Sega Genesis
In the early 1980s, Sega Enterprises faced a severe downturn in its arcade business. Company revenues had surpassed $200 million between July 1981 and June 1982 before that decline began. Gulf+Western sold its North American arcade manufacturing organization to Bally Manufacturing but kept the Japanese subsidiary. President Hayao Nakayama advocated for moving into the home console market. This decision led to the release of the SG-1000 in July 1983. That system sold 160,000 units in Japan yet lost heavily to Nintendo's Famicom which outsold it by a 10-to-1 margin.
Sega's console R&D team led by Masami Ishikawa and supervised by Hideki Sato began work on a successor almost immediately after the Master System launched. They needed to incorporate a 16-bit microprocessor to compete against NEC's PC Engine released in 1987. The team adapted the successful Sega System 16 arcade board into architecture for a home console. A Motorola 68000 processor served as the main CPU while a Zilog Z80 handled sound duties. This split was necessary because fears existed that the load would be too great if one chip handled both visuals and audio.
The appearance of the Mega Drive was designed by Mitsushige Shiraiwa who drew inspiration from audiophile equipment and automobiles. He wanted a more mature look to target all ages unlike the Famicom aimed primarily at children. The Japanese design featured "16-bit" embossed in a golden metallic veneer to create an impression of power. Management later changed some elements like removing the gold wording to avoid confusion with yellow plastic.
Sega released the Mega Drive in Japan on the 29th of October 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 establish a following. Within two days of release the initial production run sold out yet Sega only managed to ship 400,000 units in the first year. It remained a distant third behind Nintendo's Super Famicom and NEC's PC Engine throughout the 16-bit era.
In North America the console officially launched in September 1989 after a handful of units reached retailer shelves in New York and Los Angeles in late August. David Rosen made the proposal to Atari Corporation CEO Jack Tramiel but Tramiel declined to acquire it deeming it too expensive. Sega decided to launch through its own subsidiary Sega of America instead. Former Atari president Michael Katz instituted a two-part approach to build sales involving marketing campaigns challenging Nintendo head-on.
The European version arrived in September 1990 at a price of £175 handled by Virgin Mastertronic which later became Sega of Europe. Games like Space Harrier II and Ghouls 'n Ghosts were available at launch bundled with Altered Beast. Between July and August 1990 Virgin initially placed an order for 20,000 units then increased it by 10,000 when advanced orders exceeded expectations. Another 10,000 units were added following success at the ECES event. In Brazil Tectoy released the system in 1990 while Samsung handled distribution in Korea as the Super Gam*Boy.
Tom Kalinske replaced Katz as CEO of Sega of America in mid-1990 though he knew little about the video game market. He surrounded himself with industry-savvy advisors and developed a four-point plan including cutting the console price and creating an American team to develop games targeted at the American market. The Japanese board approved his aggressive advertising campaigns replacing the bundled game Altered Beast with Sonic the Hedgehog. Nakayama told him "I hired you to make the decisions for Europe and the Americas so go ahead and do it."
Sega's advertising positioned the Genesis as the cooler console and coined the term blast processing to suggest its capabilities were far greater than those of the SNES. A Sony focus group found that teenage boys would not admit to owning an SNES rather than a Genesis. Nintendo claimed it had sold more consoles in 1991 than it actually had while forecasting sales of 6 million by year end. Its actual U.S. install base was only just more than 4 million units.
The strategy paid off as the Genesis outsold the SNES 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 the leader since 1985. The console maintained this lead for four consecutive Christmas seasons due to its lower price point and larger game library compared to the SNES at its release.
Video game publisher Accolade began exploring options to release PC games on the console after the 1989 launch. According to co-founder Alan Miller developers paid between $10 and $15 per cartridge on top of hardware costs which doubled the cost of goods. Accolade chose to reverse engineer the system using a clean-room method similar to Phoenix Technologies used around 1984. They created a controlled room nicknamed Chernobyl where only Mike Schwartz reviewed Sega's copyrighted manuals before writing original documentation.
