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Sega Mega DriveFrom Sega Retro
The Sega Mega Drive (メガドライブ), called the Sega Genesis in North America due to trademark issues and Super Gam*Boy (later Super Aladdin Boy) in South Korea (with distribution handled by Samsung), is a video game console developed by Sega in 1988. It stands as an attempt by Sega to take back its losses in the home gaming market from Nintendo by creating a home console to provide a closer arcade experience at home. The Sega Mega Drive is Sega's fifth home console, following the SG-1000, SG-1000 II, Sega Mark III and Sega Master System. It was codenamed the Sega Mark V during development. Arcade hardware manufacturers had been creating games with more complex visuals and soundscapes than the leading console, the Nintendo Entertainment System, could provide, and Sega saw an opportunity for success — using scaled down versions of commonplace arcade components that would fit more easily in a consumer's budget and building on its existing Sega Master System hardware to make manufacturing cheap (consequently, the Mega Drive can run in Master System mode, and various cartridge converters were made to make the console backwards compatible). As well as competing with Nintendo's NES and later SNES, Sega also found itself fighting against NEC's TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine in Japan), SNK's Neo Geo, the Atari Jaguar and numerous home computers in what would make up the fourth generation of video game consoles. The Mega Drive is largely considered Sega's biggest success, with a reported 35.3 million consoles sold worldwide. It would be succeeded by the Sega Saturn and later Sega Dreamcast HistoryThe Sega Mega Drive was first released in Japan on October 29, 1988 with two launch titles, Space Harrier II and Super Thunder Blade, and retailing at ¥21,000. International releases would come over the next few years. The early game library and marketing campaigns focused on the arcade-at-home stance, and the Mega Drive found itself following the trends of arcade games at the time — shoot-'em-ups. Consumers quickly became weary of the constant stream of arcade ports, and over time, game developers started putting different games on the Mega Drive — from RPGs like Sword of Vermilion and Shining in the Darkness to strategy games like Super Daisenryaku and Herzog Zwei (generally referred to as the first real-time strategy game) to platformers like Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and so on. Electronic Arts's support as a third party developer furthered this distancing, as EA's catalog, stemming from their history as computer game publishers, was much more diverse, primarily focusing on sports games. The release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 finished this distancing, as developers scrambled to compete with Sega's new success. Sega also played the console add-on game with the Sega Mega CD, which impressed gamers in Japan with a rich variety of games released on the new compact disc technology, however overseas, marketing focused on "full motion video" games that continuously failed to impress. Sega also tried various forms of online gaming several times — the first-party Sega Meganet and Sega Channel and third-party XB∀ND. Various other add-ons would be made over the years. Nevertheless, games from all genres continued rolling in through to 1995. The Sega Saturn was already out in Japan and newcomer Sony was ready to tout its new PlayStation as the future. The success of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the US had started to increasingly steal Sega's thunder since the former's launch in 1991 — and in Japan, the Mega Drive was consistently outsold by the PC Engine as well as the Super Famicom. Third-party support for the Mega Drive disintegrated as the newer consoles and the improved capabilities of the Mega Drive's competitors wooed developers away. Finally, in a combination of poor communication between Sega of America and Sega of Japan and the desire to keep the Mega Drive afloat, Sega of America released the Sega 32X, an add-on which added its own additional capabilities to the Mega Drive, such as a larger color palette and 3-D graphics capabilities. The 32X was released too late, had manufacturing errors at launch, and was too expensive to impress, and promptly fell flat on its face. The Mega Drive died in Japan by the end of 1995, with Sega releasing its last first-party game in December and Compile releasing the last game for the region the following year. However, Sega contracted Majesco to continue manufacturing Mega Drives in the US through 1997 and 1998, and the few third party developers and first party studios that stayed on board produced games like Vectorman 2 and Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island and many compilations. In an ironic twist of fate, a straight port of Frogger would be the last officially released Mega Drive game. LegacyDespite successes in North America and being the console of choice for Europe, Brazil and many smaller markets, the Sega Mega Drive ultimately failed to woo its homeland of Japan. Conversely its successor, the Sega Saturn is said to have only been popular Sega console in this region. Worldwide, the Saturn came in a distant third behind the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation. However, it is the Mega Drive which is used to represent Sega's "glory years", with numerous compilations and emulators released by the company since the late 1990s. Selected Mega Drive games are available through the Wii's Virtual Console service, Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network. In addition, many PC compilations have been released. AtGames currently holds a license to reproduce legacy Sega hardware and has released a number of Mega Drive "consoles on a chip", some even containing cartridge slots. The Sega Mega Drive is also a top choice of platform for emulation, with a number of free Mega Drive emulators available to the public. Some, such as KGen are known to have been used by Sega themselves. Official Variants
Mega Drive 1The original Mega Drive measured 28 cm×21.2 cm×7 cm. The top of the unit is split into two components: a circular emboss with the cartridge slot and a tagline (which was omitted on later versions), and a control panel containing the power and reset buttons and the volume slider for the headphones jack. Audio output through the original model was mono through the A/V port, while the headphone jack was used for stereo sound. A third DE-9 port on the back of the unit provided additional peripheral support, though was removed from later revisions. Asian, Japanese and South Korean models had a cartridge lock which prevented cartridges from being removed when the power was on (which is why those cartridges, as well as the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge and various others, have a cut-out on the left side). Later runs included the TradeMark Security System, despite the feature having been planned early on.
