Flashback Friday #14 the Nes

Good afternoon folks and welcome to another Flashback Friday this weeks blast from the past is the Nes

The Nintendo Entertainment System (commonly abbreviated as NES) is an 8-bit home video game console that was developed and manufactured by Nintendo. the NES helped revitalize the US video game industry following the video game crash of 1983.With the NES, Nintendo introduced a now-standard business model of licensing third-party developers, authorizing them to produce and distribute titles for Nintendo's platform.It was succeeded by the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Development

Following a series of arcade game successes in the early 1980s, Nintendo made plans to create a cartridge-based console called the Famicom, which is short for Family Computer. Masayuki Uemura designed the system. Original plans called for an advanced 16-bit system which would function as a full-fledged computer with a keyboard and floppy disk drive, but Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi rejected this and instead decided to go for a cheaper, more conventional cartridge-based game console as he felt that features such as keyboards and disks were intimidating to non-technophiles. A test model was constructed in October 1982 to verify the functionality of the hardware, after which work began on programming tools. Because 65xx CPUs had not been manufactured or sold in Japan up to that time, no cross-development software was available and it had to be produced from scratch. Early Famicom games were written on a system that ran on an NEC PC-8001 computer and LEDs on a grid were used with a digitizer to design graphics as no software design tools for this purpose existed at that time.
The code name for the project was "GameCom", but Masayuki Uemura's wife proposed the name "Famicom", arguing that "In Japan, 'pasokon' is used to mean a personal computer, but it is neither a home or personal computer. Perhaps we could say it is a family computer." Meanwhile, Hiroshi Yamauchi decided that the console should use a red and white theme after seeing a billboard for DX Antenna which used those colors.
During the creation of the Famicom, the ColecoVision, a video game console made by Coleco to compete against Atari's Atari 2600 Game system in The United States, was a huge influence. Takao Sawano, chief manager of the project, brought a Colecvovision home to his family, who were impressed by the systems capability to produce smooth graphics at the time, which contrasted with the flickering and slowdown commonly seen on Atari 2600 games. Uemura, head of Famicom development, stated that the ColecoVision set the bar that influenced how he would approach the creation of the Famicom.
Original plans called for the Famicom's cartridges to be the size of a cassette tape, but ultimately they ended up being twice as big. Careful design attention was paid to the cartridge connectors since loose and faulty connections often plagued arcade machines. As it necessitated taking 60 connection lines for the memory and expansion, Nintendo decided to produce their own connectors in-house rather than use ones from an outside supplier.
The controllers were hard-wired to the console with no connectors for cost reasons. The game pad controllers were more-or-less copied directly from the Game & Watch machines, although the Famicom design team originally wanted to use arcade-style joysticks, even taking apart ones from American game consoles to see how they worked. There were concerns regarding the durability of the joystick design and that children might step on joysticks left on the floor. Katsuyah Nakawaka attached a Game & Watch D-pad to the Famicom prototype and found that it was easy to use and caused no discomfort. Ultimately though, they installed a 15-pin expansion port on the front of the console so that an optional arcade-style joystick could be used.
Uemura added an eject lever to the cartridge slot which was not really necessary, but he felt that children could be entertained by pressing it. He also added a microphone to the second controller with the idea that it could be used to make players' voices sound through the TV speaker.

Release

The console was released on July 15, 1983 as the Family Computer (or Famicom for short) for ¥14,800 alongside three ports of Nintendo's successful arcade games Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Popeye. The Famicom was slow to gather momentum; a bad chip set caused the initial release of the system to crash. Following a product recall and a reissue with a new motherboard, the Famicom’s popularity soared, becoming the best-selling game console in Japan by the end of 1984.
Encouraged by this success, Nintendo turned its attention to the North American market, entering into negotiations with Atari to release the Famicom under Atari’s name as the Nintendo Advanced Video Gaming System. The deal was set to be finalized and signed at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in June 1983. However, Atari discovered at that show that its competitor Coleco was illegally demonstrating its Coleco Adam computer with Nintendo's Donkey Kong game. This violation of Atari's exclusive license with Nintendo to publish the game for its own computer systems delayed the implementation of Nintendo's game console marketing contract with Atari. Atari's CEO Ray Kassar was fired the next month, so the deal went nowhere, and Nintendo decided to market its system
Subsequent plans to market a Famicom console in North America featuring a keyboard, cassette data recorder, wireless joystick controller and a special BASIC cartridge under the name "Nintendo Advanced Video System" likewise never materialized.By the beginning of 1985, the Famicom had sold more than 2.5 million units in Japan and Nintendo soon announced plans to release it in North America as the Advanced Video Entertainment System (AVS) that same year. The American video game press was skeptical that the console could have any success in the region, with the March 1985 issue of Electronic Games magazine stating that "the videogame market in America has virtually disappeared" and that "this could be a miscalculation on Nintendo's part."
At June 1985's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Nintendo unveiled the American version of its Famicom, with a new case redesigned by Lance Barr and featuring a "zero insertion force" cartridge slot.This is the system which would eventually be officially deployed as the Nintendo Entertainment System, or the colloquial "NES". Nintendo seeded these first systems to limited American test markets starting in New York City on October 18, 1985, and following up with a full-fledged North American release in February of the following year.The nationwide release was in September 1986. Nintendo released 17 launch titles: 10-Yard Fight, Baseball, Clu Clu Land, Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Golf, Gyromite, Hogan’s Alley, Ice Climber, Kung Fu, Pinball, Soccer, Stack-Up, Tennis, Wild Gunman, Wrecking Crew, and Super Mario Bros. Some varieties of these launch games contained Famicom chips with an adapter inside the cartridge so they would play on North American consoles, which is why the title screen of Gyromite has the Famicom title "Robot Gyro" and the title screen of Stack-Up has the Famicom title "Robot Block".

The system's launch represented not only a new product, but also a reframing of the severely damaged home video game market. The video game market crash of 1983 had occurred in large part due to a lack of consumer and retailer confidence in video games, which had been partially due to confusion and misrepresentation in video game marketing. Prior to the NES, the packaging of many video games presented bombastic artwork which exaggerated the graphics of the actual game. In terms of product identity, a single game such as Pac-Man would appear in many versions on many different game consoles and computers, with large variations in graphics, sound, and general quality between the versions. In stark contrast, Nintendo's marketing strategy aimed to regain consumer and retailer confidence by delivering a singular platform whose technology was not in need of exaggeration and whose qualities were clearly defined.
To differentiate Nintendo's new home platform from the perception of a troubled and shallow video game market, the company freshened its product nomenclature and established a strict product approval and licensing policy. The overall system was referred to as an "Entertainment System" instead of a "video game system", which was centered upon a machine called a "Control Deck" instead of a "console", and which featured software cartridges called "Game Paks" instead of "video games". To deter production of games which had not been licensed by Nintendo, and to prevent copying, the 10NES lockout chip system acted as a lock-and-key coupling of each Game Pak and Control Deck. The packaging of the launch lineup of NES games bore pictures of close representations of actual onscreen graphics. To reduce consumer confusion, symbols on the games' packaging clearly indicated the genre of the game. A 'seal of quality' was printed on all licensed game and accessory packaging. The initial seal stated, "This seal is your assurance that Nintendo has approved and guaranteed the quality of this product". This text was later changed to "Official Nintendo Seal of Quality".
Unlike with the Famicom, Nintendo of America marketed the console primarily to children, instituting a strict policy of censoring profanity, sexual, religious, or political content. The most famous example was Lucasfilm's attempts to port the comedy-horror game Maniac Mansion to the NES, which Nintendo insisted be considerably watered down. Nintendo of America continued their censorship policy until 1994 with the advent of the Entertainment Software Rating Board system.
The optional Robotic Operating Buddy, or R.O.B., was part of a marketing plan to portray the NES's technology as being novel and sophisticated when compared to previous game consoles, and to portray its position as being within reach of the better established toy market. While at first, the American public exhibited limited excitement for the console itself, peripherals such as the light gun and R.O.B. attracted extensive attention
In Europe, Australia and Canada, the system was released to two separate marketing regions. The first consisted of mainland Europe (excluding Italy) where distribution was handled by a number of different companies, with Nintendo responsible for most cartridge releases. Most of this region saw a 1986 release. The following year Mattel handled distribution for the second region, consisting of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Italy, Australia and New Zealand. Not until the 1990s did Nintendo's newly created European branch direct distribution throughout Europe

For its complete North American release, the Nintendo Entertainment System was progressively released over the ensuing years in four different bundles: the Deluxe Set, the Control Deck, the Action Set and the Power Set. The Deluxe Set, retailing at US$199.99 (equivalent to $481 in 2016), included R.O.B., a light gun called the NES Zapper, two controllers, and two Game Paks: Gyromite, and Duck Hunt. The Basic Set retailed at US$89.99 with no game, and US$99.99 bundled with Super Mario Bros. The Action Set, retailing in November, 1988 for US$149.99, came with the Control Deck, two game controllers, an NES Zapper, and a dual Game Pak containing both Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt In 1989, the Power Set included the console, two game controllers, an NES Zapper, a Power Pad, and a triple Game Pak containing Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, and World Class Track Meet. In 1990, a Sports Set bundle was released, including the console, an NES Satellite infrared wireless multitap adapter, four game controllers, and a dual Game Pak containing Super Spike V'Ball and Nintendo World Cup.Two more bundle packages were later released using the original model NES console. The Challenge Set of 1992 included the console, two controllers, and a Super Mario Bros. 3 Game Pak for a retail price of US$89.99. The Basic Set, first released in 1987, was repackaged for a retail US$89.99. It included only the console and two controllers, and no longer was bundled with a cartridge Instead, it contained a book called the Official Nintendo Player's Guide, which contained detailed information for every NES game made up to that point.
Finally, the console was redesigned for both the North American and Japanese markets as part of the final Nintendo-released bundle package. The package included the new style NES-101 console, and one redesigned "dogbone" game controller. Released in October 1993 in North America, this final bundle retailed for US$49.99 and remained in production until the discontinuation of the NES in 1995

