Sega System 1

Sega System 1
Manufacturer: Sega
Release Date RRP Code

The Sega System 1 is an arcade platform introduced by Sega in 1983, based on earlier 1982 prototype hardware. It is a Z80-based platform and the first in the decade-long "System" series of arcade boards.

The System 1 was a relatively popular arcade board for its day, supported not only by Sega, but by Japanese developers Coreland and VIC Tokai between 1983 and 1987. In 1985 it was succeeded by the slightly more powerful Sega System 2 board, though new games were released for both systems concurrently. Many of the System 1's games were ported to the SG-1000 and Sega Master System consoles.

Specifications

System 1

• Board composition: One board
  • Master clock rate: 19.99982 MHz
• Main CPU: Zilog Z80 @ 4 MHz (8/16-bit instructions, 0.58 MIPS)
• Sound CPU: Zilog Z80 @ 4 MHz (8/16-bit instructions, 0.58 MIPS)
• Sound chips: Sega SN76496 @ 4 MHz, Sega SN76496 @ 2 MHz
• Graphics chipset:
  • Sega 315-5011 sprite line comparator
  • Sega 315-5012 sprite generator
  • Sega 315-5049 tilemap chip
• MCU: Intel 8751
• RAM: 82 KB
  • Main: 4 KB
  • Video: 12 KB (4 KB video, 2 KB sprites, 2 KB palette, 4 KB collision)
  • Sound: 2 KB
  • MCU: 64 KB
• Video resolution: 256×224 (active), 640×260 (overscan)
  • Scanlines: 260 (224 active, 36 VBlank)
  • Pixel clock rate: 9.99991 MHz (3.446099 MHz active, 6.55381 MHz HBlank/VBlank)
  • Refresh rate: 60.0952 Hz (VSync)
• Color palette: 4096
  • Colors on screen: 2048
• Sprite plane: Line buffer, double buffering, 32 sprites on screen, 16 colors per sprite, sprite flipping, hardware collision detection
  • Sprite sizes: 8×8 to 256×224 texels
  • Line buffer fillrate: 6.55381 MPixels/s
  • Texels per scanline: 384 (active scanlines) to 640 (VBlank scanlines)
  • Sprites per scanline: 32
• Background planes: 2 tilemap layers (1 static, 1 scrolling), 8×8 tiles
  • Tilemap sizes: 256×256 for both planes

Prototype

Super Locomotive in 1982 ran on prototype arcade hardware that was very similar to the Sega System 1 later released in 1983. Super Locomotive had largely identical specifications, but with the following differences:

• Graphics chipset:
  • Sega 315-5011 sprite line comparator
  • Sega 315-5012 sprite generator
• Video resolution: 248×224 (active), 256×256 (overscan)
  • Pixel clock rate: 4 MHz
  • Refresh rate: 60 Hz
• Color palette: 1568
  • Colors on screen: 768
• Sprite plane:
  • Sprite sizes: 8×8 to 248×224 texels
  • Line buffer fillrate: 4 MPixels/s
  • Texels per scanline: 260

Gallery

• 

  PCB 1

• 

  PCB 2

List of Games

• Super Locomotive (prototype hardware) (1982)
• Regulus (1983)
• Star Jacker (1983)
• Up'n Down (1983)
• Bull Fight (1984)
• Flicky (1984)
• Mister Viking (1984)
• Spatter (1984)
• SWAT (1984)
• Water Match (1984)
• 4D Warriors (1985)
• Choplifter (1985)
• I'm Sorry (1985)
• My Hero (1985)
• Pitfall II (1985)
• Sega Ninja (1985)
• Teddy Boy Blues (1985)
• Brain (1986)
• Gardia (1986)
• Noboranka (1986)
• Rafflesia (1986)
• Wonder Boy (also released on Sega System 2) (1986)
• Wonder Boy Deluxe (1986)
• Block Gal (1987)

References

Sega arcade boards
Originating in arcades
77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 VIC Dual G80 Zaxxon VCO Object System 1 LaserDisc Appoooh Hang-On System 2 System 16 OutRun Gigas X Board Y Board System 24 System 18 System 32 Model 1 Model 2 H1 Board Model 3
Console-based hardware
84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 SG-1000 System E System C Mega-Tech System Mega Play Sega Titan Video NAOMI Hikaru NAOMI 2 Atomiswave System SP Chihiro Triforce
PC-based hardware
05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Lindbergh Europa-R RingEdge RingWide RingEdge 2 Nu Nu 1.1 Nu 2 ALLS