Mega Drive 2This smaller redesign, at 22 cm×21.2 cm×5.9 cm, was introduced internationally in 1993. One of the major revisions from the original model was the removal of the headphones jack in favor of stereo output through a redesigned 9-pin A/V port. American and European models used a momentary switch for power while non-western models used a switch. Furthermore, the audio mixing circuitry was modified, resulting in noticeably different quality audio output — here is a page with audio samples, provided by little-scale. A common myth is that the Mega Drive 2 lacks a Z80 — the truth is that it lacks a Zilog Z80. During the Mega Drive's lifetime, Sega received various off-the-shelf chips from different manufactuerers, and sometimes would rebrand chips as their own or make them themselves, which is what happened here (and which is why each Mega Drive has a different manufacturer for its 68000). If the Z80 was missing, most games would have no sound (or not all sound). In later revisions, the Z80 was integrated into a custom ASIC which also incorporated the major chips of the system.
Genesis 3
 Portables: Mega Jet and Nomad
The Mega Jet and Nomad were portable Mega Drive systems released near the middle/end of the system's lifetime. The Mega Jet, released in 1994, was originally designed for use on JAL airliners but was later released for Japanese consumers. The Mega Jet is a semi-portable system; the system has a built-in controller but requires an external power supply and a TV. The Nomad was a full portable in its own right, having an integrated screen and sound capabilities, in addition to a battery pack. Arcade Hardware: Mega Tech, Mega Play, and the System CThe Mega Drive hardware was adapted for arcade use several times over the course of its life. The Mega Tech and Mega Play allowed arcade operators to provide somewhat modified versions of popular Mega Drive games for arcade play — these systems use special cartridges containing games and players can choose from the games plugged into the system. The System C is a different board built from modified Mega Drive hardware, boasting improved color abilities and (in later revisions known collectively as the System C2) improved sample playback. The System C was primarily home to puzzle games — Columns and Puyo Puyo were released on this hardware. Data East is also known to have licensed Mega Drive hardware for an arcade version of High Seas Havoc; not much is known about this board. Mega CD Combos: JVC Wondermega/X'eye, Pinoeer LaserActive, Sega Multi-Mega, and Aiwa Mega CD
Combination Mega Drive/Mega CD units were developed over the course of the Mega CD's lifetime. The Wondermega and LaserActive are standalone consoles; the LaserActive also plays Laserdiscs. The Multi-Mega is a portable audio CD player that can play Mega Drive and Mega CD games when plugged in to wall power and a TV. The Aiwa Mega CD is a Mega Drive/Mega CD packed into Aiwa's consumer-level portable CD stereos. Computer Combinations: Sega Teradrive, Amstrad Mega PC, al-Alamiah Units
The Teradrive and Mega PC are combination Mega Drive/IBM-compatible PCs made for the Japanese and UK markets, respectively. The three al-Alamiah computers are combination Mega Drive/MSX computers for the Arabic market. Modern System-on-a-Chip CompilationsA variety of companies now make licensed system-on-a-chip units in a variety of fashions that contain single-chip Mega Drive implementations and several licensed ROM images. TecToy-made SoaCs also contain several "new" MD games, however these are believed to be — and likely are — Java 2 Mobile Edition games running on additional hardware. For a full list of SoaCs, see the template at the bottom of the page. Hardware
List of Games
Launch Titles JapanNorth America
Europe
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