Consoles Sold 5 million
The PC Engine is a video game console first released in Japan by NEC on October 30, 1987. The system was released in late August, 1989 as TurboGrafx-16 for the North American market. A PAL version of the system also saw a very limited release in the UK and continental Europe in 1990 as "Turbografx" (not including the "16" in the title, and uncapitalized "g" in "grafx").
The TurboGrafx-16 was an eight-bit system with a 16-bit graphics chip, capable of displaying 482 colors at once.
The PC Engine was a collaborative effort between Japanese software maker Hudson Soft (which maintains a chip-making division) and NEC. Hudson was looking for financial backing for a game console they had designed, and NEC was looking to get into the lucrative game market. The PC Engine was and is a very small video game console, due primarily to a very efficient three-chip architecture and its use of HuCards, credit-card sized data cartridges. "HuCard" (Hudson Card; also referred to as "TurboChip" in North America) was derived from Hudson Soft. The cards were the size of a credit card (but slightly thicker) and thus were somewhat similar to the card format used by the Sega Master System for budget games. Unlike the Sega Master System (which also supported cartridges), however, the TurboGrafx-16 used HuCards exclusively. TG-16 featured an enhanced MOS Technology 65C02 processor and a custom 16-bit graphics processor, as well as a custom video encoder chip, all designed by Hudson. The HES logo found on the manual of every Japanese game stood for "Hudson Entertainment System".
It was the first console to have an optional CD module, allowing the standard benefits of the CD medium: more storage, cheaper media costs, and redbook audio. The efficient design, backing of many of Japan's major software producers, and the additional CD ROM capabilities gave the PC Engine a very wide variety of software, with several hundred games for both the HuCard and CD formats.
The PC Engine was extremely popular in Japan, beating Nintendo's Famicom in sales soon after its release, with no fewer than twelve systems released from 1987 to 1993. It was capable of up to 482 colors at once in several resolutions, and featured very robust sprite handling abilities. The Hudson-designed chroma encoder delivered a video signal more vibrant and colourful than both the Famicom and the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis and is largely regarded as the equal to Nintendo's Super Famicom, although that system was not released until 1990.
As graphics technology improved, gamers continued to stick to the PC Engine despite its shortcomings. Erotic games were a key factor in making the PC Engine popular, and this popularity was maintained far past the lifespan of a regular video game console. New games were released for the PC Engine up until 1999.
Despite the system's success, it started to lose ground to the Super Famicom. NEC made one final effort to resuscitate the system with the release of the Arcade Card expansion, bringing the total amount of RAM up to a then-massive 2048K; many Arcade Card games were conversions of popular Neo-Geo titles. The additional memory even allowed the system to display pre-rendered 3D polygon graphics well beyond what the competing Super Famicom and Megadrive/Mega-CD could offer. By this time, however, it was too late -- only a relative handful of Arcade Card games were ever produced, and the expansion was never released in the U.S.
The TurboGrafx-16 was the first video game console in North America to have a CD-ROM peripheral (following the pioneering spirit of the PC-Engine CD-ROM add-on in Japan, although the FM Towns Marty was the first console to have a built-in CD-ROM). The TurboGrafx CD debuted at a prohibitive $399.99 (and did not include a pack-in game). Monster Lair (a.k.a. Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair) and Fighting Street (a.k.a. Street Fighter) were the initial TurboGrafx-CD titles. Ys Book I & II soon followed and was instantly recognized as the "must-have" TurboGrafx-CD game (and continues to be highly regarded today). The TurboGrafx-CD catalog grew at a snail's pace compared to the library of TurboChip (HuCard) titles.
The TurboGrafx-CD came packaged in a very large box, 85% of which was filled with protective styrofoam inserts. By some accounts, no other video game console (or peripheral) has been packaged in such an overkill manner. To be fair, though, the TurboGrafx-CD did come with a large plastic "carrying case" that could comfortably hold the TurboGrafx-16 base system, TurboGrafx-CD, all AC adapters, 2–3 controllers, and a few games.
Although the TurboGrafx-CD library was relatively small, North Americans could draw from a wide range of Japanese software since there was no region protection on TG-CD / PC Engine CD-ROM software. Many mail order (and some brick-and-mortar) import stores advertised Japanese PCE CD and HuCard titles in the video game publications of the era.
NOTE: While there was no region-protection on CD games, there were several different CD formats: CD, Super CD (SCD) and, later, Arcade CD (ACD). TurboGrafx-CD, equipped with the original System Card (version 2.01), could play all Japanese and North American CD games. TurboGrafx-CD, equipped with the updated Super System Card (version 3.01), could play all Japanese and North American SCD and CD format games. The Arcade System Cards (for playing Arcade CD titles) were never released in North America.
Rivalry with Nintendo and Sega
In North America, the TurboGrafx-16 was first released in late August of 1989, in New York and Los Angeles. Initially, the TurboGrafx was marketed as a direct competitor to the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and early television ads touted TG-16's superior graphics and sound. These early television ads featured a brief montage of TG-16's launch titles: Blazing Lazers, China Warrior, Vigilante, Alien Crush, etc. Of course, TG-16 was also in direct competition with the Sega Genesis, which had had its own New York/Los Angeles test-market launch two weeks prior, on August 14 (Note: the launch dates can be confusing. Part of the confusion, perhaps, lies in the fact that both TG-16 and the Genesis were first test-marketed in New York and Los Angeles, then given national launches. However, it is known that the Genesis' initial test-launch occurred two weeks prior to TG-16's[1]). The Genesis launch was accompanied by an ad campaign mocking NEC's claim that the TurboGrafx-16 was the first 16-bit console.
Another problem for the TG-16 was its limited hardware. The Genesis only came with one controller, but it provided a port for a second; the TG-16 only had one controller port. Players who wanted to take advantage of the simultaneous multiplayer modes in their games were required to buy, in addition to the necessary extra controllers, the Turbo Tap (an accessory which permitted five controllers to be plugged into the system). Another problem in the battle against the Genesis were the pack-in games (game included with purchase): The Genesis originally came with the impressive arcade translation of Altered Beast (1989), which included big, bold sprites and colors as well as impressive digital sound effects. The TG-16's initial pack-in game was Keith Courage in Alpha Zones (1989), a modest action platform game that did not show off the capabilities of the TG-16 in nearly the same way Altered Beast did for the Genesis (or Super Mario World later did for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System [SNES]).
The Genesis' Japanese counterpart, the Sega Mega Drive, was less popular than the NEC console, the PC Engine. In North America, however, the situation was reversed, and the Genesis is mainly remembered there for its rivalry with the Super Nintendo, not with the TurboGrafx-16.
Both Sega and NEC released CD peripherals (Mega-CD versus Turbo CD), color handhelds (Sega Game Gear versus TurboExpress), and even "TV Tuners" for their respective handheld systems. While Sega outperformed NEC in North America, both companies' peripherals and handhelds were not terribly popular overall.
In 1994, comic book-like ads featuring Johnny Turbo were published by TTi. The ads mocked Sega, in particular the Mega-CD. By this point it was too little too late, the TG-16 had been defeated by the Genesis in the marketplace, which was by then dominated by the battle between the Genesis and the Super Nintendo.
Ironically, many TurboGrafx-16 games are currently planned to be available with the "Virtual Console" option for Nintendo's upcoming console: Wii.
Struggles in North America
Initially, the TurboGrafx-16 sold well in North America, but it generally suffered from a lack of support from third-party software developers and publishers. One reason for this was that many larger software companies such as Konami supported the PC Engine in Japan, but also produced games for Nintendo. Nintendo at the time had engaged in anti-competitive practices that were later ruled illegal, such as enforcing exclusive contracts and punishing developers who developed for more than one system with "chip shortages" around the holiday seasons. As a result of this practice, many developers were compelled to pick the immensely popular NES over the upstart NEC console, resulting in a catch-22 for the TurboGrafx-16 — most developers would only consider taking a risk on the TG-16 if it were more popular, and yet it could not become more popular because only a handful of North American publishers would support it. Accordingly, most of the games published for the TG-16 were produced by NEC and Hudson Soft.