My experience 

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Thanks for taking the time to read this if you liked what you've read then please check back tomorrow after 17.00bst for another update thanks again. Dobby 

Flashback Friday #12 The Sega Dreamcast

Good afternoon folks and welcome to another Flashback Friday this weeks blast from the past is The Sega Dreamcast 

The Dreamcast is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998 in Japan, September 9, 1999 in North America, and October 14, 1999 in Europe. It was the first in the sixth generation of video game consoles, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox. The Dreamcast was Sega's final home console, marking the end of the company's 18 years in the console market.
In contrast to the expensive hardware of the unsuccessful Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast was designed to reduce costs with "off-the-shelf" components, including a Hitachi SH-4 CPU and an NEC PowerVR2 GPU. Released in Japan to a subdued reception, the Dreamcast enjoyed a successful U.S. launch backed by a large marketing campaign, but interest in the system steadily declined as Sony built hype for the upcoming PlayStation 2. Sales did not meet Sega's expectations despite several price cuts, and the company continued to incur significant financial losses. After a change in leadership, Sega discontinued the Dreamcast on March 31, 2001, withdrawing from the console business and restructuring itself as a third-party publisher. 9.13 million Dreamcast units were sold worldwide.
Although the Dreamcast had a short lifespan and limited third-party support, reviewers have considered the console ahead of its time. Its library contains many games considered creative and innovative, including Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio and Shenmue, as well as high-quality ports from Sega's NAOMI arcade system board. The Dreamcast was also the first console to include a built-in modem for Internet support and online play.

History

Background

Released in 1988, the Sega Genesis (known as the Sega Mega Drive in Japan, Europe and Brazil) was Sega's entry into the fourth generation of video game consoles. Selling 30.75 million units worldwide, the Genesis was the most successful console Sega ever released. The successor to the Genesis, the Sega Saturn, was released in Japan in 1994. The Saturn was a CD-ROM-based console that displayed both 2D and 3D computer graphics, but its complex dual-CPU architecture made it more difficult to program for than its chief competitor, the Sony PlayStation.Although the Saturn debuted before the PlayStation in both Japan and the United States, its surprise U.S. launch—which came four months earlier than originally scheduled was marred by a lack of distribution, which remained a continuing problem for the system. Moreover, Sega's early release was undermined by Sony's simultaneous announcement that the PlayStation would retail for US$299—compared to the Saturn's initial price of $399. Nintendo's long delay in releasing a competing 3D console and the damage done to Sega's reputation by poorly supported add-ons for the Genesis (particularly the Sega 32X) allowed Sony to establish a foothold in the market.The PlayStation was immediately successful in the U.S., in part due to a massive advertising campaign and strong third-party support engendered by Sony's excellent development tools and liberal $10 licensing fee. Sony's success was further aided by a price war in which Sega lowered the price of the Saturn from $399 to $299 and then from $299 to $199 in order to match the price of the PlayStation–even though Saturn hardware was more expensive to manufacture and the PlayStation enjoyed a larger software library. Losses on the Saturn hardware contributed to Sega's financial problems, which saw the company's revenue decline between 1992 and 1995 as part of an industry-wide slowdown. Furthermore, Sega's focus on the Saturn over the Genesis prevented it from fully capitalizing on the continued strength of the 16-bit market.
Due to long-standing disagreements with Sega of Japan, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske became less interested in his position. On July 16, 1996, Sega announced that Shoichiro Irimajiri had been appointed chairman and CEO of Sega of America, while Kalinske would be leaving Sega after September 30 of that year.Sega also announced that Sega Enterprises cofounder David Rosen and Sega of Japan CEO Hayao Nakayama had resigned from their positions as chairman and co-chairman of Sega of America, though both men remained with the company. Bernie Stolar, a former executive at Sony Computer Entertainment of America,was named Sega of America's executive vice president in charge of product development and third-party relations.Stolar did not support the Saturn due to his belief that the hardware was poorly designed and publicly announced at E3 1997 that "The Saturn is not our future."After the launch of the Nintendo 64, sales of the Saturn and Sega's 32-bit software were sharply reduced. As of August 1997, Sony controlled 47 percent of the console market, Nintendo controlled 40 percent, and Sega controlled only 12 percent. Neither price cuts nor high-profile games were proving helpful to the Saturn's success.Due to the Saturn's poor performance in North America, Sega of America laid off 60 of its 200 employees in the fall of 1997.As a result of the company's deteriorating financial situation, Nakayama resigned as president of Sega in January 1998 in favor of Irimajiri. Stolar would subsequently accede to become CEO and president of Sega of America. Following five years of generally declining profits, in the fiscal year ending March 31, 1998, Sega suffered its first parent and consolidated financial losses since its 1988 listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.Due to a 54.8% decline in consumer product sales (including a 75.4% decline overseas), the company reported a consolidated net loss of ¥35.6 billion (US$269.8 million). Shortly before announcing its financial losses, Sega revealed that it was discontinuing the Saturn in North America, with the goal of preparing for the launch of its successor. This decision effectively left the Western market without Sega games for over one year.Rumors about the upcoming Dreamcast—spread mainly by Sega itself—leaked to the public before the last Saturn games were released.

Development

As early as 1995, reports surfaced that Sega would collaborate with Lockheed Martin, The 3DO Company, Matsushita, or Alliance Semiconductor to create a new graphics processing unit, which conflicting accounts said would be used for a 64-bit "Saturn 2" or an add-on peripheral. Development of the Dreamcast was wholly unrelated to this rumored project. In light of the Saturn's poor market performance, Irimajiri decided to start looking outside of the company's internal hardware development division to create a new console. In 1997, Irimajiri enlisted the services of IBM's Tatsuo Yamamoto to lead an 11-man team to work on a secret hardware project in the United States, which was referred to as "Blackbelt". Accounts vary on how an internal team led by Hideki Sato also began development on Dreamcast hardware; one account specifies that Sega of Japan tasked both teams, while another suggests that Sato was bothered by Irimajiri's choice to begin development externally and chose to have his hardware team begin development. Sato and his group chose the Hitachi SH-4 processor architecture and the VideoLogic PowerVR2 graphics processor, manufactured by NEC, in the production of their mainboard. Initially known as "Whitebelt", this project was later codenamed "Dural", after the metallic female fighter from Sega's Virtua Fighter series.
Yamamoto's group opted to use 3dfx Voodoo 2 and Voodoo Banshee graphics processors alongside a Motorola PowerPC 603e central processing unit (CPU), but Sega management later asked them to also use the SH-4 chip. Both processors have been described as "off the shelf" components. In 1997, 3dfx began its IPO, and as a result of legal obligations unveiled its contracts with Sega, including the development of the new console.This angered Sega of Japan executives, who eventually decided to use the Dural chipset and cut ties with 3dfx. According to former Sega of America vice president of communications and former NEC brand manager Charles Bellfield, presentations of games using the NEC solution showcased the performance and low cost delivered by the SH-4 and PowerVR architecture. He further stated that "Sega's relationship with NEC, a Japanese company, probably made a difference [in Sega's decision to adopt the Japanese team's design] too." Stolar, on the other hand, "felt the US version, the 3Dfx version, should have been used. Japan wanted the Japanese version, and Japan won." As a result, 3dfx filed a lawsuit against both Sega and NEC claiming breach of contract, which would eventually be settled out of court. The choice to use the PowerVR architecture concerned Electronic Arts (EA), a longtime developer for Sega's consoles. EA had invested in 3dfx but was unfamiliar with the selected architecture, which was reportedly less powerful.As recounted by Shiro Hagiwara (a general manager at Sega's hardware division) and Ian Oliver (the managing director of Sega subsidiary Cross Products), the SH-4 was chosen while it was still in development and following a lengthy deliberation process because it was the only available processor that "could adapt to deliver the 3D geometry calculation performance necessary." By February 1998, Sega had renamed the Dural "Katana" (after the Japanese sword), although certain hardware specifications such as random access memory (RAM) were not yet finalized.
Knowing that the Sega Saturn had been set back by its high production costs and complex hardware, Sega took a different approach with the Dreamcast. Like previous Sega consoles, the Dreamcast was designed around intelligent subsystems working in parallel with one another, but the selections of hardware were more in line with what was common in personal computers than video game consoles, reducing the system's cost.According to Damien McFerran, "the motherboard was a masterpiece of clean, uncluttered design and compatibility." Chinese economist and future Sega.com CEO Brad Huang convinced Sega chairman Isao Okawa to include a modem with every Dreamcast despite significant opposition from Okawa's staff over the additional $15 cost per unit. To account for rapid changes in home data delivery, Sega designed the Dreamcast's modem to be modular.Sega selected the GD-ROM media format for the system. The GD-ROM, which was jointly developed by Sega and Yamaha Corporation, could be mass-produced at a similar price to a normal CD-ROM, thus avoiding the greater expense of DVD-ROM technology As the GD-ROM format can hold about 1 GB of data,illegally copying Dreamcast games onto a 650 MB CD-ROM sometimes required the removal of certain game features, although this did not prevent copying of Dreamcast software. Microsoft developed a custom Dreamcast version of Windows CE with DirectX API and dynamic-link libraries, making it easy to port PC games to the platform, although programmers would ultimately favor Sega's development tools over those from Microsoft.
Sega held a public competition to name its new system and considered over 5,000 different entries before choosing "Dreamcast"—a portmanteau of "dream" and "broadcast".According to Katsutoshi Eguchi, Japanese game developer Kenji Eno submitted the name and created the Dreamcast's spiral logo, but this claim has not been verified by Sega.The Dreamcast's start-up sound was composed by the Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. Because the Saturn had tarnished Sega's reputation, the company planned to remove its name from the console entirely and establish a new gaming brand similar to Sony's PlayStation, but Irimajiri's management team ultimately decided to retain Sega's logo on the Dreamcast's exterior. Sega spent US$50–80 million on hardware development, $150–200 million on software development, and $300 million on worldwide promotion—a sum which Irimajiri, a former Honda executive, humorously compared to the investments required to design new automobiles.

