Genesis / Megadrive
Sega made a good attempt with their Master System against Nintendo's virtual monopoly of the console industry, but they were about to introduce next generation gaming to the masses.
After two years of development the Sega Megadrive was released in Japan in October
of 1988, and was the first true 16-bit console to enter the console market. The Megadrive achieved moderate success in Japan after being beat to the market by NEC's PC Engine
(Turbografx) ( released only four months earlier). Sega had a lot of hits in the arcade such as After Burner and Golden Axe, and part of the appeal of the Megadrive was that now these games were not only playable at home, but were fairly close to the arcade versions.
Once again Sega set their sites on the rest of the console playing world. Sega began an aggressive marketing campaign, not only to customers, but also to developers. They quickly gained the support of western third party developer Electronic Arts, and quickly produced a line-up of quality arcade conversions and killer sports games (Games that appeal more to American
gamers).
The Sega Genesis was released in America in September 1989. By the end of 1990 there were over 30 third-party developers writing games for the new
system. The Sega Genesis reached a great level of success in America, but launched the system to all new heights of popularity when they released a secret project in the summer of 1992. Sonic the Hedgehog pushed the Genesis to the limit with spectacular graphics, animation,
sound, and incredible speed. Sonic also became the official mascot and icon for Sega, and became part of marketing campaign to compete against Nintendo's soon to be released console which contained a slower processor (Sega dubbed the techniques used in Sonic as "Blast Processing").
Genesis saw many changes over the years. The console was remodeled in
1994, and offered a sleeker / smaller case, and a reduced price (At the
expense of the head phone jack and volume control). In 1998, Majesco
reserved the rights to manufacture certain Sega systems. They decided to
redesign the Genesis yet again. The Genesis 3 was released in the US for
under $50. It was made even smaller, but lacked the ability to interface
with Sega CD and 32X.
 FACT: Over the years the Genesis / Megadrive became the center point to many upgrades and add ons. The Powerbase converter allowed Master System games to be played on the Genesis. It bypassed the main 68000 processor in the Genesis and used the Z80 sound processor to run the original Master System code. While rumors circulated of a Game Gear to Genesis converter, it never made it past the prototype stage. Others served as upgrades namely the Sega CD and 32X which will be discussed later on.
Between 1993 - 1994, 3D gaming was growing in popularity. Sega's rival Nintendo
collaborated with another company to develop a chip that could enhance games with 3D polygon abilities (the Super FX chip). Not to be outdone Sega teamed up with Hitachi to create the 'Sega Virtual Processor'. The SVP chip was primarily designed for Sega's 3D arcade titles, but one game was released for the Genesis with the chip installed in the cart. In 1994 "Virtua Racing" was released and retailed for $90-$100USD.
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