Why The Sega Mega CD / Sega CD Failed | Nostalgia Nerd
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- The Sega Mega CD, or Sega CD as it's known in the USA was an upgrade/add-on for the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis which offered CD-ROM capability. Incorporating an additional Motorola 68000 chip, increased memory, and custom graphics and sound processing, the Mega CD was poised to be a massive leap forward in technology for existing Mega Drive owners. However, the additional components meant the unit was simply priced to high for most casual gamers. This, coupled with the delayed launch in Western regions, meant that people simply "made-do" with their existing hardware or waited until something better came along (and I don't mean the 32X). This leaves the Mega CD as an obscure but hugely interesting side note of early-mid 90s technology, and could even be marked as the point where Sega began to falter in their business credentials. Join me in this system review to find out about the Sega CD's history, it's specifications, the games library and what happened at the end of it's short, but intense life.
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Paltree Panic from Sonic CD
Final Fight (Mega CD) Track 3
Beat Your Competition from TH-cam audio library
Take You Home from TH-cam audio library
"CD-ROM was key and everyone knew it was where the future lay"
*Nintendo has left the chat*
*Nero burning rom has entered the chat
However CD-ROM couldn't store saved game data unlike cartridges that could store saved game data.
@@ikonix360 A problem easily solved with a cheap memory card, like Sony Playstation did. So.. so what? Playstation was massively more successful than N64, so what is your argument?
@@HumorousLOL It indeed required a separate memory card.
A cartridge required no such device.
@@ikonix360 Ok? And? I don't understand what you're arguing here. Are you arguing that cartridges were "better" than CD storage because they could save files? Sorry to tell you, if that's the main advantage you claim, you have no idea what you're talking about. The main disadvantages to CD were the fact they couldn't be written to (no save files), and the load times. Everything else was a massive advantage. CD's were much cheaper, thus saved customers money. They had massive storage sizes compared to cartridges at the time vs cost of production. They also had less read issues than cartridges. The fact you bought a memory card once that could save almost all your files for like $15 was such an inconsequential set back that it isn't worth mentioning. The card stays in your console, which is where your games went anyway. Again, what are you arguing here?
It retailed for $699 in Australia. I paid $450 at a Sega staff discount rate at the time. That was still a hefty outlay but as it was a CD player I sold my CD player to help pay for it. Tough times!
$699? That must be over $700 in this year's value.
@@leightonmarsh7835 AUD$1353.24 after inflation in 2021 dollars. Only the richest people I knew or single male bachelor gamers had this…and me but I got it for $90 with NBA Jam, Road Avenger, Yumemi Mystery Mansion and The Terminator on clearance at Kmart late in the game. The 32x was also being cleared out at $20 with one game, I saw the last one walk out the door as I walked in 😭
I remember seeing a model 1 in a glass case in 93 or 94 when I travelled to Sydney. I couldn’t believe it was worth more than 3 Super Nintendos and I wanted to touch it so bad.
@@stoltobot Well, back in the day, the local Big W were getting rid of their backstock, and they were selling 32Xs with two games, for $15AU, and Mega CDs for $30AU with two games! Yet the Mega Drive itself, still cost over $100AU!
I bought my first Sega CD model 2 back around 1996 (used), and while I never really took a shine to the FMV games, I loved the Working Designs releases like Lunar 1 and 2, Popful Mail and Vay. Also games like Snatcher, Earthworm Jim SE, Silpheed and the quality shoot 'em ups like Android Assault, Sol Feace and of course, Sega own Sonic CD.
I later found a Model 1 with a Genny 1 attached at a local thrift for a little over $10, which still works great. Even though my Model 2 bit the dust a few years back, the Model 1 still stands tall.
Don't forget Soulstar....SOULSTAR! And Novastorm...even Rebel Assault and Starblade were decent. Mega-CD has the best space shooters.
The model 1 was so much cooler than the 2 with the motorized door and not looking like a discman.
Wow...you got one fuck of a deal. Well done.
You were wise to skip all that FMV nonsense, it was such a big hype but offered so little gameplay in general. Edit: and look how bad the videos are compared what can be run on a mobile device)
Sega and third parties should have stuck to the formula/genres of the games you mentioned, enhanced graphics when possible, more levels, higher quality music, and cutscenes that don't involve actors.
I feel that that the Sega CD was underutilized in general by developers and publishers, so many ports of 16-bit games with perhaps an additional level, an opening and ending animation, and different music.
I wish that instead the developers made specifically games that made use of the space a CD provides (like some of Core's games) and the extra capabilities of the Sega CD.
It would have cost a developer/publisher more but an extended range of games that can only be played on the Sega CD (not those FMV things and ports) is what could have saved the machine.
Did you BTW also ever get The Terminator CD? That is probably the best Terminator 1 game on the consoles.
Also does your Model 1 still work today? Occasionally I feel very nostalgic and would love to get a Sega 16-bit with a CD and a lot of the games you mentioned, but it is just to expensive.
I had all the Working Designs games until 2003. The Lunar games were better on Sega CD than Playstation.
When asked why there was no color expansion with the Mega CD Sega said that the reason was because it would have been too expensive, but really it was because it was impossible due to their lack of foresight when designing the Mega Drive mainboard.
The thing that prevented this was literally just a few circuit traces left off to save a couple fractions of a penny per unit.
