Devoted to Vintage Sega video games, systems and accessories!

History

Development

Although the Sega Master System had proved a success in South America and Europe, it failed to ignite much interest in the North American or Japanese markets, which by the mid-to-late 80s were both dominated by Nintendo with 95% and 92% market shares respectively. Hoping to dramatically increase their share, Sega set about creating a new machine that would be at least as powerful as the then most impressive hardware on the market - the 16-bit Commodore Amiga and the Atari ST home computers.

Since the System 16 arcade games that Sega was making were very popular, Hayao Nakayama, Sega's CEO at the time, decided to make their new home system a 16-bit one. The final design worked great and fit in well with Sega's three new arcade boards; the Mega-Tech, Mega Play, and the System C. Any arcade game made for these systems could easily, and thus rapidly, be made to work on the new console (a process known as porting).

The first name Sega thought of for their console was the MK-1601, but Sega decided to use "Sega Mega Drive" as the name. "Mega" had the connotation of superiority, and "Drive" had the connotation of speed and power. They went with that name for the Japanese, European, Asian, Australian and Brazilian versions of the console. The U.S. version went by the name Genesis due to a trademark dispute, while the South Korean versions were called Super Gam*Boy and Super Aladdin Boy. Those consoles were licensed and distributed by Samsung.

Japanese Release

The Mega Drive was released in Japan in October 29, 1988 for ¥21,000, almost exactly a year after the first console popularly classed as a 16-bit machine - the NEC PC Engine. Although this initially caused slow sales, the Mega Drive soon eclipsed the earlier machine in popularity.

European Release

The European release was on November 30, 1990 in the United Kingdom, priced at £189.99.

North American Release and Further Development

Sega announced their North American release date for the system in 1987, making a point of the fact that it was the first true 16-bit console. U.S. sales began on January 9, 1989 in New York City and Los Angeles with a suggested retail price of $200 USD at launch. It was released in the rest of North America on September 15 with the price reduced slightly to $190.

The Genesis initially competed against the 8-bit NES, over which it had superior graphics and sound. Nonetheless, it had a hard time overcoming Nintendo's ubiquitous presence in the consumer's home and the huge catalog of popular games already available for it. In an attempt to build themselves a significant consumer base, Sega decided to focus on slightly older buyers, especially young men in their late teens and early 20s who would have more disposable income and who were anxious for more "grown-up" titles with more mature content and/or more in-depth game play. As such, Sega released titles such as Altered Beast and the Phantasy Star series. Although the NES and Nintendo's impending SNES were still threats to Sega's market share, they had forced the theoretically competitive TurboGrafx 16 system into relative obscurity, thanks in part to NEC's poor North American marketing campaign.

Eventually, the main competition for the Genesis became Nintendo's 16-bit SNES, over which it had a head start in terms of user base and number of games, reversing the problem Sega had faced against the NES. The Genesis continued to hold on to a healthy fan base composed significantly of RPG and sports games fans. The release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 began to threaten Nintendo's up-to-then stranglehold on the number one console position in the USA. Sonic was released to replace former mascot Alex Kidd, and to provide the "killer app" that Sega needed. This sparked what was arguably the greatest console war in North American video gaming history, at least up until that point.

By 1992, Sega was enjoying a stronghold on the market, holding a 55% market share in North America. Faced with a slight recession in sales and a brief loss of market share to the SNES, Sega again looked to Sonic to rejuvenate sales. The release of the highly-anticipated Sonic the Hedgehog 2, coinciding with an aggressive ad campaign that took shots at Nintendo fueled Genesis sales a while longer and boosted Sega's market share percentage back up, to an astounding 65%.

Less than a year later, in 1993, Sega released a redesigned version of the console at a newly reduced price. By consolidating the internal chipset onto a smaller, unified motherboard, Sega was able to both physically reduce the system's size and bring down production costs by simplifying the assembly procedure and reducing the number of circuit boards required for each unit.

