device that fixes those limits at once.
Small enough to carry. It is approx. a palm and a half in length, so it fits in a bag. It is not a pure handheld, but you can play with it outdoors, thanks to its built-in screen, directional pad and buttons.

• Ready for any screen. Take it to a friend’s house and connect it to a modern flat monitor through HDMI, or, with the "PLUS" vesion, to a CRT through its analog video and audio outputs.
• Real PC power. Its Intel processor runs an embedded edition of Windows, so it is compatible with any program on the market.
• Affordable. No exotic materials and no giant enclosure, so the SUPERSEGA can finally be a console for everyone, who like us, appreciate the retro world.

Inside the Design

Shown picture of development assembly of SSS.
^{Some parts have been deliberately hidden for intellectual property reasons.}

SSS is not a repackaged single-board computer in a nice box. It was designed from the first sketch by a team of qualified industrial engineers. It's based on a custom carrier board + an Intel SOC (System On Chip) providing enought power to run any SEGA™ game using integrated DST Bench software.

Mechanical and industrial design in CAD/SolidWorks is one half of the work. The other half is embedded electronics engineering: board layout, power delivery, signal integrity, thermal behavior and the firmware and low-level software that make real cartridges, real gamepads and real discs work on the same machine.

DST Bench is the professional alternative to bench software aplications like PC Mark, Crystal Disk Mark, AS SSD, HD Tune, Envil's, etc.. featuring real-time bench, pure low level direct to hardware code, which engine was ported in C from Linux, GUI is made on .Net Framework (Classic) and the ability to let users to share their scores to be online on a public database.

SSS: model PLUS

The Plus includes everything in the STD plus adds:

• Analog video and audio outputs, to connect the console to CRT monitors and TVs.
• Slim optical reader (CD / DVD / BD), a slot-loading drive from LG or Toshiba.
• Cartridge writing, to burn your own games onto cartridges.

Plug a cartridge. Slot-in any optical drive. Plug a pad. Play.

Insert an original Master System or Mega Drive cartridge, connect your original Master System or Mega Drive controller to a DE-9 port, and play.
No menus, no waiting: the console reads your cartridge and execute directly, the binary code from.

The new Portable SUPERSEGA also accepts modern USB gamepads, so anyone can play from day one.

With an adapter, you can also play Master System 1 cards extending compatibility to the earliest Sega hardware.

Discs: Mega CD, Saturn and Dreamcast

The Plus uses a slim slot-loading optical drive from Toshiba LG, and it lets you insert Mega CD, Saturn and Dreamcast games and play them on the same console as your cartridges.

Preserve and create

• Pure binary copies: the hardware lets you make exact, bit-for-bit backups of your own games, to keep them safe for the future.
• Cartridge writing: the advanced model can record cartridges, ideal for bringing back the game development competitions for classic games.
• Windows compatibility: develop, test and run your homebrew new game on the same machine.

Software and storage

When you turn on the console, it loads by default the interface and software programmed by the DST Bench and SUPERSEGA team, stored in internal NAND memory. You can also connect external USB drives in any format: SSD, SATA or NVMe, SLC or TLC.

The software includes advanced functions to optimize both the processor and the integrated graphics, and brings the tools of DST Bench, our benchmarking suite, which you can compare against CrystalDiskMark, HD Tune, Anvil's Storage Utilities and PCMark.

Quick specifications

Feature	SUPERSEGA SSS	SSS Plus
Cartridge slots (SMS / Genesis - MegaDrive)	Yes	Yes
SD / CompactFlash	Yes	Yes
Gamepad ports	Mini USB	Mini USB + 2 x DE-9
Built-in controls	D-pad, 4 buttons, Start / Select	D-pad, 4 buttons, Start / Select
Screen	LCD	AMOLED
HDMI with scaler	Up to 4K	Up to 4K or +
Analog video and audio	No	Yes
Optical drive	No	Slim
Cartridge writing	No	Yes
Processor	Intel	Intel
RAM	8 GB (soldered)	16 GB (soldered)
System	Embedded Windows	Embedded Windows
External storage	USB SSD (SATA / NVMe)	USB SSD (SATA / NVMe)