Sega Mega Drive
From Sega Retro
Sega Mega Drive | |||||
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Manufacturer: Sega | |||||
Variants: Mega Drive 2, Genesis 3, Mega Jet, Nomad, Mega Tech, Mega Play, Amstrad Mega PC | |||||
Add-ons: Sega Mega-CD, Sega 32X, Mega Modem, Power Base Converter | |||||
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The Sega Mega Drive (メガドライブ), called the Sega Genesis in North America and Super Gam*Boy (수퍼겜보이) (later Super Aladdin Boy (수퍼알라딘 보이) in South Korea, is a 16-bit video game console developed by Sega in 1988.
The Mega Drive is Sega's third home console, following the SG-1000 (including SG-1000 II) and the Sega Master System (Mark III). It was codenamed the Sega Mark V during development and is part of what is now known as the fourth generation of video game consoles.
The Mega Drive is Sega's most successful video game console, selling over 40 million units worldwide,[1] including more than 20 million in the United States, over 9 million in Western Europe, 3.58 million in Japan, and 3 million in Brazil.[2]
It has a software library consisting of more than one thousand games released for the system in total. As well as competing with Nintendo's Famicom (NES) and later Super Famicom (SNES) for market control, Sega also found itself fighting against NEC's TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine in Japan), SNK's Neo Geo, the Atari Jaguar and numerous home computers in one of the biggest "console wars" of all time.
The Mega Drive would be succeeded by the Sega Saturn (released in 1994), and then the Sega Dreamcast (released in 1998).
Contents
- 1 Hardware
- 1.1 Models
- 1.1.1 Mega Drive
- 1.1.2 Mega Drive 2
- 1.1.3 Genesis 3
- 1.1.4 Portables: Mega Jet and Nomad
- 1.1.5 Arcade hardware: Mega Tech, Mega Play, and the System C
- 1.1.6 Mega-CD combos: JVC Wondermega/X'eye, Pioneer LaserActive, Sega Multi-Mega, and Aiwa Mega CD
- 1.1.7 Computer combinations: Sega Teradrive, Amstrad Mega PC, al-Alamiah units
- 1.1.8 Modern System-on-a-Chip compilations
- 1.2 Cartridges
- 1.1 Models
- 2 Technical specifications
- 3 History
- 4 Games
- 5 Magazine articles
- 6 Promotional material
- 7 Artwork
- 8 References
Hardware
The Mega Drive was envisioned at the next technological step over other video game consoles available at the time. It is a "16-bit" machine, named after its use of a 16-bit CPU (in this case, the Motorola 68000), and was marketed as being superior to popular "8-bit" consoles dominating the market at the time, usually the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) but sometimes its immediate predecessor, the Sega Master System. 16-bit CPUs had been gaining popularity since the mid-80s, were widely used in arcade machines, and were almost expected to be found in new home computers - it was therefore considered logical that the next "generation" of dedicated video game consoles should follow suit.
The Mega Drive builds on technology found in the Master System (and with adaptors, is fully backwards compatible), though as well as upping the technical specifications for more demanding gameplay, sound and graphics, makes a number of cruicial changes to the design of consoles which continue to this day. Firstly it added a third face button, , to the (now ergonomically designed) control pad. The Mega Drive outputs sound in stereo, and makes an attempt to region lock games through software. Also, when utilising the right cables, the Mega Drive is natively able to produce a clearer image than its rivals (on top of its already higher resolution 320x240 display).
All Mega Drives ultilise a top-loading design (as opposed to the cumbersome VCR-style cartridge loading of the Western NES), while having removable controllers (unlike the Famicom). It was designed from day one to allow hardware expansions, and its use of dark plastic means that the "yellowing" of older systems (from bromine-based flame retardants reacting with oxygen) is less of an issue.
Models
- Main article: Mega Drive consoles.
Mega Drive
The original Mega Drive measures 28 cm×21.2 cm×7 cm. The top of the unit is split into two components: a circular emboss with the cartridge slot and a tagline (which was omitted on later versions), and a control panel containing the power and reset buttons and the volume slider for the headphones jack. Audio output through the original model was mono through the A/V port, while the headphone jack was used for stereo sound. A third DE-9 port on the back of the unit provided additional peripheral support, though was removed from later revisions.
