Sega Channel

From Sega Retro

(from Andlabs 23:37, 24 July 2011 (CDT): exploring this link kiddo sent me to sega channel website archives: [1]

and this stuff should all be verified too

maybe I should just post on the forum)

Organization

eXcluSIvEs

Just putting these as a list. Not counting games released retail in other countries.

rEgIOn exCLusIvEs

And here let's put region exclusives:

unKNoWn

  • "Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow" [10] what.

...

Seirous Discussion/Questions To Answer Here

[11] "Super League" aka Tommy Lasorda Baseball? - Andlabs 23:37, 24 July 2011 (CDT)

What International Sega Channel versions are documented?

the archived SC's "International" subsection implies the Sega Channel got a much larger degree of worldwide penetration than what's been well-documented. Has anyone found a BIOs cart or a SC Webpage from Germany or Chile or wherever? Did any of these regions get exclusive content akin to Japan?--KiddoCabbusses 23:43, 24 July 2011 (CDT)

Oerg866 and SonicVaan (German natives) said they never saw Sega Channel in Germany - Andlabs 10:18, 27 July 2011 (CDT)
old press releases time
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-17993443.html
http://www.telecompaper.com/news/sega-to-launch-sega-channel
I hear it reached The Netherlands too. From what I gather it was taken off air in late 97/early 98 due to technical issues, but it's a massive challenge to find anything even remotely related to the subject -Black Squirrel 10:58, 27 July 2011 (CDT)
http://www.cbronline.com/news/sega_channel_launched_in_uk 19 June 1996 in the UK -Black Squirrel 11:09, 27 July 2011 (CDT)

To clarify some things...

I do not know if "SEGA CHANNEL 01" and "SEGA CHANNEL 02" fit in with the "Sega Channel Demo Cartridge ###" series. As the dumper described them, they were PCB protos. The Wiki article is also missing any reference to the "GAME GUIDE" ROM, Which incidentally is called "Sega Channel Demo Cartridge #37 - Game Guide 3/18/94".--KiddoCabbusses 15:49, 26 July 2011 (CDT)

Europe

Okay, so I've been digging around a bit

a... game list?

apparently for reasons unknown to man, Sega of Europe decided to use the ESRB rating system for Sega Channel games... and use many NTSC versions. I suspect it's the same for all countries in the region but who honestly knows - it's like they're hiding information here as all Sega Channel references go when the Dreamcast shows up. Those two pages in particular come from the 15th of July 1997 - maybe it's worth checking to see whether the US channel had the same stuff up at the time?

Whereas the US boasted 50 games at $15 a month, in Europe it was 25 games. Because we're cheap.

IN THE UK

The service was provided by Flextech Plc, which at the time was part owned by Tele-Communications International (which played a big role in the service and is missing from the article, as is Time Warner Cable/Communications). The first (and maybe only) cable provider to host the channel was Telewest, which was also hosting other Flextech channels at the time. According to their 1996 corporate brochure thing, Telewest customers were "happy" with the Sega Channel... don't really know what happened after then. First transmissions 19 June 1996. UK charged £10 a month for the 25.

Flextech dished out £1 million on this project, despite being faced with financial troubles. They still exist, but are now part of BSkyB as the LivingTV group making crap for a living. I don't think the Sega Channel ruined them too much since they went on to buy companies in 1999. That might mean it was a success.

The UK was target #1 as at this point we're talking in excess of one million Mega Drive consoles. But then there were apparently technical problems towards the end of 97 and early 98. I don't know the full story because sites want me to register to get old news.

I can't imagine it would have been bought in large numbers. As a Brit, we only had the five terrestrial channels, and the same could be applied to everyone I knew. People didn't bother with cable television - I think I heard stories of people trying it for a month or two but it was always Sky, not Telewest, and I don't think Sky offered this at any point. But it might have been a regional thing.

IN GERMANY

The service was provided by Deutsche Telekom - also owned by TCI.