Launch

Despite taking massive losses on the Saturn, including a 75 percent drop in half-year profits just before the Japanese launch of the Dreamcast, Sega felt confident about its new system. The Dreamcast attracted significant interest and drew many pre-orders. Sega announced that Sonic Adventure, the next game starring company mascot Sonic the Hedgehog, would arrive in time for the Dreamcast's launch and promoted the game with a large-scale public demonstration at the Tokyo Kokusai Forum Hall. However, Sega could not achieve its shipping goals for the Dreamcast's Japanese launch due to a shortage of PowerVR chipsets caused by a high failure rate in the manufacturing process. As more than half of its limited stock had been pre-ordered, Sega stopped pre-orders in Japan. On November 27, 1998, the Dreamcast launched in Japan at a price of JP¥29,000, and the entire stock sold out by the end of the day. However, of the four games available at launch, only one—a port of Virtua Fighter 3, the most successful arcade game Sega ever released in Japan—sold well. Sega estimated that an additional 200,000-300,000 Dreamcast units could have been sold with sufficient supply. Key Dreamcast software titles Sonic Adventure and Sega Rally Championship 2, which had been delayed, arrived within the following weeks, but sales continued to be slower than expected. Irimajiri hoped to sell over 1 million Dreamcast units in Japan by February 1999, but less than 900,000 were sold, undermining Sega's attempts to build up a sufficient installed base to ensure the Dreamcast's survival after the arrival of competition from other manufacturers. There were reports of disappointed Japanese consumers returning their Dreamcasts and using the refund to purchase additional PlayStation software. Seaman, released in July 1999, was considered the Dreamcast's first major hit in Japan. Prior to the Western launch, Sega reduced the price of the Dreamcast to JP¥19,900, effectively making the hardware unprofitable but increasing sales. The price reduction and release of Namco's Soul Calibur helped Sega to gain 17 percent on its shares.
Working closely with Midway Games (which developed four launch titles for the system) and taking advantage of the ten months following the Dreamcast's release in Japan, Sega of America worked to ensure a more successful U.S. launch with a minimum of 15 launch games. Despite lingering bitterness over the Saturn's early release, Stolar successfully managed to repair relations with major US retailers, with whom Sega presold 300,000 Dreamcast units. In addition, a pre-launch promotion enabled consumers to rent the system from Hollywood Video in the months preceding its September launch. Sega of America's senior vice president of marketing Peter Moore, a fan of the attitude previously associated with Sega's brand, worked with Foote, Cone & Belding and Access Communications to develop the "It's Thinking" campaign of 15-second television commercials, which emphasized the Dreamcast's hardware power.  According to Moore, "We needed to create something that would really intrigue consumers, somewhat apologize for the past, but invoke all the things we loved about Sega, primarily from the Genesis days." On August 11, Sega of America confirmed that Stolar had been fired, leaving Moore to direct the launch.
Prior to the Dreamcast's release, Sega was dealt a blow when EA—the largest third-party video game publisher—announced it would not develop games for the system. EA executive Bing Gordon claimed "[Sega] couldn't afford to give us [EA] the same kind of license that EA has had over the last five years", but Stolar recounted that EA president Larry Probst wanted "exclusive rights to be the only sports brand on Dreamcast", which Stolar could not accept due to Sega's recent $10 million purchase of sports game developer Visual Concepts. While the Dreamcast would have none of EA's popular sports games, "Sega Sports" titles developed mainly by Visual Concepts helped to fill that void.
The Dreamcast launched in North America on September 9, 1999 at a price of $199—which Sega's marketing dubbed "9/9/99 for $199". Eighteen launch titles were available for the Dreamcast in the U.S.Sega set a new sales record by selling more than 225,132 Dreamcast units in 24 hours, earning the company $98.4 million in what Moore called "the biggest 24 hours in entertainment retail history".Within two weeks, U.S. Dreamcast sales exceeded 500,000. By Christmas, Sega held 31 percent of the North American video game marketshare. Significant launch titles included Soul Calibur, an arcade fighting game that was graphically enhanced for the system and went on to sell one million units, and Visual Concepts' high-quality football simulation NFL 2K On November 4, Sega announced it had sold over one million Dreamcast units. Nevertheless, the launch was marred by a glitch at one of Sega's manufacturing plants, which produced defective GD-ROMs.
Sega released the Dreamcast in Europe on October 14, 1999,at a price of GB₤200. By November 24, 400,000 consoles had been sold in Europe. By Christmas of 1999, Sega of Europe reported selling 500,000 units, placing it six months ahead of schedule. Sales did not continue at this pace, and by October 2000, Sega had sold only about 1 million units in Europe. As part of Sega's promotions of the Dreamcast in Europe, the company sponsored four European football clubs: Arsenal F.C. (England), AS Saint-Étienne (France), U.C. Sampdoria (Italy), and Deportivo de La Coruña (Spain).

Models

Sega constructed numerous Dreamcast models, most of which were exclusive to Japan. A refurbished Dreamcast known as the R7 was originally used as a network console in Japanese pachinko parlors. Another model, the Divers 2000 CX-1, possesses a shape similar to Sonic's head and includes a television and software for teleconferencing. A Hello Kitty version, limited to 2000 units produced, was targeted at Japanese female gamers.^[32] Special editions were created for Seaman^[141] and Resident Evil Code: Veronica.^[142] Color variations were sold through a service called "Dreamcast Direct" in Japan.^[143] Toyota also offered special edition Dreamcast units at 160 of its dealers in Japan.^[144] In North America, a limited edition black Dreamcast was released with a Sega Sports logo on the lid, which included matching Sega Sports-branded black controllers and two games.^[145]

Accessories

The Dreamcast controller includes both an analog stick and a digital pad, four action buttons, and two analog triggers. The system has four ports for controller inputs, although it was bundled with only one controller.The design of the Dreamcast's controller, described by the staff of Edge as "an ugly evolution of Saturn's 3D controller,"was called "[not] that great" by 1UP.com's Sam Kennedy and "lame" by Game Informer's Andy McNamara.The staff of IGN wrote that "unlike most controllers, Sega's pad forces the user's hands into an uncomfortable parallel position." In contrast to the Sega CD and Sega Saturn, which included internal backup memory, the Dreamcast uses a 128 kbyte memory card called the VMU (or "Visual Memory Unit") for data storage. The VMU features a small LCD screen, audio output from a one-channel PWM sound source, non-volatile memory, a directional pad, and four buttons.The VMU can present game information, be used as a minimal handheld gaming device,and connect to certain Sega arcade machines. For example, players use the VMU to call plays in NFL 2K or raise virtual pets in Sonic Adventure Sega officials noted that the VMU could be used "as a private viewing area, the absence of which has prevented effective implementation of many types of games in the past." After a VMU slot was incorporated into the controller's design, Sega's engineers found many additional uses for it, so a second slot was added. This slot was generally used for vibration packs providing force feedback like Sega's "Jump Pack"^[ and Performance's "Tremor Pack",although it could also be used for other peripherals including a microphone enabling voice control and player communication. Various third-party cards provide storage, and some contain the LCD screen addition.Iomega announced a Dreamcast-compatible zip drive that could store up to 100 MB of data on removable discs, but it was never released.
Various third-party controllers from companies like Mad Catz include additional buttons and other extra features third-parties also manufactured arcade-style joysticks for fighting games, such as Agetech's Arcade Stick and Interact's Alloy Arcade Stick Mad Catz and Agetec created racing wheels for racing games.Sega decided against releasing its official light gun in the U.S.,but some third party light guns were available. The Dreamcast supports a Sega fishing "reel and rod" motion controller and a keyboard for text entry Although it was designed for fishing games such as Sega Bass Fishing Soul Calibur was playable with the fishing controller, which translated vertical and horizontal movements into on-screen swordplay in a manner that was retroactively cited as a predecessor to the Wii Remote.The Japanese Dreamcast port of Sega's Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram supported a "Twin Sticks" peripheral, but the game's American publisher, Activision, opted not to release it in the U.S. The Dreamcast could connect to SNK's Neo Geo Pocket Color, predating Nintendo's GameCube–Game Boy Advance link cable.Sega also produced the Dreameye, a digital camera that could be connected to the Dreamcast and used to exchange pictures and participate in video chat over the system's Internet connection. Sega hoped developers would use the Dreameye for future software, as some later did with Sony's similar EyeToy peripheral. In addition, Sega investigated systems that would have allowed users to make telephone calls with the Dreamcast, and discussed with Motorola the development of an Internet-enabled cell phone that would have used technology from the console to enable quick downloads of games and other data.
The console can supply video through several different accessories. The console came with A/V cables, considered at the time to be the standard for video and audio connectivity. Sega and various third parties also manufactured RF modulator connectors and S-Video cables. A VGA adapter allows Dreamcast games to be played on computer displays or Enhanced-definition television sets in 480p.

