Sega Mega-CD Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
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 will allow 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 Entertainment System outside Japan).
At first, the Mega-CD was a CD tray unit that sat under the console. The Sega Mega-CD 2 was a smaller, cheaper top loading drive that plugged next to the Sega Megadrive.
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2 Models 3 Specifications 4 External Links |
The system sold 100,000 units during the first year of release in Japan. However, cost issues prevented more units from being sold.
The Sega CD had been announced at the Chicago CES on November 1992.
In the end, the Sega CD failed to convice 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 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. Owing to these design flaws, people did not buy any games as they felt that they were not fun.
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. They looked nice on the FMV, but bored people due to limited interaction between the game and the gamer. Had people felt that the quality of the motion video games was better, this plan might had succeeded.
For all this chain of events, the downhill path started in 1993, and ended with the console's death in 1996.
Some European countries (Spain for instance), wouldn't get the original Mega-CD, but the Mega CD 2, which also slowed sales.
(Same as the Megadrive/Genesis. Acts as a coprocessor along with the Genesis CPU. One must note that the Genesis clock speed is slower ( 7.9 MHz)).
Markets
Japan
The Sega Mega-CD was released first in Japan in 1st December 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. United States
Sega of Japan did not speak to Sega of America about their Mega-CD plans for that market until a few months later. Europe
In Europe the Mega-CD was overpriced. It was released in April 1993 in the United Kingdom for £270 (over €400 now ). Only 4% of European Megadrive owners bought a Mega-CD because of its price.
Unlike The Megadrive, which was a very successful console in Europe, only 60,000 of the 70,000 Mega-CD's shipped to Europe were sold by August 1993. Australia
The Australians got their Mega-CD on 19 April, 1993.Models
The following models were released:
Specifications
CPU
Main CPU: Motorola 68000 @ 12.5 MHz.Graphics
RAM
The Mega CD also features sprite enhancement effects such as scaling and rotation, similar to that of the Super Famicom/SNES Mode 7.Storage
(Above specs prior to compression)Bios
| Bios Version | Machine |
| 1.00 | Original Mega CD |
| 2.00 | Mega CD2 (Sega CD2 in North America) |
| 2.05 | Mega CD2 |
| 2.10 | Mega CD2 |
| 2.21 | Sega Mega LD (Japan), Sega Multimega (Europe) (CDX in North America) |
This is an Article on Sega Mega-CD. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Sega Mega-CD Audio
The Mega cd adds 10 extra sound channels to the existing Megadrive Z80 SPU.Other
Dimensions: 301mm x 212.5 x 112.5
Weight: 1.4 kg (3.1 lbs)External Links