Mega Drive (1990)
Note : The Mega Drive was called the Sega Genesis in the US and Mega Dirve everywhere else.
The Mega Drive was Sega’s 16 Bit Console. It was released in 1990 to compete against The 8 Bit NES. Sega had the advantage of having a 16 Bit console but the NES still sold more units than the Mega Drive. Many NES owners did not want a Mega Drive as they were waiting for Nintendo’s 16 Bit SNES console. After the SNES was released the Mega Drive had some fierce competition as the SNES began to outsell the Mega Drive. You could say the Mega Drive did do better since it was built around the popular Sonic the Hedgehog series. The Mega Drive did have many add-ons which were the Mega CD and the Mega Drive 32X they were not that popular and resulted in Sega stealing valuable shelf space from its self in shops. There was also a hardware update on the Mega Drive which was called the Mega Drive 2. It was a smaller, lighter and cheaper system. Some features were removed like the headphone socket and the volume control. You can find out more about the Mega Drive add-ons and Mega Drive 2 on their pages under the Sega Section.
Tecnical Specs
CPU – 16 Bit
Clock Speed – 7.61 MHz
RAM – 64 KB
Audio RAM – 8 KB
Resolution - 320 X 224
Accessories
Sega 6 button controller
The Sega 6 button controller added X, Y and Z buttons to the Mega Drive Controller. They could be used in games like Street Fighter 2.
Master System Converter
The Master System converter allows you to play your Master System games on your Mega Drive. It also features the card slot missing from the Master System 2
Sega Arcade Power Stick
The Sega Arcade Power Stick was designed for arcade games. It also has a rapid fire feature for the A,B and C buttons.
Also compatible with: