Mega Drive



"Genesis does what Nintendon't."

The Sega Mega Drive (called Sega Genesis in the US for legal reasons) is long known as the SNES' rival. It's not as powerful in video and audio output as SNES, but a number of games had faster flowing action in terms of processing power (blast processing wasn't all bullshit), AND it offers backwards compatibility with the Master System (but you can't run SG-1000 games even though they are compatible with Master System). Because of differences in cartridge shape you need Power Base Converter but some of the games still need Master System gamepad to work properly. Mega Drive also has two other add-ons, the Mega-CD and 32X for extra power that does make it arguably stronger than the SNES (well, when the games are done well). Get an early model 1 for cleaner audio, a head-phone jack, and maybe a Game Genie so you can get around the region protection. Also, like other early consoles, the PAL version has lowered frame rate; though with a little know-how, you can modify it to flow as fast as an NTSC. For Genesis/Mega Drive gaming on the go, check out the Nomad (made by SEGA), GenMobile (smaller, lighter, cheaper, and better battery life), or Gopher (digital-based version of the former; takes SD cards).