Sega CD
Sega CD Specifications
| Manufacturer: | Sega |
| Developer: | Sega |
| CPU: | MC68000 @ 12.5 MHz |
| Memory: | 4 Mbit |
| Graphics: | Custom ASIC |
| Sound: | Ricoh RF5C164 |
| Medium: | Disc |
| Display: | 320 × 224 |
| Controllers: | 2 |
The Mega-CD is an add-on device for the Mega Drive video game console, designed and produced by Sega and released in Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The device was also released in North America under the name Sega CD, for the Sega Genesis. The device adds a CD-ROM drive to the console, allowing the user to play CD-based games and providing additional hardware functionality. It can also play audio CDs and CD+G discs.
The development of the Mega-CD was confidential; game developers were not made aware of what exactly they were working on until the add-on was finally revealed at the Tokyo Toy Show in Japan. The Mega-CD was designed to compete with the PC Engine CD (TurboGrafx-16 CD) in Japan, which had a separate CD-ROM drive.
The first version of the Mega-CD sits underneath the Mega Drive console and loads CDs via a motorized tray. A second version places a top-loading CD-ROM drive to the right of the console and is intended primarily for use with the redesigned Sega Mega Drive 2. Both versions of the Mega-CD are compatible with the initial two versions of the Mega Drive console, but not with the Mega Drive 3 or Genesis 3.
The main benefit of CD technology at the time was greater storage; CDs offered approximately 160 times more space than Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges. This benefit manifested as full-motion video (FMV) games such as the controversial Night Trap, which became a focus of the 1993 congressional hearings on issues of video game violence and ratings.
The Sega CD game library features acclaimed games such as Sonic CD, Lunar: The Silver Star, Lunar: Eternal Blue, Popful Mail, and Snatcher, but also many Genesis ports and poorly received FMV games. Only 2.24 million Sega CD units were sold, after which Sega discontinued it to focus on the Sega Saturn. Retrospective reception has been mixed, with praise for some games and functions, but criticism for its lack of deep games and its high price. Sega's poor support for the Sega CD has been criticized as the beginning of the devaluation of its brand.
Latest on Sega CD
Yumimi Mix
Yumimi Mix (ゆみみみっくす) is an adventure game for the Sega Mega-CD. It was only released in Japan, and was re-released on the Sega Saturn as Yumimi Mix Re...
WWF Rage in the Cage
WWF Rage in the Cage lets players choose from thirty WWF Superstars including The Undertaker, Yokozuna, Bret Hart, Bam Bam Bigelow, Shawn Michaels, Ra...
World Cup USA 94
World Cup USA 94 is a top-down football (soccer) game recreating the namesake tournament. Beside the 24 teams who qualified for the actual World Cup, ...
Wondermega Collection
Wondermega Collection (ワンダーメガ コレクション) is a sample disc bundled with Japanese Wondermega consoles. It contains four CD+G karaoke songs and Battle Fight...
Wonder Dog
Cartoon-quality animation brings to life Wonder Dog's narrow escape from the invading Pitbully Space Armada on his home planet of K-9. In Bunny Hop Me...
Wolfchild
The world's most renowned biogenetic scientist has been kidnapped and brainwashed into creating an army of bloodthirsty mutant warriors. Suddenly t...
Wirehead
Wirehead has the player controlling Ned Hubbard, a man with a wireless controller implanted in his brain, via the joypad. The bad guys are chasing ...
Wild Woody
An adventurer named Dusty returns home with an enchanted Totem Pole. Due to an assortment of rare events, the spirits of the Totem have been freed and...
Warau Salesman
It's a point-and-click adventure game released only in Japan tying into a media series by Fujiko Fujio A.
Vay
It came from space more than a millenium before. Two-tons of advanced technology, programmed only for destruction. The five mightiest wizards of the l...