Gamer Uses Custom Circuit Board and 3D-Printed Shell to Build Functional SEGA Neptune Console

Remember the SEGA Neptune from the mid-1990s? It was supposed to be the console that integrated both the Genesis as well as 32X hardware into a single, streamlined console, eliminating the need for an add-on and simplifying the user experience.

Thanks to the COSAM Neptune MD/32X circuit board, Tito of Macho Nacho Productions was able to build a functional SEGA Neptune console that even works with SEGA CD games. This mod did require a donor Genesis console, a 32X add-on, and then a pricey 3D-printed shell. If you managed to source all of those parts, then the next step would be soldering the Genesis / 32X chips onto the COSAM circuit board. When all said and done, a build like this would cost you around $500 USD, or far more than SEGA’s planned $150-$200 MSRP for the Neptune.

I really hope this motherboard can get a FPGA variant sometime down the line. It’d be really cool to see a FPGA all-in-one solution for Genesis and 32X games, and bonus points if they can somehow incorporate a way to hook up an external disc drive for SEGA CD games too,” said one commenter.