Playmaji has opened pre-orders for the Polymega Remix, a $199 USB peripheral that lets owners digitize and play physical retro games on Windows 11 PCs, laptops, and PC gaming handhelds through a free companion app, and is scheduled to ship next month, having completed mass production.
Remix accepts CD-based games from consoles including the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Sega CD, TurboGrafx-CD, and Neo Geo CD through a built-in optical drive. Cartridge-based systems from the NES through the N64 are supported via Playmaji's Element Modules, which are sold separately at $80 each. There are six modules in total: NES/Famicon, SNES/ Super Famicom, Genesis / Mega Drive, TurboGrafx-16, Nintendo 64, and Atari 2600 / 7800. Once a game is digitized, users can disconnect the Remix hardware and play from their device's local storage.
The Remix connects over USB and is controlled entirely through the Polymega App, which Playmaji plans to release as a free download in May. The app replicates the Polymega console's interface, including its game database, virtual CRT display filters, save states, and custom playlists. Platform support at launch covers Windows 11 machines and Intel-based Macs, but Playmaji said it plans to expand to iOS, Android, and Apple Silicon in the months following launch, though no specific dates were given.
Alongside the Remix announcement, Playmaji confirmed it has overhauled the Polymega's standalone base unit with “new, upgraded hardware” that’s reportedly “several times more powerful” than the PM01.
The company said the revised hardware includes additional CPU cores, higher clock speeds, double the RAM, and more internal storage compared to the original, which retails for $450. Existing pre-orders will be upgraded to the new revision at no extra cost, with fresh pre-orders reopening in early summer.
This all follows a long stretch of production challenges for the Polymega, which was first announced in 2017 under the name RetroBlox, with pre-orders opening in 2018. Manufacturing setbacks in Myanmar, COVID-era component shortages, and supplier lead-time problems repeatedly delayed fulfillment.
By late 2022, the company acknowledged output had fallen to as few as 50 units per month as a best-case scenario. Atari invested €4.6 million in Playmaji in 2023, acquiring a 53% non-diluted stake, with Atari CEO Wade Rosen commenting at the time that the investment was intended to help Playmaji work through its order backlog.
The Remix sidesteps much of that manufacturing complexity by offloading processing to the player’s hardware. All emulation runs on the host device through the Polymega App, with the Remix itself serving as the interface between physical media and the user's PC or gaming handheld. Emulation performance will naturally scale with whatever the host device can deliver, with a Steam Deck or ROG Ally carrying substantially more processing power than the original PM01.
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