Japanese computer and video games manufacturer Sega has had several forays into the field of video game consoles.
Their first, the 1987 Sega Master System, was an 8-bit cartridge and card based machine. It went through several earlier forms in Japan before settling on a crimson-and-black colour scheme for its worldwide release. Later as the Master System II it was a sleeker all-black affair. The system sold very well in Europe (especially France and Britain) and was so popular in Brazil that it is still in production there. It did less well in America and Japan however, partly because most third party software developers were tied into exclusive contracts with rival console makers Nintendo for most of the life of the Master System.
The second Sega, the 1989 Megadrive, represented the height of Sega's fame and fortune. Known as the Genesis in the US, it was the first truly 16-bit console on the market, and filled the gap caused by the perpetually delayed release of Nintendo's 16-bitter, the SNES. The launch of an acclaimed new game, 'Sonic The Hedgehog' gave Sega an immensely popular mascot to beat Nintendo's Mario, and the Megadrive became the dominant new console. Technology eventually moved on however. Several add-on upgrades that tried to prolong the life of the Megadrive such as the Mega CD and 32X never caught on and received little software support.
In 1992, to compete with Nintendo's Gameboy, Sega released what was basically a portable version of the Master System, called the Game Gear. It used a backlit colour LCD screen, which meant it ate batteries several times faster than the non-backlit black and white Gameboy, and was pretty much useless for the portable gameplay market it was targetted at. The Game Gear flopped and died, although it enjoyed a large number of titles ported from the Master System. A similar story happened in 1994 with the much more low key release of a portable Megadrive called the Nomad. The battery life was just as short, and it too died.
Sega console number three, the fully 32-bit Saturn, was the beginning of the end for Sega as a console manufacturer. It was launched in late 1994 just before the first Sony Playstation. However, the Saturn's poorer selection of launch titles, its much higher price tag and its distribution problems meant the Playstation became the new console of choice worldwide. Game developers found the Saturn hard to program for. There was, notably, no Sonic the Hedgehog title for the Saturn. The 3-D version of Sonic in production was killed off as similar games on the Playstation were judged to outgun it graphically.
In late 1998, a last ditch grab at the console market was made with the launch of the 128-bit Sega Dreamcast. Much of its sales pitch was concerned with the built-in modem and its emphasis on multi-player gaming, although only a few Dreamcast games allowed such interaction. Delayed until late '99 in the States and Europe, launched with a new Sonic game, the DC didn't catch on immediately and huge debts Sega ran up with the failed Saturn meant it simply couldn't afford to wait very long for Dreamcast to become profitable. It ceased production at the beginning of 2001, and no replacement console was announced. Sega would now just concentrate on software, especially its popular licences such as Sonic The Hedgehog and Phantasy Star. Its games would now appear on the Microsoft X-box, Nintendo Gamecube & Gameboy Advance, and the Sony Playstation 2.
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