Asian, Japanese and South Korean models have a cartridge locking mechanism which prevents cartridges from being removed when the power is on (which is why "Eastern" cartridges, as well as the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge and various others, have a cut-out on their left sides). Later runs included the TradeMark Security System, missing in early builds causing small compatibility issues, despite the feature having been planned early on.
Mega Drive 2
1993 saw this cost-reduced redesign (known as the Mega Drive II in Europe, and not explicitly referred to as anything other than "Genesis" in North America), at 22 cm×21.2 cm×5.9 cm, being introduced internationally. One of the major revisions from the original model was the removal of the headphones jack in favor of stereo output through a redesigned 9-pin A/V port. American and European models used a momentary switch for power while non-western models used a left-right switch. Furthermore, the audio mixing circuitry was modified, resulting in noticeably different quality audio output — here is a page with audio samples, provided by little-scale.
A common myth is that the Mega Drive 2 lacks a Z80 — the truth is that it lacks a Zilog Z80. During the Mega Drive's lifetime, Sega received various off-the-shelf chips from different manufacturers, and sometimes would rebrand chips as their own or make them themselves, which is what happened here (and which is why each Mega Drive has a different manufacturer for its 68000). If the Z80 was missing, most games would have no sound (or not all sound). In later revisions, the Z80 was integrated into a custom ASIC which also incorporated the major chips of the system.
Genesis 3
- Main article: Genesis 3.
The Genesis 3 was a small version manufactured by Majesco in 1998 for the American market, which they had been manufacturing for until then. It is much smaller than its predecessors and lacks all expansions and fixes memory controller bugs — both rendering some games unplayable and the Sega CD and 32X unusable.
Portables: Mega Jet and Nomad
- Main articles: Sega Mega Jet and Sega Nomad.
The Mega Jet and Nomad were portable Mega Drive systems released near the middle/end of the system's lifetime. The Mega Jet, released in 1994, was originally designed for use on JAL airliners but was later released for Japanese consumers. The Mega Jet is a semi-portable system; the system has a built-in controller but requires an external power supply and a TV. The Nomad was a full portable in its own right, having an integrated screen and sound capabilities, in addition to a battery pack.
Arcade hardware: Mega Tech, Mega Play, and the System C
The Mega Drive hardware was adapted for arcade use several times over the course of its life. The Mega Tech and Mega Play allowed arcade operators to provide somewhat modified versions of popular Mega Drive games for arcade play — these systems use special cartridges containing games and players can choose from the games plugged into the system. The System C is a different board built from modified Mega Drive hardware, boasting improved color abilities and (in later revisions known collectively as the System C2) improved sample playback. The System C was primarily home to puzzle games — Columns and Puyo Puyo were released on this hardware.
Data East is also known to have licensed Mega Drive hardware for an arcade version of High Seas Havoc; not much is known about this board.
Mega-CD combos: JVC Wondermega/X'eye, Pioneer LaserActive, Sega Multi-Mega, and Aiwa Mega CD
- Main articles: Wondermega, LaserActive, Sega Multi-Mega, Aiwa Mega CD.
Combination Mega Drive/Mega-CD units were developed over the course of the Mega-CD's lifetime. The Wondermega and LaserActive are standalone consoles; the LaserActive also plays LaserDiscs. The Multi-Mega is a portable audio CD player that can play Mega Drive and Mega-CD games when plugged in to wall power and a TV. The Aiwa Mega CD is a Mega Drive/Mega-CD packed into Aiwa's consumer-level portable CD stereos.
Computer combinations: Sega Teradrive, Amstrad Mega PC, al-Alamiah units
- Main articles: Sega Teradrive, Amstrad Mega PC, Al-Alamiah AX-660, Al-Alamiah AX-990.
The Teradrive and Mega PC are combination Mega Drive/IBM-compatible PCs made for the Japanese and UK markets, respectively. The three Al-Alamiah computers are combination Mega Drive/MSX computers for the Arabic market.
