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162-867: The format was originally released to the Japanese market in 1985 under the name My Card. Initially it was for use with the SC-3000 and the SG-1000 series of consoles via the Card Catcher accessory. Later, the Sega Mark III and the original Master System had built-in card slots. The intention of the format was to provide cheaper distribution means than the more conventional game cartridges . The Sega Card product required less material and has smaller packaging. While cheaper than cartridges, they had significantly smaller maximum storage capacities than cartridges of

324-518: A management buyout with financial backing from CSK Corporation and installed CSK CEO Isao Okawa as chairman. Hoping to better compete with Nintendo, Sega released another console, the Sega Mark III, in Japan in 1985. The Mark III was a redesigned version of the SG-1000. It was engineered by the same team, including Hideki Sato and Masami Ishikawa, who had worked on the II and later led development of

486-528: A palette of 512. The games are in ROM cartridge format and inserted in the top. The Genesis produces sound using a Texas Instruments SN76489 programmable sound generator , integrated with the Video Display Processor (VDP) , and a Yamaha YM2612 FM synthesizer chip. The Z80 processor is primarily used to control both sound chips to produce stereo music and sound effects. Most revisions of

648-557: A stereoscopic effect. The glasses need to be connected to the Sega Card slot, and thus do not function with the Master System II due to lack of the card slot. A total of eight games, including Zaxxon 3-D and Out Run 3-D , are compatible with the glasses. The Mark III has an optional RF transmitter accessory, allowing wireless play that broadcasts the game being played on a UHF television signal. Developed under

810-489: A "Blood Code". This technicality allowed Sega to release the game with a relatively low MA-13 rating. Meanwhile, the tamer SNES version shipped without a rating. The Genesis version of Mortal Kombat was well-received by gaming press, as well as fans, outselling the SNES version three- or four-to-one, while Nintendo was criticized for censoring the SNES version. Executive vice president of Nintendo of America Howard Lincoln

972-599: A 32-bit console. Following tensions with Sega Enterprises, Ltd. over its focus on the Saturn, Kalinske, who oversaw the rise of the Genesis in 1991, lost interest in the business and resigned in mid-1996. Sega sold 30.75 million Genesis units worldwide. However, some sources claim that the console sold 40 million units during its lengthly lifespan. Of these, 3.58 million were sold in Japan, and sales in Europe and

1134-401: A 4-digit number, G-10XX, with a unique two-digit number at the end. Card releases only have a two digit number, C-XX. The numbering from the cartridge releases was continued with the card releases though, with subsequent card releases being given two-digit numbers that are higher than those from cartridge releases. Games released both on cartridges and cards retain the unique two digit number with

1296-606: A Genesis instead. The SNES debuted against an established competitor, while NEC's TurboGrafx-16 failed to gain traction, and NEC soon pulled out of the market. In large part due to the popularity of Sonic the Hedgehog , the Genesis outsold the SNES in the United States nearly two to one during the 1991 holiday season. Sega controlled 65% of the 16-bit console market in January 1992, the first time Nintendo had not been

1458-632: A Sega video games national championship, with the winner competing against Japanese and American champions on the British television show Motormouth . Players competed in a variety of games, including Astro Warrior , platform games, and sports games. During the late 1980s, the Master System was outselling the NES in the United Kingdom. The Master System was successful in Europe. By 1990,

1620-405: A ball through a long winding tube. This concept was developed with Ohshima's character design and levels conceived by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara . Although Katz and Sega of America's marketing experts disliked Sonic , certain that it would not catch on with American children, Kalinske's strategy to place Sonic the Hedgehog as the pack-in game paid off. Sonic the Hedgehog greatly increased

1782-549: A built-in FM audio chip , a rapid-fire switch, and a dedicated port for the 3D glasses. The Master System II , a cheaper model, was released in 1990 in North America, Australasia and Europe. The original Master System models use both cartridges and a credit card-sized format known as Sega Cards . Accessories include a light gun and 3D glasses that work with specially designed games. The later Master System II redesign removed

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1944-563: A distributor for a tenth of its price on an up-front volume order with the promise of more orders pending the console's future success. The appearance of the Mega Drive was designed by a team led by Mitsushige Shiraiwa that drew inspiration from audiophile equipment and automobiles. Shiraiwa said this more mature look helped to target the Mega Drive to all ages, unlike the Famicom, which was aimed primarily at children. According to Sato,

2106-579: A fee that was lower than that of a retail game. Cards initially cost 5000 yen each, while rewrites on the card cost 1800 yen. The back of the cards did not have the silver sticker from standard My Cards. The format was not commercially successful and was abandoned. Since then, the cards are quite rare and have fetched high prices at auction. Games were released onto the EP format at the same time as they were released onto standard My Cards. New My Card EPs came with either Dragon Wang or Star Jacker pre-written on

2268-468: A higher CPU clock rate . Sega produced several iterations of the Master System. The Master System II, released in 1990, removed a number of components to reduce cost: the Sega Card slot, reset button, power light, expansion port, and startup music and logo. In most regions, the Master System II's A/V port was omitted, leaving only RF output available; this was reversed in France, where the local version of

2430-468: 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. The 68000 chip was expensive and would have driven the retail price of the console up greatly, but Sega was able to negotiate with

2592-417: A mascot character to compete with Nintendo's Mario series . The winning submission was a blue hedgehog with red shoes, Sonic , created by Naoto Ohshima , spawning one of the best-selling video game franchises in history. The gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog originated with a tech demo created by Yuji Naka , who had developed a prototype platform game that involved a fast-moving character rolling in

2754-646: A minority interest to the Virgin Group to enter the console business, and sold the remainder to avoid bankruptcy. The newly rebranded Virgin Mastertronic took over all European distribution in 1988. Virgin Mastertronic focused marketing the Master System on ports of Sega's arcade games and positioning it as a superior video game alternative to the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum computers. As

2916-401: A month. His work was reviewed by EA's lawyers before being disseminated to Hayes and Nitchals to verify its originality, and subsequently to the rest of the developers to let them build games. After a few months, EA began developing for the Genesis in earnest. The EA founder, Trip Hawkins , confronted Nakayama the day before the 1990 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), informing him that EA had

3078-471: 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

3240-678: A price of $ 200 (equivalent to $ 560 in 2023), including the games Hang-On and Safari Hunt . Nintendo was exporting the Famicom to the US as the NES, and both companies planned to spend $ 15 million in late 1986 to market their consoles; Sega hoped to sell 400,000 to 750,000 consoles in 1986. By the end of 1986, at least 125,000 Master System consoles had been sold, more than the Atari 7800 's 100,000 but less than Nintendo's 1.1 million. Other sources indicate that more than 250,000 Master System consoles were sold by Christmas 1986. As in Japan,