Hardware

Physically, the Dreamcast measures 190 mm × 195.8 mm × 75.5 mm (7.48 in × 7.71 in × 2.97 in) and weighs 1.5 kg (3.3 lb).The Dreamcast's main CPU is a two-way 360 MIPS superscalar Hitachi SH-4 32-bit RISC clocked at 200 MHz with an 8 Kbyte instruction cache and 16 Kbyte data cache and a 128-bit graphics-oriented floating-point unit delivering 1.4 GFLOPS. Its 100 MHz NEC PowerVR2 rendering engine, integrated with the system's ASIC, is capable of drawing more than 3 million polygons per second and of deferred shading.Sega estimated that the Dreamcast was theoretically capable of rendering 7 million raw polygons per second, or 6 million with textures and lighting, but noted that "game logic and physics reduce peak graphic performance." Graphics hardware effects include trilinear filtering, gouraud shading, z-buffering, spatial anti-aliasing, per-pixel translucency sorting and bump mapping. The system can output approximately 16.77 million colors simultaneously and displays interlaced or progressive scan video at 640 × 480 video resolution.Its 67 MHz Yamaha AICA sound processor, with a 32-bit ARM7 RISC CPU core, can generate 64 voices with PCM or ADPCM, providing ten times the performance of the Saturn's sound system. The Dreamcast has 16 MB main RAM, along with an additional 8 MB of RAM for graphic textures and 2 MB of RAM for sound. The system reads media using a 12x speed Yamaha GD-ROM Drive. In addition to Windows CE, the Dreamcast supports several Sega and middleware application programming interfaces. In most regions, the Dreamcast included a removable modem for online connectivity, which was modular for future upgrades. The original Japanese model and all PAL models had a transfer rate of 33.6 kbit/s, while consoles sold in the US and in Japan after September 9, 1999 featured a 56 kbit/s dial-up modem.

My experience 

My brother had a Dreamcast when I grew up I spent many a night playing sonic on it I had many good memories of it. I would say its worth a try if you've never had one its a great console 

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Flashback Friday #11 Sega Saturn

Good afternoon folks and welcome to another Flashback Friday this weeks blast from the past is the Sega Saturn

History

The Sega Saturn is a 32-bit fifth-generation home video game console that was developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe. The successor to the successful Sega Genesis, the Saturn has a dual-CPU architecture and eight processors. Its games are in CD-ROM format, and its game library contains several arcade ports as well as original titles.
Development of the Saturn began in 1992, the same year Sega's groundbreaking 3D Model 1 arcade hardware debuted. Designed around a new CPU from Japanese electronics company Hitachi, another video display processor was incorporated into the system's design in early 1994 to better compete with Sony's forthcoming PlayStation. The Saturn was initially successful in Japan, but failed to sell in large numbers in the United States after its surprise May 1995 launch, four months before its scheduled release date. After the debut of the Nintendo 64 in late 1996, the Saturn rapidly lost market share in the U.S., where it was discontinued in 1998. Having sold 9.26 million units worldwide, the Saturn is considered a commercial failure. The failure of Sega's development teams to release a game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, known in development as Sonic X-treme, has been considered a factor in the console's poor performance.
Although the Saturn is remembered for several well-regarded games, including Nights into Dreams, the Panzer Dragoon series, and the Virtua Fighter series, its reputation is mixed due to its complex hardware design and limited third-party support. Sega's management has been criticized for its decision-making during the system's development and discontinuation

Background

Released in 1988, the Genesis (known as the Mega Drive in Europe and Japan) was Sega's entry into the fourth generation of video game consoles. In mid-1990, Sega CEO Hayao Nakayama hired Tom Kalinske as president and CEO of Sega of America. Kalinske developed a four-point plan for sales of the Genesis: lower the price of the console, create a U.S.-based team to develop games targeted at the American market, continue aggressive advertising campaigns, and sell Sonic the Hedgehog with the console The Japanese board of directors initially disapproved of the plan,but all four points were approved by Nakayama, who told Kalinske, "I hired you to make the decisions for Europe and the Americas, so go ahead and do it." Magazines praised Sonic as one of the greatest games yet made, and Sega's console finally took off as customers who had been waiting for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) decided to purchase a Genesis instead. However, the release of a CD-based add-on for the Genesis, the Sega CD (known as Mega-CD outside of North America), had been commercially disappointing.
Sega also experienced success with arcade games. In 1992 and 1993, the company's new Sega Model 1 arcade system board showcased Sega AM2's Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter (the first 3D fighting game), which played a crucial role in popularizing 3D polygonal graphics. In particular, Virtua Fighter garnered praise for its simple three-button control scheme, with the game's strategy coming from the intuitively observed differences between characters that felt and acted differently rather than the more ornate combos of two-dimensional competitors. Despite its crude visuals—with characters composed of fewer than 1,200 polygons—Virtua Fighter's fluid animation and relatively realistic depiction of distinct fighting styles gave its combatants a lifelike presence considered impossible to replicate with sprites. The Model 1 was an expensive system board, and bringing home releases of its games to the Genesis required more than its hardware could handle. Several alternatives helped to bring Sega's newest arcade games to the console, such as the Sega Virtua Processor chip used for Virtua Racing, and eventually the Sega 32X add-on.

Development

Development of the Saturn was supervised by Hideki Sato, Sega's director and deputy general manager of research and development. According to Sega project manager Hideki Okamura, the Saturn project started over two years before the system was showcased at the Tokyo Toy Show in June 1994. The name "Saturn" was initially the system's codename during development in Japan, but was eventually chosen as the official product name.In 1993, Sega and Japanese electronics company Hitachi formed a joint venture to develop a new CPU for the Saturn, which resulted in the creation of the "SuperH RISC Engine" (or SH-2) later that year.The Saturn was ultimately designed around a dual-SH2 configuration. According to Kazuhiro Hamada, Sega's section chief for Saturn development during the system's conception, "the SH-2 was chosen for reasons of cost and efficiency. The chip has a calculation system similar to a DSP [digital signal processor], but we realized that a single CPU would not be enough to calculate a 3D world."Although the Saturn's design was largely finished before the end of 1993, reports in early 1994 of the technical capabilities of Sony's upcoming PlayStation console prompted Sega to include another video display processor (VDP) to improve the system's 2D performance and texture-mapping.CD-ROM-based and cartridge-only versions of the Saturn hardware were considered for simultaneous release at one point during the system's development, but this idea was discarded due to concerns over the lower quality and higher price of cartridge-based games.
According to Kalinske, Sega of America "fought against the architecture of Saturn for quite some time". Seeking an alternative graphics chip for the Saturn, Kalinske attempted to broker a deal with Silicon Graphics, but Sega of Japan rejected the proposal.Silicon Graphics subsequently collaborated with Nintendo on the Nintendo 64.Kalinske, Sony Electronic Publishing's Olaf Olafsson, and Sony America's Micky Schulhof had previously discussed development of a joint "Sega/Sony hardware system", which never came to fruition due to Sega's desire to create hardware that could accommodate both 2D and 3D visuals and Sony's competing notion of focusing entirely on 3D technology. Publicly, Kalinske defended the Saturn's design: "Our people feel that they need the multiprocessing to be able to bring to the home what we're doing next year in the arcades."
In 1993, Sega restructured its internal studios in preparation for the Saturn's launch. To ensure high-quality 3D games would be available early in the Saturn's life, and to create a more energetic working environment, developers from Sega's arcade division were asked to create console games. New teams, such as Panzer Dragoon developer Team Andromeda, were formed during this time.
In January 1994, Sega began to develop an add-on for the Genesis, the Sega 32X, which would serve as a less-expensive entry into the 32-bit era. The decision to create the add-on was made by Nakayama and widely supported by Sega of America employees. According to former Sega of America producer Scot Bayless, Nakayama was worried that the Saturn would not be available until after 1994 and that the recently released Atari Jaguar would reduce Sega's hardware sales. As a result, Nakayama ordered his engineers to have the system ready for launch by the end of the year. The 32X would not be compatible with the Saturn, but Sega executive Richard Brudvik-Lindner pointed out that the 32X would play Genesis titles, and had the same system architecture as the Saturn. This was justified by Sega's statement that both platforms would run at the same time, and that the 32X would be aimed at players who could not afford the more expensive Saturn. According to Sega of America research and development head Joe Miller, the 32X served a role in assisting development teams to familiarize themselves with the dual SH-2 architecture also used in the Saturn. Because both machines shared many of the same parts and were preparing to launch around the same time, tensions emerged between Sega of America and Sega of Japan when the Saturn was given priority.