Modern System-on-a-Chip compilations
A variety of companies now make licensed system-on-a-chip units in a variety of fashions that contain single-chip Mega Drive implementations and several licensed ROM images. TecToy-made SoaCs also contain several "new" MD games, however these are believed to be — and likely are — Java 2 Mobile Edition games running on additional hardware. For a full list of SoaCs, see the template at the bottom of the page.
Cartridges
- Main article: Sega Mega Drive cartridges.
Technical specifications
- System master clock rate: 53.693175 MHz (NTSC), 53.203424 MHz (PAL) [3]
- Master clock cycles per frame: 896,040 (NTSC), 1,067,040 (PAL)
- Master clock cycles per scanline: 3420 [4]
Processors
- Main CPU: Motorola 68000
- Clock rate: 7.6705 MHz (NTSC), 7.61 MHz (PAL)
- The 68000 has a 24‑bit address space, allowing access to up to 16 MB of memory. Sega's memory map for the Mega Drive allowed games to be up to 4 MB without the use of a memory mapper; games that tried to go up to 10 MB would find their memory maps crushed by the Sega CD (which took the second 4 MB block) and Sega 32X (which took 2 MB of the third 4 MB block). All devices are memory mapped.
- Games using save memory also needed to have the memory in the cartridge map; larger games, such as Phantasy Star IV, used a mapper to swap out cart space for SRAM during a save.
- Instruction set: 16‑bit and 32‑bit CISC instructions
- Bus width: 16‑bit [5]
- Sound CPU: Zilog Z80
- Clock rate: 3.58 MHz (NTSC), 3.55 MHz (PAL)
- Some games did not use the Z80, other games used it only for sample playback, but most used it for sound processing
- 8 KB program RAM which the 68000 and the Z80 can freely write to (though the 68000 must request the Z80 bus)
- Can access 32 KB of the 68000 memory map at once (while it should be used for accessing the cartridge, setting the bank register elsewhere can work on some hardware)
- Instruction set: 8‑bit and 16‑bit instructions
- Bus width: 8‑bit
- CPU instruction performance: 1.8614 MIPS (NTSC), 1.8466 MIPS (PAL) [6]
- 68000 performance: 1.3423 MIPS (NTSC), 1.3318 MIPS (PAL)
- Z80 performance: 0.5191 MIPS (NTSC), 0.5148 MIPS (PAL)
Sound
- FM sound chip: Yamaha YM2612, clocked at the 68000 clock speed (7.6705 MHz in NTSC, 7.61 MHz in PAL)
- 6 channels of FM synthesis, Operator Type‑N
- The third channel can enter a Special Mode, or multifrequency mode, where each individual operator has a different frequency
- The sixth channel can enter a DAC mode where the sound program constantly streams 8‑bit unsigned PCM data to mix directly into the output waveform
- PCM sampling quality: 8‑bit depth, 8–22 kHz sampling rate [7]
- Stereo output capability [8]
- 1 sine wave LFO (low frequency oscillator) channel
- Mapped to the Z80 address space — 68000 must request the Z80 bus to use
- Some Mega Drive 2 systems actually use the core from the chip's CMOS equivalent, the YM3438
- IRQ interrupt capabilities: IRQ2 sound interrupt [9]
- 6 channels of FM synthesis, Operator Type‑N
- PSG sound chip: Sega PSG (SN76496)[10], clocked at the Z80 clock speed (3.58 MHz in NTSC, 3.55 MHz in PAL) and built into the VDP — same as with the Master System
- Based on TI SN76489
- 4 audio channels: Three channels of pure square wave tones, and one noise channel
- The noise channel can play either white noise or "periodic noise" either at one of three preset frequencies or using the frequency of the third tone channel (consequently, that channel will be mute)
- Can be freely accessed by both the 68000 through the VDP and the Z80 through its memory map
- The cartridge connector has two pins which allow stereo sound mixing directly from cart. No game used this, however, but the 32X uses it for its PWM audio
- The Mega Drive 1 has mono audio output from the TV output and stereo output from a built‑in headphone jack, plus a built‑in volume control. Future models drop the headphone jack and do stereo output from the TV output
Graphics
- GPU chipset:
- VDP: Sega 315‑5313 (Yamaha YM7101) [3][11]
- An evolution of the Sega Master System VDP (which is, in turn, an evolution of the TI TMS9918)
- All TMS9918 modes were removed and replaced with several new modes
- Controls background playfields and foreground sprites [12]
- Clock rate: 13.3 MHz
- Pixel clock rate: 6.711648 MHz [13]
- Bus width: 16‑bit
- Memory bus clock rate: 6.711648 MHz