The Mega CD was held back by the fact that the pins on the VDP that allowed expansion of color and video RAM were not connected to the expansion or cartridge port. The VDP allowed the use of external color pallet RAM and could output RAW pixels to an external color encoder and also supported a second 64K bank of VRAM (prototype Mega Drive development units actually had 128K of VRAM) Had these pins been connected then they could have simply added a second bank of shared VRAM in the Mega CD and expansion of the color pallet would have also been possible by the addition of extra color pallet memory and a new color encoder chip in the Mega-CD (this probably would have also required using a video display output on the Mega CD)
As it was, in order to get graphics images from the Mega CD to the Genesis VDP"s memory the images had to be loaded from the Mega CD's memory across to the Mega Drive's system memory and then moved by the Mega Drive's 68000 to the VDP's VRAM. This made utilizing rotation and scaling cumbersome and difficult to program. With a shared block of VRAM the Mega CD's processor could have just written to the shared memory which would have been immediately available to the VDP.
Atomicskull: Hey, thanks for explaining this. Never imagined there was that kind of limitation, let alone to the existing scaling and rotation functions! When Samurai Shodown came out, I was expecting to see the NG scaling, and it was so disappointing to see it hadn't been implemented.
Then why didn't they instead fix that for later revisions of the MD, design the MCD with this in mind and let people trade in or mod their console? It sounds a bit too simple.
Because at the time RAM/ROM was very volatile on the market and originally the Mega drive was going to have twice as much screen RAM. (Check out the PCB board on it). ANYWAYS! Super Nin. could never have been able to do Thunder Hawk.
Would it be possible to fix this today? Say do a homebrew project to reconnect those circuit traces?
Dear God to think of the possibilities if they hadn't been so damned short-sighted!
I have my Sega CD and still love it. Final Fight, Prize Fighter, Eternal Champions, Road Avenger, NHL 94, Snatcher, Lunar, Rise of the Dragon, ...It had some weak titles but overall I'm glad to still have it. Tomcat Alley was impressive too. The only let down for me was WWF Rage in the cage. Great roster of 20 but the lack of tag team and lack of Royal Rumble made the extra wrestlers pointless. Should have been Royal Rumble like Genesis with more wrestlers and added cage match. Instead it was bare bones.
I like Rage in the Cage personally as it feels like a better version of Super WrestleMania with superb presentation.
I thought Rage in the Cage was nice. I will say the full motion video of the wrestlers doing their finishing moves was a nice touch implemented to more imaginative gameplay.
Don't ever sell it. You WILL regret it if you do. I know so because I made that mistake 16 years ago.
what do you do in between load times? Do you go out of town and then come back to your game?
So many English language/console exclusives on this system. Snatcher, Rise of the Dragon, Willy Beamish, Monkey Island, Sonic CD, a decent sequel to Another World, expanded Eternal Champions, a great Port of Flashback, the early Working Designs titles. Nobody really played the Sega CD for this fmv junk, we went for the many quality titles.
Even since I found out what was actually under the hood of the Sega CD I've been a little sad about it's wasted potential. But it probably was just too expensive.
The Mega/Sega CD was criminally underrated. There were amazing games that didn't stand a chance due to the price wall. One could argue that NeoGeo had better chances at selling to home consumers because at least you could try *some* games in arcades.
I think the mindset that the Sega CD was a failure is narrow-minded. To someone playing the games today, it may seem like every game was FMV (they weren't) or that the graphics suck based completely on how FMV games looked which back then, people were blown away that there was FMV at all.
It sold out upon launch, was supported for 4 years, sold 2.25 million units, outdid the sales of TurboGrafx CD, Neo Geo CD, Atari Jaguar CD, Amiga CD32, Pioneer LaserActive, Philips CD-i...COMBINED and some of those were standalone game consoles. It outsold the 3DO by a good amount which was the most similar experience, but again a standalone system not an add-on. It had 209 games with many actual good games and store shelves were always stocked with a good selection.
Nobody I've seen that actually had the Sega CD back in the day has anything but good memories for it. Perhaps it's because sales are being compared to the Genesis/Mega Drive base sales or viewed as a percentage of that which only makes it seem like a failure because of how immensely popular the Genesis/Mega Drive was. It always gets grouped in with the 32x as a failure (the 32X absolutely was) but outsold it 3 to 1 and really would have had nothing to do with Sega's downfall if they had never released the 32x after it.
Sega's view: "it was not a success", voiced by various executives at the time including Sega of Europe president Nick Alexander. I mean I love it, but if the manufacturer deems it a failure, then it probably is
That may be true, but in terms of CD add-ons or even CD based consoles prior to the age of true 3D gaming...which was just a failure all around, it was the most successful and I think it had enough going for it that people who actually forked over the cash for it didn't feel cheated.
kiwisoup I totally agree. I had a Mega CD back in the day and loved it. I still think to this day that Sonic CD is the best Sonic game ever, (and being in the UK meant I had the much cooler soundtrack). I loved the Mega CD ports that were done of Mega Drive games with the better CD music and occationally extra levels (like with Earthworm Jim).
3D gaming kind of sucks, if you ask me. The sega-cd, had it been properly supported could have greatly extended the life of the console and though it was still stuck with 64 colors, greatly increased the capabilities. The 64 colors is probably not even the real problem. The real problem is it doesn't actually have 64 colors. It has 64 colors in the same way the C64 or NES has 16 colors, that is to say, not really. There are all kinds of rules to get around the lack of color ram. Look at EGA or Tandy graphics and you see true 16 color, which actually looks pretty good. You see the Amiga which can display 32 colors which looks as good as SNES in many cases. Sega simply should have put more video ram on the Megadrive. Had they gone with a full 256kB of RAM, they could have handled 256 true colors, that is any given pixel could be 1 of 256 colors. Even a true 64 color scheme (though 256 would have been easier) would have put the Genesis on par with the SNES, which IIRC, had similar rules for color.