Launch

 

Sega released the Saturn in Japan on November 22, 1994, at a price of JP¥44,800. Virtua Fighter, a faithful port of the popular arcade game, sold at a nearly one-to-one ratio with the Saturn console at launch and was crucial to the system's early success in Japan.The only other first-party title available on launch day was Wan Chai Connection. Sega had wanted the launch to include both Clockwork Knight and Panzer Dragoon, but the latter was not ready in time. Fueled by the popularity of Virtua Fighter, Sega's initial shipment of 200,000 Saturn units sold out on the first day. Sega waited until the December 3 launch of the PlayStation to ship more units; when both were sold side-by-side, the Saturn proved to be the more popular system. Meanwhile, Sega released the 32X on November 21, 1994 in North America, December 3, 1994 in Japan, and January 1995 in PAL territories, and was sold at less than half of the Saturn's launch price. After the holiday season, however, interest in the 32X rapidly declined. 500,000 Saturn units were sold in Japan by the end of 1994 (compared to 300,000 PlayStation units),and sales exceeded 1 million within the following six months.There were conflicting reports that the PlayStation enjoyed a higher sell-through rate, and the system gradually began to overtake the Saturn in sales during 1995.Sony attracted many third-party developers to the PlayStation with a liberal $10 licensing fee, excellent development tools, and the introduction of a 7- to 10-day order system that allowed publishers to meet demand more efficiently than the 10- to 12-week lead times for cartridges that had previously been standard in the Japanese video game industry.
In March 1995, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske announced that the Saturn would be released in the U.S. on "Saturnday" (Saturday) September 2, 1995. However, Sega of Japan mandated an early launch to give the Saturn an advantage over the PlayStation.At the first Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles on May 11, 1995, Kalinske gave a keynote presentation in which he revealed the release price of US$399 (including a copy of Virtua Fighter), and described the features of the console. Kalinske also revealed that, due to "high consumer demand"Sega had already shipped 30,000 Saturns to Toys "R" Us, Babbage's, Electronics Boutique, and Software Etc. for immediate release.The announcement upset retailers who were not informed of the surprise release, including Best Buy and Walmart;KB Toys responded by dropping Sega from its lineup.Sony subsequently unveiled the retail price for the PlayStation: Sony Computer Entertainment America president Steve Race took the stage, said "$299", and then walked away to applause. The Saturn's release in Europe also came before the previously announced North American date, on July 8, 1995, at a price of ₤399.99.European retailers and press did not have time to promote the system or its games, harming sales.After the PlayStation's European launch on September 29, it had already outsold the Saturn by a factor of three in the United Kingdom by early November 1995, where it was reported that Sony allocated ₤20 million to market the system during the holiday season compared to Sega's ₤4 million.
The Saturn's U.S. launch was accompanied by a reported $50 million advertising campaign that included coverage in publications such as Wired and Playboy. Early advertising for the system was targeted at a more mature, adult audience than the Sega Genesis ads.^[Because of the early launch, the Saturn had only six games (all published by Sega) available to start as most third-party games were slated to be released around the original launch date.Virtua Fighter's relative lack of popularity in the West, combined with a release schedule of only two games between the surprise launch and September 1995, prevented Sega from capitalizing on the Saturn's early timing.Within two days of its September 9, 1995 launch in North America, the PlayStation (backed by a large marketing campaign) sold more units than the Saturn had in the five months following its surprise launch, with almost all of the initial shipment of 100,000 units being presold in advance, and the rest selling out across the U.S.
A high-quality port of the Namco arcade game Ridge Racer contributed to the PlayStation's early success, and garnered favorable comparisons in the media to the Saturn version of Sega's Daytona USA, which was considered inferior to its arcade counterpart. Namco, a longtime arcade competitor with Sega, also unveiled the Namco System 11 arcade board, based on raw PlayStation hardware.Although the System 11 was technically inferior to Sega's Model 2 arcade board, its lower price made it attractive to smaller arcades.Following a 1994 acquisition of Sega developers, Namco released Tekken for the System 11 and PlayStation. Directed by former Virtua Fighter designer Seiichi Ishii, Tekken was intended to be a fundamentally similar title, with the addition of detailed textures and twice the frame rate.Tekken surpassed Virtua Fighter in popularity due to its superior graphics and nearly arcade-perfect console port, becoming the first million-selling PlayStation title.On October 2, 1995 Sega announced a Saturn price reduction to $299.Moreover, high-quality Saturn ports of the Sega Model 2 arcade hits Sega Rally Championship,Virtua Cop, and Virtua Fighter 2 (running at 60 frames per second at a high resolution) were available by the end of the year, and were generally regarded as superior to competitors on the PlayStation. Notwithstanding a subsequent increase in Saturn sales during the 1995 holiday season, these games were not enough to reverse the PlayStation's decisive lead. By 1996, the PlayStation had a considerably larger library than the Saturn, although Sega hoped to generate increased interest in the Saturn with upcoming exclusives such as Nights into Dreams.An informal survey of retailers showed that the Saturn and PlayStation sold in roughly equal numbers during the first quarter of 1996.Within its first year, the PlayStation secured over 20% of the entire U.S. video game market. On the first day of the May 1996 E3 show, Sony announced a PlayStation price reduction to $199 a reaction to the release of the Model 2 Saturn in Japan at a price roughly equivalent to $199.n the second day, Sega announced it would match this price, though Saturn hardware was more expensive to manufact

Hardware

Featuring a total of eight processors the Saturn's main central processing units are two Hitachi SH-2 microprocessors clocked at 28.6 MHz and capable of 56 MIPS.The system contains a Motorola 68EC000 running at 11.3 MHz as a sound controller, a custom sound processor with an integrated Yamaha FH1 DSP running at 22.6 MHz capable of up to 32 sound channels with both FM synthesis and 16-bit PCM sampling at a maximum rate of 44.1 kHz, and two video display processors,the VDP1 (which handles sprites, textures and polygons) and the VDP2 (which handles backgrounds). Its double-speed CD-ROM drive is controlled by a dedicated Hitachi SH-1 processor to reduce load times. The Saturn's System Control Unit (SCU), which controls all buses and functions as a co-processor of the main SH-2 CPU, has an internal DSP running at 14.3 MHz. The Saturn contains a cartridge slot for memory expansion, 16 Mbit of work random-access memory (RAM), 12 Mbit of video RAM, 4 Mbit of RAM for sound functions, 4 Mbit of CD buffer RAM and 256 Kbit (32 KB) of battery backup RAM. Its video output, provided by a stereo AV cable, displays at resolutions from 320×224 to 704×224 pixels, and is capable of displaying up to 16.77 million colors simultaneously. Physically, the Saturn measures 260 mm × 230 mm × 83 mm (10.2 in × 9.1 in × 3.3 in). The Saturn was sold packaged with an instruction manual, one control pad, a stereo AV cable, and its 100V AC power supply, with a power consumption of approximately 15WThe Saturn had technically impressive hardware at the time of its release, but its complexity made harnessing this power difficult for developers accustomed to conventional programming. The greatest disadvantage was that both CPUs shared the same bus and were unable to access system memory at the same time. Making full use of the 4 kB of cache memory in each CPU was critical to maintaining performance. For example, Virtua Fighter used one CPU for each character, while Nights used one CPU for 3D environments and the other for 2D objects. The Saturn's Visual Display Processor 2 (VDP2), which can generate and manipulate backgrounds, has also been cited as one of the system's most important features.The Saturn's design elicited mixed commentary among game developers and journalists. Developers quoted by Next Generation in December 1995 described the Saturn as "a real coder's machine" for "those who love to get their teeth into assembly and really hack the hardware", with "more flexibility" and "more calculating power than the PlayStation". The Saturn's sound board was also widely praised. By contrast, Lobotomy Software programmer Ezra Dreisbach described the Saturn as significantly slower than the PlayStation, whereas Kenji Eno of WARP observed little difference between the two systems. In particular, Dreisbach criticized the Saturn's use of quadrilaterals as its basic geometric primitive, in contrast to the triangles rendered by the PlayStation and the Nintendo 64.Ken Humphries of Time Warner Interactive remarked that compared to the PlayStation, the Saturn was markedly worse at generating polygons but markedly better at sprite-based graphics. Third-party development was initially hindered by the lack of useful software libraries and development tools, requiring developers to write in assembly language to achieve good performance. During early Saturn development, programming in assembly could offer a two-to-fivefold speed increase over C language.The Saturn hardware is considered extremely difficult to emulate.Sega responded to complaints about the difficulty of programming for the Saturn by writing new graphics libraries which were claimed to make development easier.Sega of America also purchased a United Kingdom-based development firm, Cross Products, to produce the Saturn's official development system. Despite these challenges, Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa stated that the Nintendo 64 was more difficult to develop for than the Saturn. Traveller's Tales' Jon Burton opined that while the PlayStation was easier "to get started on ... you quickly reach [its] limits", whereas the Saturn's "complicated" hardware had the ability to "improve the speed and look of a game when all used together correctly. A major point of criticism was the Saturn's use of 2D sprites to generate polygons and simulate 3D space. The PlayStation functioned in a similar manner, but also featured a dedicated "Geometry Transfer Engine" that rendered additional polygons. As a result, several analysts described the Saturn as an "essentially" 2D systemSeveral models of the Saturn were produced in Japan. An updated model in a recolored light gray (officially white) was released in Japan at a price of ¥20,000 in order to reduce the system's costand raise its appeal among women and younger children. Two models were released by third parties: Hitachi released a model known as the Hi-Saturn (a smaller Saturn model equipped with a car navigation function),while JVC released the V-Saturn. Saturn controllers came in various color schemes to match different models of the console. The system also supports several accessories. A wireless controller powered by AA batteries utilizes infrared signal to connect to the Saturn. Designed to work with Nights, the Saturn 3D Pad is a fully functional controller that includes both a control pad and an analog stick for directional input. Sega also released several versions of arcade sticks as peripherals, including the Virtua Stick, the Virtua Stick Pro, the Mission Analog Stick and the Twin Stick. Sega also created a light gun peripheral known as the "Virtua Gun" for use with shooting games such as Virtua Cop and The Guardian, as well as the Arcade Racer, a wheel for racing games.The Play Cable allows for two Saturn consoles to be connected for multiplayer gaming across two screens, while a multitap allows up to six players to play games on the same console The Saturn was designed to support up to 12 players on a single console, by using two multitaps. RAM cartridges expand the amount of memory in the system. Other accessories include a keyboard  mouse, floppy disk drive, and movie card.
Like the Genesis, the Saturn had an Internet-based gaming service. The Sega NetLink was a 28.8k modem that fit into the cartridge slot in the Saturn for direct dial multiplayer. In Japan, a now defunct pay-to-play service was used. It could also be used for web browsing, sending email, and online chat.^[183]Because the NetLink was released before the Saturn keyboard, Sega produced a series of CDs containing hundreds of website addresses so that Saturn owners could browse with the joypad. The NetLink functioned with five games: Daytona USA, Duke Nukem 3D, Saturn Bomberman, Sega Rally, and Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Operation Moongate.In 1995 Sega announced it was developing a variant of the Saturn featuring a built-in NetLink modemunder the code name "Sega Pluto", but it was never released.
Sega developed an arcade board based on the Saturn's hardware, called the Sega ST-V (or Titan), which was intended as an affordable alternative to Sega's Model 2 arcade board as well as a testing ground for upcoming Saturn software. The Titan was criticized for its comparatively weak performance by Sega AM2's Yu Suzuki and was overproduced by Sega's arcade division.Because Sega already possessed the Die Hard license, members of Sega AM1 working at the Sega Technical Institute developed Die Hard Arcade for the Titan, in order to clear out excess inventory.This goal was achieved, as Die Hard became the most successful Sega arcade game produced in the United States at that point. Other games released for the Titan include Golden Axe: The Duel and Virtua Fighter Kids.

