Sega Mega-CD

Sega Genesis with Sega CD console

The Sega Mega CD (Japanese: メガCD) is an add-on device for the Sega Megadrive released in Europe, Australia and Japan. The North American version is called the Sega CD. The device allowed the user to both play CD audio discs and specially designed game CDs. It can also play CD+G discs.

The development of the Mega CD was top secret; game programmers didn't know what they were designing for until the Mega CD was finally revealed at Tokyo Toy Show in Japan. The Sega Mega CD in Japan was designed to compete with the PC Engine, which had a separate CD-ROM drive. The Sega Mega CD was not meant to compete with the Super Famicom (Super Nintendo outside Japan).

At first, the Mega CD was a CD tray unit that sat under the console. The Sega Mega CD 2 model had a smaller, cheaper top loading drive that would attach beside the Sega Mega Drive.

Markets

Japan

The Sega Mega CD was released first in Japan on December 1st 1991. Its retail price was about ¥49,800. Initially, it was a great success because of the inherent advantages of CDs (high storage capacibility and the low cost of media). The fact that it had a nice RPG catalog also helped.

The system sold 100,000 units during the first year of release in Japan. However, cost issues prevented more units from being sold.

United States

Sega of Japan did not speak to Sega of America about their Mega CD plans for that market until a few months after the Tokyo Toy Show in Japan. The Sega CD was announced at the Chicago CES on November 1992.

In the end, the Sega CD failed to convince American gamers, mostly due to the cost of the console. There just was not enough value for the price. Moreover, the game experience was little improved.

Sound was likely to be better if it included some CD audio tracks, but on the average, conventional games looked the same. Sega wanted to showcase the power of the Sega CD, and so focused on the "FMV" games rather than importing "extended" games that only expanded ordinary games by taking advantage of the extra storage space of the CD media. Sega insisted on licensing and producing primarily "full motion video" games similar to earlier laserdisc games, that were universally panned by game reviewers. The single speed CD drive added load times to all games, and the 64-color graphics and underpowered processor (for video rendering) made these full-motion games look terrible.

Europe

In Europe the Mega CD was highly overpriced. It was released in April 1993 in the United Kingdom for £270. It's userbase was small as only 4% of European Mega Drive owners bought a Mega CD. Unlike the Mega Drive, which was a very successful console in Europe, only 60,000 of the 70,000 Mega CDs shipped to Europe were sold by August 1993.

Some European countries (Spain for instance), wouldn't get the original Mega CD at all, but instead would get the upgraded Mega CD 2, which also slowed sales.

Australia

The Australian release for the Mega CD was April 19, 1993.

Models

The following models were released:

Sega Mega CD I (Sega CD I in North America)
Sega Mega CD II (Sega CD II in North America). Redesigned to accomadate the Mega Drive/Genesis II and reduce manufacturing costs.
JVC Wondermega (X'eye in North American release, never released in Europe), this was a all-in one Genesis /Sega CD unit.
Sega Multimega (called Sega CDX in North America). A portable CD player that plays both Mega Drive and Mega CD games. It's identical internally to the Mega Drive model II.
Pioneer LaserActive Sega CD module, an add-on device you could add to a Laseractive Pioneer Laserdisc player.

Technical Specifications

CPU

Main CPU: Motorola 68000 16 bit processor running at 12.5 MHz

(Same as the Mega Drive/Genesis. Acts as a coprocessor along with the Genesis CPU. One must note that the Genesis clock speed is slower (7.67 MHz))

Graphics

Graphics Processor: Custom ASIC
Number of simultaneous colours on screen: 64 (Using programming tricks, this limit is increased to 128 colours via raster effects)
Colours available in Cinepak and TruVideo modes: 128 to 256 colours
Video size from 1/4 to full screen
Advanced compression scheme
Software-based upgrade

RAM

Main RAM: 6 Mbit
PCM samples: 512 Kbit
CD-ROM data cache: 128 Kbit
64 Kbit Internal Backup RAM
1 MBit Memory Card CD BackUp RAM Cart

The Mega CD also features sprite enhancement effects such as scaling and rotation, similar to that of the Super Famicom/SNES Mode 7.

Storage

500 MB CD-ROM discs (equivalent to 62 min of audio data)
1/4 screen B/W footage video: 1.5 to 4 hours
1/4 screen color footage: 45 minutes
CD-ROM drive transfer rate: 150 Kbytes/s (1x)

(Above specs prior to compression)

Bios

Size: 1 Mb
Used for games, CD player, CD+G viewing, karaoke (limited to Japanese systems) and regional lockout
Access time: 800 ms

**Bios Revisions**
Bios Version	Machine
1.00	Original Mega CD
2.00	Mega CD 2 (Sega CD 2 in North America)
2.05	Mega CD 2
2.10	Mega CD 2
2.21	Sega Mega LD (Japan), Sega Multimega (Europe), CDX (North America)

Audio

The Mega CD adds 10 extra sound channels to the existing Mega Drive Z80 SPU.

Sound format: Stereo PCM
Sound channels: 8
Maximum sample rate: 32 KHz (44.1 KHz for CD-DA)
16 bit DAC
8x internal over-sampling digital filter
Frequency Range: 20 Hz - 20 KHz
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: > 900 dB @ 1K
Channel Separation: > 900 dB
Output: RCA stereo Pin Jack x2 (L/R) / SCART cable

Other

Dimensions: 301mm x 212.5 x 112.5
Weight: 1.4 kg (3.1 lbs)

External Links

Console Database - Sega Mega CD/Sega CD
SegaCD.org complete game listing
Sega CD Development Guide By Mask of Destiny.

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