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Sega Genesis 1
Catalogue information
LastDodo number
1742869
Area
Video games
Title
Sega Genesis 1
Platform
Publisher
Developer
Genre
Year
1989
General name of game / game collection
Number
Number of players off-line
Number of players on-line
Language
Barcode / EAN / UPC
Product code
Dimensions
Details
The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive is a 16 bit console (Fourth Generation). It was released in Japan (1988), the USA (1989) and finally in Europe in 1990. The name change to ‘Genesis’ in the USA was the result of a legal issue.
De 16 bit Genesis/Mega Drive was introduced years before the 16 bit console of its principal competitor : the Nintendo SNES. Nintendo kept on selling its obsolete NES system and in the early nineties eventually lost its leading position on the video game console market to Sega. The technical superiority of the Genesis/Mega Drive was best demonstrated by the Sonic games, that were specifically designed to make optimal use of the consoles speed.
Later on a slightly modified Genesis 2/Mega Drive 2 was released.
The Genesis 3 was only released in N. America.
During the first half of the nineties, 32 bit and CD-rom based system emerged. Sega tried to prolong the lifetime of the Genesis/Mega Drive by developing two extensions :
- The Sega 32X (ad-on processor)
- The Mega-CD (CD-rom player).
Finally also a semi-portable unit with built-in CD-player was produced : the Sega Multi-Mega (Europe)/Genesis CDX (USA).
The Genesis Nomad was a portable version of the Genesis.