The genesis was released before the Snes. Ram was probably more expensive. Also they probably didn't think it needed that many colours or something.
Yet the turbografx/PC-engine's CD-ROM were very popular in japan. Tis a shame that the Mega CD/Sega CD didn't catch on. Compared to the 32X the CD was actually worth it in theory.
+Ian Donaghy The problem was that the software was bad (the American developed FMV games that is) and they didn't localize many Japanese games (which were mostly RPGs). In the US a small garage company published the Lunar games, Vay and Popful Mail which Sega of America and Sega of Europe didn't touch with a ten foot pole while focusing on selling the machine on Sony's crappy FMV games.
The issue is that the Sega CD went through the genesis so it's superior hardware was limited by the genesis.
Now had the genesis gone through the Sega cd, it would have been more popular as the games could have taken full advantage of the superior hardware.
But it was beyond stupid to have something with superior hardware going through something with inferior hardware.
@@ikonix360 it didn't help that both the Sega CD and the 32X had individual power cords, while the CD might be arguable, I see no reason the 32X should've needed a power cord.
@@Oturan20 Perhaps the 32X required more power than the Genesis could provide.
@@Oturan20 The 32X had among other things a double main processor (same as Saturn) so well, since the beginning it wasn't the best idea to make it an add-on (same for Mega-CD).
I think the correct solution for Sega at that time would have been to give the Sega Saturn a cartridge slot, and make it compatible with 32x games. That could have allowed for a smooth transition from one console to the other without alienating fans who only purchased one of them.
Sega should've done this:
Make the CD Add-on
Add a 32 bit graphics chip
Add a second processor for additional graphical oomph
make Sonic CD and sit back as the kids had their minds smashed by true 3D
Push back the Saturn launch date
Make an arcade perfect port of T2 the arcade game (The CD+32X could pull it off)
One mistake, most games were not direct ports from the cartridge version. Earthworm Jim had additional levels and superior graphics with a new soundtrack. Batman was totally different, Dune 2000 was far superior to dune, Road Rash was completely different and superior to all three originals, Eternal Champions featured superior audio and visuals, just like the cleaner meaner Mortal Kombat CD. Games like Lunar, Vay, Sylpheed, Sol Feace, Keio, and Popful Mail defined the sega CD experience that could be had nowhere else. Furthermore, with FMV games, we were able to do something that was only possible in the arcade, like dragons lair and Space ace. It was a place where game makers experimented, snatcher anyone? Pushed boundaries, with Night Trap, Corpse Killer, and many other adult and violent titles. (By the way, there was no link between Sony and Digital Pictures/Hasbro, except possibly UK distribution rights). I am proud to be a launch day owner of the Sega CD, and thought this video was sadly lacking in content and quality. I suppose you actually had to be there in order to understand it. As opposed to getting your information from Wikipedia and using footage of the small handful of games you can afford to buy or burn off the iso zone.
Hands down to Silpheed, that game is the shit. I remember my ass being blown away by the asteroid field of the second level. Not to mention the soundtrack and those cristal clear (for the time) cutscenes and background FMV's. It presented quality light years away from what the SNES and the Super FX could do together. Yet it hurts to see people concentrate on the bad games instead of the things that made the system unique.
But anyway, the Genesis itself suffered this fate, before TH-cam many people had the wrong idea that the SNES was perfect and the Genesis just a pile of shit that got outsold pretty quick :/
Coffee High spot on.
The Road Rash game was just a scaled down PS1/3DO version, a version of this was on PC as well...there were better alternatives out there for that one. I thought the system was an O.K idea, I just wished even at the time that there wouldn't be so many lame ports. I didn't hate it, was just a bit underwhelmed. I should give the system another chance, see what else is out there again.
Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition was also rumored to be coming to Sega CD at one point, that would have sold me to get a Genesis and Sega CD, coming from a Nintendo gamer at the time.
Batman was NOT totally different. It took Konami's SNES driving levels and combined it with their GEN platformer.
I miss access lights on my devices.
The first MegaCD review I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot of them) that makes no technical nor historical mistakes. Thumbs up
The Sega CD gets a lot of flack for some reason, it's got some great stuff going for it. Sonic CD, Silpheed, Bari-Arm/Android Assault are games I managed to grab and they're really fun.
Shining Force CD, that Batman game and that space ship shooter by Core are also some impressive games, along with the Earthworm Jim port.
Maybe it's better in hindsight vs at the time but I always wanted one as a kid. ...Instead I got a Playstation when the chance arose and I guess that was a better option.
Snotnarok sonic CD, great? Laughed out loud. It's the worst 2d sonic to date.
+Haohmaru HL Your opinion, and your opinion alone
Haohmaru HL Sonic CD was the best 2-D sonic imo
AVGN
@@HaohmaruHL Not the worst but not the best.
3:19 I have to say, in the day I was never convinced by CD as a future storage medium because it seemed overkill. In relation to the quantity of data required by the games of the time, it was absolutely colossal. Filling a CD would have required asset production on a ridiculous scale. The other possible use was CD audio, but that had it's own drawbacks... not least of which, an inability of the music to respond to onscreen action, and an inability to use the disc for anything else while music was playing.
And then of course, you had loading times, and an inability to easy store save data.
CD back in the MegaCD era seemed like a solution to problem that nobody was actually experiencing. What made CD come of age was the rise of 3D games and lower production costs.