3402-522: A prominent Japanese software company. Nakayama was then installed as CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd. In 1986, Sega redesigned the Mark III for release in North America as the 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

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3564-424: A result of this marketing and of Nintendo's less effective early approaches in Europe, the Master System began to attract European 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. In 1989, Virgin Mastertronic began offering rentals of the Master System console and 20 games. The United Kingdom also hosted

3726-422: A rewritable version that was test marketed only in Japan. The Card Catcher peripheral allows for use of the cards with the SG-1000. A limited edition version of the Card Catcher was bundled with two games, Zoom 909 and Dragon Wang . The games were also sold separately from the Card Catcher and allowed players to send away for a free adapter at the time. The original SG-1000 models (SG-1000 and SG-1000 II) and

3888-491: A rounded shape, a directional pad , three main buttons, and a start button. In 1993, Sega released a slightly smaller pad with three additional face buttons, similar to the design of buttons on arcade fighting games such as Street Fighter II . Sega also 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

4050-538: A technical protection mechanism into a new edition of the Genesis released in 1990, referred to as the Genesis III. This new variation of the Genesis included a code known as the Trademark Security System (TMSS), which, when a game cartridge was inserted, would check for the presence of the string "SEGA" at a particular point in the memory contained in the cartridge. If the string was present,

4212-810: A two-part approach to build sales. The first part involved a marketing campaign to challenge Nintendo head-on and emphasize the more arcade-like experience available on the Genesis, with slogans including "Genesis does what Nintendon't". Since Nintendo owned the console rights to most arcade games of the time, the second part involved creating a library of recognizable games which used the names and likenesses of celebrities and athletes, such as Pat Riley Basketball , Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf , James 'Buster' Douglas Knockout Boxing , Joe Montana Football , Tommy Lasorda Baseball , Mario Lemieux Hockey , and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker . Nonetheless, Sega struggled to overcome Nintendo's presence in consumers' homes. Tasked by Nakayama to sell one million units within

4374-678: A version was operated in Brazil starting in 1995. 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 game from a library of fifty each month and demos for upcoming releases. Games were downloaded to internal memory and deleted when

4536-515: A well-regarded soundtrack. ASCII Entertainment reported in early 1993 that Genesis had 250 games versus 75 for the SNES, but limited shelf space meant that stores typically offered 100 Genesis and 50 SNES games. The NES was still the leader, with 300 games and 100 on shelves. Sega's advertising positioned the Genesis as the cooler console, and coined the term blast processing , an obscure and unused graphics programming method, to suggest that its processing capabilities were far greater than those of

4698-477: A whiteboard of suggested names. Plans to release a cheaper console, the Base System, also influenced the decision. Okawa approved of 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 console's futuristic final design was intended to appeal to Western tastes. The North American packaging

4860-570: Is estimated to have sold between 10-13 million units worldwide. In addition, Tectoy has sold 8 million licensed Master System variants in Brazil. Retrospective criticism has recognized its role in the development of the Sega Genesis , and a number of well-received games, particularly in PAL (including PAL-M) regions, but is critical of its limited library in the NTSC regions, which were dominated by

5022-670: Is incompatible on non-Japanese hardware. However, the Power Base Converter, which allows Master System software to be run on Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis only retains compatibility with Mark III/Master System My Cards. The successor to the SG-1000 card format is the Mark III My Card. With the October 1985 release of the Sega Mark III, all games were initially available as My Cards. But with 1986's arrival of "Gold Cartridge" branded releases, Sega started transitioning to

Sega Card - Misplaced Pages Continue

5184-681: Is not included in the Mega Drive/Genesis, and is the only Sega Card not compatible with the Power Base Converter. In 1985, Sega released another version of the card in Japan called the My Card EP (short for EPROM ), a rewritable version of the format. Sega promoted the My Card EP using flyers and newspaper advertisements and pilot tested it at Tokyo's Tamagawa Takashimaya Futakotamagawa. Dealers were to install EPROM rewriting machines at retail locations, while users would bring their card and write other games onto it. Players were charged

5346-525: Is provided through an RF switch (though Model 1s with an AV port can also output composite and even RGB video) and displays at a resolution of 256 × 192 pixels and up to 32 colors at one time from a total palette of 64 colors; the Video Display Processor (VDP) graphics chip was designed by Sega for the Mark III. The Master System measures 365 by 170 by 70 millimetres (14.4 in × 6.7 in × 2.8 in), while

5508-515: Is the Power Base Converter (Mega Adaptor in Japan and Master System Converter in Europe), which allows Master System games to be played. It is designed for the Model 1 revisions and will work with the Model 2 revisions, however the shell blocks the power and AC ports of the Model 2 revision, meaning that the converter must have its shell modified or by using a pass-through adaptor. A second model known as

5670-493: The Atari 7800 (17th) and the NES (1st). IGN cited the Master System's small and uneven NTSC library as the major problems: "Months could go by between major releases and that made a dud on the Master System feel even more painful." Power Base Converter The Sega Genesis , known as the Mega Drive outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega . It

5832-843: The Bee Card on the MSX , and the HuCard on the NEC PC Engine/TurboGrafx . There are four versions of the card. The original My Card was released for Sega's SG-1000 console (SG-1000 and SG-1000 II) and SC-3000 series (SC-3000 and SC-3000H). The cards are also compatible with the Tsukuda Original Othello Multivision, a licensed SG-1000 console and the SG-1000-compatible Pioneer SD-G5 peripheral. The second version of

5994-654: The Game Boy , which Nintendo had released in 1989. There are similarities between the Game Gear and the Master System hardware, but the games are not directly compatible; Master System games are only playable on Game Gear using the Master Gear Converter accessory. A large part of the Game Gear's game library consists of Master System ports. Because of hardware similarities, including the landscape screen orientation, Master System games are easily portable to

6156-553: The GameTap online service. Due to the continued release of new variants in Brazil, the Master System is considered by many video gaming publications to be the longest lived gaming console in video games history, a title it took from the Atari 2600 . Sales of the Master System have been estimated between 10 million and 13 million units, not including later Brazil sales. It saw much more continued success in Europe and Brazil than it did in Japan and North America. In 1989,

6318-573: The IBM Personal Computer BIOS around 1984. The process began in 1989, led by Steve Hayes and Jim Nitchals. They created a controlled room in EA headquarters nicknamed "Chernobyl", to which only one person was allowed access, Mike Schwartz. Schwartz reviewed Sega's copyrighted development manuals and tools, studied the Genesis hardware and games, and wrote original documentation that summarized his findings. The process took him about

6480-542: The Nintendo Virtual Console , Xbox Live Arcade , PlayStation Network , and Steam . The Genesis was succeeded in 1994 by the Sega Saturn . 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