Aside from the release of the Sega CD and 32x add-ons for the Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega's last big announcement came in the form of a partnership with Time Warner in the U.S. to offer a subscription-based service called Sega Channel, which would allow subscribers to "download" games on a month-by-month basis.

Decline in Market Share

The failures of the Sega CD and 32X, a lack of effective advertising, and disputes between Sega of America and Sega of Japan had taken their toll on the company. By 1994, Sega's market share had dropped from 65% to 35%, and the official announcements of newer, more powerful consoles, such as the Saturn, Playstation, and N64 signaled that the 16-bit era was drawing to a close. Interest in the Genesis suffered greatly as a result, compounding its already flailing sales. In 1996, less than a year after the debut of their Saturn console, Sega quickly brought their participation in the 16-bit era to an end by discontinuing production of the Genesis and its associated accessories.

Resurgent Popularity in North America

In recent years, the Genesis has had something of a revival, led largely by the grey market trade in both unlicensed cartridges (for instance, the biblically-themed output of Wisdom Tree) and dumped ROMs, which are played through emulators such as Gens. There is also a trend towards home programming of the Genesis, using the PC-based SGCC.

In the 2000's, there came a trend toward plug-and-play TV games, and Radica has released a licensed, self-contained version of the Sega Genesis for the North American market, called Play TV Legends Sega Genesis, which contains six popular games in a 'Genesis' control pad. It does not have a cartridge slot, and thus is a dedicated console. However, Benjamin Heckendorn, of Atari portablizing fame, has proven that is in fact possible to connect a cartridge slot to this with some soldering.

Variations of the Mega Drive and Genesis

Sega Mega Drive (Japan)

• Japanese-language settings
• Headphone jack
• AUX Port marked A/V OUT
• 9-pin EXT. port
• Supports Sega Mega-CD and Sega Super 32X
• Has a cartridge lock
• Gloss black finish
• On the circular molding, in purple is the text "AV Intelligent Terminal High Grade Multipurpose Use". At the bottom of the circle is a purple square section with a red power indicator LED.
• Cooling vents are located on the left side.
• "Mega Drive" is printed in white on the lower right of the console to the left of the SEGA logo.
• The reset button and start button on the joypad are blue.

Sega Mega Drive (Europe, Australia, and New Zealand)

• Converted to display PAL 50-Hz signal
• English-language settings
• Unable to play Japanese Mega Drive games due to shape of cartridge and console. However, adapters were sold to play Japanese games in the European model.
• Cartridge lock removed
• The text "High Definition Graphics · Stereo Sound" located behind cartridge port (only found on earlier models).
• The reset button and the start button are white.
• Model number 1600-05 (original model), 1601-05 (second variation without "High Definition Graphics - Stereo Sound" text or EXT port)

Sega Mega Drive (Asia)

• No text printed around circle
• Larger "16-Bit" logo used
• "Start" and "Reset" button are blue
• Identical to European Mega Drive with PAL output
• Used Japanese Mega Drive logo and packaging similar to the Japanese version
• Games packaged the same as European with the same labeling. However, the cartridges are shaped like Japanese Mega Drive games.

Sega Genesis (North America)

• Headphone jack
• AUX Port marked A/V OUT
• 9-pin EXT. port
• Supports Sega CD and Sega 32X
• Gloss black finish
• Cooling vents are located on the left side
• Reset and start buttons are gray
• "Sega Genesis" in white on top of machine below cartridge slot
• Model number MK-1601

Sega Mega Drive 2 (Japan)

• New squared shape
• No headphone jack
• One custom multi-output for picture and sound
• Red colored flaps on cartridge port
• The text "High Grade Multi Purpose Intelligent Terminal" located behind cartridge port.
• Packaged with six-button controller standard.
• No power LED

Sega Mega Drive 2 (Europe, Australia, and New Zealand)

• New squared shape
• No headphone jack
• A/V port switched to one custom multi-output for picture and sound (previously, only mono sound was used, as the stereo sound came through the headphone jack)
• Push-button power switch
• Power port smaller, and different AC adapter used
• RF out port removed
• Auto-switching RF Lead included
• Model number MK-1631-50