I love the Mega CD, I don’t know why but it’s always felt special and fascinating, this forgotten little addon with some elusive games that are rarely brought up or ported. Sonic CD especially, I know that game has been ported repeatedly but it just feels magic to play the original version, something about the graphics and the way it feels by comparison. A lot of the best games for the console that didn’t get cartridge versions, and really used the CD to improve the game, are just incredible and I wish there were more of them. Even the games that got improved CD versions could be impressive too when the soundtrack took full advantage of the CD, Ecco for example is already a beautiful game but on the CD you get a beautiful Q-Sound soundtrack, new levels, checkpoints, and gameplay tweaks and fixes. It’s such a fascinating little console and I can’t wait to get one for myself someday, they’re just so shockingly expensive that I can’t justify £200-300 for one when you can get an Xbox 360, PS3, and Dreamcast plus controllers and games for the same price.
_"they’re just so shockingly expensive that I can’t justify £200-300 for one when you can get an Xbox 360, PS3, and Dreamcast plus controllers and games for the same price."_
And, as you know, you can faithfully emulate the hardware and download the ROM images of games you want to play if you're not so concerned about collecting the hardware and software ... and paying the price for the privilege ... if all you want to do is to just experience the games.
It wasn't a complete failure and sold over 2 million units and had a large game Library
Sega CD has one of the best home versions of Mortal Kombat, the DOS CD version is great as well.
ThePowerslave6697 my personal 16 bit version of the game. I think the biggest mistake with this game was they didn't match some of the music up right with the fighting arenas.
Emulation is kind of moot because of MAME, but emulating Sega CD (I have my own proper retail disc I bought in 1995) takes away the load times and suddenly it's amazing. The MK music video was awesome then and has so much nostalgia value now that I would never give it up!
dont know why you dont have more subs? your vids are great!
+Rage Quit87 I'll give you a penny for each additional subscriber you bring here
Lol, I agree with Rage Quit87. Your vids are great. I have a "video" folder in firefox that I open everyday, it has RetrowareTV, cinemassacre, and youtube. That's where I first found your vids. I love these retro hardware reviews. You and LGR should hook up!
One day, I might try and convince LGR to do something, if he has time and the inclination!
Outsold by the CD32 of all things? Ouch.
I LOVED my Sega CD and I still have a CD-X. Still, Sega should have put all their assets in devlopping and marketting a better Saturn than waisting time and ressources in the Sega CD and mostly, the 32X. Maybe they'd still be around in the console market today.
Le Kanraposte sometimes I cry at night thinking of the tragedy of Sega's home consoles.
EXACTLY. The SEGA MEGA-CD and SEGA 32X weren't necessary at all. The former was bottlenecked by the SEGA Mega Drive (Genesis), and the latter only served as a pricey attachment to the aforementioned Mega Drive.
Why get a flawed CD-based system in 1993, when you can get a more polished stand-alone system two years later? A much better use of time, production and resources.
On a more positive, at least SEGA as a company is doing well for themselves. A return to the hardware market someday...
Anto RetroGamer With that logic, why wait a measly 2 years, and just wait 25 and get yourself a PS4? OR wait 50 years and get yourself an XBox9,001?
Seriously, that's what you sound like to sane people.
Ironic that you bring up "logic": could you miss the entire point any more?
Anto RetroGamer Could you? Were you even alive in 1993? The point is, you don't understand technology. If you're always holding out for the thing that's better around the corner, you'll never get to enjoy what's there now.
If people had a console and enjoyed it, then it did it's job. Guess what? I had a Sega CD. I also had a PlayStation when that came out. Was I supposed to twiddle my balls for two years until it did?
Your statement was stupid and now you're asshurt because someone told you like it is. Go cry on the corner, snowflake.
I love the look of the gen 1 Sega CD.
I have the gen 2 and it is hideous! lol
The Sega CDX looks so much better then the gen 2 as well
JP Poole Nah man, I personally like the Model II Mega-CD and the way it's just strapped to the side of your Mega-Drive. Sadly, I have a Mega-Drive Model I, so it wont be compatible with a Model II Mega-CD. The Model I Mega-CD still looks pretty cool though, but I want a Mega-CD Model II... I'm not gonna bother buying a Model II Mega-Drive because it looks uglier than my Model I Mega-Drive, and I don't have enough money for that.
Cdx...best if both worlds.
JP Poole I prefer the Gen 1 model as well, but from a retro perspective the Gen 1 is awful. The CD tray drive always breaks and the CD lens costs 2x more to replace. So I will live with having the version that looks like a toy in exchange for having a functioning piece of tech. The Gen 1 sits on the shelf as more of a show piece to be appreciated.
Model 1 was 100x cooler. The 2 was just a discman :P
@@scottieb1 I totally agree. The gen 1 had a look that fit the model 1 Genesis so well and gave it this awesome early 90's hi-fi system look. Maybe one of my favorite-looking consoles of all time. But the parts in it were trash that will cost you an arm and a leg to keep it functioning today.
I bought one of these in 1994 and had a few games including Earthworm Jim and Double Switch. It was way ahead of it's time to show actual actors and real video footage on a game, but obviously lacked some in game continuity. Over all I loved it at the time and was very impressed by it. I was 19 at the time I bought this!!
EVen today, the MEGA CD looks beautiful with the Megadrive. Damn. :( I want one just for the sake of satisfying my curiosity as I never owned one back in the days. Oh yes. Still today, the SEGA SATURN still has the best built-in Audio CD player. Damn, it was so cool.
I spent most of my childhood glued to a Sega Genesis controller. Some of my best memories are from playing Comix Zone, Zero Tolerance and Mortal Kombat. Never had a Sega CD, by the time I heard of it I had a PlayStation. I honestly wish Sega was still around as a major console power just to give The Big 2 a nice kick in the slats.