6642-446: The PC , Sega 32X , and 3DO . According to Digital Pictures founder Tom Zito, "You know, I sold 50,000 units of Night Trap a week after those hearings." Although experiencing increased sales, Sega decided to recall Night Trap and re-release it with revisions in 1994 due to the congressional hearings. After the close of these hearings, video game manufacturers came together to establish

Sega Card - Misplaced Pages Continue

6804-464: 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

6966-573: The SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 with graphical capabilities improved over its predecessors. The Master System launched in North America in 1986, followed by Europe in 1987, and then in Brazil and Korea in 1989. A Japanese version of the Master System was also launched in 1987, which features a few enhancements over the export models (and by proxy the original Mark III):

7128-528: The Sega Genesis . According to Sato, the console was redesigned because of the limitations of the TMS9918 graphics chip in the SG-1000, which did not have the power for the kinds of games Sega wanted to make. The Mark III's chip was designed in-house, based around the unit in Sega's System 2 arcade system board . The Sega Mark III was released in Japan in October 1985 at a price of ¥15,000. Though its hardware

7290-551: The United Kingdom , with former Sega of Europe development director Mike Brogan noting that " Night Trap got Sega an awful lot of publicity ... it was also cited in UK Parliament for being classified as '15' due to its use of real actors." This came at a time when Sega was capitalizing on its image as an edgy company with attitude, and this only reinforced that image. By far the year's most controversial game

7452-594: The United States District Court for the Northern District of California , on charges of trademark infringement, unfair competition , and copyright infringement. In response, Accolade filed a counterclaim for falsifying the source of its games by displaying the Sega trademark when the game was powered up. Although the district court initially ruled for Sega and issued an injunction preventing Accolade from continuing to reverse engineer

7614-823: The Videogame Rating Council , a predecessor to the Entertainment Software Rating Board . 30.75 million first-party Genesis units were sold 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 smaller numbers were sold by Samsung in South Korea. By the mid-2010s, licensed third-party Genesis rereleases were still being sold by AtGames in North America and Europe. Many games have been re-released in compilations or on online services such as

7776-612: The Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1991, where Sega showed the new Genesis III and demonstrated it screening and rejecting an Ishido game cartridge. With more games planned for the following year, Accolade successfully identified the TMSS file. It later added this file to the games HardBall! , Star Control , Mike Ditka Power Football , and Turrican . In response to the creation of these unlicensed games, Sega filed suit against Accolade in

7938-541: The YM2413 FM chip, an optional feature on the Mark III. With few exceptions, Master System hardware is identical to the hardware in the Mark III. Games for the console are playable on the Sega Genesis using the Power Base Converter accessory, and on the Game Gear using the Master Gear Converter. Compared to the base NES, the Master System has four times as much system memory, eight times as much video memory, and

8100-490: The anime Zillion gave Sega the confidence to allow Tectoy to distribute the Master System. By the end of 1990, the installed base in Brazil was about 280,000 units. Tectoy introduced a telephone service with game tips, created a Master System club, and presented the program Master Tips during commercial breaks of the television show Sessão Aventura of Rede Globo . Nintendo did not arrive in Brazil until 1993, and were unable to officially compete, given that clones of

8262-513: The "10" removed from the part number (e.g. The cartridge version of Golf Champion is given the number G-1005 while the My Card release was given the number C-05). The successor to the SG-1000, the Sega Mark III was released in October 1985 and was backward compatible with both SG-1000 cartridges and My Cards. The subsequent international version of the Mark III, the Master System retained compatibility with My Card software, though Japanese software

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8424-487: The "arcade experience" in adverts. Its marketing department was run by only two people, giving Sega a disadvantage in advertising. As one method of promoting the console, at the end of 1987 Sega partnered with astronaut Scott Carpenter to start the "Sega Challenge", a traveling program set up in recreational centers where kids were tested on non-verbal skills such as concentration and the ability to learn new skills. Out Run and Shooting Gallery were two games included in

8586-492: The "superb" PAL library of "interesting ports and excellent exclusives", which was richer than the North American library and provided a "drip-feed of quality titles". After the Master System was discontinued in other markets, additional games were released in Brazil by Tectoy, including ports of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition and Dynamite Headdy . Tectoy created Portuguese translations of games exclusive to

8748-572: The 1990s in Europe, including Mercs , Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (both 1992), and Streets of Rage 2 (1994). The Master System has had continued success in Brazil, where dedicated "plug and play" consoles emulating the original hardware continue to be sold by Tectoy, including portable versions. These systems include the Master System Compact and the Master System III , and Tectoy has also received requests to remake

8910-453: 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 "steering wheel compatible", but the peripheral

9072-659: The Card Catcher peripheral. However, educational and programming cartridges for the SC-3000 require the SK-1100 keyboard peripheral, which is compatible with the Mark III but not the Japanese Master System. Mark III-specific games were initially available in card format (labelled My Card Mark III to distinguish themselves from games designed for the SC-3000/SG-1000), starting with Teddy Boy Blues and Hang-On , both released on October 20, 1985. Of

9234-510: The Genesis 3, projecting to sell 1.5 million units of the console by the end of 1998. As of 2012, Tectoy had sold an estimated 3 million Genesis units. The main microprocessor is a 16/32-bit Motorola 68000 CPU clocked at 7.6 MHz . An 8-bit Zilog Z80 processor controls the sound hardware and provides backward compatibility with the Master System. The Genesis has 64 KB of RAM , 64 KB of video RAM and 8 KB of audio RAM. It can display up to 61 colors at once from

9396-562: The Genesis was adapted from Sega's System 16 arcade board, centered on a Motorola 68000 processor as the CPU , a Zilog Z80 as a sound controller, and a video system supporting hardware sprites , tiles , and scrolling. It plays a library of more than 900 games on ROM-based cartridges . Several add-ons were released, including a Power Base Converter to play Master System games. It was released in several different versions, some created by third parties. Sega created two network services to support

9558-561: The Genesis, Accolade appealed the verdict to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit . As a result of the appeal, the Ninth Circuit overturned the district court's verdict and ruled that Accolade's decompilation of the Sega software constituted fair use. The court's written opinion followed on October 20, 1992, and noted that the use of the software was non-exploitative, although commercial. Further,

9720-464: The Genesis: Sega Meganet and Sega Channel . In Japan, the Mega Drive fared poorly against its two main competitors, Nintendo's Super Famicom and NEC 's PC Engine , but it achieved considerable success in North America, Brazil, and Europe. Contributing to its success was its library of arcade game ports , the popularity of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series, several popular sports franchises, and aggressive youth marketing that positioned it as

