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 with an adapter, and 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).

Sega Mega CD


Known as Sega CD in the US, this was not just a CD drive for the Mega Drive: it added a faster CPU, new graphics and audio processors, and more RAM. All this power was mostly wasted on interactive video shovelware; nonetheless, this system had a good number of quality games. It could also be combined with the 32X to form a behemoth of a system for which only six (terrible) games were made.

PROTIP: as the Mega-CD was released long before CD burners became popular, it has no copy protection system. Still, the games are region-locked, and it takes modding or a special cart to bypass that.

Sega 32X


The short-lived 32X add-on for the Mega Drive was a huge blunder for Sega. It was meant as a stopgap system, something to give players a taste of the future (polygon graphics n' stuff) before the 5th generation came out. Trouble is, there was no gap: in Japan, it came out a few days after the Saturn and the PlayStation. In the USA, nobody was impressed either, as it came out a full year after the 3DO and the Jaguar. It was soon discontinued, ending up with a pitiful library of 34 games, only a few worth getting. It could also be combined with the Mega-CD for a monster of a system with six games, none worth much attention.