Sega Genesis (North America, second model)

• New squared shape
• No headphone jack
  One custom multi-output for picture and sound
• No power LED
• "Genesis" in square above cartridge slot
• Model number MK-1631

Sega Genesis 3 (North America)

• Announced in 1997 as a "budget" version of the Sega Genesis
• Manufactured by Majesco
• Released in 1998 as the "Genesis 3" in North America only
• Retailed for $50
• Due to lack of an expansion port, unable to link with Sega CD
• Model number MK-1641

Other variations of the Mega Drive and Genesis

The Wondermega/X'eye

Wondermega (named X'eye in North America) - A combined Mega Drive and Mega-CD sold by Victor (known as JVC outside Japan) - Never released in Europe

• Improved sound capabilities
• MIDI Port
• 2 Microphone Inputs
• S-video out
• Packaged with a CD called Game Garden that had Flicky (quiz game) and Pyramid (puzzle game.) The CD is compatible with CDG (CD and Graphics) enabled CD Players.
• Later Japanese pack had a platform game called 'Wonderdog' by Core.
• Supported the "Wonder CD" pheripheral that allows someone to create music and connect to MIDI-enabled devices.
• Supported a music keyboard called the "Piano Player" that allowed you to create music and learn to use the keyboard.
• Later given a redesign with a softer, more curved look. Some of the extra features were removed, and the joypads were remodeled infrared joypads.

Sega Multi-Mega/CDX

Sega Multi-Mega (named CDX in North America) - An integrated Mega Drive/Genesis and Mega-CD/Sega CD console with the capability of also functioning as a portable CD player, aimed at the more affluent market. The British release sold at £350.

• No built-in screen.
• Could function as a portable CD player. CD control buttons are on the front of the console. A back-lit LCD displayed the track number. An extra line out port was provided for stereo equipment.
• Powered by 2 AA batteries when operated as a portable CD player. The unit must be powered by an AC adapter to play video games.

The Mega-Tech and Mega Play

The Mega-Tech was an arcade machine that featured ten interchangeable Mega Drive or Master System games in an arcade cabinet, similar to Nintendo's PlayChoice-10.

• First released in 1989 with some of the best titles at the time, such as Thunder Force II, Altered Beast, Tetris, Last Battle, Space Harrier II, and Golden Axe.
• Games could be changed at any time, and more titles, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, were made available. The games were identical to their non-arcade counterparts, and all cheat codes were functional.
• Games were supplied by a Japanese-shaped Mega Drive cartridge, although slightly heavier. The labels were silver and red and only had "Mega-Tech" printed on them. These cartridges are not compatible with a regular Mega Drive/Genesis due to the extra information on them stored to run the second monitor, and differences in the length of the edge connector, number of pins, pinouts, and spacing.
• A second, smaller nine-inch monitor is located at the top of the cabinet. It displayed instructions for each of the games.
• The user pays to play for a certain length of time. When time was starting to run out, the screen flashed green to notify the user that additional credits are needed should he or she want to play more of that game.

The Mega Play was another arcade system like the Mega-Tech, but this only had four cartridge slots and could not play Master System games. Cartridges were shaped like those for the Japanese Mega Drive, but incompatible with consumer Mega Drive or Mega-Tech systems.

The Mega Jet and Genesis Nomad

The original technology behind the Genesis Nomad traces back to the Mega Jet, which was a semi-portable version of the Mega Drive that was used for in-flight entertainment by Japan Airlines. The device lacked its own screen, but could play Mega Drive cartridges when hooked up to a small monitor used on Japan Airlines flights. The unit featured a directional pad on the left side and six buttons on the right, similar to the layout of a game controller.