9882-506: The Hedgehog , Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Disney's Aladdin . Sega Enterprises focused on developing action games , while Sega of America was tasked with developing sports games . A large part of the appeal of the Genesis library was the arcade -based experience of its games, as well as more difficult entries such as Ecco the Dolphin , and sports games such as Joe Montana Football . Compared to its competition, Sega advertised to an older audience by hosting more mature games, including

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10044-538: The Hedgehog . Battery-backup save game support was included in eight cartridges, including Penguin Land , Phantasy Star , Ys , and Miracle Warriors . The more extensive PAL region library includes 8-bit entries in Genesis franchises such as Streets of Rage , a number of additional Sonic the Hedgehog games, and dozens of PAL exclusives such as The Lucky Dime Caper Starring Donald Duck , Asterix , Ninja Gaiden , Master of Darkness , and Power Strike II . Retro Gamer 's Damien McFerran praised

10206-471: The Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles sold a combined 4 million copies worldwide. After the release of the Genesis in 1989, video game publisher Accolade began exploring options to release some of their PC games on the console. At the time, Sega had a licensing deal in place for third-party developers that increased the costs to the developer. According to Accolade co-founder Alan Miller , "One pays them between $ 10 and $ 15 per cartridge on top of

10368-418: The Japanese design for the Mega Drive was based on the appearance of an audio player, with "16-bit" embossed in a golden metallic veneer to create an impression of power. The console was announced in the June 1988 issue of the Japanese gaming magazine Beep! as the Mark V, but Sega management wanted a stronger name. After reviewing more than 300 proposals, the company settled on "Mega Drive". In North America,

10530-426: The Mark III measures 318 by 145 by 52 millimetres (12.5 in × 5.7 in × 2.0 in). Both consoles use two slots for game input: one for Mega Cartridges and one for Sega Cards , along with an expansion slot and two controller ports. Sound is provided by the SN76489 PSG built into the VDP, which can provide three square wave channels and one noise channel. The Japanese version also integrates

10692-587: The Master System Converter II was released only in Europe for use with the Mega Drive II, which works with other region Genesis consoles and revisions but lacks the ability to use Master System cards. Both the original Power Base Converter and the Master System Converter II do not work with the Nomad or the Genesis 3. Other peripherals were released to add functionality. The Menacer is a wireless infrared light gun used with compatible games. Other third parties created light gun peripherals, such as American Laser Games and Konami . Released for art creation software,

10854-404: The Master System II had only A/V video output available and omitted the RF hardware. In Brazil, Tectoy released several licensed variations; the Master System Super Compact functions wirelessly with an RF transmitter, and the Master System Girl, molded in bright pink plastic, was targeted at girls. The Master System 3 Collection, released in 2006, contains 120 built-in games. Handheld versions of

11016-412: The Master System in North America had a limited game library. Limited by Nintendo's licensing practices, Sega only had two third-party American publishers, Activision and Parker Brothers . Agreements with both of those companies came to an end in 1989. Sega claimed that the Master System was the first console "where the graphics on the box are actually matched by the graphics of the game", and pushed

11178-517: The Master System praises its support toward development of the Sega Genesis, but has been critical of its small game library. Writing for AllGame , Dave Beuscher noted that the Master System "was doomed by the lack of third-party software support and all but disappeared from the American market by 1992." Retro Gamer writer Adam Buchanan praised the larger PAL library as a "superb library of interesting ports and excellent exclusives". Damien McFerran, also of Retro Gamer, recognized its importance to

11340-673: The Master System took advantage of more advanced hardware compared to the NES; Alex Kidd in Miracle World , for example, showcases "blistering colors and more detailed sprites" than NES games. The Master System version of R-Type was praised for its visuals, comparable to those of the TurboGrafx-16 port. In 2005, Sega reached a deal with the company AtGames to release emulated Master System software in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. Several Master System games were released for download on Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console , beginning with Hokuto no Ken in 2008 in Japan and Wonder Boy in North America. Master System games were also released via

11502-598: The Master System was listed in the top 20 products of NPD Group 's Toy Retail Sales Tracking Service. However, the Electronic Gaming Monthly 1992 Buyer's Guide indicated a souring interest in the console. Four reviewers scored it 5, 4, 5, and 5 out of a possible 10 points each, focusing on the better value of the Genesis and lack of quality games for the Master System. In 1993, reviewers scored it 2, 2, 3, and 3 out of 10, noting its abandonment by Sega in North America and lack of new releases. By contrast, over 34 million NES units were sold in North America alone, outselling

11664-488: The Master System was the best-selling console in Europe, though the NES was beginning to have a fast-growing user base in the UK. For the year 1990, Virgin Mastertronic sold 150,000 Master Systems in the United Kingdom, greater than the 60,000 Mega Drives and Nintendo's 80,000 consoles sold in the same period. In the whole of Europe that year, Sega sold a combined 918,000 consoles, greater than Nintendo's 655,000. The Master System

11826-467: The Master System were released under several brands, such as Coleco in 2006. A number of cross-compatible accessories were created for the Mark III and Master System. The controller consists of a rectangle with a D-pad and two buttons. Sega also introduced additional Mark III controllers, such as a paddle controller . A combination steering wheel and flight stick, the Handle Controller,

11988-489: The Master System's estimated active installed user base in Europe was 6.25 million units, larger than that of the Mega Drive's 5.73 million that year but less than the NES's 7.26 million. Combined with the Mega Drive, Sega represented the majority of the European console market that year. The Master System II was also successful and helped Sega to sustain their significant market share. Releases continued into

12150-443: The Master System's life time units globally nearly three times over. According to Bill Pearse of Playthings , the NES gained an advantage through better software and more recognizable characters. Sega closed the gap with Nintendo in the next generation with the release of the Genesis, which sold 30.75 million consoles compared with the 49 million Super Nintendo Entertainment System consoles. Retrospective feedback of

12312-402: The Master System. According to Sato, Sega was focused on porting its arcade games instead of building relationships with third parties. According to Sega designer Mark Cerny , most of Sega's early Master System games were developed within a strict three-month deadline, which affected their quality. Computer Gaming World compared new Sega games to "drops of water in the desert". Games for

12474-629: 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. Tectoy produced games exclusively for the Brazilian market and brought the Sega Meganet online service there in 1995. Samsung handled sales and distribution in Korea , where it

12636-403: The Mega Drive/Genesis. The card format is mostly region locked , preventing non-Japanese hardware from playing Japanese My Cards. This is not the case for Japanese hardware. However, Woody Pop is the only Japanese card release compatible with any system capable of playing My Cards/Sega Cards. F-16 Fighter ( F-16 Fighting Falcon in some editions) requires legacy hardware from the SG-1000 that

12798-510: The NES dominated the Brazilian market. Tectoy claimed 80% of the Brazilian video game market. In South Korea, the Sega Mark III was released by Samsung under the name "Gam*Boy" in April 1989 and then the Master System II was released under the name "Aladdin Boy" in 1992. It sold 720,000 units in South Korea up until 1993, outselling the NES (released by Hyundai Group as the "Comboy") and becoming