I think you nailed it with "performance didn't match expectations". I remember one kid in the neighborhood that had a 32x and Sega CD (and a Saturn later!) and though I was like "oh cool the 32x and CD thing I've always kinda heard about" but was underwhelmed by the results.
I remember the excitement when I first saw the mega cd box on the top shelve in Woolworths. I owned one a few month later and was really impressed by sonic cd, final fight and road avenger. I remember that slipeed(I think that was the name) 3D shooter getting hyped up but then being really disappointed by it, after that I got bored and seem to remember selling up and getting a used 3D0. This is part of my forgotten youth, thanks for the upload.
To me, it seems like Sega's fear of Nintendo drove them to make some really bad judgement calls. By that I mean, Nintendo seemed happy to plod along at their own pace, while Sega was all like "Oh God! We gotta be bigger and badder, or we'll stop existing!"
Spot on. They feared Nintendo like crazy
Ironically, if they'd just contented themselves with making tons of money and building its market, they'd probably still be around as a hardware creator. Sega fell for their own console war propaganda, and it did them in.
Compare, if you will, to modern companies, more concerned with getting rich as opposed to some dick-waving contest.
Sega took chances with hardware. It pushed tech and made life interesting.
Jayson Tutus They didn't push tech all that hard. Most of the Genesis components were off-the-shelf parts. Hence why they used the very familiar controller port, and stock chips. It made producing the machine less expensive though. And they can't really be credited with bringing CD-Rom games to the forefront either. NEC beat them to the punch by about three years.
Nintendo pushed tech too. Only, instead of expensive add-ons, Nintendo focused on developing chips that provided the extra hardware push for textured 3D polygons. It made more sense, since success didn't depend on having millions of customers being willing to plop down another $100+ on an add-on. Instead, they'd only need to spend another $10-$20 for each of the few games that would end up using said technology.
You cannot say the scaling and rotation of the SEGA CD was similar to the one on SuperNES. That is an insult to the sega CD! The Mode 7 on the super nes was a very limited effect unlike the ones on the Sega CD.
Does not matter, it is what you do with it. Even Starfox could be output on SNES.
Julian Taylor
I think a cartridge is part of the package and thus, it is SNES. No need to buy addons, just SNES and the game.
Julian Taylor
Why not? Does a cartridge not hold certain technology in of itself? I remember Super Streetfighter being 32mb's, which was insane and some special technology needed to be implemended, does that mean that the SNES did not output it?
I remember that Sega CD also had sometimes the need for a cartridge next to the cd, is it than not the Sega CD anymore?
Julian Taylor
I think it is a gray line, but I do think it is part of the console because the hardware PERMITS it WITHOUT you having to change the device itself, if a cartridge has the advantage of extra processing power build into it than that IS part of the platform, that IS an advantage of the platform.
The SNES had extra slots on the side of the main connector on the console, so it WAS intentional design.
You do know that many chips have been used within SNES cartridges right? Not only SFX? Even Mariokart had a chip to speed up the Mode 7, so do you see MK too as 'no different that 32X'? An addon game?
Why did Genesis not use chips as often besides Virtua Racing, why was their implementation in cartridges much more expensive and with far lesser results?
The console is ABLE to read this data and process it just as it is capable to read the data of the games itself, and SNES was made to do this, whereas Genesis needed an addon most likely because the hardware did not permit it (as well) otherwise.
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It was SF Alpha btw, thought it was Super SF2, but it was Alpha:
The S-DD1 chip is an ASIC decompressor made by Nintendo for use in some Super Nintendo Entertainment System Game Paks.[2] Designed to handle data compressed by ABS Lossless Entropy Algorithm, a form of arithmetic coding developed by Ricoh, its use is necessary in games where massive amounts of sprite data are compressed with a total design limit of 32-megabits. This data is decompressed dynamically by the S-DD1 and given directly to the picture processing unit.
Julian Taylor
That is an opinion, I believe there is no title on Genesis or even 32X that can fully compete graphically and soundwise with the best titles of SNES. Virtua Racing was very lacking compared to games like Starfox. Only a single track and EXTREMELY expensive because of the hardware limitation of the Genesis. That is why they needed an addon, the 32X in the first place, the Genesis was not build for such a thing.
An addon btw is "A hardware device, such as an expansion card, that is added to a computer to increase its capabilities." Yet in this case it is part of the media. There is nothing added to the SNES itself. You catch my drift right? It is added to the cartridge, not the SNES.
It's a shame Sega didn't design the Mega Drive/Genesis expansion slot with a video pass-through. If they did, this apparent bottleneck wouldn't exist and the Sega/Mega CD could have basically been a 32X with a CD-ROM (if it were designed with beefier specs that is), which would have absolutely blown people away.
The Sega CD is one of my favorite consoles of all time. Yes, at the time I got into the FMV games as well, but beyond those there were absolute gems such as Lunar 1 & 2, Snatcher, Sonic CD, Shining Force and more. But the 16-bit conversions and FMV games stained the system and quickly turned public opinion against it.
I LOVE my Sega CD! It is one of the reasons I am a retro gamer today! I think many new retro gamers have a more open mind towards the system and it really does have some great games.
Sega was too forward thinking, CDs, the Sega Channel, marketing. That's my opinion.
The Sega/Mega CD was a testing bed for many companies....(Sony anyone?) Without SEGA I very much doubt that the tech we have today would be as advanced as it is now.
Agreed.
The Sega Channel caused many cable companies to clean their broadcast signals and its role in the development of high-speed internet, stating. The very fact that you’re enjoying broadband internet right now could well be thanks to SEGA.
I desperately, desperately wanted one of these back when they were new. I begged my mother to buy me one, offering to give up Christmas and birthday presents for the foreseeable future.