My experience 

I have never owned a Saturn but I have play on one a few times and found it had a poor choice of games for my liking although I would love to do a teardown on one 

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Flashback Friday #10 Sega Genesis/ mega drive

Good afternoon folks and welcome to another Flashback Friday this weeks blast from the past is....

The Sega Genesis, known as the Mega Drive in most regions outside of North America, is a 16-bit home video game console which was developed and sold by Sega Enterprises, Ltd. The Genesis was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega first released the console as the Mega Drive in Japan in 1988, followed by a North American debut under the Genesis moniker in 1989. In 1990, the console was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, by Ozisoft in Australasia, and by Tectoy in Brazil. In South Korea, the systems were distributed by Samsung and were known as the Super Gam*Boy, and later the Super Aladdin Boy.
Designed by an R&D team supervised by Hideki Sato and Masami Ishikawa, the hardware was adapted from Sega's System 16 arcade board, centered on a Motorola 68000 processor as a primary CPU and a Zilog Z80 as a secondary processor. The system supports a library of more than 900 games created both by Sega and a wide array of third-party publishers and delivered on ROM-based cartridges. It can play Master System games when the separately sold Power Base Converter is inserted. The Genesis has benefited from several peripherals and network services, as well as multiple first-party and third-party variations of the console that focus on extending its functionality.
In Japan, the Mega Drive did not fare well against its two main competitors, Nintendo's Super Famicom and NEC's PC Engine, but achieved considerable success in North America, Brazil and Europe. Contributing to its success were its library of arcade game ports, the popularity of the Genesis-exclusive Sonic the Hedgehog series, several popular sports game franchises, and aggressive youth marketing that positioned the system as the cool console for adolescents. The release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System two years after the Genesis resulted in a fierce battle for market share in the United States and Europe that has often been termed as a "console war" by journalists and historians. As this contest drew increasing attention to the video game industry among the general public, the Genesis and several of its highest-profile games attracted significant legal scrutiny on matters involving reverse engineering and video game violence. Controversy surrounding violent titles such as Night Trap and Mortal Kombat led Sega to create the Videogame Rating Council, a predecessor to the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
Sega sold 30.75 million units worldwide. In addition, Tectoy sold an estimated 3 million licensed variants in Brazil, Majesco projected it would sell 1.5 million licensed variants of the system in the United States, and much smaller numbers were sold by Samsung in South Korea. The console and its games continue to be popular among game fans, game music fans, collectors, and emulation enthusiasts. As of 2015^[update], licensed third party re-releases of the console are being sold by AtGames in North America and Europe. Many games have been re-released in compilations for newer consoles and offered for download on various online services, such as the Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam. The Genesis was succeeded by the Sega Saturn

History

 

In the early 1980s, Sega Enterprises, Inc., then a subsidiary of Gulf & Western, was one of the top five arcade game manufacturers active in the United States, as company revenues surpassed $200 million between July 1981 and June 1982.A downturn in the arcade business starting in 1982 seriously hurt the company, leading Gulf & Western to sell its North American arcade manufacturing organization and the licensing rights for its arcade games to Bally Manufacturing. The company retained Sega's North American R&D operation, as well as its Japanese subsidiary, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. With its arcade business in decline, Gulf & Western executives turned to Sega Enterprises, Ltd.'s president, Hayao Nakayama, for advice on how to proceed. Nakayama advocated that the company leverage its hardware expertise gained through years working in the arcade industry to move into the home console market in Japan, which was in its infancy at the time.
Nakayama received permission to proceed with this project, leading to the release of Sega's first home video game system, the SG-1000, in July 1983. The SG-1000 was not successful, and was replaced by the Sega Mark III within two years. In the meantime, Gulf & Western began to divest itself of its non-core businesses after the death of company founder Charles Bluhdorn, so Nakayama and former Sega CEO David Rosen arranged a management buyout of the Japanese subsidiary in 1984 with financial backing from CSK Corporation, a prominent Japanese software company. Nakayama was then installed as CEO of the new Sega Enterprises, Ltd.
In 1986, Sega redesigned the Mark III for release in North America as the Sega Master System. This was followed by a European release the next year. Although the Master System was a success in Europe, and later in Brazil, it failed to ignite significant interest in the Japanese or North American markets, which, by the mid-to-late 1980s, were both dominated by Nintendo.With Sega continuing to have difficulty penetrating the home market, Sega's console R&D team, led by Masami Ishikawa and supervised by Hideki Sato, began work on a successor to the Master System almost immediately after that console launched.
In 1987, Sega faced another threat to its console business when Japanese computer giant NEC released the PC Engine amid great publicity.To remain competitive against the two more established consumer electronics companies, Ishikawa and his team decided they needed to incorporate a 16-bit microprocessor into their new system to make an impact in the marketplace and once again turned to Sega's strengths in the arcade industry to adapt the successful Sega System 16 arcade board into architecture for a home console. The decision to use a Motorola 68000 as the system's main CPU was made late in development, while a Zilog Z80 was used as a secondary CPU to handle the sound due to fears that the load to the main CPU would be too great if it handled both the visuals and the audio.
First announced in June 1988 in Beep!, a Japanese gaming magazine, the developing console was referred to as the "Mark V", but Sega management felt the need for a stronger name. After reviewing more than 300 proposals, the company settled on "Mega Drive". In North America, the name of the console was changed to "Genesis". The reason for this change is not known, but it may have been due to a trademark dispute.

Launch

Sega released the Mega Drive in Japan on October 29, 1988, though the launch was overshadowed by Nintendo's release of Super Mario Bros. 3 a week earlier. Positive coverage from magazines Famitsu and Beep! helped to establish a following, but Sega only managed to ship 400,000 units in the first year. In order to increase sales, Sega released various peripherals and games, including an online banking system and answering machine called the Sega Mega Anser. Nevertheless, the Mega Drive was unable to overtake the venerable Famicom and remained a distant third in Japan behind Nintendo's Super Famicom and NEC's PC Engine throughout the 16-bit era.
Sega announced a North American release date for the system on January 9, 1989.At the time, Sega did not possess a North American sales and marketing organization and was distributing its Master System through Tonka. Dissatisfied with Tonka's performance, Sega looked for a new partner to market the Genesis in North America and offered the rights to Atari Corporation, which did not yet have a 16-bit system. David Rosen made the proposal to Atari CEO Jack Tramiel and the president of Atari's Entertainment Electronics Division, Michael Katz. Tramiel declined to acquire the new console, deeming it too expensive, and instead opted to focus on the Atari ST. Sega decided to launch the console through its own Sega of America subsidiary, which executed a limited launch on August 14, 1989, in New York City and Los Angeles. The Sega Genesis was released in the rest of North America later that year.
The European version was released on November 30, 1990. Building on the success of the Master System, the Mega Drive became the most popular console in Europe. Since the Mega Drive was two years old at the time of its release in the region, more games were available at launch compared to the launches in other regions. Ports of arcade titles like Altered Beast, Golden Axe and Ghouls 'n Ghosts, available in stores at launch, provided a strong image of the console's power to deliver an arcade-like experience. The release of the Mega Drive in Europe was handled by Virgin Mastertronic, which was later purchased by Sega in 1991 and became Sega of Europe.
Other companies assisted in distributing the console to various countries worldwide. Ozisoft handled the Mega Drive's launch and marketing in Australia, as it had done before with the Master System. In Brazil, the Mega Drive was released by Tectoy in 1990, only a year after the Brazilian release of the Master System. Tec Toy produced games exclusively for the Brazilian market and began a network service for the system called Sega Meganet in 1995. In India, Sega entered a distribution deal with Shaw Wallace in the Spring of 1995 in order to circumvent an 80% import tariff, with each unit selling for INR₹18,000. Samsung handled sales and distribution in Korea, where it was renamed the "Super Gam*Boy" and retained the Mega Drive logo alongside the Samsung name. It was later renamed "Super Aladdin Boy."