12960-640: The NES. On July 15, 1983, Sega released its first video game console , the SG-1000 , in Japan. The launch coincided with the same day its competitor Nintendo launched the Famicom . In 1984, parent company Gulf and Western Industries divested its non-core businesses including Sega, and Sega president Hayao Nakayama was installed as CEO. Sega released another console, the SG-1000 II, featuring several hardware alterations, including detachable controllers. Nakayama and Sega co-founder David Rosen arranged

13122-468: The November/December timeframe". Nakayama's decision to focus on the Saturn, based on the systems' relative performance in Japan, has been cited as the major contributing factor in this miscalculation. By contrast, Nintendo concentrated on the 16-bit home console market, as well as its successful handheld , the Game Boy , and took in 42% of the video game market dollar share without launching

13284-545: The PC Engine ( TurboGrafx-16 in North America) amid great publicity. Sega released its next console, the 16-bit Mega Drive, in Japan on October 29, 1988. The final licensed release for the Master System in Japan was Bomber Raid in 1989. In the same year, Sega was preparing to release the new Mega Drive, rebranded Genesis, in North America. Displeased with Tonka's handling of the Master System, Sega reacquired

13446-558: The SC-3000 series (SC-3000 and SC-3000H), along with compatible hardware (the Othello Multivision series and the Pioneer SD-G5) do not have built-in card slots, as they were released before the original My Card. Instead, they require the Card Catcher to be placed in the cartridge slot to use card-based games. Card releases are distinguished from cartridge releases by their part numbers. Standard SG-1000 releases sport

13608-584: The SNES port of Mortal Kombat II was released uncensored. Sega released two add-ons to increase the Genesis capabilities: a CD peripheral, the Sega CD (Mega-CD outside North America and Brazil), and a 32-bit peripheral, the Sega 32X . Worldwide, Sega sold 2.24 million Sega CD units and 800,000 32X units. Following the launch of the next-generation 32-bit Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn , sales of 16-bit hardware and software continued to account for 64% of

13770-512: The SNES to outsell the Genesis from 1995 through 1997. According to a 2004 study of NPD sales data , the Genesis maintained its lead over the Super NES in the American 16-bit console market. However, according to a 2014 Wedbush Securities report based on revised NPD sales data, the SNES outsold the Sega Genesis in the U.S. market by 1.5 million units. To compete with Nintendo, Sega

13932-420: The SNES. A Sony focus group found that teenage boys would not admit to owning an SNES rather than a Genesis. With the Genesis often outselling the SNES at a ratio of 2:1, Nintendo and Sega focused heavily on impression management of the market, even going to the point of deception; Nintendo claimed it had sold more consoles in 1991 than it actually had, and forecasted it would sell 6 million consoles by

14094-564: The Sega Activator the third-worst video game controller ever made. Both EA and Sega released multitaps to allow more than 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 games. In response to complaints, Sega said a new Team Player, which would work with all Genesis multitap games, would be released. Later games were created to work on both

14256-561: 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

14418-704: 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. In November 1993, Sega released the Sega Activator, an octagonal device that lies flat on the floor and was designed to translate the player's physical movements into game inputs. It

14580-414: The U.S. are roughly estimated at 8 million and 18–18.5 million as of June 1997 (at which time Sega was no longer manufacturing the system) respectively. In 1998, Sega licensed the Genesis to Majesco Entertainment to rerelease it in North America. Majesco began reselling millions of unsold cartridges at a budget price, together with 150,000 units of the second model of the Genesis. It released

14742-516: The United States, Sega hoped that their video game console business would fare better in North America than it had in Japan. To accomplish this, Sega of America was established in 1986 to manage the company's consumer products in North America. Rosen and Nakayama hired Bruce Lowry, Nintendo of America's vice president of sales. Lowry was persuaded to change companies because Sega would allow him to start his new office in San Francisco . He chose

14904-455: The ability to run its own licensing program if Sega refused to meet its demands. Sega relented, and the next day EA's upcoming Genesis games were showcased at CES. EA signed what Hawkins described as "a very unusual and much more enlightened license agreement" with Sega in June 1990: "Among other things, we had the right to make as many titles as we wanted. We could approve our own titles ...

15066-443: 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, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. president Hayao Nakayama advocated that

15228-444: The best-selling console in South Korea up until 1993. The Master System was also popular in Australia, where 250,000 units were sold in 1990 alone, and where it was more successful than the NES. 650,000 Master System consoles had been sold in Australia by November 1994. 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

15390-724: The card slot, turning it into a strictly cartridge-only system, and is incompatible with the 3D glasses. The Master System was released in competition with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Its library is smaller and with fewer well-reviewed games than the NES, due in part to Nintendo licensing policies requiring platform exclusivity. Though the Master System had newer, improved hardware, it failed to overturn Nintendo's significant market share advantage in Japan and North America. However, it attained significantly greater success in other markets, including Europe, Brazil, South Korea and Australia. The Master System

15552-471: The card was for the Sega's Japan-only Mark III. The Mark III is also backward compatible with SG-1000 My Cards. The third version of the card, called the "Sega Card" was released for the Master System, the international version of the Mark III. The Power Base Converter has a card slot allowing for use of the cards on the Mega Drive/Genesis . The final version of the format was the My Card EP,

15714-474: The card, with the below titles available for rewriting. The Sega AI Computer also used Sega Cards, but it is not compatible with any of the cards used in other systems. Master System The Master System is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured and developed by Sega . It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III , the third iteration of

15876-570: The cartridge as the primary distribution media. By 1987, games had stopped being released in the My Card Mark III format. Outside Japan, My Card Mark III was released under the name "Sega Card", with the 1986 release of the Western version of Mark III, the Master System. Subsequent versions of the Master System, including the Master System II are missing the card slot. The Power Base Converter allows Sega Cards and My Cards to be used with

16038-415: The cartridges, included Spy vs. Spy and Super Tennis , but were eventually dropped due to their small memory size. The size of the release library varies based on region; North America received just over 100 games, with Japan receiving less. Europe, by contrast, received over 300 licensed games, including 8-bit ports of Genesis games and PAL -exclusive releases. The first Mark III-specific cartridge

16200-405: The challenge. In 1987, amid struggling sales in the US, Sega sold the US distribution rights for the Master System to the toy company Tonka , which had no experience with electronic entertainment systems. The thinking at Sega behind the deal was to leverage Tonka's knowledge of the American toy market, since Nintendo had marketed the NES as a toy to great success in the region. The announcement