The TurboGrafx-16 was originally marketed by NEC Home Electronics based in Wood Dale, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. As the system's popularity tanked, the platform was handed over to a new company called Turbo Technologies Incorporated (TTI), based in Los Angeles. This company was comprised mainly of former NEC Home Electronics and Hudson Soft employees, and it essentially took over all marketing and first-party software development for the struggling system.
Another reason for the TG-16's lack of success in North America was the system's marketing. NEC of Japan's marketing campaign for the PC Engine was mainly targeted to the largest metropolitan areas in the country. This proved to be quite successful there, but when the same kind of marketing was used in the much larger and more diverse North American market, it resulted in a lack of public awareness outside of the big cities. The TG-16 ended up being far more competitive and popular in certain local markets such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, while in smaller and more spread-out areas, it failed miserably.
By 1991, the Sega Genesis had clearly surpassed the TurboGrafx-16, putting NEC's console in a distant fourth place in the video game market (Nintendo held the #2 and 3 places with the brand new SNES and the aging but still potent NES). NEC, who was relatively new to the market, had an increasingly difficult time convincing consumers who already owned a Sega or Nintendo system to give the TG-16 a try.
Compounding the problem was that the vast majority of the titles that made the system so successful in Japan were produced for the CD-ROM add-on. In the American market, this add-on was difficult to find outside of large cities, and it was widely considered to be overpriced (debuting at nearly $400). TTI tried to address this issue by releasing a combination system called the TurboDuo, as well as dropping the price of the CD add-on to around $150. Unfortunately, at $300, the cost of the TurboDuo was still too steep for most American consumers, even when NEC took the bold step of including seven pack-in titles and a coupon book with the system. Despite all these efforts, the company failed to attract much of a mainstream audience.
Many of the CD games for the Turbo platform were innovative and well-received, but the cost of the add-on system was a strong deterrent to buyers, especially when the competition sold for considerably less. Some Japanese games, such as Demon Castle Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys, Far East of Eden 2 and Snatcher, never made it to North American shelves.
In the handheld market, the TurboExpress further suffered from short battery life, a hefty price tag, and a large number of units that were missing pixels in their displays (due mainly to the fact that TFT LCD manufacturing technology was still in its infancy at the time).
Today, the TurboGrafx-16 is mainly known for its much-vaunted shoot 'em ups, its competition with the Sega Genesis, advertising flop Johnny Turbo, and the Bonk games. After the system died, NEC decided to concentrate on the Japanese market, where it had had much more success.
In 1994 NEC released a new console, the Japan-only PC-FX, a 32-bit system with a tower-like design; it enjoyed a small but steady stream of games until 1998, when NEC finally abandoned the video games industry. NEC would then partner with former rival Sega, providing a version of its PowerVR 2 Chipset for the Sega Dreamcast.
There is a niche collector's market for TurboGrafx games and Japanese imports, mainly centered around the system's many arcade ports of shooters. Spurring this interest is the fact that Turbo ports from the arcade tended to be closer to the original than Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive or NES versions, in terms of graphics and sound. Hudson Soft also released some shooters which were exclusive to the Turbo, such as Super Air Zonk, Gate of Thunder, Soldier Blade, Super Star Soldier, Star Parodia (Japan). The most famous North American shooter is probably Blazing Lazers (Gunhead in Japan) and was featured in all of the early television ads.
After the demise of TTi, Turbo Zone Direct (TZD), mail-order company, became the de facto source for new TG-16 / Duo hardware, accessories and software.
The brief "Johnny Turbo" series of advertisements have become part of gaming's pop culture. Many folks without direct experience with TG-16 consoles or its games have heard of the infamous "Johnny Turbo".
Many PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 games will be available for download on Wii's Virtual Console download service, according to Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata. Not all games will be available; only some titles (mostly a "best hits" approach) will be selected. The number of games selected is still unknown.
Friday, August 25, 2006
teh sNEs <--- Not Coolest console ever
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. In Japan it is known as the Super Famicom (Super Family Computer). In South Korea, it is known as the Super Comboy and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated to NES, released as the Famicom in Japan). Whereas the earlier system had struggled in the PAL region and large parts of Asia, the SNES proved to be a global success, albeit one that could not match its predecessor's popularity in Southeast Asia and North America—due in part to increased competition from Sega's Mega Drive console (released in North America as the Genesis). Despite its relatively late start, the SNES became the best selling console of the 16-bit era.
Even as the original NES/Famicom was at the height of its popularity, several companies were launching their own consoles. In 1987 and 1988, respectively, NEC and Sega launched their contenders: the PC Engine (known stateside as the TurboGrafx-16) and the Mega Drive (one of the first 16-bit home gaming systems). Although the NES would continue to dominate the video game industry for years to come, Nintendo's hardware was beginning to show its age, and though Nintendo executives initially showed little interest in developing a new system, Sega and NEC's growing market share with consoles like the Mega Drive (Sega Genesis) and the PC Engine soon forced Nintendo to reconsider.
The Super Famicom's American redesign wasn't used for PAL consoles as the NES's had been.
Masayuki Uemura, the man responsible for designing the Famicom several years earlier, was put in charge of the design of the console and the Super Famicom was released in Japan on November 21, 1990 for ¥25,000. An instant phenomenal blockbuster, Nintendo's initial shipment of 300,000 units quickly sold out within hours. The system was so phenomenally popular that it was said to have attracted the attention of the Yakuza, leading to the decision to ship the devices at night in order to avoid robbery. In Japan, the Super Famicom effortlessly outsold its chief rival, the Mega Drive, and Nintendo retained control over approximately 85% of the Japanese console market thanks, in part, to Nintendo's retention of most of its key third party developers from the Famicom, including Capcom, Konami, Tecmo, Square Co., Ltd., Koei, and Enix.
Nine months later, in August of 1991 (the earliest sources indicate August 13; exact determination of the date is not possible due to the uncoordinated nature of North American retail video game releases during that era), the Super Famicom was released in North America with a newly redesigned case as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The release was an exciting surprise for North American gamers, since Nintendo had been advertising a launch date of September 9. Initially sold for a price of $199 USD, the North American package included the game Super Mario World. The SNES was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland in April of 1992 for £150, with a German release following a few weeks later. The PAL versions of the console looked identical to the Japanese Super Famicom, except for labeling.
Nintendo's Japanese market dominance was, however, not repeated in the American and PAL markets. By the time of launch the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis had already become firmly entrenched in the US and PAL marketplace, helped by the lower cost of the Mega Drive/Genesis console and games, Sega's aggressive marketing in North America, and overall popularity of the console alone. In addition many US gamers had come to expect backwards compatibility from console developers (as was the case with the Atari 2600 and 7800), but the SNES was not designed to play NES cartridges.
Rivalry between Nintendo and Sega produced what is possibly the most notorious console war in gaming history. Nintendo would never achieve market leadership in the PAL region, and did not manage to do so in the U.S. until 1994, benefiting from Sega's pulling out of the market and its continued production of SNES and its games well after the 32-bit era of gaming had started.
In the period of the early 1990s, a blue-collar anti-Japanese sentiment had grown to maturity. While the NES was accused of shoddy construction and poor planning, the SNES was rumored to be a tool of outright economic war. The SNES was incompatible with several American-brand TVs, causing the screen to hop 3-5 times a second, or (in very rare cases) even outright backfire on the TV set. Nintendo fixed all units aftermarket free of charge, but the theory held on for years.
By 1996, the 16-bit era of gaming had ended, and a new generation of consoles, including Nintendo's own Nintendo 64, caused the popularity of the SNES to wane. In October 1997, Nintendo released a redesigned SNES 2 in North America for $99 USD (which included the pack-in game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island). Like the earlier NES 2, the new model was designed to be slimmer and lighter than its predecessor but lacked S-Video and RGB output, and would prove to be among the last major SNES-related releases in America. A similar redesigned Super Famicom Jr. was released in Japan around the same time. All of the American cases from the original NES to the SNES 2 were designed by Lance Barr.
Nintendo ceased production of the SNES in 1999. In Japan, the Super Famicom continued to be produced until September 2003 (also some new games were produced until the year 2000). In recent years, many SNES titles have been ported to the handheld Game Boy Advance, which has similar video capabilities. Some video game critics consider the SNES era "the golden age of video games," citing the many groundbreaking games and classics made for the system, whereas others question this romanticism.
In 2005, it was announced that Super NES will be available as downloadable games for Nintendo's upcoming console Wii, via the Virtual Console service. So far, it is expected that all first-party games released in America will be available, though there is no word yet on third-party or Japanese or European-only games yet.
Game paks, depending on which market they were released in, were of different shapes. The North American model had a rectangular bottom that had inset grooves which when inserted complemented the console's shape whereas the Japanese, Korean, and PAL cartridges had a smoothed curve on the front of the cartridges with no inset grooves. Since the North American console has protruding grooves, the Japanese/PAL game paks could not be inserted without the removal of these grooves and North American game paks being completely rectangular could not fit into the slightly curved opening of the Japanese and PAL console units.
Additionally, a regional lockout chip within the console and in each game pak prevented PAL games from being played on Japanese/North American consoles and vice versa despite the fact that PAL and Japanese cartridges fit in each other's consoles. The Japanese and North American machines had the same region chip, so once the difference in the shape of the game paks was overcome, game paks were interchangeable.
The simplest way to play the Japanese and PAL game paks in the North American system was to use a Game Genie cheat device with the small rectangular piece of plastic from its top removed. This not only circumvents the problem of different game pak shapes but also removes any problem with lockout chips due to the internal design of the Game Genie.
Alternatively, various other adapters or physical modification of the console could overcome regional lockout. Plastic tabs within the game pak slot could be removed (by snapping or cutting them off), allowing a Super Famicom game pak to fit in the North American console; however, care had to be taken not to damage the game pak port.
The working chip lockout system had the hardware in the console act as a lock while the chip inside the game pak was a key. Disconnecting pin 4 of the console's lockout chip caused a situation where there were two keys and no locks. This meant that the lockout chips would not operate and could not halt the console. Games towards the end of the console's lifecycle, such as Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, could detect this deadlock situation and refuse to run, so it later became common to install a switch that disconnected and connected the lockout chip as required.
PAL consoles often faced another modification. Instead of being re-coded, most PAL games were simply slowed down from 60 Hz to 50 Hz, resulting in 17.5% slower gameplay and sound effects. Additionally, PAL's higher resolution was not taken advantage of, and the extra scanlines were blank, creating large black bars that letterboxed the image. This practice was common across all consoles at the time, but created a squashed and out of proportion picture. As most PAL TVs support a 60 Hz variant of PAL and the SNES hardware made such a thing quite simple to add, a switch to select 50 or 60 Hz operation was often added. Some games, such as Super Mario Kart, were sped up for the PAL market to partially counter this problem, and running these at 60 Hz resulted in even faster gameplay than normal.
As an additional form of region lockout, later games would check that the SNES was running at the speed the game was expecting. PAL games would refuse to run on 60 Hz machines and NTSC games would refuse to run on 50 Hz machines. The solution was to start the game in the native speed and then flick the switch once the region check had successfully completed.
There was an adaptor made by various third parties designed to circumvent the regional lockout issues. A player could plug the device into the SNES (either version) and then place a game that would normally not run on that particular SNES unit (e.g. a rectangular game pak that would not run in the SNES unit designed for round cartridges) into the top. Then, into the back or behind the first game pak, the player would insert another game that would work on this SNES unit. The adaptor would read the game from the main port and use the regional lockout chip programming from the back one.
Throughout the course of its life, a number of peripherals were released which added to the functionality of the SNES. Many of these devices were modeled after earlier add-ons for the NES: the Super Scope was a light gun similar to the NES Zapper (though the Super Scope featured wireless capabilities) and the Super Advantage was an arcade-style joystick with adjustable turbo settings akin to the NES Advantage. Nintendo also released the SNES Mouse in conjunction with its Mario Paint title. Hudson Soft, under license from Nintendo, released the Super Multitap, a multiplayer adaptor for use with its popular series of Bomberman games. It allowed support for up to eight players, although probably the only game to support 8 players is Dino Dini's Soccer.
One of the most interesting and successful first-party peripherals released for the SNES was the Super Game Boy, an adaptor cartridge allowing games designed for Nintendo's portable Game Boy system to be played on the SNES. The Super Game Boy touted a number of feature enhancements over the Game Boy, including color support (in reality, merely the ability to substitute a different color palette: the games themselves were still limited to four colors) and custom screen borders.
Like the NES before it, the SNES saw its fair share of unlicensed third-party peripherals, including a new version of the Game Genie cheat cartridge designed for use with SNES games and a variety of game copier devices. In general, Nintendo proved to be somewhat more tolerant of unlicensed SNES peripherals than they had been with NES peripherals.
Around 1993 Nintendo suffered from software piracy, with the introduction of copybox devices like the Super Wildcard and Super Pro Fighter Q. These devices from Hong Kong were supposedly sold to create a backup of a cartridge, in the event that it would break. Most people used it to play copied ROM images that could be downloaded from BBSes and the internet, or to create copies of rented video games, all activities illegal under federal law.
Japan saw the release of the Satellaview, a modem which attached to the Super Famicom's expansion port and connected to the St. GIGA satellite radio station. Users of the Satellaview could download gaming news and specially designed games, which were frequently either remakes of or sequels to older Famicom titles, released in installments. Satellaview signals were broadcast from April 23, 1995 through June 30, 2000. In the United States, the similar but relatively short-lived XBAND allowed users to connect to a network via a dial-up modem to compete against other players around the country.
During the SNES's life, Nintendo contracted with two different companies to develop a CD-ROM-based peripheral for the console. Ultimately, negotiations with both Sony and Philips fell through, and the two companies went on to develop their own consoles based on their initial dealings with Nintendo (the PlayStation and the CD-i respectively), Philips also gaining the right to release a series of CD-i titles based on popular Nintendo franchises.
Emulation
Like the NES before it, the SNES has retained interest among its fans even following its decline in the marketplace. It has continued to thrive on the second-hand market and through console emulation. Many gamers discovered the SNES after its decline. The SNES has taken much the same revival path as the NES.
Emulation projects began in 1996 with projects such as "VSMC" and "Super Pasofami," which, despite some important initial gains, did not last long past 1998. During that time, two competing emulation projects--Snes96 and Snes97--merged forming a new initiative entitled Snes9x. In early 1998, SNES enthusiasts began programming a console emulator named ZSNES. From then on, these two emulators have continued to offer the most complete emulation of the system and its various add-on chips like the Super FX Chip, although development continues on other emulators as well.
Nintendo took the same stance against the distribution of SNES ROM image files and emulation as it did with the NES, insisting that they represented flagrant software piracy. Proponents of SNES emulation cite as arguments for their continued distribution: the discontinued production of the SNES, the right of the owner of the respective game to make a personal backup, the frailty of SNES cartridges (even though cartridges are far more durable than optical discs), and the lack of certain foreign imports. Starting in the 128-bit era, both Nintendo and emulation proponents began to have a less active stance on this issue.
Despite Nintendo's attempts to stop the proliferation of such projects, ROM files continue to be available on the Internet. Since the console's discontinuation, second-hand market decline, and rapid growth of the Internet, finding the files has become less of a challenge than it had been with the NES. Most general ROM sites offer files for the SNES.
The SNES was one of the first systems to attract the attention of amateur fan translators: Final Fantasy V was the first major work of fan translation, and was completed in 1997.
Many sites that offer SNES ROMs for download claim it that is legal to download and play them for up to 24 hours. This is not true and is still copyright infringement. The 24 hour "rule" is a long practiced device to gain trust and generate traffic on ROM distributing sites.
Along the same lines, the newest claim relates to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA]. It is claimed that the law enables ROMs and emulation as long as the original method of use, or a current method, is unavailable. Example: if a game for the SNES isn't available on a current generation console or PC CD-ROM playable by modern PCs, it may be emulated. Noted here as a claim, the veracity is unknown.
It is argued that these issues are the reason that prompted Nintendo to plan the Virtual Console service for the Wii console in an attempt to combat console emulation and piracy.
Technical specifications
The design of the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom was unusual for its time. It featured a low-performance CPU supported by powerful custom chips for sound and video processing. This approach would become common in subsequent video game hardware, but at the time it was new to game developers. As a result early third-party games were of low technical quality. Developers later became accustomed to the system, and were able to take advantage of its full potential. It was the first console capable of applied acoustics in video game audio sold in North America, Europe, and Japan.
* CPU
o Core: Nintendo custom '5A22', believed to be produced by Ricoh; based around a 16-bit CMD/GTE 65c816 (a version, not predecessor[citation needed], of the WDC 65C816, used by the Apple IIGS personal computer).
o The CPU internally contains support circuitry for:
+ Fast unsigned integer multiplication and division
+ Generating an IRQ interrupt every frame at a specific horizontal raster line, vertical raster line, or at a single point in the raster scan
+ The ability to block or allow the NMI interrupts on Vblank coming from the Picture Processing Unit
+ Automatically or manually polling the game controllers or other peripheral devices
+ A memory-mapped 8-bit GPIO Port
+ A DMA unit, supporting two primary modes, general DMA (for block transfers, at a rate of 2.68 MB/s) and Hblank DMA (for transferring small data sets at the end of each scanline, outside of the active display period)
+ Controlling the access speed to or from any area in the memory map
o The CPU, as a whole, employs a variable-speed system bus, with bus access times determined by the memory location accessed. The possible clock speeds were 1.79, 2.68 and 3.58 Megahertz. But for most purposes the bus runs at 2.68 MHz and drops to 1.79 MHz when accessing certain PPU registers. It works at approximately 1.5 MIPS (using strictly 16-bit instructions) and has a theoretical peak of 1.79 million 16-bit adds per second.
* RAM
o The SNES/SFC 5A22 CPU has direct access to 128KB of Work RAM.
* Sound
o Sound Controller Chip: 8-bit Sony SPC700 CPU for controlling the DSP; running at an effective clock rate around 1.024 MHz.
+ Sound RAM: 64KB shared between SPC700 and S-SMP.
+ Memory Cycle Time: 279 milliseconds
o Main Sound Chip : Sony S-SMP
+ Hardware ADPCM decompression
+ 8-channel PCM
+ Hardware sound effects pitch modulation, echo effect with feedback (for reverberation) with 8-tap FIR filter, and ADSR and 'GAIN' (discretely controlled) volume envelopes.
+ Polyphony of 8 notes per voice
o SFx sound chip : Sony\Nintendo S-DSP
+ 3-channel PCM
o Low-pass filter for improved quality of low-frequency (bass) tones
o Pulse Code Modulator: 16-bit ADPCM (if programmer uses 4-bit compressed ADPCM samples, expanded to 16-bit resolution, processed with an additional 4-point Gaussian sound interpolation).
o Although the SNES is normally only able to output stereo sound, a few games (such as Jurassic Park) use Dolby Pro-Logic to create surround sound embedded in the stereo sound signals.
o Note - while not directly related to SNES hardware, the standard extension for SNES audio subsystem state files saved by emulators is .SPC, a format used by SPC players.
* Video
o Picture Processor Unit: 15-bit
o Video RAM: 128KB
+ 64KB of VRAM for sprite and layers effect like transparency
+ 64KB of VRAM for screen maps (for 'background' layers) and tile sets (for backgrounds and objects);
+ 512 + 32 bytes of 'OAM' (Object Attribute Memory) for objects; 512 bytes of 'CGRAM' for palette data.
o Palette: 256 entries; 15-bit color depth (RGB555) for a total of 32,768 colors.
o Maximum colors per layer per scanline: 256.
o Maximum colors on-screen: 4,096 without alpha and 32,768 (using color arithmetic for transparency effects).
o Maximum colors per sprite: 128
o Resolution: between 256x224 and 512x448. Most games used common resolutions like 256x224, 256x240, 512x224 pixels since higher resolutions caused slowdown, flicker, and/or had increased limitations on layers and colors (due to memory bandwidth constraints); the higher resolutions were used for less processor-intensive games, in-game menus, text, and high resolution images.
+ Resolution 512x224 named pseudo high-resolution is sometimes used for color blending between two sprites with dithering technique. For example: Kirby's Dream Land 3 (aka Hoshi no Kirby 3 in Japan).
o Maximum onscreen objects (sprites): 128 (32 per line, up to 34, 8x8 tiles per line).
o Maximum number of sprite pixels on one scanline: 256. The renderer was designed such that it would drop the frontmost sprites instead of the rearmost sprites if a scanline exceeded the limit, allowing for creative clipping effects.
o Most common display modes: pixel-to-pixel Mode 1 (16 colors (4-bit) per tile; 3 scrolling layers) and per scanline affine mapped Mode 7 (256 colors per tile; one rotating/scaling layer).
* Game cartridge size
o 2 to 32-Mbit (0.25 to 4 MB) which can be accessed at two selectable speeds ('SlowROM' and 'FastROM'). Upon power up, the SlowROM speed is selected by default, unless the game's program code tells it to run at the faster speed. This allowed ROM techology to scale with the system, as all early games were SlowROM, and then most became FastROM towards the end of the SNES/SFC's commercial market lifetime.
o Custom address decoders employed bank switching techniques to allow for larger sizes, eg. 48-Mbit (6 MB) for Star Ocean and Tales of Phantasia.
* Power adapter
o Transformer Input: NTSC: 120 volts AC, 60Hz, 17 watts, PAL: 240 volts AC, 50 Hz, 17 watts
o Transformer Output: 10 volts DC, 850 mA (NTSC), 9 volts AC, 1.3 A (PAL)
* Game controllers
o Controller Response: 16ms
o 2 seven-pin controller ports in the front of the machine
* Connectors and switches (may vary between console versions)
o Bottom
+ Expansion port on the bottom, allowing for Satellaview and a planned CD-ROM expansion, which eventually became the PlayStation.
o Back
+ RF output, offering only mono-sound and not very good picture quality.
+ Channel 3/4 switch, controlling on which RF channel the audio and video are output.
+ Multi-out, a connector identical to the one on Nintendo64 and GameCube. Outputs stereo (and Dolby Pro-Logic) sound, composite and S-Video signals, and on PAL versions of the console, also RGB signals.
+ Power input
o Top
+ Cartridge connector
+ Power switch
+ Reset button
+ Power indicator
o Front
+ 2 seven-pin controller ports
Enhancement chips
As part of the overall plan for the SNES/SFC, rather than include an expensive CPU that would still become obsolete in a few years, the hardware designers made it easy to interface special coprocessor chips to the console. Rather than require a complicated upgrade procedure found in the IBM PC Compatible world of computers, these certain enhancement chips were included inside the plug-in game cartridges themselves if needed for a specific game. This is most often characterized by an extra set of small leads under the cartridge.
* Super FX: Developed by Argonaut Software, the Super FX chip is a supplemental RISC CPU that was included in certain game cartridges to perform functions that the main CPU could not feasibly do. The chip was primarily used to create 3D game worlds made with polygons, texture mapping and light source shading. Some 3D game carts that this chip can be found in are Star Fox, Doom, Dirt Trax FX, Stunt Race FX, Vortex, and Winter Gold. The chip however could also be used to enhance 2D games such as Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. This chip went through three revisions, first starting out as a Chip-on-Board epoxy glob-top in the earliest Star Fox cartridges, labeled as Mario Chip-1. Within a year, the chip was given a more conventional surface-mount package and labeled as the Super FX GSU-1, which was used in various games. Finally, the design was tweaked to become the Super FX GSU-2 chip, which had a larger address bus and was manufactured with an improved semiconductor process to allow it to reach its target clock speed of 21 MHz. Although the pinouts and maximum clock speed differ, the instruction set for the Mario Chip-1, FX 1, and FX 2 chips are identical. Star Fox 2, Comanche, and FX Fighter, all games designed to take advantage of the increased power of the Super FX GSU-2, were developed but never released for the SNES/SFC, disappointing many followers of the technology at the time.
* DSP-1: This fixed-point Digital Signal Processor chip was created to allow programmers to generate more enhanced Mode 7 rotation and scaling effects in their games, and to perform very fast vector-based calculations. The chip can be found most notably in Pilotwings and Super Mario Kart, as well as a few other games. Later revisions of the chip, the 1A and 1B, were functionally the same but included bugfixes in their internal math calculations.
* DSP-2: A bitmap scaling and bitplane conversion chip used only in one game cartridge, Atari's port of Dungeon Master to the SNES console.
* DSP-3: An assistant chip used only in one Japanese game for the Super Famicom titled SD Gundam GX. Although this chip does handle graphics decompression and bitplane conversion, a large portion of memory inside this chip is dedicated to rendering a very complicated title screen, leading one to the likely conclusion that its inclusion was more intended to prevent the game from being easily pirated.
* DSP-4: A DSP used in only one game cartridge, Top Gear 3000. It primarily helped out with drawing the race track, especially during the times that the track branched into multiple paths, which was a unique feature of this type of game at the time.
* S-DD1 chip : Other than its normal processing and copy protection duties, this chip was primarily a graphics decompression chip. This allowed games to be bigger than normal by compressing the graphics data. Games that used this chip were Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Star Ocean. The game developers found it to be cheaper to add a specialized decompression chip rather than to add extra ROM space.
* C4 chip: A chip created by Capcom. This chip was used to handle the wireframe effects, perform more general trigonometric calculations, and to help out with sprite positioning and rotation. The chip was used in Mega Man X2 and Mega Man X3.
* SA-1 chip: This is an ASIC chipset with a 65c816 8/16-bit processor core, clocked at 10 MHz, containing some extra circuitry specified by Nintendo, including some fast RAM, a memory mapper, DMA, several programmable timers, and the region lockout chip. The SA-1 was a multipurpose chip that allowed games such as Kirby Super Star, Kirby's Dream Land 3, and Super Mario RPG to stay competitive in the changing marketplace during the aging SNES/SFC's final years.
* SGB CPU chip: This chip was used only inside the Super Game Boy peripheral and possessed a core identical to the CPU in a regular handheld Game Boy. Because the Super Nintendo was not powerful enough to use software emulation to simulate the Game Boy, circuitry equivalent to an entire Game Boy had to sit inside of the cartridge. The SGB CPU ran the main program from the inserted Game Boy cartridge, but relied upon the host Super Nintendo system to write to memory mapped registers the state of the gamepad buttons and to copy out the video frame buffer. Audio from the SGB CPU was passed along two pins on the SNES cartridge connector to be mixed with the SNES audio output.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated to NES, released as the Famicom in Japan). Whereas the earlier system had struggled in the PAL region and large parts of Asia, the SNES proved to be a global success, albeit one that could not match its predecessor's popularity in Southeast Asia and North America—due in part to increased competition from Sega's Mega Drive console (released in North America as the Genesis). Despite its relatively late start, the SNES became the best selling console of the 16-bit era.
Even as the original NES/Famicom was at the height of its popularity, several companies were launching their own consoles. In 1987 and 1988, respectively, NEC and Sega launched their contenders: the PC Engine (known stateside as the TurboGrafx-16) and the Mega Drive (one of the first 16-bit home gaming systems). Although the NES would continue to dominate the video game industry for years to come, Nintendo's hardware was beginning to show its age, and though Nintendo executives initially showed little interest in developing a new system, Sega and NEC's growing market share with consoles like the Mega Drive (Sega Genesis) and the PC Engine soon forced Nintendo to reconsider.
The Super Famicom's American redesign wasn't used for PAL consoles as the NES's had been.
Masayuki Uemura, the man responsible for designing the Famicom several years earlier, was put in charge of the design of the console and the Super Famicom was released in Japan on November 21, 1990 for ¥25,000. An instant phenomenal blockbuster, Nintendo's initial shipment of 300,000 units quickly sold out within hours. The system was so phenomenally popular that it was said to have attracted the attention of the Yakuza, leading to the decision to ship the devices at night in order to avoid robbery. In Japan, the Super Famicom effortlessly outsold its chief rival, the Mega Drive, and Nintendo retained control over approximately 85% of the Japanese console market thanks, in part, to Nintendo's retention of most of its key third party developers from the Famicom, including Capcom, Konami, Tecmo, Square Co., Ltd., Koei, and Enix.
Nine months later, in August of 1991 (the earliest sources indicate August 13; exact determination of the date is not possible due to the uncoordinated nature of North American retail video game releases during that era), the Super Famicom was released in North America with a newly redesigned case as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The release was an exciting surprise for North American gamers, since Nintendo had been advertising a launch date of September 9. Initially sold for a price of $199 USD, the North American package included the game Super Mario World. The SNES was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland in April of 1992 for £150, with a German release following a few weeks later. The PAL versions of the console looked identical to the Japanese Super Famicom, except for labeling.
Nintendo's Japanese market dominance was, however, not repeated in the American and PAL markets. By the time of launch the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis had already become firmly entrenched in the US and PAL marketplace, helped by the lower cost of the Mega Drive/Genesis console and games, Sega's aggressive marketing in North America, and overall popularity of the console alone. In addition many US gamers had come to expect backwards compatibility from console developers (as was the case with the Atari 2600 and 7800), but the SNES was not designed to play NES cartridges.
Rivalry between Nintendo and Sega produced what is possibly the most notorious console war in gaming history. Nintendo would never achieve market leadership in the PAL region, and did not manage to do so in the U.S. until 1994, benefiting from Sega's pulling out of the market and its continued production of SNES and its games well after the 32-bit era of gaming had started.
In the period of the early 1990s, a blue-collar anti-Japanese sentiment had grown to maturity. While the NES was accused of shoddy construction and poor planning, the SNES was rumored to be a tool of outright economic war. The SNES was incompatible with several American-brand TVs, causing the screen to hop 3-5 times a second, or (in very rare cases) even outright backfire on the TV set. Nintendo fixed all units aftermarket free of charge, but the theory held on for years.