Hardware

Technical specifications

The main microprocessor is a 16/32-bit Motorola 68000 CPU clocked at 7.6 MHz. The console uses a Zilog Z80 sub-processor, mainly used to control the sound hardware and provide backward compatibility with the Master System. The system has 72 kB of RAM, 64 kB of video RAM, and can display up to 61 colors at once from a palette of 512. The games are in ROM cartridge format and inserted in the top.
The system produces sound using a Yamaha YM2612 FM synthesizer and a Texas Instruments SN76489 PSG; the latter is integrated with the Video Display Processor (VDP). The Z80 processor is primarily used to control both sound chips to produce stereo music and sound effects. Most revisions of the original system contain a discrete YM2612 and a separate YM7101 VDP; the functionality of these two chips was later integrated into a single custom ASIC (FC1004) for the model 2 and later revisions.^[
The back of the model 1 console provides a radio frequency output port (designed for use with antenna and cable systems) and a specialized 8-pin DIN port, both of which provide video and audio output. Both outputs produce monophonic sound; a headphone jack on the front of the console produces stereo sound. On the model 2, the DIN port, radio frequency output port, and headphone jack are replaced by a 9-pin mini-DIN port on the back for composite video, RGB and stereo sound, and the standard RF switch. Earlier model 1 consoles have a 9-pin extension port, although this was removed in later production runs and is absent in the model 2. An edge connector on the bottom-right of the console allows it to be connected to a peripheral.

The standard controller features a rounded shape, a directional pad, three main buttons, and a "start" button. Sega later released a six-button version in 1993. This pad is slightly smaller and features three additional face buttons, similar to the design of buttons on some popular arcade fighting games such as Street Fighter II. The third model of the controller, MK-1470 was released with the Sega Genesis Model 3, with a switch between Normal, Turbo, and Slow while also having the Mode button. Sega released a wireless revision of the six-button controller, the Remote Arcade Pad.
The system is backward compatible with the Master System. The first peripheral released, the Power Base Converter (Master System Converter in Europe), allows Master System games to be played. A second model, the Master System Converter 2, was released only in Europe for use with the Mega Drive II.^[
Other peripherals were released to add functionality. The Menacer is a wireless, infrared light gun peripheral used with compatible games Other third parties created light gun peripherals for the Genesis, such as the American Laser Games Pistol and the Konami Justifier. Released for art creation software, the Sega Mega Mouse features three buttons and is only compatible with a few games, such as Eye of the Beholder. A foam-covered bat called the BatterUP and the TeeVGolf golf club were released for both the Genesis and SNES

 

Sega Power Base Converter on a model 1 Genesis

In November 1993, Sega released the Sega Activator, an octagonal device that lies flat on the floor and translates the player's physical movements into game inputs. Several high-profile games, including Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition, were adapted to support the peripheral. The device was a commercial failure, due mainly to its inaccuracy and its high price point. IGN editor Craig Harris ranked the Sega Activator the third worst video game controller ever made.
Both EA and Sega released multitaps to allow more than the standard two players to play at once. Initially, EA's version, the 4 Way Play, and Sega's adapter, the Team Player, only supported each publisher's titles. In response to complaints about this, Sega publicly stated that "We have been working hard to resolve this problem since we learned of it" and that a new Team Player which would work with all multitap games for the console would be released shortly. Later games were created to work on both the 4 Way Play and Team Player. Codemasters also developed the J-Cart system, providing two extra ports on the cartridge itself, although the technology came late in the console's life and is only featured on a few games. Sega planned to release a steering wheel peripheral in 1994, and the Genesis version of Virtua Racing was advertised as being "steering wheel compatible," but the peripheral was cancelled.

Network services

 

In its first foray into online gaming, Sega created Sega Meganet, which debuted in Japan on November 3, 1990. Operating through a cartridge and a peripheral called the "Mega Modem," this allowed Mega Drive players to play a total of seventeen games online. A North American version dubbed "Tele-Genesis," was announced but never released Another phone-based system, the Mega Anser, turned the Japanese Mega Drive into an online banking terminal.
In 1994, Sega started the Sega Channel, a game distribution system using cable television services Time Warner Cable and TCI. Using a special peripheral, Genesis players could download a title from a library of fifty each month, and demos for upcoming releases. Games were downloaded to internal memory and deleted when the console was powered off. The Sega Channel reached 250,000 subscribers at its peak and ran until July 31, 1998, well past the release of the Sega Saturn
In an effort to compete with Sega, third-party developer Catapult Entertainment created the XBAND, a peripheral which allowed Genesis players to engage in online competitive gaming. Using telephone services to share data, XBAND was initially offered in five U.S. cities in November 1994. The following year, the service was extended to the SNES, and Catapult teamed up with Blockbuster Video to market the service, but as interest in the service waned, it was discontinued in April 1997.

My experience 

I had a mega drive for most of my youth and I loved it is a great console

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Flashback Friday #9 The Sega Master System

Good afternoon folks and welcome to another Flashback Friday this weeks blast from the past is The Sega Master System

The Sega Master System is a third-generation home video game console that was manufactured by Sega. It was originally released in 1985 as the Sega Mark III in Japan. After being redesigned prior to its North American launch, the console was renamed Master System and released in 1986 in North America, 1987 in Europe, and 1989 in Brazil. The Master System was also released in Japan in 1987 with additional features over the overseas models. Both the Mark III and the original Master System models could play with both cartridges (or "Mega Cartridges", as they were officially called) and the credit card-sized Sega Cards, which retailed at lower prices than cartridges but had lower storage capacity; the Master System II and later models did not have the card slot. The Master System also featured accessories such as a light gun and 3D glasses which were designed to work with a range of specially coded games.
Succeeding the SG-1000, the Master System was released as a direct competitor to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the third generation of video game consoles. The Master System was constructed with hardware superior to that of the NES, but failed to overturn Nintendo's significant market share advantage in Japan and North America. However, it attained significantly more success in Europe and Brazil. The hardware of the Master System also shared many similarities with Sega's handheld game console, the Sega Game Gear. Compared to its competition from Nintendo, the Master System's game library lacks a number of well-received titles due to Nintendo's licensing practices that restricted third-party developers from creating games for any system other than the NES. Sales of the console have been estimated between 10 and 13 million units, not including recent Brazil sales, compared to 62 million NES units sold. Reception to the system given in retrospect lends credit to the console's role in Sega's development of the Sega Genesis, as well as for having a number of well-received titles, particularly in PAL regions, but is generally critical of its small game library. As of 2015, the Master System is the longest-lived game console (30 years and continuing), due to its popularity in Brazil.

History

In the early 1980s, Sega Enterprises, Inc., then a subsidiary of the conglomerate Gulf and Western, was one of the largest arcade game manufacturers active in the United States, with company revenues of $214 million by mid-1982.A downturn in the arcade business starting in 1982 negatively impacted the company, leading Gulf and Western to sell the North American manufacturing and licensing of its arcade games to Bally Manufacturing. The company retained its Japanese subsidiary, Sega Enterprises, Ltd., as well as Sega's North American research and development division. With its arcade business in decline, Gulf and Western executives turned to Sega Enterprises, Ltd.'s president, Hayao Nakayama, for advice on how to proceed. Nakayama advocated that the company leverage its hardware expertise gained through years working in the arcade industry to move into the home console market in Japan, which was in its infancy at the time. Nakayama received permission to proceed with this project, leading to the release of Sega's first home video game system, the SG-1000.
The SG-1000 was first released in Japan on July 15, 1983, at a price of JP¥15,000. It was launched on the same day that Nintendo released the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan. Shortly after the launch of the SG-1000, Gulf and Western began to divest itself of its non-core businesses after the death of company founder, Charles Bluhdorn, so Nakayama and former Sega CEO David Rosen arranged a management buyout of the Japanese subsidiary in 1984 with financial backing from CSK Corporation, a prominent Japanese software company. Nakayama was then installed as CEO of the new Sega Enterprises, Ltd. Following the buyout, Sega released another console, the SG-1000 II, for ¥15,000. It featured a few hardware tweaks from the original model, including detachable controllers. The SG-1000 II did not sell well, however, leading to Sega's decision to continue work on the video game hardware used for the system. This resulted in the release of the Sega Mark III in Japan in 1985.

