Mega Drive Floppy Disk Drive
From Sega Retro
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| Mega Drive Floppy Disk Drive |
|---|
| Made for: Sega Mega Drive |
| Manufacturer: Sega |
The Sega Mega Drive Floppy Disk Drive is an unreleased peripheral for the Sega Mega Drive allowing it to load data from 2-inch[1] floppy disks. It was advertised extensively with earlier shots of the system, though was not put on sale for unknown reasons (presumably due to high piracy). It could be seen as a successor to the Master System Floppy Disk Drive, which also remained unreleased.
The floppy disk drive would have fit into the Mega Drive's expansion port, located on the right hand side of the system. This expansion port would later be used for the Sega Mega-CD, and it is unlikely both could be used in conjunction with each other. Later prototypes had the text "FDD" printed in large golden letters on the top.
Reportedly the drive was co-developed by Sony and was dropped in favour of the Mega-CD in 1990[2]. The use of (then-unseen) 2-inch disks instead of the industry standard 3½-inch disk size may suggest the two were working on a proprietary format, much like rivals Nintendo had produced with the Famicom Disk System.
Though a floppy disk drive would bypass the Mega Drive, one would eventually see a release on the Sega Saturn.
Magazine articles
- Main article: Mega Drive Floppy Disk Drive/Magazine articles.
Gallery
Prototype Mega Drive with Floppy Disk Drive attached
Scan from the January 1989 issue of Beep! showing the unit (and various others).
Mention in Electronic Gaming Monthly #3 (1989-09)
Preview in Raze #1 (November 1990) with "FDD" design.
References