I remember purchasing my Dina 2-in-1 during the late 90's when building my Colecovision collection. I ordered it over the telephone from a place called Telegames located in Texas. The old guy who worked there was always so grouchy but the lady seemed nice enough.

They marketed the system in the US as a Colecovision-compatible clone. The SG-1000 angle was downplayed because nobody knew what the [expletive] an SG-1000 was! I certainly did not. After struggling to find a reliable Colecovision system with a stable picture, I thought the Dina might be the answer to my prayers, but it was not to be.

I could never get this God-forsaken thing to work with my 27-inch Toshiba CRT. If I got any picture, it was in black-and-white with no audio. It's possible that at the time I wasn't setting my TV to the correct channel, which I know now to be 13. But even if I did, at the time channel 13 was a very strong local station which I'm sure would have caused heavy interference.

The only TV I was able to get this system working on was a circa-1978 13-inch Sears TV. It was my wife's TV when she was a kid! This thing is built like a tank, and weighs about as much! Over the years I've dropped it several times, including once down the stairs. Yet it still works and will probably outlive my new 85-inch LED TV.

After getting frustrated with its erratic behavior I put the Dina into storage for... oh I don't know... a few decades. But then while researching my SG-1000 system review I stumbled upon the thing and decided to give it another look!

So I dragged out the old Sears television and fired it up. The Dina has a built-in game and its graphics looked great. I wondered if this thing might work on any of my other CRTs? So I hooked it up to my 27" Daewoo, and sure enough, the picture came in! It even worked on my 27" Toshiba! I was shocked. All these years of trying to obtain an SG-1000-compatible system, and it was right here under my nose!

Or so it would seem! While writing this review I noticed if I stepped away for a while, the picture on my Toshiba would begin to fade and eventually turn black and white. I had to turn the channel and then turn it back for it to "refresh". I guess some things never change. Bottom line: the Dina is not reliable and your mileage will may vary. You have been warned!

The Dina 2-in-1 is the same basic size and shape as the Sega Mark III, except it has two cartridge slots, one for SG-1000 games, and one for Colecovision games. There are two controller ports located on the back. It's even more inconvenient when you consider the cords are only three feet long!

A built-in keypad accommodates Colecovision games that require a keypad. Since there's only one, I don't think two-player keypad games are supported. I tried to use a normal Colecovision controller with the system but it did not function.

The controllers are similar in shape to the Sega Mark III control pad, except with smaller buttons. The directional pad is smaller and less wobbly than the Master System version. I find it funny that these things are prominently labeled "joystick" which they are obviously not! Like the Mark III controller, the cord runs out of the side which is irritating. Player one's cord runs out the left side and player two's runs out the right. Strange!

One pleasant surprise is the built-in game called Meteoric Shower. It's actually a very intense and high-energy space shooter with elements of Galaxian and Galaga. I love the frantic pacing and high degree of challenge.

Pros and Cons:
+ Plays both Colecovision and SG-1000 games
+ Fun built-in game
+ Decent controllers
- Video signal flakey
- Does not support every Colecovision/SG-1000 game
- Purchase at your own risk!

Related:

SG-1000 Console Review

Sega Mark III Console Review

Sega Master System Console Review

Console Review Index

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