SEGA Mega Drive

Wednesday 10 Dec 2008

Our gaming hobby might be movie like in this day and age, but it is because of consoles pushing the limits by outclassing each other with each new generation that this industry evolves so quickly. Some of you have been with us since the Atari 2600 days in the 70’s and some might have only joined recently without any knowledge of where it all started. Come back every week, as we will be looking at each console and what exactly it did that made us buy into it and how it helped the industry to become the monster we know and enjoy today.

SEGA Mega Drive

Intro:

With the success of the 8 bit market (more because of Nintendo’ success) the 16 bit market was set up to become a monster in the industry and SEGA was first to embrace it. SEGA had a whole new look to them, being very clear about the goal they had set for the soon to be very prosperous company. They were very aggressive with their marketing campaign with adds stating the following, “Genesis Does What Nintendon’t.” That was not far from the truth as Nintendo’s family approach was not what SEGA was looking at; they were after the older teenager market. SEGA was not fazed about showing a bit of blood and violence. It was 1990 in PAL territories and the now famous 16bit wars were about to start with a bang.

Look and Design:

Even though the Master System did not do as well as had been expected, SEGA was already hard at work on the SEGA Mega Drive (SMD) and the end result shows. This console was quite pretty for it’s time. It was black in colour and still made use of cartridges, had a power and reset button. But it was things such as a volume slider for your headphones and the extension port on the side of the console (more on that later) that really made it look more 90’s than 80’s.

There was only one small problem with the launch controller, it only had three face buttons, all in one row – meaning that it was great for arcade games, but to simplistic for the direction the industry was heading for. The controller also felt a bit big sitting in your hands. Only in 1993, three years after launch in PAL territories, did SEGA release a new smaller controller with six face buttons, a mode button placed on the shoulder area and, what some would argue is the best in the world, a new D-Pad. They had outdone themselves. The controller was exceptionally responsive and worked a charm on anything you played. Another winner for SEGA.

The Games:

You only need to look at one icon in gaming to sum up the success for SEGA and that is Sonic the Hedgehog. The first Act (Green Hills Zone) is something just about every gamer in the world in their late 20’s or early 30’s today have all played and probably still bop to the music when they hear it. The speed, graphical improvements over the 8bit games and the exhilarating gameplay makes this game exceptionally playable to this very day - a genuine classic.

Added to this they had a secret little formula that would convert the world to loving their new console – Arcade ports. The difference between this and the Master System was that the arcade ports were actually very close to the original arcade games in graphic and sound quality and that won over many gamers. Games such as Afterburner, Golden Axe 1 & 2, Moonwalker, Mortal Kombat 1-3, NBA Jam, Street Fighter 2, Sunset Riders, Hangon and Outrun was what drove people crazy, they wanted the games in their homes and they wanted it now!

SEGA also had great third party support and if there were ever three classic third party games to be named on the console it would most probably be Rocket Knight Adventures, Earth Worm Jim and Gunstar Heroes. The list of games on this system was magnificent! EA also made a debut on the Mega Drive starting their infamous EA Sports brand which had the droves in the US licking it up like candy.

Another aspect of SEGA’s ideal gaming world was that they had very few rules when it came to mature games such as Mortal Kombat. Teenagers sucked it up in arcades using Sub Zero to rip out someone’s spine or Johnny Cage to knocks someone’s head off with an awesome uppercut and blood spitting all over the place. They had absolutely no problem with this, Nintendo did. The SNES version of Mortal Kombat had green blood, much to the dismay of the fans, SEGA had real blood; they won that little battle hands down.

Add Ons:

This is the dark cloud in SEGA’s success of the 16 bit era. They had so many add ons that it is nearly impossible to keep track of it all. Who really wants to know about the SEGA Activator anyway? You do? Well, it was a circular structure that was plugged into the SMD and was placed on the floor – claiming that it was the best thing for Beat ‘em ups where you would punch and kick in mid air with sensors picking up your movement, depending in what direction you were punching or kicking. On-screen your character would fight accordingly… Fail. It was dismal, next.

A small add on that really did prove that more than two ports for controllers was something of the past was the invention of a multitap. This was basically a hub plugging into the controller port and then splitting off into four which was mainly used for EA Sport titles but worked so well that the next generation of consoles adapted the idea.

Now, even though it really was a console in its own right, the SEGA Mega CD (SMCD) needed the SMD to function (by plugging into the extension port on the side of the console) so I will treat it as a add on. This will also go down as the overall beginning of the demise for SEGA. When this launched alongside the SMD the CD market was well on the way and it was paved for games to head in that direction, instead of going down the cartridge root again. Instead of just concentrating on their next generation console, SEGA launched the SMCD to a confused public, thinking that this CD enabled console was the next generation, when it really was just a 16 bit console using discs with sound improvements and more refined graphics, but nothing spectacular.

If that was not bad enough they then released the 32X which sat on top of the Mega Drive connected via the cartridge slot. SEGA created so much confusion that their next console would feel the brunt end of it.

Overall:

The SMD was probably SEGA’s best console to date. It elevated the company to the status that they are still regarded as today. It was at a time that Nintendo dominated the world that this console stood on its little rubber feet underneath the console to prove that that the world wanted more mature titles as well. It will always be remembered as the console that gave birth to the best Sonic games of our time and the console we played on until the early hours of the morning attempting all the Fatalities in Mortal Kombat.

When the next generation consoles launched the MegaDrive left us with a great taste in our mouth. Even though the war ended neck and neck with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was most probably the only war in human history with a positive result.

If you missed the first three weeks of the series, check out the Atari 2600, NES and Sega Master System.