Difference between revisions of "Mega Drive consoles in North America"
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Revision as of 07:27, 23 January 2011
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The Sega Mega Drive debuted in North America on January 9, 1989. Due to trademark issues, it was renamed the "Sega Genesis", and has always operated under this name under this region.
In the US, the console was distributed by Sega between 1989 and 1998. It was then passed to Majesco, who kept the system alive for an extra year before it was shelved. In Canada, the Mega Drive was distributed by Irwin Toy in its early years, however Sega inevitably took back the distribution rights when the console proved successful. Many Canadian units and games were imported from the US.
All North American units output an NTSC signal.
Contents
United States
Genesis (with Altered Beast)
The first release of the Genesis console. Step one for Sega was to try and prove a 16-bit console was better than an 8-bit one, so the system was bundled with the arcade conversion of Altered Beast.
Front of box
Back of box
Genesis II: The Core System
In 1998 Majesco were given the rights to distribute older Sega consoles in the region. They gave all their systems a slight touch up, and can be visually identified by the use of the term "The Core System" on the front (and also because all manufacturing was done in Mexico). Otherwise, this is a standard Genesis II with no pack-in games.
- SGen2Majesco US Box Front.jpg
Front of box
Genesis 3
- Main Article: Genesis 3
Majesco also made a cut-down version of the console, titled the Genesis 3. The smaller shell and PCB made it incompatible with many of the add-ons and as it was released so late, it failed to sell well.