By 1996, the 16-bit era of gaming had ended, and a new generation of consoles, including Nintendo's own Nintendo 64, caused the popularity of the SNES to wane. In October 1997, Nintendo released a redesigned SNES 2 in North America for $99 USD (which included the pack-in game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island). Like the earlier NES 2, the new model was designed to be slimmer and lighter than its predecessor but lacked S-Video and RGB output, and would prove to be among the last major SNES-related releases in America. A similar redesigned Super Famicom Jr. was released in Japan around the same time. All of the American cases from the original NES to the SNES 2 were designed by Lance Barr.
Nintendo ceased production of the SNES in 1999. In Japan, the Super Famicom continued to be produced until September 2003 (also some new games were produced until the year 2000). In recent years, many SNES titles have been ported to the handheld Game Boy Advance, which has similar video capabilities. Some video game critics consider the SNES era "the golden age of video games," citing the many groundbreaking games and classics made for the system, whereas others question this romanticism.
In 2005, it was announced that Super NES will be available as downloadable games for Nintendo's upcoming console Wii, via the Virtual Console service. So far, it is expected that all first-party games released in America will be available, though there is no word yet on third-party or Japanese or European-only games yet.
Game paks, depending on which market they were released in, were of different shapes. The North American model had a rectangular bottom that had inset grooves which when inserted complemented the console's shape whereas the Japanese, Korean, and PAL cartridges had a smoothed curve on the front of the cartridges with no inset grooves. Since the North American console has protruding grooves, the Japanese/PAL game paks could not be inserted without the removal of these grooves and North American game paks being completely rectangular could not fit into the slightly curved opening of the Japanese and PAL console units.
Additionally, a regional lockout chip within the console and in each game pak prevented PAL games from being played on Japanese/North American consoles and vice versa despite the fact that PAL and Japanese cartridges fit in each other's consoles. The Japanese and North American machines had the same region chip, so once the difference in the shape of the game paks was overcome, game paks were interchangeable.
The simplest way to play the Japanese and PAL game paks in the North American system was to use a Game Genie cheat device with the small rectangular piece of plastic from its top removed. This not only circumvents the problem of different game pak shapes but also removes any problem with lockout chips due to the internal design of the Game Genie.
Alternatively, various other adapters or physical modification of the console could overcome regional lockout. Plastic tabs within the game pak slot could be removed (by snapping or cutting them off), allowing a Super Famicom game pak to fit in the North American console; however, care had to be taken not to damage the game pak port.
The working chip lockout system had the hardware in the console act as a lock while the chip inside the game pak was a key. Disconnecting pin 4 of the console's lockout chip caused a situation where there were two keys and no locks. This meant that the lockout chips would not operate and could not halt the console. Games towards the end of the console's lifecycle, such as Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, could detect this deadlock situation and refuse to run, so it later became common to install a switch that disconnected and connected the lockout chip as required.
PAL consoles often faced another modification. Instead of being re-coded, most PAL games were simply slowed down from 60 Hz to 50 Hz, resulting in 17.5% slower gameplay and sound effects. Additionally, PAL's higher resolution was not taken advantage of, and the extra scanlines were blank, creating large black bars that letterboxed the image. This practice was common across all consoles at the time, but created a squashed and out of proportion picture. As most PAL TVs support a 60 Hz variant of PAL and the SNES hardware made such a thing quite simple to add, a switch to select 50 or 60 Hz operation was often added. Some games, such as Super Mario Kart, were sped up for the PAL market to partially counter this problem, and running these at 60 Hz resulted in even faster gameplay than normal.
As an additional form of region lockout, later games would check that the SNES was running at the speed the game was expecting. PAL games would refuse to run on 60 Hz machines and NTSC games would refuse to run on 50 Hz machines. The solution was to start the game in the native speed and then flick the switch once the region check had successfully completed.
There was an adaptor made by various third parties designed to circumvent the regional lockout issues. A player could plug the device into the SNES (either version) and then place a game that would normally not run on that particular SNES unit (e.g. a rectangular game pak that would not run in the SNES unit designed for round cartridges) into the top. Then, into the back or behind the first game pak, the player would insert another game that would work on this SNES unit. The adaptor would read the game from the main port and use the regional lockout chip programming from the back one.
Throughout the course of its life, a number of peripherals were released which added to the functionality of the SNES. Many of these devices were modeled after earlier add-ons for the NES: the Super Scope was a light gun similar to the NES Zapper (though the Super Scope featured wireless capabilities) and the Super Advantage was an arcade-style joystick with adjustable turbo settings akin to the NES Advantage. Nintendo also released the SNES Mouse in conjunction with its Mario Paint title. Hudson Soft, under license from Nintendo, released the Super Multitap, a multiplayer adaptor for use with its popular series of Bomberman games. It allowed support for up to eight players, although probably the only game to support 8 players is Dino Dini's Soccer.
One of the most interesting and successful first-party peripherals released for the SNES was the Super Game Boy, an adaptor cartridge allowing games designed for Nintendo's portable Game Boy system to be played on the SNES. The Super Game Boy touted a number of feature enhancements over the Game Boy, including color support (in reality, merely the ability to substitute a different color palette: the games themselves were still limited to four colors) and custom screen borders.
Like the NES before it, the SNES saw its fair share of unlicensed third-party peripherals, including a new version of the Game Genie cheat cartridge designed for use with SNES games and a variety of game copier devices. In general, Nintendo proved to be somewhat more tolerant of unlicensed SNES peripherals than they had been with NES peripherals.
Around 1993 Nintendo suffered from software piracy, with the introduction of copybox devices like the Super Wildcard and Super Pro Fighter Q. These devices from Hong Kong were supposedly sold to create a backup of a cartridge, in the event that it would break. Most people used it to play copied ROM images that could be downloaded from BBSes and the internet, or to create copies of rented video games, all activities illegal under federal law.
Japan saw the release of the Satellaview, a modem which attached to the Super Famicom's expansion port and connected to the St. GIGA satellite radio station. Users of the Satellaview could download gaming news and specially designed games, which were frequently either remakes of or sequels to older Famicom titles, released in installments. Satellaview signals were broadcast from April 23, 1995 through June 30, 2000. In the United States, the similar but relatively short-lived XBAND allowed users to connect to a network via a dial-up modem to compete against other players around the country.
During the SNES's life, Nintendo contracted with two different companies to develop a CD-ROM-based peripheral for the console. Ultimately, negotiations with both Sony and Philips fell through, and the two companies went on to develop their own consoles based on their initial dealings with Nintendo (the PlayStation and the CD-i respectively), Philips also gaining the right to release a series of CD-i titles based on popular Nintendo franchises.
Emulation
Like the NES before it, the SNES has retained interest among its fans even following its decline in the marketplace. It has continued to thrive on the second-hand market and through console emulation. Many gamers discovered the SNES after its decline. The SNES has taken much the same revival path as the NES.
Emulation projects began in 1996 with projects such as "VSMC" and "Super Pasofami," which, despite some important initial gains, did not last long past 1998. During that time, two competing emulation projects--Snes96 and Snes97--merged forming a new initiative entitled Snes9x. In early 1998, SNES enthusiasts began programming a console emulator named ZSNES. From then on, these two emulators have continued to offer the most complete emulation of the system and its various add-on chips like the Super FX Chip, although development continues on other emulators as well.
Nintendo took the same stance against the distribution of SNES ROM image files and emulation as it did with the NES, insisting that they represented flagrant software piracy. Proponents of SNES emulation cite as arguments for their continued distribution: the discontinued production of the SNES, the right of the owner of the respective game to make a personal backup, the frailty of SNES cartridges (even though cartridges are far more durable than optical discs), and the lack of certain foreign imports. Starting in the 128-bit era, both Nintendo and emulation proponents began to have a less active stance on this issue.