A consumer version of Mega Jet was released by Sega of Japan on March 10, 1994 at the cost of $123 USD. It was essentially the same as the unit that was used on JAL flights, meaning that it still lacked a screen and couldn't be powered on with an AC adapter, other than the addition a mono DIN plug cord and the neccesary AC adapter. No other additions or improvements were made. Sega followed it up in October 1995 with the Genesis Nomad for the American market, essentially a Mega Jet featuring a 3.25 inch color LCD screen, a battery pack attached to the rear of the system, holding six AA batteries, making it completely portable, as opposed to simply being a small Genesis system. In addition to its other improvements over the Mega Jet, an A/V output plug was added to the top of the unit, allowing owners to play games on a television screen with a separate A/V cable. One particularly interesting feature was the ability for one player to play using a connected TV while another watched on the Nomad. The directional pad on the unit controlled all one-player games, and a port on the bottom allowed a second controller to be plugged in for two-player games. This meant that the Nomad could be a fully functional home system as well as a completely portable handheld solution with a pre-existing library of games available for it.

While the Nomad won praise for its screen resolution and features, there were some problems. The 32X and Sega CD were not compatible with the unit and Sega's Power Base Converter, used to play Sega Master System games on the Genesis/Mega Drive, was also incompatible. On paper, the Nomad was the perfect color portable. It had a full color, backlit display, and supported an estimated 600 titles already on the shelves in addition to being a functional home system. But despite the price falling from $179 to $79.99, rendering moot any complaints of overpricing, the handheld did not garner enough support to continue.

Pioneer LaserActive with Mega Drive/Genesis Module

LaserActive was the name given to Pioneer's CLD-A100 LaserDisc player. The player was both a Laserdisc and CD player right out of the box, while the addition of add-on modules manufactured by Sega and NEC could make the unit function as a gaming system as well. Sega's PAC-S1 module, released at a price of 39,000 Yen, allowed users to play Mega Drive, Mega-CD and specially created Mega LD games through the player. The Mega LD games were breifly thought to be the next evolution in gaming, mainly because the massive storage capacity of the Laserdiscs they were printed on meant that games could be multiple times large than before and include uncompressed full-motion video and digital audio as well as surround sound, all features that have become commonplace on modern DVD-ROM based systems.

An NEC module, PAC-N1, gave the unit the capability to play Turbografx 16 games. The addition of either module also made the unit compatible with either Sega or NEC brand control pads. A later module was released for the unit by Pioneer, allowing it to function as a full-feature Kareoke machine.

Pioneer later engineered 3D glasses for the system (Kit GOL-1), the glasses required an adapter to be attached before they could function with the player, but each adapter could support a pair of the goggles, allowing 2 users to play in 3D simultaneously.

The LaserActive unit unfortunately didn't survive for long. Its high cost and the general market disinterest in Laserdisc made the system a hard sell.

The Teradrive

The Teradrive was an 80286 PC manufactured by IBM with an integrated Mega Drive. The system was released in Japan only. Three models were available, ranging from ¥148,000 to ¥248,000. Only the top-of-the-line model was supplied with a hard disk. A special monitor (sold separately) was available, which could display both 15kHz RGB video signals from the Mega Drive hardware and the 31kHz VGA output of the PC hardware, both from the VGA connector. The system also contained composite NTSC video and stereo RCA jacks for connection to a TV. Additionally, Mega Drive games could be played at the same time as the PC section is being used, and it was possible for the Mega Drive and PC hardware to interact with each other, as shown with the Puzzle Construction program. It was also possible for Mega Drive software to be run from the PC's RAM.

The Mega PC

The Mega PC was a system produced by Amstrad under license from Sega with Mega Drive and IBM-compatible PC functionality in one. The Mega PC was similar in concept to the Teradrive, but was an unrelated project.

• The PC section used an Intel i386SX running at 25 MHz. It had 1 MB of RAM and a 40 MB hard disk drive.
• Released in Europe and Australia around 1992-1993
• Cream-colored, with a sliding cover on the front to change between Mega Drive and PC modes.
• The output from the Mega Drive section was only available through the VGA connector, to the supplied dual-scan (15kHz/31kHz) monitor.
• Though the PC section is always running when the system is switched on, Mega Drive software cannot be used at the same time as PC software, due to the system having only one video output.
• Could also be used with a Mega CD with the use of a special connector only available from Amstrad.
• Most of the Mega Drive hardware is contained on an 8-bit ISA card, with AdLib-compatible sound on the same board.
• The Mega Plus was an updated version of the Mega PC. It used an Intel i486 at 33 MHz and 4 MB of RAM.