Development

Engineered by the same internal Sega team that had created the SG-1000, the Mark III was a redesigned iteration of the previous console.The CPUs in the SG-1000 and SG-1000 II were Zilog Z80s running at 3.58 MHz, while the Mark III, SC-3000—a computer version of the SG-1000—and Master System feature a Z80 running at 4 MHz. The Mark III and Master System also carried over the Sega Card slot used in the SG-1000. According to Edge, lessons from the SG-1000's lack of commercial success were used in the hardware redesign of the Mark III, and the console was designed to be more powerful than the Famicom.
For the console's North America release, Sega restyled and rebranded the Mark III under the name "Master System", similar to Nintendo's own reworking of the Famicom into the Nintendo Entertainment System. The "Master System" name was one of several proposals Sega's American employees considered, and was ultimately chosen by throwing darts against a whiteboard, although plans to release a cheaper console similarly referred to as the "Base System" also influenced the decision. Sega Enterprises Chairman Isao Okawa endorsed the name after being told it was a reference to the competitive nature of both the video game industry and martial arts, in which only one competitor can be the "Master". The futuristic final design for the Master System was intended to appeal to Western tastes.

Launch

The Sega Mark III was released in Japan in October 1985 at a price of ¥15,000. Despite featuring technically more powerful hardware than its chief competition, the Famicom, the Mark III did not prove to be successful at its launch. Difficulties arose from Nintendo's licensing practices with third-party developers at the time, whereby Nintendo required that titles for the Famicom not be published on other consoles. To overcome this, Sega developed its own titles and obtained the rights to port games from other developers, but they did not sell well. NEC later used the same strategy on some of Sega's titles when developing games for the TurboGrafx-16. In preparation for the launch, Mark Cerny has stated that "pressure was very, very high", with a typical game being allotted only three months of development time.
After being restyled the "Master System", the console was released in North America in 1986 at a price of US$200 (equivalent to $437 in 2016), including a multicart of the games Hang-On and Safari Hunt. It and Nintendo, which was similarly exporting the Famicom to the US as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), planned to spend $15 million in fall and winter 1986 to market their consoles; Sega hoped to sell 400,000 to 750,000 consoles in 1986. By the end of 1986, the Master System had sold 125,000 consoles, more than the Atari 7800's 100,000 but less than Nintendo's 1.1 million. As in Japan, the Master System in North America had a limited game library that was not as well received as the NES. Against Nintendo's licensing practices, Sega only had two third-party American publishers, Activision and Parker Brothers. By 1988, Nintendo commanded 83 percent of the North American video game market share. Sega claimed that "our system is the first one where the graphics on the box are actually matched by the graphics of the game", and marketing for the Master System was targeted at bringing home the arcade experience, but its marketing department was run by only two men, giving Sega a disadvantage in advertising.
The console was re-released as the Master System in Japan in October 1987 for ¥16,800. However, similar to the Mark III, this launch was not successful. The console in neither of its forms posed a serious challenge to Nintendo in Japan.
The European launch of the Master System occurred in 1987. It was distributed by Mastertronic in the United Kingdom, Master Games in France, and Ariolasoft in Germany. Mastertronic advertised the Master System as "an arcade in the home" and launched the system at £99 (equivalent to £251 in 2015). Advance orders from retailers were high, but Sega proved unable to deliver inventory until Boxing Day on December 26, causing many retailers to cancel their orders. As a result, Master Games and Mastertronic both entered financial crises and Ariolasoft vowed never to work with Sega again. Mastertronic had already sold a minority interest to Richard Branson and the Virgin group to enter the console business and now sold the remainder of the company to avoid bankruptcy. The newly rebranded Virgin Mastertronic then took over all European distribution in 1988. Virgin Mastertronic consequently focused marketing the Master System on ports of Sega's arcade games and positioning it as a superior alternative to the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum home computers in terms of video games. As a result of this marketing and of Nintendo's less effective approaches in Europe, the Master System began to attract European-based developers.The Master System held a significant part of the video game console market in Europe through the release of Sega's succeeding console, the Mega Drive. Brazil was also a successful market for the Master System, where the console was released in 1989 and distributed by Tectoy.

Hardware

The main CPU of the Master System is a Zilog Z80, an 8-bit processor running at 4 MHz. It has 8 kB of ROM, 8 kB of RAM and 16 kB of video RAM. Video is provided through an RF switch and displays at a resolution of 256 × 192 pixels and up to 32 colors at one time from a total palette of 64 colors. Physically, the Master System measures 365 by 170 by 70 millimetres (14.4 in × 6.7 in × 2.8 in), while the Mark III measures 318 by 145 by 52 millimetres (12.5 in × 5.7 in × 2.0 in). Both the Mark III and the Master System possess two slots for game input: one for Mega Cartridges and one for Sega Cards, along with an expansion slot and 2 controller ports. Sound is provided by the SN76489 PSG chip. The Japanese version also integrates the YM2413 FM chip,which had been an optional feature on the Mark III. With few exceptions, Master System hardware is identical to the hardware in the Mark III. Titles for the console are playable on the Sega Genesis by use of an accessory known as the Power Base Converter, as well as on the Game Gear by use of the Master System Converter.

The Master System was designed with superior hardware when compared to the NES. It contains twice as much memory as its competitor from Nintendo. The CPU of the Master System runs at a faster clock rate than the processor in the NES, which is a Ricoh NMOS 6502 running at 1.79 MHz, though a Z80 requires more cycles to execute an instruction than the 6502. The NES is capable of displaying 25 colors at a time from a master palette of 54, in contrast to the 32 colors at a time from a 64 color master palette on the Master System.^[

were created for the Mark

A number of accessories III and Master System, which are cross-compatible with one another. The controller for each console consists of a rectangular shape with a control pad and two buttons. Sega also introduced additional controllers, such as a bike handle controller and paddle controller, for the Mark III and a special sports controller for the Master System. A pair of 3D glasses known as SegaScope 3-D were also created for games such as Space Harrier 3D. although Mark III users need an additional converter to use them. The Mark III also had an optional RF transmitter accessory, allowing wireless play that broadcast the game being played on a UHF television signal A light gun peripheral known as the Light Phaser was also released  Its design was based on the weapon of the same name from the Japanese anime Zillion.

The Master System was produced in several variations. Released in 1990, the Master System II removed a number of components in order to reduce the cost of the console, including the Sega Card slot, reset button, power light, expansion port, and activation music and logo upon turning on the system. Several licensed variations of the console also exist in Brazil, created by Tectoy. A variation known as the Master System 3 Compact was capable of functioning wirelessly with an RF transmitter, while Tectoy also sought to appeal to female gamers in Brazil with the Master System Girl, which was molded in bright pink plastic. A more recent version, released in 2006 in Brazil known as the Master System 3 Collection, contains 120 built-in games. Another Master System, built as a handheld game console, was released under several brands including Coleco in 2006.

Game library 

Games for the Master System are in two formats: ROM cartridges are capable of holding up to 4 Mbit of game code, while Sega Cards can hold up to 256 kbit. Cards were cheaper to manufacture than the cartridges and included titles such as Spy vs. Spy and Super Tennis but Sega Cards were eventually dropped due to their lack of memory. Master System cartridges were initially branded Mega Cartridges to emphasize their larger ROM size compared to cards, but this label fell into disuse after Sega ceased production of new card software. Games manufactured for the system include Psycho Fox, Golvellius, and Phantasy Star, which became a successful franchise for Sega and is considered one of the benchmark role-playing games.^[4

he Master System also hosted games featuring Sega's flagship character at the time, Alex Kidd, including Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap has garnered recognition as "a genuine milestone in video game design" due to its innovative blend of platforming gameplay with RPG elements.Built-in titles are common in Master System hardware, including Snail Maze and Hang-On, as well as Alex Kidd in Miracle World and Sonic the Hedgehog. Additional titles were also released in Brazil by Tectoy, including ports of Street Fighter II and Dynamite Headdy after the Master System was discontinued elsewhere.

A number of writers have criticized the game library for its lack of depth. Computer Gaming World compared new Sega titles to "drops of water in the desert". Due to Nintendo's licensing practices, few third-party developers contributed games for the Master System. According to Damien McFerran, "Nintendo requested that developers keep their games 'NES exclusive', and given the unassailable position the console enjoyed, few had the will to defy this request." In addition, according to game designer Mark Cerny, most of Sega's early Master System titles were developed within a strict three-month deadline, which negatively impacted game qualityTitles for the Master System, however, did take advantage of the advanced hardware of the console in comparison to the NES; Alex Kidd in Miracle World, for example, showcases "blistering colors and more detailed sprites" than competing NES games. In addition, the Master System version of R-Type has garnered retrospective praise for its quality, with its visuals considered comparable to those found in the TurboGrafx-16 port of the same title.

On the other hand, Retro Gamer praised the system's PAL library, referring to it as a "superb library of interesting ports and excellent exclusives" which offered significantly greater depth than what was available in North America and provided a "drip-feed of quality titles" that continued to be released in Europe up until the mid-1990s.Such titles ranged from 8-bit entries of Mega Drive franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Streets of Rage to dozens of exclusive PAL releases such as Lucky Dime Caper, Asterix, Ninja Gaiden, Master of Darkness and Power Strike II.

My experience 

I loved my master system I spent many hours playing it I would recommend give one a try if you haven't palyed on one .

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