I'm so glad she declined to get me one.
xD
Buffoon1980 Ah yes, i begged for a PS1, I had to trade in my N64 and some games to get, it was the greatest day of my life!
Alex Munoz we always seem to get a none gamers perspective on gaming history, I played all of the Mega CD games not just the advertising games and only play them for a short time, I play and complete games and play every type of game, my prospective as a true gamer is so much different, the truth will die with and this will be the history people learn about that is completely made up by people who only looked at the games briefly
I mean, the Sega CD is good, but not good enough to give up all other presents for it.
I did...
I had one of the original Sega CD’s. I used it for music when I worked out and played the games they had, mostly rail shooters it seemed. It was a decent system but it was pretty huge piggybacked on the Genesis.
I miss those days of competition between consoles to be the best. I miss Streets of Rage and Final Fight. Good times.
The Sega CD would've put out more colors, had better bandwidth, and sold much better as a standalone console. People speculated in those days why SEGA of Japan insisted on making it an addon, crippling it's output and success.
My favourite thing about the MegaCD is remixed music in Final Fight which is the best out of any port of that game in my opinion, especially the Subway level music. Great review.
"£750. A huge outlay for tech that hasn't proven itself"
That's scarily close to VR...
I worked at Electronics Boutique when the Sega CD game out. We had so many, many returns and exchanges of these because they were defective. They sorted out the quality issues eventually but it already had a reputation by then.
The model 1, despite looking much cooler, was not as reliable as model 2. It's too bad they didn't do it with a flip-top in the first place, but stretching the already long Genesis 1 out an extra 6 inches made for lots of placement problems.
my friend's older brother got a Sega CD when it just came out and I remember being so impressed the first time I saw Sewer Shark, it blew me away! He also had Willy Beamish and I also thought it was incredible, it was like playing an interactive cartoon. We were so easily impressed back in the day.
Because of videos from guys like AVGN(my favorite TH-camr btw), everyone today mocks these old add-ons, but back then, everyone wanted them. They were just hundreds of dollars and we were, you know, kids...and most kids don't have shit for $, sooo most never got them. I did get to play Sonic CD on the CD and Knuckles Chaotix on the 32X, and they were both unbelievable for the time. If you have the $, these are definitely worth picking up for the more hardcore retro gaming collector.
2.24 million add-on sales a failure ? I leave it up to you. But, the Mega CD library boasts some unique titles : the mindblowing Lunar Eternal Blue, Robo Aleste aka MUSHA in cinemascope, the arcade sweetheart Road Avenger, the mysterious Mansion of Hidden Souls, the groundbreaking Flashback, the most badass Road Rash ever, Theme Park more addictive than ice cream with loads of sugar, the action-packed Demolition Man with Sylverster Stalone in real cutscenes, the cheezy Crime Patrol, the Scorcesian Prize Fighter, the soulful Sonic CD, the hardrock Spiderman with actual anime inside, Ecco the Dolphin in Dolby Stereo sound, the arcade perfect NBA Jam, the spectacular Keio Flying Squadron and so on and so forth. The first CD based system multiplied the 16 bit experience. I love it with a passion.
The Sega CD also had a problem with very little on board data storage. Wanted to save a game like Shining Force, Third World War or Lunar, you were only going to be playing that game for the forseeable future. The problem could be rectified by buying a RAM cart to plug into the Genesis slot, but those were hard to come by and by this point, haven't you already dropped enough money on the thing?
My mom had a Mega CD imported from Japan for my Christmas gift when it first came out. I was blown away with it at first, but the novelty quickly faded. I had Rise of the Robots and Ernest Evans, but were not good games, but had impressive FMV for the time. Sega did the right thing with adding the sprite scaling and rotation chip and the extra CPU, etc. but they should have addressed the color limitations of the Genesis with another VDP chip. If they would have given the system 15 or 16 bit color with 256 colors on-screen, and maybe an additional background layer or two, ordinary players would be able to SEE the difference in the graphics, and thus justify to themselves the extra expense of the add-on. Of course, doing that would have made the thing even more expensive, which wouldn't have worked either.
Sega CD was the best system ever released. Period. It was the next level of gaming, prior to the horrible misstep of polygonal technology
I got the Sega CD for Christmas in 1992. I was so hopeful for it to succeed, but sadly it was not to be. Luckily I managed to get most of the games on it worth owning in the late 90's when video stores were practically giving their used rental games away. Later gave it to my at-the-time girlfriend when I found a JVC X-Eye at a pawn Shop.
Luckily a pretty easy machine to emulate now. I remember being really interested in this machine, but as a mere 15 year old, there was no way I could get my parents to buy me this. Great video!
I have a JVC X'eye and I absolutely love it. It is the best way to play SegaCD. The SegaCD was capable of quite a lot. The Mortal Kombat port restored the missing animation and sounds to the genesis port. Had the software been better the device would have sold more and the price may have dropped. I think at the time there could have been a market for beefed up arcade ports that were closer to the arcade. Too bad the SegaCD did not increase the color palette the way the 32X did. The video greatly benefited from the extra colors.
Had the Sega CD developers spent more time taking advantage of the hardware scaling and less time worrying about FMV, it might have met with as much success as the PC Engine CD which featured many great games and Arcade ports and felt like an essential part of the Pc Engine.
SNES mode 7 doesn't allow sprite scaling and rotation. It allows the background layer to be scaled and rotated. When you see what appears to be sprite scaling or rotation on the SNES, it is either being done at the software level or through clever use of the background graphics. I have no idea if Super fx type chips were ever used to achieve these effects, though.