Technical Specifications

CPU

Main processor: 16-bit Motorola 68000 (or equivalent)

• Runs at 7.61 MHz in PAL consoles, 7.67 MHz in NTSC consoles

Secondary processor: 8-bit Zilog Z80 (or equivalent)

• Runs at 3.55 MHz in PAL consoles, 3.58 MHz in NTSC consoles
• Used as main CPU in Master System compatibility mode.

Memory

Boot ROM: 2 KB

• Known as the "Trademark Security System" (TMSS)
• When console is started, it checks the game for certain code given to licensed developers
• Unlicensed games without the code are thus locked out
• If a game is properly licensed, the ROM will display "Produced by or under license from Sega Enterprises Ltd."
• Boot ROM is not present on earlier versions of the Mega Drive and Genesis
• Some earlier games not designed for the TMSS may not work in later consoles

Main RAM: 64 KB

• Part of M68000 address space

Video RAM: 64 KB

• Cannot be accessed directly by CPU, must be read and written via VDP (Video Display Processor - see below)

Secondary RAM: 8 KB

• Part of Z80 address space
• Used as main RAM in Master System compatibility mode

Cartridge memory area: up to 4 MB (32 Megabits)

• Part of M68000 address space
• Game cartridges larger than 4 MB must use bank switching

Graphics

The Mega Drive has a dedicated VDP (Video Display Processor) for playfield and sprite control. This is an improved version of the Sega Master System VDP, which in turn is derived from the Texas_Instruments_TMS9918.

Planes: 4 (2 scrolling playfields, 1 sprite plane, 1 'window' plane)

Sprites: Up to 80 on-screen, depending on display mode

Palette: 512 colors

On-screen colors: 64 × 9-bit words of color RAM, allowing 61 on-screen colors (up to 1536 using raster effects and Shadow/Hilight mode)

Pixel resolution: Up to 320×240 (40×30 cells) for PAL, and up to 320×224 (40×28 cells) for NTSC

• Interlaced modes can provide double the vertical resolution (i.e. 320×448 for NTSC, 320x480 for PAL). Used in Sonic 2 for two-player split screen

Sound

Main sound chip: Yamaha YM2612

• Six FM channels, four operators each
• Programmable low-frequency oscillator and stereo panning
• Sixth optionally used for 8-bit digital audio

Secondary sound chip: Texas Instruments SN76489

• Four-channel PSG (Programmable Sound Generator)
• Three square wave channels, one white noise channel
• Programmable tone/noise and attenuation
• Used for Master System compatability mode

Inputs and Outputs

RF output: connects to TV antenna input

• Exists on original model European and Asian Mega Drive and North American Genesis only
• Other models must use external RF modulator which plugs into A/V output

A/V output: DIN connector with composite video, RGB, and audio outputs

• Mega Drive has 8-pin socket (same as Master System), supports mono audio only
• Mega Drive 2, Multimega, and other models have 9-pin mini DIN socket with both mono and stereo audio, and s-video

Power input: requires 9-10 volts DC, 0.85-1.2 A depending on model

Headphone output: Amplified 3.5-mm stereo jack on front of console with volume control

• Exists only on original model Mega Drive and Genesis units
• Also suitable for passive speakers

"EXT" port: 9-pin D socket for Meganet modem connection

• Exists on all Japanese and Asian Mega Drive 1 units, and on early European Mega Drive 1 units

Control pad inputs: 2 × 9-pin D connectors on front of console

Expansion port: Edge connector on bottom right hand side of console for Sega Mega-CD connection

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sega Genesis".

Send pictures of your vintage games/system or game reviews you would like to see on this site to: comments@segastore.com

2004-2008 SegaStore.com