Despite Nintendo's attempts to stop the proliferation of such projects, ROM files continue to be available on the Internet. Since the console's discontinuation, second-hand market decline, and rapid growth of the Internet, finding the files has become less of a challenge than it had been with the NES. Most general ROM sites offer files for the SNES.
The SNES was one of the first systems to attract the attention of amateur fan translators: Final Fantasy V was the first major work of fan translation, and was completed in 1997.
Many sites that offer SNES ROMs for download claim it that is legal to download and play them for up to 24 hours. This is not true and is still copyright infringement. The 24 hour "rule" is a long practiced device to gain trust and generate traffic on ROM distributing sites.
Along the same lines, the newest claim relates to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA]. It is claimed that the law enables ROMs and emulation as long as the original method of use, or a current method, is unavailable. Example: if a game for the SNES isn't available on a current generation console or PC CD-ROM playable by modern PCs, it may be emulated. Noted here as a claim, the veracity is unknown.
It is argued that these issues are the reason that prompted Nintendo to plan the Virtual Console service for the Wii console in an attempt to combat console emulation and piracy.
Technical specifications
The design of the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom was unusual for its time. It featured a low-performance CPU supported by powerful custom chips for sound and video processing. This approach would become common in subsequent video game hardware, but at the time it was new to game developers. As a result early third-party games were of low technical quality. Developers later became accustomed to the system, and were able to take advantage of its full potential. It was the first console capable of applied acoustics in video game audio sold in North America, Europe, and Japan.
* CPU
o Core: Nintendo custom '5A22', believed to be produced by Ricoh; based around a 16-bit CMD/GTE 65c816 (a version, not predecessor[citation needed], of the WDC 65C816, used by the Apple IIGS personal computer).
o The CPU internally contains support circuitry for:
+ Fast unsigned integer multiplication and division
+ Generating an IRQ interrupt every frame at a specific horizontal raster line, vertical raster line, or at a single point in the raster scan
+ The ability to block or allow the NMI interrupts on Vblank coming from the Picture Processing Unit
+ Automatically or manually polling the game controllers or other peripheral devices
+ A memory-mapped 8-bit GPIO Port
+ A DMA unit, supporting two primary modes, general DMA (for block transfers, at a rate of 2.68 MB/s) and Hblank DMA (for transferring small data sets at the end of each scanline, outside of the active display period)
+ Controlling the access speed to or from any area in the memory map
o The CPU, as a whole, employs a variable-speed system bus, with bus access times determined by the memory location accessed. The possible clock speeds were 1.79, 2.68 and 3.58 Megahertz. But for most purposes the bus runs at 2.68 MHz and drops to 1.79 MHz when accessing certain PPU registers. It works at approximately 1.5 MIPS (using strictly 16-bit instructions) and has a theoretical peak of 1.79 million 16-bit adds per second.
* RAM
o The SNES/SFC 5A22 CPU has direct access to 128KB of Work RAM.
* Sound
o Sound Controller Chip: 8-bit Sony SPC700 CPU for controlling the DSP; running at an effective clock rate around 1.024 MHz.
+ Sound RAM: 64KB shared between SPC700 and S-SMP.
+ Memory Cycle Time: 279 milliseconds
o Main Sound Chip : Sony S-SMP
+ Hardware ADPCM decompression
+ 8-channel PCM
+ Hardware sound effects pitch modulation, echo effect with feedback (for reverberation) with 8-tap FIR filter, and ADSR and 'GAIN' (discretely controlled) volume envelopes.
+ Polyphony of 8 notes per voice
o SFx sound chip : Sony\Nintendo S-DSP
+ 3-channel PCM
o Low-pass filter for improved quality of low-frequency (bass) tones
o Pulse Code Modulator: 16-bit ADPCM (if programmer uses 4-bit compressed ADPCM samples, expanded to 16-bit resolution, processed with an additional 4-point Gaussian sound interpolation).
o Although the SNES is normally only able to output stereo sound, a few games (such as Jurassic Park) use Dolby Pro-Logic to create surround sound embedded in the stereo sound signals.
o Note - while not directly related to SNES hardware, the standard extension for SNES audio subsystem state files saved by emulators is .SPC, a format used by SPC players.
* Video
o Picture Processor Unit: 15-bit
o Video RAM: 128KB
+ 64KB of VRAM for sprite and layers effect like transparency
+ 64KB of VRAM for screen maps (for 'background' layers) and tile sets (for backgrounds and objects);
+ 512 + 32 bytes of 'OAM' (Object Attribute Memory) for objects; 512 bytes of 'CGRAM' for palette data.
o Palette: 256 entries; 15-bit color depth (RGB555) for a total of 32,768 colors.
o Maximum colors per layer per scanline: 256.
o Maximum colors on-screen: 4,096 without alpha and 32,768 (using color arithmetic for transparency effects).
o Maximum colors per sprite: 128
o Resolution: between 256x224 and 512x448. Most games used common resolutions like 256x224, 256x240, 512x224 pixels since higher resolutions caused slowdown, flicker, and/or had increased limitations on layers and colors (due to memory bandwidth constraints); the higher resolutions were used for less processor-intensive games, in-game menus, text, and high resolution images.
+ Resolution 512x224 named pseudo high-resolution is sometimes used for color blending between two sprites with dithering technique. For example: Kirby's Dream Land 3 (aka Hoshi no Kirby 3 in Japan).
o Maximum onscreen objects (sprites): 128 (32 per line, up to 34, 8x8 tiles per line).
o Maximum number of sprite pixels on one scanline: 256. The renderer was designed such that it would drop the frontmost sprites instead of the rearmost sprites if a scanline exceeded the limit, allowing for creative clipping effects.
o Most common display modes: pixel-to-pixel Mode 1 (16 colors (4-bit) per tile; 3 scrolling layers) and per scanline affine mapped Mode 7 (256 colors per tile; one rotating/scaling layer).
* Game cartridge size
o 2 to 32-Mbit (0.25 to 4 MB) which can be accessed at two selectable speeds ('SlowROM' and 'FastROM'). Upon power up, the SlowROM speed is selected by default, unless the game's program code tells it to run at the faster speed. This allowed ROM techology to scale with the system, as all early games were SlowROM, and then most became FastROM towards the end of the SNES/SFC's commercial market lifetime.
o Custom address decoders employed bank switching techniques to allow for larger sizes, eg. 48-Mbit (6 MB) for Star Ocean and Tales of Phantasia.
* Power adapter
o Transformer Input: NTSC: 120 volts AC, 60Hz, 17 watts, PAL: 240 volts AC, 50 Hz, 17 watts
o Transformer Output: 10 volts DC, 850 mA (NTSC), 9 volts AC, 1.3 A (PAL)
* Game controllers
o Controller Response: 16ms
o 2 seven-pin controller ports in the front of the machine
* Connectors and switches (may vary between console versions)
o Bottom
+ Expansion port on the bottom, allowing for Satellaview and a planned CD-ROM expansion, which eventually became the PlayStation.
o Back
+ RF output, offering only mono-sound and not very good picture quality.
+ Channel 3/4 switch, controlling on which RF channel the audio and video are output.
+ Multi-out, a connector identical to the one on Nintendo64 and GameCube. Outputs stereo (and Dolby Pro-Logic) sound, composite and S-Video signals, and on PAL versions of the console, also RGB signals.
+ Power input
o Top
+ Cartridge connector
+ Power switch
+ Reset button
+ Power indicator
o Front
+ 2 seven-pin controller ports
Enhancement chips
As part of the overall plan for the SNES/SFC, rather than include an expensive CPU that would still become obsolete in a few years, the hardware designers made it easy to interface special coprocessor chips to the console. Rather than require a complicated upgrade procedure found in the IBM PC Compatible world of computers, these certain enhancement chips were included inside the plug-in game cartridges themselves if needed for a specific game. This is most often characterized by an extra set of small leads under the cartridge.
