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Polymega Remix can digitize retro games for Windows 11 PCs and handhelds, USB peripheral accepts games CDs, cartridges — $199 units finally ship next month following years of production delays
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.
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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.
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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.
Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist. Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.
How long until Nintendo sues them? Seems like an open and shut case for Nintendo, Sony, etc. for DMCA violations and copy right infringement.
No, since you need the original to copy it and it doesn't circumvent any copy protections but, if even there, copies that as well, there is nothing nintendo or anybody else can do about this.
Creating a backup in this way is legal, which is why nintendo added the console keys to the switch, that way you can't legally make any backups since you have to circumvent that key protection.
No, since you need the original to copy it and it doesn't circumvent any copy protections but, if even there, copies that as well, there is nothing nintendo or anybody else can do about this.
Creating a backup in this way is legal, which is why nintendo added the console keys to the switch, that way you can't legally make any backups since you have to circumvent that key protection.
Unless it verifies the original game every time you play it, I am sure their lawyers would argue differently. I could "backup" the game and then sell it yet still play it.
Unless it verifies the original game every time you play it, I am sure their lawyers would argue differently. I could "backup" the game and then sell it yet still play it.
Again, the law allows this kind of backup, for decades now, there is nothing anybody can do about it.
Again, the law allows this kind of backup, for decades now, there is nothing anybody can do about it.
We shall certainly find out. I have seen many other companies who got sued into oblivion say the same thing. Besides Nintendo, Sony, Sega, etc. wouldn't have to be "right" about the law to cause the company to go bankrupt due to lawyer fees.
I preordered 3 Polymega Base Stations in Nov/Dec 2024. They advertised they would be shipping in Q1 2025. They just kept kicking the can down the road telling us they would ship in a few months or the Summer of 2025, (and stuck to that story until 2026). Bottom line they sold a a base station. Did absolutely Zero manufacturing of the base stations and used the money to create this new product.
They are telling us we will get the new version. But, how many years will we have to still wait? Without the Base Stations, everything else is worthless.
I also made the mistake of ordering sets of all the modules after I had made my preorders. I am sitting on worthless modules and it remains unclear if they will actually manufacture more. With them doing a complete redesign of the hardware, (which would mean rewriting the software), it could be years.