16362-540: The company developed Férias Frustradas do Pica-Pau after finding out that Woody Woodpecker (named Pica-Pau in Portuguese) was the most popular cartoon on Brazilian television, along with at least twenty additional exclusives. These titles were developed in-house by Tectoy in Brazil. Due in part to Nintendo's licensing practices, which stipulated that third-party NES developers could not release games on other platforms, few third-party developers released games for

16524-491: The company increased the order by 10,000 units when advanced orders had exceeded expectations, and another 10,000 units was later added following the console's success at the ECES event. The projected number of units to be sold between September and December 1990 had eventually increased to 40,000 units in the United Kingdom alone. Other companies assisted in distributing the console to various countries worldwide. Ozisoft handled

16686-494: The company leverage its hardware expertise 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. While it had sold 160,000 units in Japan, far exceeding Sega's expectations, sales at stores were dominated by Nintendo 's Famicom which had been released

16848-627: The console and the controller. A light gun peripheral, the Light Phaser, was based on the weapon of the same name from the Japanese anime Zillion . It is compatible with 13 games and released exclusively in the West. A pair of 3D glasses, the SegaScope 3-D, were created for games such as Space Harrier 3-D , although Mark III users need an additional converter to use them. The SegaScope 3-D works via an active shutter 3D system , creating

17010-432: The console leader since 1985. The Genesis outsold the SNES for four consecutive Christmas seasons due to its two-year lead, lower price point, and larger game library compared to the SNES at its release. Sega had ten games for every game on SNES, and while the SNES had an exclusive version of Final Fight , one of Sega's internal development teams created Streets of Rage , which had bigger levels, tougher enemies, and

17172-541: 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 Genesis was released in the rest of North America later that year. The European version of the Mega Drive was released in September 1990, at a price of £ 189.99 , i.e. $ 337 (equivalent to $ 732 in 2023). The release was handled by Virgin Mastertronic , which

17334-636: 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,

17496-454: The console would run the game, and would briefly display the message: " Produced by or under license from Sega Enterprises, Ltd. " This system had a twofold effect: it added extra protection against unlicensed developers and software piracy and forced the Sega trademark to display when the game was powered up, making a lawsuit for trademark infringement possible if unlicensed software were to be developed. Accolade learned of this development at

17658-596: The cool console for adolescents. The 1991 North American release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System triggered a fierce battle for market share in the United States and Europe known as the " console war ". This drew attention to the video game industry, and the Genesis and several of its games attracted legal scrutiny on matters involving reverse engineering and video game violence . Controversy surrounding violent games such as Night Trap and Mortal Kombat led Sega to create

17820-467: The court found that the trademark infringement, being required by the TMSS for a Genesis game to run on the system, had been inadvertently triggered by a fair use act and was the fault of Sega for having caused false labeling. Ultimately, Sega and Accolade settled the case on April 30, 1993. As a part of this settlement, Accolade became an official licensee of Sega, and later developed and released Barkley Shut Up and Jam! while under license. The terms of

17982-427: The distributor of the console had changed, the Master System continued to perform poorly in the market. The Mark III was rereleased as the Master System in Japan in October 1987 for ¥16,800, but still sold poorly. Neither model posed a serious challenge to Nintendo in Japan, and, according to Sato, Sega was only able to attain 10% of the Japanese console market. The Master System was launched in Europe in 1987. It

18144-450: The end of 1992, while its actual U.S. install base at the end of 1992 was only just more than 4 million units. Due to these tactics, it was difficult to ascertain a clear leader in market share for several years at a time, with Nintendo's dollar share of the U.S. 16-bit market dipping down from 60% at the end of 1992 to 37% at the end of 1993, Sega claiming 55% of all 16-bit hardware sales during 1994, and Donkey Kong Country helping

18306-404: The family-friendly GA rating to the more mature rating of MA-13, and the adults-only rating of MA-17. With the rating system in place, Sega released its version of Mortal Kombat , appearing to have removed all the blood and sweat effects and toning down the finishing moves even more than in the SNES version. However, all the arcade's blood and uncensored finishing moves could be enabled by entering

18468-458: The faster drawing speed of the Genesis made it more suitable for sport games than the SNES, and credits EA's success on the Genesis for helping catapult the EA Sports brand. Another third-party blockbuster for the system was the port of Mortal Kombat . Although the arcade game was released on the SNES and Genesis simultaneously, the two ports were not identical. The SNES version looked closer to

18630-568: The first year, Katz and Sega of America sold only 500,000. At the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (Winter CES) in January 1990, the Sega Genesis demonstrated a strong line-up of games which received a positive reception for approaching arcade-quality graphics and gameplay as well as for providing non-arcade experiences such as Phantasy Star II . In mid-1990, Nakayama hired Tom Kalinske to replace Katz as CEO of Sega of America. Although Kalinske knew little about

18792-472: The front of the console produces stereo sound. On the Model 2, the DIN port, RF 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. An edge connector on the bottom right of the console can be connected to a peripheral. The standard controller features

18954-583: The games released for the Master System, Phantasy Star is considered a benchmark role-playing game (RPG), and became a successful franchise . Sega's flagship character at the time, Alex Kidd , featured in games including Alex Kidd in Miracle World . Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap was influential for its blend of platform gameplay with RPG elements. Different Master System consoles included built-in games, including Snail Maze , Hang-On / Safari Hunt , Alex Kidd in Miracle World and Sonic

19116-492: The handheld. In particular, many Master System ports of Game Gear games were done by Tectoy for the Brazilian market, as the Master System was more popular than the Game Gear in the region. Master System games came in two formats: ROM cartridges held up to 4 Mbit (512 KB) of code and data, while Sega Cards held up to 256 Kbit (32 KB). Cartridges were marketed by their storage size: One Mega (1 Mbit), Two Mega (2 Mbit), and Four Mega (4 Mbit). Cards, cheaper to manufacture than

19278-466: 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. Within two days of release, the console's initial production run sold out. However, 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

19440-489: The licensing, including whether or not any special arrangements or discounts were made to Accolade, were not released to the public. The financial terms of the settlement were also not disclosed, although both companies agreed to pay their own legal costs. In 1993, the American media began to focus on the mature content of certain video games. Games such as Night Trap for the Sega CD , an add-on , received unprecedented scrutiny. Issues about Night Trap were brought up in

19602-492: The market respectively. The last licensed Master System release in North America was Sonic the Hedgehog (1991). In Europe, where the Master System was the best-selling console up until 1990, the NES caught up with and narrowly overtook the Master System in Western Europe during the early 1990s, though the Master System maintained its lead in several markets such as the United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain. In 1993,

19764-463: The marketing and distribution rights to the Master System for the United States. In 1990, Sega released the remodeled Master System II, designed as a lower-cost version without the Sega Card slot. Sega promoted the new model, but it sold poorly. By early 1992, Master System production had ceased in North America, having sold between 1.5 million and 2 million units, behind both Nintendo and Atari , which controlled 80 percent and 12 percent of