***** I'm not surprised that it was used. It's "important" in a retro game trivia way to understand what mode 7 is and isn't, and what is done through other means, such as super FX chips. SNES was designed with cart-based enhancement in mind, while Genesis/Megadrive was designed with expansion units (CD, 32x) in mind.
Kalinske was right, they would have waited a bit and fusion the Mega-CD AND the 32X to make a stand-alone console more accessible than the Saturn, it would have been amazing.
Great video!!! I remember when this came out. I was so upset that it was so expensive, and I only knew one person that owned one. Such a shame because in hindsight it was a good system and had great exclusives. I do find a huge problem with Sega's proclivity to push the FMV videos as the next coming though.
Ok, i love that outro. Windows 3.1 multitasking with the shutdown sound, never heard of until now
I remember looking at the Mega CD in Argos catalogues when I was a young’n and thinking “Wow, it must be amazing to own one of those!”
Man I was PUMPED when I got the 1st gen Mega CD. I loved this machine- man I miss those gaming days :(
This is a very nice review. Style / format reminds me of some uk review to series from the 90s :D
It's never a true failure until it's no longer talked about it's 2017 now and is still a device of topic this day. I love my Nomad but I relish in the fact of owning a Sega Cd next I'll find a copy of Eye of the beholder and dragon's lair.
Mega Cd was awesome,but suffered from lazy ports.
Judging from the Final Fight port,it was as capable as a CPS1 on 2d plus its 3d/scaling capabilities (minus the colours ofcourse).
But ports like Mortal Kombat and VCD games and ofcourse the high price,didnt help it to show its glory.
That model 1 combo does look absolutely GORGEOUS regardless.
Yeah, dunno how old you were back then but as a older teen when this came out it clearly was leaps and bounds above what you claim and proved that disk games were in fact the future no matter how many gaming magazines at the time Nintendo coerced to say that cartridges were forever....
Nelson Aperson so are you saying it shouldn't have failed? or that it showed what the future was, but didn't have the polish. you know there were other cd consoles anyway.
Compact Disk-based add-ons designed to work with pre-existing hardware, was certainly NOT the future, as history has proven...
If I remember it right at the time of the early 90s the industry was pushing FMV as the technology that will change the world of consoles. Sega CD, CDi, 3DO, etc was out there selling the tech but the price was too high and the general public didn't see much difference from standard cart base games.
If you plug every single Megadrive add-on device into the console, that can be plugged into it at the same time, it becomes one of the most ridiculous-looking things ever.
They also forgot about the Game Genie and XBAND, see here i.postimg.cc/4NcwNNbS/Mega-Drive-Stack2.jpg
Snatchers for the Sega CD that was my most memorable experience with the system.
I am so lucky to have witnessed Hideo Kojima's genius in storytelling playing Snatcher as a kid. I very highly recommend playing (or watching) the fan translation of Policenauts for PS1 (not sure if Saturn got an English patch).
SEGA CD Failed? It did what it needed to do. I was on the market 3 years and was well supported. The 32X was a failure.
Pretty accurate overview IMO. I had a Sega CD at the time and quickly found that most of the games were either Genesis ports with CD-quality (but still cheesy) soundtracks and video cutscenes, or FMV games that I ogled at for a while but didn't play for long because the gameplay was lacking. One of my favorite games from the system was The Terminator, which didn't seem like much of a technical accomplishment but was simply a fun game.
The Mega-CD should have been the drive of a standalone system rather than an addon for a system that bottlenecked it.
I got the model 1 mega cd not too long after release? It came with arcade classics and solfeace/cobra command. And at the time really enjoyed it!
Had around 12 games in total for it with my favourite's being sonic cd, Thunder hawk, NHL 94 and final fight cd.
Did enjoy some of the fmv games but they soon become tiresome as they were nothing more than timed button presses. Night trap was the one I enjoyed most.
Ecco the dolphin and jaguar xj220 are another 2 I realy enjoyed on the system.
In the end I started playing the arcade classics disk more than any other game and also used it as a cd player when the one on my stereo system packed in.
Today I just own the Original Megadrive and have collected more games for that, for me the Megadrive cd was a great experience at the time which I enjoyed, but would rather just stick to the megadrive now.
Awesome video. Good topic and even though it's long, very interesting throughout and well produced! Glad I found this video!
I always wanted a Sega CD ever since I was a kid, I finally have one. I know the Sega CD gets allot of hate but I'm going to check it out for myself. IF NOTHING ELSE, as a HUGE sonic fan, I'll give Sonic CD a try.
When unveiled by UK Press, the Sega Mega CD was expected to go on sale here in the UK at around £199...i paid £270 for mine on the official launch day 😬
The MD2+CD2 combi has the advantage of the stereo sound output without external cable. This also gives stereo sound in cartridge games.
I beg your pardon, the super NES super scope was a failure? I loved my super scope. There weren't that many games for it but I loved it way more than the NES blaster. It was more accurate and a lot of fun to use.
Nice rotating shot around the console there (at 12:08). How did you accomplish that?
The fact the Mega CD sold close to 3 million isn’t a failure, very rarely do Add-ons for consoles ever “do well”, the reality of the situation is just because it didn’t sell close to the 40 million of the Mega Drive doesn’t mean it failed, it’s also unrealistic to expect an add-on to sell equally the same
Very rarely do console add-ons sell even a million, if we look at the numbers Sega probably made a couple million on the CD, not including game sales
Now adays the FMV games look terrible but back then for an average kid seeing that you could interact in a close to real life environment was mind breaking, having full CD audio was incredible, cutscenes with audio that weren’t programmed bits moving was also incredible
Mega CD Powetmonger didn't outperform the Cartridge version, it ran slower despite having a faster CPU on the system.
