Sega System 16

The Sega System 16 is an arcade system board released by Sega in 1985. Throughout its lifespan, there would be around forty games released on this hardware, making it one of Sega's most successful hardware designs. It was produced in three variants, the Pre-System 16, System 16A and System 16B.

In order to prevent piracy, as well as illegal bootleg games, many System 16 boards used an encryption system. A Hitachi FD1094 chip, containing the main CPU as well as the decryption key, was used in place of a regular CPU.

System 16 specifications

• Main CPU: Motorola 68000 @ 10 MHz
• Sound CPU: Zilog Z80 @ 4 MHz (5 MHz in System 16B)
• Sound Chip: Yamaha YM2151 @ 4 MHz (+ NEC uPD7751 ADPCM decoder in System 16B)
• Display Resolution: 320 x 224
• Colors: 4096
• Graphical Capabilities: 128 onscreen sprites, 2 tile layers, 1 text layer, 1 sprite layer, sprite scaling.

Hardware Images

Pre-System 16

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  Motherboard

Sega System 16A

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  Motherboard (side 1)

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  Motherboard (side 2)

Sega System 16B

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  Motherboard

List of Pre System 16 Games

• Alien Syndrome (1987)
• Body Slam / Dump Matsumoto (1986)
• Major League (1985)
• Quartet (1987)
• Quartet 2 (1987)

List of System 16A Games

• Action Fighter (1986)
• Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars (1986)
• Fantasy Zone (1986)
• SDI (1987)
• Shinobi (1987)
• Sukeban Jansi Ryuko (1988)
• Tetris (1988)
• Time Scanner (1987)
• Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (1988)

List of System 16B Games

• Ace Attacker (1989)
• Alien Syndrome (1987)
• Altered Beast / Juuouki (1988)
• Aurail (1990)
• Bay Route (1989)
• Bullet (1987)
• Charon (198?)
• Cotton (1991)
• Dunk Shot (1987)
• Dynamite Dux (1988)
• ESWAT (1989)
• Excite League (1989)
• Flash Point (1989)
• Golden Axe (1989)
• Heavyweight Champ (1988)
• M.V.P. (1989)
• Passing Shot (1988)
• Riot City (1991)
• Ryu Kyu (1990)
• Sonic Boom (1987)
• Sukeban Jansi Ryuko (1988)
• Super League (1988)
• Tetris (1988)
• Time Scanner (1987)
• Toryumon (1994)
• Tough Turf (1989)
• Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (1988)
• Wrestle War (1989)

Sega Arcade Boards
Originating in Arcades
8080/Z80-based	Sega Blockade Hardware | Sega VIC Dual | Sega G80 | VCO Object | Sega Zaxxon Hardware | Sega Laserdisc Hardware | Sega System 1 | Sega Appoooh Hardware | Sega System 2 | Sega System E | Sega Gigas Hardware | Sega Sharp Shooter Hardware | Sega Space Position Hardware Custom Z80 Boards (TODO are these really custom or are they all the same board? System-16 lumps them into one page...)
68000-based	Pre-System 16 Hardware | Sega Space Harrier Hardware | Sega OutRun Hardware | Sega System 16 | Sega X Board | Sega System 24 | Sega Y Board | Sega System 18
NEC V60/V70-based	Sega System 32 | Sega Model 1
Intel i960-based	Sega Model 2
PowerPC-based	Sega Model 3
SuperH-based	Sega Hikaru
Based on Home Hardware
SG-1000-based	SG-1000-based Arcade Hardware
Mega Drive-based	Mega-Tech | Sega System C/C2 | Mega Play | High Seas Havoc special board
Saturn-based	Sega Titan Video (ST-V)
Dreamcast-based	Sega NAOMI | Sega NAOMI 2 | Sega Aurora | Sammy Atomiswave
XBOX-based	Sega Chihiro
GameCube-based	Triforce
PC-based	Sega Lindbergh | Sega Europa-R | Sega RingEdge | Sega RingWide