Sega incorporated a technical protection mechanism called the Trademark Security System into a new edition released in 1991 known as the Genesis III. This code checked for the string "SEGA" when a cartridge was inserted. If present the console would run the game and display the message "SEGA" briefly. Accolade learned of this at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1991 where Sega demonstrated rejecting an Ishido game cartridge. The Ninth Circuit overturned the district court verdict ruling that Accolade's decompilation constituted fair use on the 20th of October 1992.
In 1993 media focus shifted to mature content in certain video games like Night Trap for the Sega CD add-on. Midway's Mortal Kombat became the year's most controversial game ported by Acclaim Entertainment. Nintendo replaced blood with sweat while Sega instituted America's first ratings system the Videogame Rating Council. Executive vice president Howard Lincoln pointed out at hearings that Night Trap had no such rating. Senator Joe Lieberman called for another hearing in February 1994 leading to the formation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
The 32X was designed as a stopgap bridge between the Genesis and Saturn announced for November 1994. At the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1994 research head Joe Miller took a phone call from Nakayama stressing the importance of responding quickly to the Atari Jaguar. The team decided to expand power with two 32-bit SuperH-2 processors developed jointly with Hitachi in 1993. Demand among retailers was high yet Sega could not keep up orders for the system.
More than 1,000,000 orders had been placed but only 600,000 units shipped by January 1995. Prices dropped to $100 and cleared out stores at $70 after the Saturn released on the 11th of May 1995 four months earlier than intended. Both add-ons were officially discontinued in 1996 creating consumer confusion due to hardware fragmentation.
Sega sold 30.75 million Genesis units worldwide including 3.58 million in Japan. Sales in Europe and the U.S. are roughly estimated at 8 million and 18 to 18.5 million as of June 1997 when manufacturing ceased. In 1995 the console captured 43% of the dollar share of the U.S. video game market while claiming to have sold more than two million units that year alone. Kalinske estimated they could have sold another 300,000 systems in November and December.
Nintendo concentrated
translated from a 1996 Chinese original. It was the first commercial Genesis game release in North America since 1998. WaterMelon released Pier Solar and the Great Architects in December 2010 which became the biggest 16-bit game ever produced at 64 Mb. In 2017 independent programmer Future Driver developed Fix-It Felix Jr. inspired by Wreck-It Ralph.
Sega announced a dedicated console called the Genesis Mini on the 22nd of May 2018. The unit included 40 games including Gunstar Heroes and Castlevania: Bloodlines with different titles for regions. Streets of Rage composer Yuzo Koshiro provided menu music. The console released worldwide on the 19th of September 2019 featuring save-anywhere functions.
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Common questions
When was the Sega Genesis released in Japan?
Sega released the Mega Drive, known as the Sega Genesis in North America, on the 29th of October 1988. This launch occurred just one week before Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. 3.
Who designed the appearance of the Sega Genesis console?
Mitsushige Shiraiwa designed the appearance of the Mega Drive with inspiration from audiophile equipment and automobiles. He intended to create a more mature look targeting all ages rather than children.
How many Sega Genesis units were sold worldwide by June 1997?
Sega sold 30.75 million Genesis units worldwide including 3.58 million in Japan. Sales in Europe and the U.S. are roughly estimated at 8 million and 18 to 18.5 million respectively when manufacturing ceased in June 1997.
What year did the Entertainment Software Rating Board form after hearings involving Night Trap?
Senator Joe Lieberman called for another hearing in February 1994 which led to the formation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board. This followed media focus on mature content in games like Night Trap for the Sega CD add-on.
When was the Sega Genesis Mini announced and when did it release worldwide?
Sega announced the dedicated console called the Genesis Mini on the 22nd of May 2018. The unit released worldwide on the 19th of September 2019 featuring save-anywhere functions.