- IRQ interrupt capabilities: IRQ6 VBlank interrupt, IRQ4 H‑Int (Horizontal Interrupt) scanline interrupt [9]
- DMA controller: Capable of DMA, high-speed fills and memory transfers, can transfer data from 68000 address space to VRAM/CRAM/VSRAM during active display and VBlank [14]
- RGB/Composite Video Encoder DAC: Sony CXA1145 (NTSC/PAL)[3][15] / Fujitsu MB3514 (PAL) [11][16]
- Colorburst clock frequency: 3.579545 MHz (NTSC), 4.433618 MHz (PAL) [17]
- VDP: Sega 315‑5313 (Yamaha YM7101) [3][11]
- Screen resolutions:
- Progressive scan resolutions:
- NTSC: 320×224, 256×224
- PAL: 320×224, 256×224, 320×240, 256×240
- Interlaced resolutions:
- Progressive scan resolutions:
- Overscan resolutions:
- Refresh rate: 59.92274 Hz (NTSC), 50.31974 Hz (PAL)
- Maximum frame rate: 59.92274 frames/sec (NTSC), 50.31974 frames/sec (PAL)
- Four graphics layers: two tile planes (just a grid of tiles), "window" tile plane (cannot be transparent), sprite plane
- Tilemap background planes: 2 parallax scrolling planes, with line and row scroll effects per plane (can scroll and overlap rows of tiles)[19], vertical and horizontal line scrolling[20], column scrolling (2 tiles per column), horizontal and vertical tile flipping, 6 tilemap sizes (256x256, 256x512, 256x1024, 512x256, 512x512, 1024x256),[21] 32 bytes per tile,[21] 16 colors per tile
- Background window plane, behind scrolling planes [20]
- Sprite plane: 80 sprites on screen, 20 sprites per scanline, 16 sprite sizes (8×8 to 32×32 pixels),[8] 16 colors per sprite,[22] integer sprite zooming [23] (up to 320x224),[20] definable sprite priorities, 32 bytes per sprite tile,[12] sprite flipping, virtual 512×512 sprite space [24]
- Note: Priorities can be defined between planes. [12]
- Color palette: [25]
- Standard: 512 colors (9-bit RGB)
- Shadow/Highlight mode: 1536 colors
- Colors on screen: [25][19]
- Standard: 61–64 colors
- Shadow/Highlight mode: 183–192 colors
- Mid‑frame palette swap: 75–256 colors (see Blast Processing below)
- Direct color mode: 256–512 colors (see Blast Processing below)
- Colors per pixel: 16 colors (4‑bit) [14]
- Mid‑frame palette swap: 16 colors (4-bit) to 256 colors (8-bit)
- Direct color mode: 256 colors (8-bit) to 512 colors (9-bit)
- Shadow/Highlight mode: Hardware lighting,[25] shadow generation (matching each character's shape),[20] triples color palette and colors on screen, increases colors per tile
- Video RAM: 64.773437 KB (66,328 bytes)
- 64 KB internal VRAM — used to store graphics tiles, mappings for all layers, and horizontal scrolling
- 64 9‑bit words (72 bytes) of internal CRAM — used to store the color palette
- 64 colors split into four 16‑color lines; each tile can be drawn with one of these four color lines
- The first color in each line is transparent and any color of the entire palette can be used as a "background color" (when no pixels are drawn at a location); consequently the Mega Drive can display 61 colors on screen at once (unless raster effects or the Shadow/Highlight modes are used, in which case this number increases depending on the extent used)
- Colors are 9‑bit RGB with 3 bits per color component, allowing for 512 colors
- Shadow/Highlight modes increase color gamut
- 80 bytes internal VSRAM — used for vertical scrolling (10‑bit words, up to 20 different vertical scroll values for each of the two scrolling playfields)[8]
- 640 bytes internal Sprite Attribute Table cache — 8 bytes per sprite [26]
- Other features: Semi‑transparency, FIFO memory circuit design, read/write of one line buffer method for drawing [20]
Blast Processing
The term Blast Processing was primarily a reference to the Mega Drive VDP's powerful DMA controller, which allowed high-speed DMA transfer rates and bandwidth, giving it a faster performance, higher fillrate, higher gameplay resolution, faster scrolling, high frame rate with many moving objects on screen, and programmable capabilities such as mid-frame palette swaps (increasing colors per scanline), direct color mode (increasing colors on screen), scaling and rotation effects, ray casting, bitmap framebuffer, and 3D polygon graphics; the stock Mega Drive hardware (without needing any enhancement chips) could render 3D polygons with a performance comparable to the Super FX enhancement chip [27][28] (itself outperformed by the Mega Drive's optional Sega Virtua Processor enhancement chip).
