Card Catcher

Card Catcher with box and instructions.

The Card Catcher is a special type of SG-1000 cartridge released in 1985. It acts as a pass-through device for Sega Cards, so that they can be run on compatible hardware that lacks a card slot.

History

The reason for the Card Catcher's existence is due to Sega's experiemnents in Japan during the 1980s. In 1983 Sega released the SG-1000, a console that accepted both SG-1000 and SC-3000 cartidges. In the following year the hardware was revised with the SG-1000 Mark II, which allowed the system to be extended with Sega's then new "Sega Card" add-on. The idea was to distribute smaller SG-1000 games on card rather than on cartridge to reduce production costs. However, no such extension was compatible with the original SG-1000 Model, and so in the following year Sega released the Card Catcher, allowing cards to be played on all SG-1000 systems.

The SG-1000 Mark III improved the internal hardware of the system but remained backwards compatible with SG-1000 and SG-1000 Mark II. It too included a card slot that could run SG-1000 cards, but the improved hardware meant that it could also run "Mark III Cards" - cards that were not compatible with earlier models but were the same physical shape of those that could. When Japan received the redesigned Sega Master System, compatibility was identical to the Mark III.

However, when the Sega Master System hit the western markets, the physical size of Master System cartridges were changed as a form of regional lockout, thus destroying cartridge compatibility with the SG-1000. The card slot, however, remained in-tact, as Sega planned to keep using the same tactic of releasing smaller games on card and bigger games on cartridge.

Towards the latter half of the decade however, all new Master System games were considered too big for cards. Only Sega were supporting the card format, and they too dropped the idea by 1987. This meant that no new games were being released on the card format for any system, and so when the redesigned Master System II was released, the card slot was omitted completely. The original Power Base Converter was the last piece of Sega hardware to contain a card slot.

Compatibility

The Card Catcher has a Japanese-style shell, which means it will only physically fit within a Japanese SG-1000, SG-1000 Mark II, SG-1000 Mark III or Sega Master System unless you have another converter. However, any card from any region can be inserted into the top and played. It is impossible to play a Mark III or SMS card on an SG-1000 system, however it is possible to run SG-1000 cards on a Mark III or SMS. Like the Power Base Converter, it contains no internal components, simply acting as a pass-through port.

Systems that Benefit from a Card Catcher

• SG-1000 (and unlicensed clones)
• SC-3000(H)
• Othello Multivision
• Samsung Gam*Boy II (Korean version of the Master System II)
• Asian Master System II
• Various Asian-style display units

It was only sold in Japan and there is no official western equivalent as the card format was not considered a success.

Gallery

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  Card catcher running a Sega Mark III card.