Mega Play

From Sega Retro

This article is about the arcade system. For the US magazine, see Mega Play (magazine).
Sega Mega Play arcade machine.

The Mega Play is an arcade cabinet which used a JAMMA-based system to run Sega Mega Drive hardware and software. Unlike its predecessor the Mega-Tech, coins increased credits rather than gameplay time, and no Master System games were available. All games were modified to remove cheats and extra lives. Mega-Tech games are not compatible with the Mega Play and vice versa.

Hardware

The Mega Play internals consists of a uncased Genesis PCB, a four-slot multi-cart adapter, two built-in joysticks, and the appropriate coin-op and cart-switching hardware. Mega Play cartridges differ from standard Genesis cartridges in that they contained various encryption techniques and BIOS chips to prevent unscrupulous arcade owners simply swapping in the cheaper retail cartridges. The cartridges were also shaped like standard Japanese Mega Drive cartridges, to prevent them fitting into American and European home consoles.

The Mega Play was designed to be usable as an upgrade for existing Mega-Tech cabinets; since the upper screen was no longer used for displaying information a splitter was included to duplicate the game on both screens.

The multi-cart adaptor used in the Mega Play was later adapted and sold as an accessory for the home console, the "Video Jukebox" or "Mega Play 1010", which plugged into the console's cartridge slot. This version could take ten cartridges at once rather than the arcade version's maximum of four.

Games

There are twelve games known to exist for the Mega Play hardware:

Image gallery


Sega Mega Drive
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EZ Games | LaserActive | Mega Jet | Mega PC | Mega Play | Mega-Tech System | Nomad | Teradrive | Mega Drive Mini | Mega Drive Mini 2
New Mega Drive | Tianli VCD/DVD Players | "Consoles on a chip" | Licensed clones (Magic 2 | Mega Game II | Power Pegasus | Super Bitman)
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Add-ons Game Box | Power Base Converter | Mega-CD | 32X (Mega-CD 32X) | Mega Modem | Demo System DS-16
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Accessories 4 Way Play | Cleaning System | Control Pad Extension Cord | Genesis Speakers | Headset | HeartBeat Catalyst | Microphone | Region converter cartridges | Mega Terminal | Nomad PowerBack | RF Unit (Mega Drive 2) | SCART Cable (Mega Drive 2) | Stereo Audio Video Cable | Team Player | Video Monitor Cable | Third Party Accessories
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Unreleased Edge 16 | Floppy Disk Drive | Mega Play 1010 | Sega VR | Teleplay System | Video Jukebox