I remember the days of walking past my local post office in my sleepy little village and seeing all of the toys in the window. It's something you don't tend to see anymore, a scene from the 90s that I think about often when I go back to my parents' house to visit.
There would always be Mighty Max-esque clamshell toys in there, cases that would open up to reveal figurines in a spaceship, or dinosaurs in the wild. It's probably the reason why we're so fond of clamshell handhelds to this day, and now an officially licensed set of toys is heading our way from Sega HQ & Wilder Toys that comes with an extra slice of nostalgia on the side.
Say hello to the new Console Heroes cartridge dioramas that will soon be adorning the shelves in your games room. Just like the Mighty Max & Polly Pocket toys of old, these clamshell cartridges open up to show a scene from 4 classic Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games and the Sega Genesis itself.
Launched at the Too Many Games convention in Philadelphia over the weekend, fans could finally get their hands on carts depicting scenes from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Super Street Fighter 2, Altered Beast, and the Genesis itself.
Each cartridge opens up to show a detailed diorama featuring characters and props that really bring them to life, allowing you to place them in designated areas and bring your favourite gaming moments to life in a collectible nature,.
Credit: Sega/Wilder Toys
The branding of the boxes is out of this world, too. With the officially licensed artwork on the front and back, it looks just like I've headed down to my local games store to pick up a retro SEGA game from back in the day.
Credit: Sega/Wilder Toys
The catrige versions are very portable, and feel like it matches the size of an old school polly pocket, and a perfect size to fit on a shelf or a desk for example.
However, the SEGA Genesis console display is a much larger display scene for your custom figures. Think of it as a loading screen paying homage to all of your favourite characters from over the years.
The console product is still in production and the first few samples were sold at a convention in person but its soon to be mass products and sold worldwide.
As we mentioned on Episode 4 of the Collectible Club Podcast, we're hoping to get hold of a physical diorama very soon to be able to show you in greater detail, but for now, I'd like to give a huge thanks to Console Heroes for allowing us to share these images with you.
We've been on a few calls with the team to chat about product design, and to share some advice on the retro gaming space, and we hope they'll join us on the podcast and on our website for some exclusive content very soon!
Let's hope we all have them on our desks and by our TVs asap!