- VRAM bandwidth: 13.423296 MB/s (see Memory below)
- VDP pixel bandwidth: 3.355824 MB/s, 213.75 bytes (1710 bits) per scanline [29][18]
- DMA transfer bandwidth: 3.21845 MB/s, 205 bytes per scanline
- DMA transfer per frame: 53.71 KB (NTSC), 63.96 KB (PAL)
- DMA transfer per frame during active display: 13.67 KB (NTSC), 24.122 KB (PAL)
- DMA transfer rate during active display: 819.2 KB/s (NTSC),[30] 1.213812 MB/s (PAL)
- CRAM/VSRAM bandwidth: 13.423296 MB/s
- DMA transfer bandwidth: 6.4369 MB/s, 410 bytes per scanline [29]
- DMA transfer per frame: 107.42 KB (NTSC), 127.92 KB (PAL)
- DMA transfer per frame during active display: 27.34 KB (NTSC), 48.244 KB (PAL)
- DMA transfer rate during active display: 1.416812 MB/s (NTSC), 2.427624 MB/s (PAL)
- VDP pixel fillrate: 6.711648 MPixels/s, 427 pixels per scanline
- VRAM write fillrate: 6.4369 MPixels/s, 410 pixels per scanline
- VRAM write fillrate during active display: 1.6384 MPixels/s (NTSC),[30] 2.427624 MPixels/s (PAL)
- Texel fillrate: 115,200 texels (1800× 8×8 tiles) per frame, 6.711648 MTexels/s (NTSC), 5.796834 MTexels/s (PAL)
- Tile fillrate: 1800 tiles per frame,[21] 104,869 tiles/sec (NTSC), 90,575 tiles/sec (PAL)
- Sprite fillrate: 80 sprites per frame, 4793 sprites/sec (NTSC), 4025 sprites/sec (PAL)
- Mid-frame palette swap: Can use DMA to change color while drawing each scanline, sending more data to the VDP and more colors to the video DAC [31][20]
- Colors on screen: 75 colors (Sonic 2) to 256 colors (static images)
- Colors per pixel: 16 colors (4-bit) to 256 colors (8-bit)
- Direct color mode: Can use DMA to reprogram CRAM from a color palette to a direct color display [19]
- Colors on screen: 256 colors (8-bit) to 512 colors (9-bit)
- Colors per pixel: 256 colors (8-bit) to 512 colors (9-bit)
- Resolutions: 160×224, 128×224
- 3D polygon graphics: Capable of 3D polygons with stock Mega Drive hardware (without needing enhancement chips), can use DMA to render bitmap framebuffer (double-buffered) that displays 3D polygons [27][30]
- Geometry transformation: 10,000 vertices/sec, 500 vertices per frame
- Geometry processing: 3333 triangles/sec, 166 triangles per frame
- VRAM transfer rate during active display: 819.2 KB/s (NTSC), 1.024 MB/s (PAL)
- VRAM write fillrate during active display: 1.6384 MPixels/s (NTSC), 2.048 MPixels/s (PAL)
- Bitmap framebuffer resolutions: 256×160, 128×160
- Frame rate: 20 frames/sec (NTSC), 25 frames/sec (PAL)
- Flat-shaded rendering: 750 polygons/sec,[28] 75 polygons per frame [32]
- Texture-mapped rendering: 150 polygons/sec, 15 polygons per frame [33]
- Other DMA programmable capabilities: Scaling and rotation (like Sega X Board and Mode 7),[34][35] ray casting
- Optional cartridge enhancement chip: Sega Virtua Processor (only used in Virtua Racing), enhances Mega Drive's 3D polygon performance to 9000 polygons/sec, along with higher memory, bandwidth, fillrate, framebuffer resolution and frame rate
Memory
Configuration
- System memory buses: [3]
- 16‑bit system bus — 68000 & VDP <‑> Main RAM & Cartridge ROM/RAM
- 8‑bit system bus — Z80 & YM2612 <‑> Audio RAM
- 16‑bit video bus — VDP <‑> VRAM
Bandwidth
- System RAM bandwidth: 26.979913 MB/s (3 buses, 40-bit bus width)
- Main RAM: 10.526314 MB/s (16-bit, 5.263157 MHz)
- VRAM: 13.423296 MB/s (16-bit, 6.711648 MHz)
- Audio RAM: 3.030303 MB/s (8-bit, 3.030303 MHz)
- Cartridge ROM bandwidth: 10 MB/s (most cartridges), 15 MB/s (some cartridges)
- Internal processor bandwidth:
- 68000 internal bus: 15.341 MB/s (NTSC), 15.22 MB/s (PAL)
- Z80 internal bus: 7.16 MB/s (NTSC), 7.1 MB/s (PAL)
- VDP internal RAM cache: 13.423296 MB/s (16-bit, 6.711648 MHz)
Memory map
Start | End | Size | Description |
---|---|---|---|
$000000 | $3FFFFF | $400000 | ROM Cartridge |
$400000 | $7FFFFF | $400000 | Expansion Port Area (used by the Sega CD) |
$800000 | $9FFFFF | $200000 | Unallocated (used by the Sega 32X) |
$A00000 | $A0FFFF | $10000 | Z80 Memory |
$A10000 | $A10FFF | only various meaningful | System registers |
$A11000 | $A11FFF | only $A11100 and $A11200 meaningful | Z80 control (/BUSREQ and /RESET lines) |
$A12000 | $AFFFFF | only several meaningful | Assorted registers |
$B00000 | $BFFFFF | $100000 | Unallocated |
$C00000 | $DFFFFF | $1F; mirrored | VDP |
$E00000 | $FFFFFF | $10000; mirrored | Work RAM (games usually only use the uppermost mirror, at $FF0000) |
Input
- Controller input: Two male DE‑9 controller ports; one female DE‑9 expansion port (early MD1s only)
- Controller ports support two modes: parallel and serial
- Parallel supports 7‑bit bidirectional, with the console setting the direction of each bit.
- Parallel also supports optional active‑low interrupts on the TH line. (mapped to 68000 IRQ 2)
- Serial mode supports up to 4800 bps. (used by the Mega Modem on port 3)
- Expansion port: Used for Sega CD.
- Provides access to /FDC ($A120xx) and /DISK to indicate Sega CD presence.
- Maps Sega CD PRG RAM to $000000 when no cartridge is present, $400000 otherwise.
History
- Main article: History of the Sega Mega Drive.
Games
- Main article: List of Mega Drive games.
Launch titles
Japan
North America
- Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
- Altered Beast
- Last Battle
- Space Harrier II
- Thunder Force II
- Tommy Lasorda Baseball
Europe
- Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
- Altered Beast
- Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf
- Forgotten Worlds
- Ghouls'n Ghosts
- Golden Axe
- Last Battle
- Mystic Defender
- Rambo III
- Revenge of Shinobi
- Space Harrier II
- Super Hang-On
- Super League Baseball
- Super Thunder Blade
- Thunder Force II
- Truxton
- World Cup Italia '90
- Zoom!
Magazine articles
- Main article: Sega Mega Drive/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
Print advertisements
JP (Sonic the Hedgehog bundle)
- MD US PrintAdvert StackUp.jpg
US (4)
- SegaEuropesNo1 SMS MD UK PrintAd.jpg
UK (1991-02)
- MegaDrive100Reasons MD UK PrintAd.jpg
UK (1992-05)
- MDIIVRBundle MD UK PrintAd.jpg
UK (1994-12)
- MD BR PrintAdvert.jpg
BR (1)
- PreciosSega05 MD ES PrintAd 1992-04.jpg
ES (2)
- SegaMegaDrive ES PrintAd 1992-06.jpg
ES (3)
- SegaMegaDrive ES PrintAd 1992-09 01.jpg
ES (4)
- SegaMegaDrive ES PrintAd 1992-09 02.jpg
ES (5)
- SegaMegaDrive ES PrintAd 1992-09 03.jpg
ES (6)
- SegaMegaDrive ES PrintAd 1992-10.jpg
ES (6; variation)
- PacksMegaDrive ES PrintAd 1993-06.jpg
ES (8; variation 2)
- 1994 05 - Mega 7.jpg
ES (12)
- 1994 06 - Mega 7.jpg
ES (12; variation)
also published in:
- VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) #11: "December 1989" (1989-1x-xx)[54]
- Game Players (US) #0106: "Vol. 1 No. 6 December 1989" (1989-1x-xx)[55]
also published in:
- Computer & Video Games (UK) #114: "May 1991" (1991-04-14)[60]
also published in:
- K (IT) #23: "Dicembre 1990" (1990-xx-xx)[66]
- Guida Video Giochi (IT) #16: "Novembre 1990" (1990-1x-xx)[67]
- Guida Video Giochi (IT) #17: "Dicembre 1990" (1990-1x-xx)[68]
also published in:
- Sega Force (SE) #1992-02: "2/92" (1992-11-19)[72]
- Sega Force (SE) #1993-01: "1/93" (1993-01-14)[73]
- Sega Force (SE) #1993-02: "2/93" (1993-03-18)[74]
Retailers
also published in:
- Sega Visions (US) #10: "November/December 1992" (1992-xx-xx)[75]
- Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #bg93: "1993 Video Game Buyer's Guide" (199x-xx-xx)[76]
- Sega Visions (US) #11: "February/March 1993" (199x-xx-xx)[77]
Pamphlets
Television advertisements
JP (Sonic the Hedgehog bundle)
US ("we bring the arcade experience home")
US ("new generation")
US ("Genesis does sports")
UK ("Cyber Razor Cut")
UK ("Cyber Razor Cut" 2)
UK ("Cyber Razor Cut" 4)
UK ("Squeezer")
DE ("Sega TV")
DE (Magnum Set)
NL
AU
KR (Super Gam*Boy)
KR (Super Aladdin Boy)
Artwork
References
- ↑ Interview: Joe Miller (2013-02-07) by Sega-16
- ↑ Fourth generation of video games, Video Game Sales Wiki
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 File:Sega Service Manual - Genesis II - Mega Drive II (PAL) - 001 - June 1993.pdf
- ↑ https://github.com/ekeeke/Genesis-Plus-GX/blob/master/core/system.h
- ↑ http://www.digitpress.com/faq/megadrive.htm
- ↑ Obsolete Microprocessors
- ↑ FM-Drive User Manual
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 File:GenesisTechnicalOverview.pdf
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Genesis (MESS)
- ↑ SN76496 (MAME)
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Mega Drive PCB revisions
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 File:GenesisTechnicalOverview.pdf, page 2
- ↑ https://pineight.com/mw/index.php?title=Dot_clock_rates
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 File:GenesisTechnicalOverview.pdf, page 3
- ↑ File:CXA1145P datasheet.pdf
- ↑ File:MB3514 datasheet.pdf
- ↑ 315-5313 Information
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 File:GenesisTechnicalOverview.pdf, page 14
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Sega Genesis Comparison, Game Pilgrimage
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 How Sega Built the Genesis: Masami Ishikawa Inteview
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 File:GenesisTechnicalOverview.pdf, page 13