IN FRANCE

Multithematiques S.A. I don't suspect it lasted long.

IN THE NETHERLANDS

Enico? Apparently nobody cared for it here. Supposedly only 50 subscribers in the first year (really?) out of a planned 500,000 in 1998 and 2,000,000 in 2000.

Elsewhere

  • Shaw Cable in Canada
  • Metropolis Intercom in Chile
  • Cablevisión TCI in Argentina
  • Austar/Galaxy in Australia

Most probably didn't have a website in 1995-1998.

Anyway that's all I can find without going mad so yeah -Black Squirrel 15:55, 27 July 2011 (CDT)


Hang in there; I'm fearing at this point we've reached the limit as to what can possibly be collected about the Sega Channel other than YouTube videos and cart pics :/ (and whatever scraps the Japanese have left of theirs... strange that Sega's archive doesn't mention it; I have two links by normal Japanese folks but I have to find them) Really, there has to be a better way to organize and discuss this raw information than this page (a forum thread will probably be just a more stylized version of this Jenga tower)
From the game list you posted: I can (gladly?) add Europe to Golden Axe III and Pulseman ... Space Harrier? As in, not Space Harrier II?! There's also an archive of that page from February but it's identical so I wonder if there was no rotating catalogue like there was in the US
For various site references, I wonder if my university's database of archives (login required to actually search one, sorry) would have something that would have it? I found a bit of somewhat interesting stuff searching on LexisNexis when Scarred Sun asked me to find something Sonic related around 1991/1992 (for example, a news article talking about the CSK acquisition, a trademark infringement suit Sega brought to Razorsoft, a trademark suit Philip Morris brought to Sega close to 10 years after the infringing content was made (if that one is the one in question; I don't recall which game it was but I think it was that one), and... a detailed timeline of Sega v. Accolade I have to fill in sometime)
For Germany I can try asking Oerg and SonicVann again... and Selbi too
For Argentina I could probably get Sik to track some information down when he comes back. For Australia if eggfan isn't remotely interested I could try getting Flygon involved (maybe roxahris?)
...
In fact, I might as well search those databases to find anything Sega Channel related in the meantime
- Andlabs 17:58, 27 July 2011 (CDT)

Just a note regarding Australia, I don't think Galaxy ever supplied services that were not microwave wireless services (and they went bankrupt around 1998 anyway), Austar is a completely unrelated satellite provider that shares a fair bit of their business with Foxtel, and Foxtel only really came to being with their Cable services around the late 90s. Basically, Australia had no suitable Cable networks until the late 90s, by which point Sega Channel would have been dead. Neighbourhood Cable services also only began around 1997-1998, if you want to list them too. Foxtel and Austar in general also only came to being around the late 90s (earliest I can recall being around 1998).

That said, I still think doc eggfan should be prodded and jabbed about this, he'll know a lot more than me. I was only born in 1992, so, yeah. I'll also prod my father and see what he knows, if I must. :B Flygon 19:50, 28 July 2011 (CDT)

http://www.newgame.ru/catalog/products/cartridges_sega_16_bit_in_russian/chessmaster___%F0%F3%F1%F1%EA%E0%FF_%E2%E5%F0%F1%E8%FF%2C_/
No clue if this "Chessmaster" is the Sega Channel one or the one "Chess (Unl).bin" in GoodGen... - Andlabs 10:47, 11 August 2011 (CDT)


  • "apparently for reasons unknown to man, Sega of Europe decided to use the ESRB rating system for Sega Channel games"

    well yeah, duh. it actually makes a bit of sense; europe never really had a good [universal] video game rating system at this point in time, and the pegi system wouldn't come to fruition until april 2003. --Uno10 (talk) 15:04, 15 October 2013 (CDT)

Europe had ELSPA ratings (European Leisure Software Publishers Association) since 1994 for retail games, two years prior to the launch of the Sega Channel in Europe.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 18:13, 15 October 2013 (CDT)