19926-445: The mid-to-late 1980s, were both dominated by Nintendo. By 1988, Nintendo held 83 percent of the North American video game market. With Sega continuing to have difficulty penetrating the home market, Sega's console R&D team, led by Ishikawa and supervised by Sato, began work on a successor to the Master System almost immediately after its launch. Another competitor arose in Japan in 1987 when Japanese computer giant NEC released

20088-413: 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

20250-403: The month. The first Genesis version of EA's John Madden Football arrived before the end of 1990, and became what Gordon called a " killer app ". Taking advantage of the licensing agreement, Gordon and EA's vice president of marketing services, Nancy Fong, created a visual identifier for EA's Genesis cartridges: a yellow tab molded into the casing. Sega held a company-wide contest to create

20412-407: The name "Project Mercury" and designed based on the Master System's hardware, the Game Gear is a handheld game console . It was first released in Japan on October 6, 1990, in North America and Europe in 1991, and in Australia and New Zealand in 1992. Originally retailing at JP¥19,800 in Japan, $ 149.99 in North America, and GB£99.99 in the United Kingdom, the Game Gear was designed to compete with

20574-527: The name "Sega of America" for his division because he had worked for Nintendo of America and liked the combination of words. Initially, Sega of America was tasked with repackaging the Mark III for a Western release. Sega of America rebranded the Mark III as the Master System, similar to Nintendo's reworking of the Famicom into the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The name was chosen by Sega of America employees throwing darts against

20736-416: The name was changed to "Genesis". Rosen said he insisted on the name as he disliked "Mega Drive" and wanted to represent "a new beginning" for Sega. Sato said some design elements changed, such as the gold "16-bit" wording, in case it was mistaken for yellow. He believed the changes represented different Japanese and American cultural values. Sega released the Mega Drive in Japan on October 29, 1988, though

20898-462: The original Genesis contain a discrete YM2612 and a separate YM7101 VDP; in a later revision, the chips were integrated into a single custom ASIC (FC1004). The back of the Model 1 console provides an RF output port (designed for use with antenna and cable systems) and a specialized 8-pin DIN port, which both provide video and audio output. Both outputs produce monophonic sound; a headphone jack on

21060-467: The original Master System. A 2012 article on UOL wrote that Tectoy re-releases of the Master System and Mega Drive combined sold around 150,000 units per year in Brazil. By 2016, Tectoy said they had sold 8 million units of Master System branded systems in Brazil. The Master System's main CPU is a Zilog Z80 A, an 8-bit processor rated for 4 MHz, but runs at 3.58 MHz. It has 8 KB of ROM , 8 KB of RAM and 16 KB of video RAM. Video

21222-490: 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." Critics praised Sonic as one of the greatest games yet made, and Genesis sales increased as customers who had been waiting for the release of the international version of Nintendo's Super Famicom, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), decided to purchase

21384-431: The popularity of the Genesis in North America, and the bundle is credited with helping Sega gain 65% of the market share against Nintendo. Similarly, in Europe, Sega captured a 65% share of the European console market, where the Mega Drive maintained its lead over the SNES through 1994. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 set records for the fastest-selling game, selling 3.2 million copies worldwide within two weeks, and Sonic

21546-522: The rating system and put ratings on it. In response, Sega of America vice president Bill White showed a videotape of violent video games on the SNES and stressed the importance of rating video games. At the end of the hearing, Lieberman called for another hearing in February 1994 to check on progress toward a rating system for video game violence. As a result of the congressional hearings, Night Trap started to generate more sales and released ports to

21708-450: The rating system that Lieberman had called for. Initially, Sega proposed the universal adoption of its system, but after objections by Nintendo and others, Sega took a role in forming a new one. This became the Entertainment Software Rating Board , an independent organization that received praise from Lieberman. With this new rating system in place for the 1994 holiday season, Nintendo decided its censorship policies were no longer needed, and

21870-418: The real hardware manufacturing costs, so it about doubles the cost of goods to the independent publisher." To get around licensing, Accolade chose to seek an alternative way to bring their games to the Genesis. It did so by purchasing one in order to decompile the executable code of three Genesis games. Such information was used to program their new Genesis cartridges in a way that would allow them to disable

22032-562: The region. Some of these would tie in to popular Brazilian entertainment franchises; for example, Teddy Boy became Geraldinho , certain Wonder Boy titles became Monica's Gang games, and Ghost House became Chapolim vs. Dracula: Um Duelo Assutador , based on the Mexican TV series El Chapulín Colorado . Tectoy also ported games to the Master System, including various games from the Genesis and Game Gear. Aside from porting,

22194-466: The release of 12 titles by autumn. Mastertronic advertised the Master System as "an arcade in the home" and launched it at £99 (equivalent to £350 in 2023). 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; Mastertronic and Master Games entered financial crises and Ariolasoft vowed never to work with Sega again. Mastertronic had already sold

22356-423: The royalty rates were a lot more reasonable. We also had more direct control over manufacturing." After the deal was in place, EA chief creative officer Bing Gordon learned that "we hadn't figured out all the workarounds" and "Sega still had the ability to lock us out ... It just would have been a public relations fiasco." EA released its first Genesis games, Populous and Budokan: The Martial Spirit , within

22518-449: The same day. Sega estimated that the Famicom outsold the SG-1000 by a 10-to-1 margin. The SG-1000 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 ,

22680-436: The security lockouts on the Genesis that prevented unlicensed games from being played. This strategy was used successfully to bring Ishido: The Way of Stones to the Genesis in 1990. To do so, Accolade had copied Sega's copyrighted game code multiple times in order to reverse engineer the software of Sega's licensed Genesis games. As a result of piracy in some countries and unlicensed development issues, Sega incorporated

22842-431: 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. The Genesis library was initially modest, but eventually grew to contain games to appeal to all types of players. The initial pack-in game was Altered Beast , which was replaced with Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991. Top sellers included Sonic

23004-411: The success of the Genesis, stating, "Without this criminally undervalued machine, Sega would not have enjoyed the considerable success it had with the Mega Drive. The Master System allowed Sega to experiment with arcade conversions, original IP and even create a mascot in the form of the lovable monkey-boy Alex Kidd." In 2009, the Master System was named the 20th best console of all time by IGN , behind

23166-695: The time (4 to 32 KB of ROM versus 16 to 512 KB of ROM.) As games became larger, card releases gradually ceased. The final release was Woody Pop , released on 15 March 1987 in Japan. Sega published only a dozen games in the format for the Mark III/Master System (in 1986–1987) before returning solely to game cartridges. The Master System II, a revised model of the console, has no Sega Card support, and all Sega Card games released in Europe were eventually re-released in cartridge format. Similar but incompatible formats, also manufactured by Mitsubishi Plastics , were used by other computers and consoles:

23328-450: The uncensored version of Mortal Kombat . The arcade hit Street Fighter II by Capcom was initially released on the SNES. As the Genesis continued to grow in popularity, Capcom released a Genesis version, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition , which sold more than a million copies. One of the biggest third-party companies to support the Genesis early on was Electronic Arts. Trip Hawkins , founder and then president of EA, believed

23490-587: The video game console market generated between $ 200,000,000 (equivalent to $ 400,000,000 in 2023) and $ 250,000,000 (equivalent to $ 500,000,000 in 2023) in Russia, with Sega accounting for half of all console sales in the country. However, only about 15% of the sales were official Sega units distributed by Bitman, while the rest were unofficial counterfeit clones. For the North American market, former Atari Corporation Entertainment Electronics Division president and new Sega of America CEO Michael Katz instituted

23652-427: The video game market in 1995. Sega underestimated the continued popularity of the Genesis and did not have the inventory to meet demand. Sega captured 43% of the dollar share of the U.S. video game market and claimed to have sold more than two million Genesis units in 1995, while Genesis software such as Vectorman remained successful, but Kalinske estimated that "we could have sold another 300,000 Genesis systems in

23814-443: The video game market, he surrounded himself with industry-savvy advisors. A believer in the razor and blades model , he developed a four-point plan: cut the price of the console, create an American team to develop games targeted at the American market, expand the aggressive advertising campaigns, and replace the bundled game Altered Beast with a new game, Sonic the Hedgehog . The Japanese board of directors initially disapproved of

23976-455: Was Fantasy Zone , released on June 15, 1986, and Bomber Raid was the final release on February 4, 1989, a few months after the launch of the Mega Drive. The final North American release was Sonic the Hedgehog in October 1991. Games for PAL regions continued to be released until the mid-1990s. The Sega Mark III and the Japanese Master System are backwards-compatible with SC-3000/SG-1000 cartridges, and can play Sega Card games without

24138-467: Was Midway 's Mortal Kombat , ported to the Genesis and SNES by Acclaim Entertainment . In response to public outcry over the game's graphic violence, Nintendo decided to replace the blood in the game with "sweat" and the arcade's gruesome "fatalities" with less violent finishing moves. Sega took a different approach, instituting America's first video game ratings system, the Videogame Rating Council (VRC), for all its current systems. Ratings ranged from

24300-745: Was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System . Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as the Mega Drive, and in 1989 in North America as the Genesis. In 1990, it was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, Ozisoft in Australasia, and Tectoy in Brazil. In South Korea, it was distributed by Samsung Electronics as the Super Gam*Boy and later the Super Aladdin Boy . Designed by an R&D team supervised by Hideki Sato and Masami Ishikawa,

24462-414: Was also successful in Brazil, where it was distributed by Tectoy and launched in September 1989. Tectoy, a Brazilian toy company startup focused on electronic toys, reached out to Sega about distributing their products. Despite hesitation given the situation with Tonka in the US, Tectoy was eventually given liberty to manage Sega products in Brazil. Their success distributing Sega's laser tag gun based on

24624-443: Was cancelled. 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 at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (Winter CES) in January 1990 but never released, though

24786-474: Was distributed by Mastertronic in the United Kingdom, Master Games in France, and Ariolasoft in West Germany, though Ariolasoft initially purchased the distribution rights for the United Kingdom. Because Ariolasoft could not agree to a pricing agreement with Sega, Mastertronic signed a deal in 1987 to take control of UK distribution, and announced the deal at the 1987 Summer CES. The company announced

24948-401: Was first shown at the January 1993 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where it was demonstrated with Streets of Rage 2 . 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

25110-566: Was later purchased by Sega in 1991 and became Sega of Europe. Games like Space Harrier II , Ghouls 'n Ghosts , Golden Axe , Super Thunder Blade , and The Revenge of Shinobi were available in stores at launch. The console was also bundled with Altered Beast . The Mega Drive and its first batch of games were shown at the 1990 European Computer Entertainment Show (ECES) in Earl's Court . Between July and August 1990, Virgin initially placed their order for 20,000 Mega Drive units. However,

25272-570: Was made shortly after the 1987 Summer CES. During this time, much of Sega of America's infrastructure shifted from marketing and distribution to focus on customer service, and Lowry departed the company. Tonka blocked localization of several popular Japanese games, and during 1988 were less willing to purchase EPROMs needed for game cartridge manufacture during a shortage. They also became less willing to invest in video games after taking massive loans in purchasing Kenner Toys in 1987, followed by poor holiday season sales and financial losses. Though

25434-411: Was more open to new types of games, but still tightly controlled the approval process for third-party games and charged high prices for cartridge manufacturing. The American publisher Electronic Arts (EA) sought a better deal, but met resistance from Sega. They decided to reverse-engineer the Genesis, using a clean-room method similar to the method Phoenix Technologies had used to reverse-engineer

25596-414: Was more powerful than the Famicom, the Mark III was not successful on launch. Problems arose from Nintendo's licensing practices with third-party developers, whereby Nintendo required that games for the Famicom not be published on other consoles. Sega developed its own games and obtained the rights to port games from other developers, but they did not sell well. Though the SG-1000 had not been released in

25758-474: Was named Super Gam*Boy and retained the Mega Drive logo alongside the Samsung name. It was later renamed Super Aladdin Boy. In India, Sega entered a distribution deal with Shaw Wallace in April 1994 in order to circumvent an 80% import tariff, with each unit selling for INR₹ 18,000. In Russia, Sega officially licensed the console to local distributor Forrus in 1994, replaced in 1996 by Bitman. That year,

25920-516: Was quick to point out at the hearings that Night Trap had no such rating, saying to Senator Joe Lieberman : Furthermore, I can't let you sit here and buy this nonsense that this Sega Night Trap game was somehow only meant for adults. The fact of the matter is this is a copy of the packaging. There was no rating on this game at all when the game was introduced. Small children bought this at Toys "R" Us , and he knows that as well as I do. When they started getting heat about this game, then they adopted

26082-530: Was released in 1989. The Sega Control Stick is an arcade-style joystick with the buttons on the opposite side as the standard controller. Unreleased in Europe, the Sega Sports Pad utilizes a trackball and is compatible with three games. Sega also created an expansion for its controller, the Rapid Fire Unit, that allows for auto-fire by holding down one of two buttons. This unit connects between

26244-566: Was white to differentiate it from the black NES packaging, with a white grid design inspired by Apple computer products. The Master System was first revealed in North America at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Chicago in June 1986. It was initially sold in a package with the "Power Base" console, a light gun, two controllers, and a pack-in multicart . The console was launched in September 1986 at

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