- ↑ Sega Programming FAQ (October 18, 1995) (Wayback Machine: 2001-01-14 21:14)
- ↑ Sega Master System VDP Documentation
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Sega Genesis VDP Documentation
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 Sega Genesis VDP Documentation
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Attribute Table VDP: Sprite Attribute Table, Mega Drive Wiki
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 3D math engine, SGDK
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Star Fox 3D Tech Demo on Sega Genesis: Version 2 Using DMA, YouTube
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 File:GenesisTechnicalOverview.pdf, page 45
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Bitmap engine, SGDK
- ↑ The Man Responsible For Sega's Blast Processing Gimmick Is Sorry For Creating "That Ghastly Phrase, Nintendo Life
- ↑ Star Fox Running on Sega Mega Drive/ Sega Genesis, YouTube
- ↑ D Polygonal Texturé - MegaDrive/Genesis (Gasega68k), YouTube
- ↑ Sega Genesis Games That Pushed The Limits of Graphics & Sound, Racket Boy
- ↑ [ ]
- ↑ http://emu-docs.org/Genesis/ssf2.txt
- ↑ htt (Wayback Machine: 2009-02-04 19:02)
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 Second Dimension R&T DxS-GEN24STH-01
- ↑ File:HM65256B datasheet.pdf
- ↑ File:TC51832 datasheet.pdf
- ↑ File:HM53461 datasheet.pdf
- ↑ File:KM424C64 datasheet.pdf
- ↑ File:MB81461 datasheet.pdf
- ↑ File:TMM2063P datasheet.pdf
- ↑ File:UPD4168 datasheet.pdf
- ↑ File:KM6264B datasheet.pdf
- ↑ File:LC3664R datasheet.pdf
- ↑ ROM Part Numbers
- ↑ File:MB834200A datasheet.pdf
- ↑ 50.0 50.1 File:MB838200B datasheet.pdf
- ↑ File:M27C322 datasheet.pdf
- ↑ GamePro, "November 1989" (US; 1989-xx-xx), page 52
- ↑ GamePro, "December 1989" (US; 1989-xx-xx), page 22
- ↑ VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "December 1989" (US; 1989-1x-xx), page 40
- ↑ Game Players, "Vol. 1 No. 6 December 1989" (US; 1989-1x-xx), page 26
- ↑ ACE, "December 1990" (UK; 1990-11-xx), page 108
- ↑ Raze, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-11-29), page 64
- ↑ Raze, "February 1991" (UK; 1990-12-20), page 12
- ↑ Raze, "March 1991" (UK; 1991-01-31), page 12
- ↑ Computer & Video Games, "May 1991" (UK; 1991-04-14), page 67
- ↑ Joystick, "Octobre 1990" (FR; 1990-xx-xx), page 86
- ↑ Joystick, "Juillet/Août 1992" (FR; 1992-0x-xx), page 179
- ↑ Joypad, "Juin 1992" (FR; 1992-05-1x), page 83
- ↑ Joypad, "Juin 1992" (FR; 1992-05-1x), page 163
- ↑ ', "Noviembre 1991" (; 1991-1x-xx), page 28
- ↑ K, "Dicembre 1990" (IT; 1990-xx-xx), page 2
- ↑ Guida Video Giochi, "Novembre 1990" (IT; 1990-1x-xx), page 15
- ↑ Guida Video Giochi, "Dicembre 1990" (IT; 1990-1x-xx), page 9
- ↑ K, "Febbraio 1991" (IT; 199x-xx-xx), page 15
- ↑ K, "Marzo 1991" (IT; 1991-xx-xx), page 64
- ↑ Bestial!, "xxxx xxxx" (PT; 1993-xx-xx), page 32
- ↑ Sega Force, "2/92" (SE; 1992-11-19), page 36
- ↑ Sega Force, "1/93" (SE; 1993-01-14), page 23
- ↑ Sega Force, "2/93" (SE; 1993-03-18), page 17
- ↑ Sega Visions, "November/December 1992" (US; 1992-xx-xx), page 5
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "1993 Video Game Buyer's Guide" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 51
- ↑ Sega Visions, "February/March 1993" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 7
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Pico | Beena |