Some Extra Information

I came across this page while doing some random browsing. Having owned a Sega Channel, I'm going to put down some things I definitely know (or am fairly confident on remembering) here... but it'd be good for other people to confirm things, for sure:

  • The installation cost (at least for my provider) was about $200-250 USD (can't remember the exact amount); this may have changed from provider to provider, though (mine was Adelphia Cable - yes, THAT Adelphia Cable), and from what I remember this was due to the house I lived at at the time needing to have a better line run to the pole. After that it was $15 a month as stated in the article (though I think there may have been a rental fee for the adaptor, too; don't quote me on that though).
  • Super Street Fighter II actually had to be split into two pieces on Sega Channel, each having only about half the characters at a time. The reason for this is simple: The Sega Channel adapters only had 4 MB (32 Megabits) of RAM to hold the game, which was the upper bound on any normal game without any kind of bankswitching. The production cartridge of Super Street Fighter II had 5 MB (40 Megabits) of memory and used such bankswitching. A similar fate befell Sonic 3D Blast; the game ended after about 3-4 levels and gave you a password, which you entered into Part II once loaded to resume the game. I don't think any other games needed such splitting (but I also know it's why there was never a combined Sonic 3 and Knuckles, to the best of my memory).
  • A handful of games I remember or think that I remember, that are not on the current list (I know I could add these, but I got hit in the head a lot a decade ago and would like to see if anyone else remembers these too):
    • Battle Frenzy/Bloodshot, Boogerman, Gemfire, Lethal Enforcers II, Marsupilami, NFL Football 94 Starring Joe Montana, Operation Europe, Star Trek The Next Generation: Echoes From The Past, Taz in Escape from Mars, Taz-Mania, Warrior of Rome 1, World Series Baseball '94 & '95 (definitely)
    • Pit Fighter, Road Rash 1, Streets of Rage 3, ToeJam and Earl 1, Toughman Contest (probably)
    • Duke Nukem 3D (possibly; this only got released in Brazil commercially like Nightmare Circus but I seem to remember it on there), Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
    • Shaq Fu (regrettably)
  • The claim about it not being able to save a game is patently false (there'd be no real reason for RPGs to be on it if it were true). However, the adapters did only hold enough room for a single saved game at a time - playing and saving in any other game would delete whatever your old save was. Not sure what the exact size of the adapter's SRAM for saving was.
  • Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow I think was released as a standalone game only in Europe; I seem to recall it being in the "International" section for some reason. I know it had a US version released on the SNES, which is simply called "Donald Duck in Maui Mallard."

Hopefully this is of help to someone! Then again, since the main article hasn't been updated in a few years, much of this may already be known by now. :p --Dark Pulse (talk) 07:54, 22 June 2013 (CDT)

Sega Channel OST Doubts

hello, what redbook this track that appears in this video,please? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGPLTP_yMjU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGPLTP_yMjU). Thanks for responses.:-):-):-)


eu schedules

[1] [2] [3] [4] todo: check -Black Squirrel (talk) 11:34, 18 February 2016 (CST)

Sega TV...

An interesting tweet... our own docs... and Alan Murphy concept art portfolio at www.artstation.com (Artist: X-Men (Game Gear), X-Men: GamesMaster's Legacy, Taz-Mania, B.O.B, Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin, etc)...--Asagoth (talk) 18:13, 13 June 2020 (EDT)

Sega Channel (UK, Newcastle)

Issue #290 (1996-10-04) of "The List"... Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun, Art of Fighting and Olympic Summer Games... it offers no option for download...--Asagoth (talk) 11:14, 21 June 2020 (EDT)

  1. ↑ File:SegaMagazin DE 43.pdf, page 16
  2. ↑ File:SegaMagazin DE 46.pdf, page 12
  3. ↑ File:SegaMagazin DE 47.pdf, page 17
  4. ↑ File:SegaMagazin DE 48.pdf, page 13
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