I actually got a model 2 Sega CD when it was released in the States. I had all of 3 games for it... then the sound died and no matter what, I could never get it to work again.
That was the end of that.
Biggest reason why the Sega cd it was only sold to a small market. If it was it's own console it would have been a much much larger market. Have to buy the meds system first then the much more expensive add on. Which was kind of hard when wages sucked in 92
Thanks for the video, but I have a doubt: do you know what's the name (if there's one) of the character that appears at 1:28 (that kind of skull)? I have two Brazillian tectoy posters which depict it but I never knew it was part of its ad campaign.
I wonder: What if they'd kept bolting on new stuff to the old and releasing the resulting device as a new system and relegating the existing one to the budget market?
Instead of being an addon, go straight to the Multi-Mega. CD-ROM drive for the new format, and cartridge slot for backwards compatibility with the Megadrive and Master System. Then instead of the 32X addon, add its guts into the Multi-Mega, giving a system that'll now play new games, plus MegaCD, Megadrive, and Master System games. Keep doing this (perhaps by consolidating the older tech into more complex chips), and not only might Sega still be in the hardware business, but they might be able to boast a legacy of backwards compatibility rivalled only by the PC.
Sega should have made the Mega CD/Sega CD a stand-alone console rather than an add-on.
It's a damn shame that the ASIC graphics chip in the Sega CD couldn't also boost the color palette. That would have been a huge bonus as the color palette was incredibly limiting, specially for FMV. Also a crying shame that more games didn't take advantage of the excellent sprite scaling ability, as they could have ported some of Sega's excellent Super Scaler arcade titles to the system with great effect.
Your stab at the Genesis name made me smile. The Mega Drive is seriously about the most awesome name for a game console you could think of. Genesis always sounded wrong to me.
+Horzuhammer
The most awesome console name is of course still "Vectrex".
The games on the Mega drive wowed people back in the day with its speed, but unfortunately it was let down by the video chip that did not display up to 256 colors. This was more evident later on in the Super Nintendo life.
I freaking LOVE my JVC X'EYE! I also still need to send my Sega CDX out for repairs one of these days.
probably would of been better if they put out more rpg's for the sega cd/mega cd
Yeah the CD was very underutilized. All that space and it was barely used.
Games could have been made so much bigger including RPGs. Instead a lot were either those FMV experiments or ports from the 16-bit.
did the US have any shows similar to Bad Inluence! around the same time? i was only aware of g4 but that was early 2000s.. and always wondered if there was any good video games/electronic themed tv shows in the 80s or 90s i missed out on.
I read in Sega magazine that the mega CD sold 6.6 million units worldwide, with 2.24 million in the U.S, in Europe and UK it sold 1.5 million combined, in Japan it sold 700, 000, in South American it sold 300,000, Australia and New Zealand 150,000 and in South East Asia 45,000. And another 500,000 around the world, by July 1996 the Sega mega CD sold 6.1 million and shipped another 500,000 in the whole world. Altogether 6.6 million units. Wikipedia don't always have the truth because you can put what u want on the site
Why did it fail?
Idiots were waiting for Nintendo to make one.
I wouldn't call Sega CD a failure. It had great games for the most part.. yes it's not as successful as some of the top 20 consoles. But it's not an Amiga or a Virtual Boy. Sega CD is a good console with many great games that still hold up.
Harry Jr. still cracks me when he runs into a wall and just falls over like an old school cartoon character. 😂
30 years ahead and it looks like good old NES with a proper mapper and tool (hello MXM-1 chip!) was capable of everything that SNES+SegaMegaCD been offering 😎
Nice video!
I am missing one about the Neo Geo, it was for me the best console of the time...
What magazine are you showing in those stills?
1) It needed lower entry system cost.
2) It needed more RAM (especially for dedicated VRAM/on screen colors).
3) A dedicated hardware video decoder (for full MPEG-1 decoding).
4) Better software support with less FMV crapware.
Very well put. Great video. I felt the same when I got the Sega Cd. It just didn't feel like it was that much better than the Genesis. My favorite game back then was Batman for it. I hated Sewer Shark and Ring fighter , or whatever that crazy FMV boxing game was. Spiderman was also a blast on the SEGA Cd
I got a Mega CD back in 94 from Comet, and didn't think it was a total failure even back then. Obviously it was nowhere near as successful as the Mega Drive itself as the sales suggest. However I remember being able to buy games easily enough and built up a decent library of relatively good games. I still enjoy firing up Batman Returns, Thunderhawk and even Microcosm! Thanks to lack of copy protection, I can try many others now too.
Step 1: Price. I was alive then. Nobody was going to buy something that didn't have a guarantee of tons of new, amazing games. And, the 32X was a complete failure which did exactly what I'm talking about. It cost too much and had like 6 games. Why buy an expensive "upgrade" when you could get your parents to buy you a brand new next-gen system that will blow it out of the water.
I had a SNES and I wanted a Genesis with Sega CD so bad. In addition to Sewer Shark and Night Trap, I remember a FMV boxing game that was playable at Sears, of all places. It's worth noting that the Sega CD was positioned right next to a Philips CD-i. Yeah, that kiosk felt less like video games and more like a showcase for "multiplayers." Still, it didn't stop me from lusting after the prospect of all the numerous add-ons that the Genesis had. (Of note, I did have the Super Scope 6 for the SNES and that thing didn't receive much support either, so you think I would have learned from Nintendo's relative restraint, but it wasn't until well after the 16-bit era that I really understood it.)