* Super FX: Developed by Argonaut Software, the Super FX chip is a supplemental RISC CPU that was included in certain game cartridges to perform functions that the main CPU could not feasibly do. The chip was primarily used to create 3D game worlds made with polygons, texture mapping and light source shading. Some 3D game carts that this chip can be found in are Star Fox, Doom, Dirt Trax FX, Stunt Race FX, Vortex, and Winter Gold. The chip however could also be used to enhance 2D games such as Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. This chip went through three revisions, first starting out as a Chip-on-Board epoxy glob-top in the earliest Star Fox cartridges, labeled as Mario Chip-1. Within a year, the chip was given a more conventional surface-mount package and labeled as the Super FX GSU-1, which was used in various games. Finally, the design was tweaked to become the Super FX GSU-2 chip, which had a larger address bus and was manufactured with an improved semiconductor process to allow it to reach its target clock speed of 21 MHz. Although the pinouts and maximum clock speed differ, the instruction set for the Mario Chip-1, FX 1, and FX 2 chips are identical. Star Fox 2, Comanche, and FX Fighter, all games designed to take advantage of the increased power of the Super FX GSU-2, were developed but never released for the SNES/SFC, disappointing many followers of the technology at the time.
* DSP-1: This fixed-point Digital Signal Processor chip was created to allow programmers to generate more enhanced Mode 7 rotation and scaling effects in their games, and to perform very fast vector-based calculations. The chip can be found most notably in Pilotwings and Super Mario Kart, as well as a few other games. Later revisions of the chip, the 1A and 1B, were functionally the same but included bugfixes in their internal math calculations.
* DSP-2: A bitmap scaling and bitplane conversion chip used only in one game cartridge, Atari's port of Dungeon Master to the SNES console.
* DSP-3: An assistant chip used only in one Japanese game for the Super Famicom titled SD Gundam GX. Although this chip does handle graphics decompression and bitplane conversion, a large portion of memory inside this chip is dedicated to rendering a very complicated title screen, leading one to the likely conclusion that its inclusion was more intended to prevent the game from being easily pirated.
* DSP-4: A DSP used in only one game cartridge, Top Gear 3000. It primarily helped out with drawing the race track, especially during the times that the track branched into multiple paths, which was a unique feature of this type of game at the time.
* S-DD1 chip : Other than its normal processing and copy protection duties, this chip was primarily a graphics decompression chip. This allowed games to be bigger than normal by compressing the graphics data. Games that used this chip were Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Star Ocean. The game developers found it to be cheaper to add a specialized decompression chip rather than to add extra ROM space.
* C4 chip: A chip created by Capcom. This chip was used to handle the wireframe effects, perform more general trigonometric calculations, and to help out with sprite positioning and rotation. The chip was used in Mega Man X2 and Mega Man X3.
* SA-1 chip: This is an ASIC chipset with a 65c816 8/16-bit processor core, clocked at 10 MHz, containing some extra circuitry specified by Nintendo, including some fast RAM, a memory mapper, DMA, several programmable timers, and the region lockout chip. The SA-1 was a multipurpose chip that allowed games such as Kirby Super Star, Kirby's Dream Land 3, and Super Mario RPG to stay competitive in the changing marketplace during the aging SNES/SFC's final years.
* SGB CPU chip: This chip was used only inside the Super Game Boy peripheral and possessed a core identical to the CPU in a regular handheld Game Boy. Because the Super Nintendo was not powerful enough to use software emulation to simulate the Game Boy, circuitry equivalent to an entire Game Boy had to sit inside of the cartridge. The SGB CPU ran the main program from the inserted Game Boy cartridge, but relied upon the host Super Nintendo system to write to memory mapped registers the state of the gamepad buttons and to copy out the video frame buffer. Audio from the SGB CPU was passed along two pins on the SNES cartridge connector to be mixed with the SNES audio output.
Genesis: 2nd best Sega console
The Sega Genesis as a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world.
Development
Although the Sega Master System had proved a success in Brazil and Europe, it failed to ignite much interest in the North American or Japanese markets, which by the mid-to-late 1980s were both dominated by Nintendo with 95% and 92% market shares respectively. Hoping to dramatically increase their share, Sega set about creating a new machine that would be at least as powerful as the then most impressive hardware on the market - the 16-bit Commodore Amiga and Atari ST home computers.
Since the System 16 made by Sega was very popular, Hayao Nakayama, Sega's CEO at the time, decided to make their new home system utilize a 16-bit architecture. The final design was ported to the arcade, and eventually used in the Mega-Tech, Mega-Play and System-C arcade machines. Any game made for the Mega Drive hardware could easily be ported to these systems.
The first name Sega considered for their console was the MK-1601, but they ultimately decided to call it the "Sega Mega Drive". "Mega" had the connotation of superiority, and "Drive" had the connotation of speed and power. Sega used the name Mega Drive for the Japanese, European, Asian, Australian and Brazilian versions of the console. The North American version went by the name "Genesis" due to a trademark dispute, while the South Korean versions were called Super Gam*Boy (?????) and Super Aladdin Boy (transliterated from ???????; this was the Korean version of Mega Drive 2). The Korean-market consoles were licensed and distributed by Samsung Electronics.
North American release and further development
In 1987, Sega announced a North American release date for the system of January 9, 1989, making it the second console to feature a 16-bit CPU (the first one being the Mattel Intellivision) and the first to feature single-instruction 32-bit arithmetic. Sega was not able to meet the initial release date and U.S. sales began on August 14, 1989 in New York City and Los Angeles[2] with a suggested retail price of $200 at launch. The Genesis was released in the rest of North America on September 15 of the same year with the price reduced slightly to $190.
The Genesis initially competed against the 8-bit NES, over which it had superior graphics and sound. Nonetheless, it had a hard time overcoming Nintendo's ubiquitous presence in the consumer's home and the huge catalog of popular games already available for it. In an attempt to build themselves a significant consumer base, Sega decided to focus on slightly older buyers, especially young men in their late teens and early 20s who would have more disposable income and who were anxious for more "grown-up" titles with more mature content and/or more in-depth game play. As such, Sega released titles such as Altered Beast and the Phantasy Star series. Although the NES and Nintendo's impending SNES were still threats to Sega's market share, they had forced the theoretically competitive TurboGrafx 16 system into relative obscurity, thanks in part to NEC's poor North American marketing campaign.
Eventually, the main competition for the Genesis became Nintendo's 16-bit SNES, over which it had a head start in terms of user base and number of games, reversing the problem Sega had faced against the NES. The Genesis continued to hold on to a healthy fan base composed significantly of RPG and sports games fans. The release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 began to threaten Nintendo's up-to-then stranglehold on the number one console position in the USA. Sonic was released to replace former mascot Alex Kidd, and to provide the "killer app" that Sega needed. This sparked what was arguably the greatest console war in North American video gaming history.
By 1992, Sega was enjoying a stronghold on the market, holding a 55% market share in North America. Faced with a slight recession in sales and a brief loss of market share to the SNES, Sega again looked to Sonic to rejuvenate sales. The release of the highly anticipated Sonic the Hedgehog 2, coinciding with an aggressive ad campaign that took shots at Nintendo, fueled Genesis sales a while longer and boosted Sega's market share percentage back up, to an astounding 65%.
Less than a year later, in 1993, Sega released a redesigned version of the console at a newly reduced price. By consolidating the internal chipset onto a smaller, unified motherboard, Sega was able to both physically reduce the system's size and bring down production costs by simplifying the assembly procedure and reducing the number of integrated circuits required for each unit.
Aside from the release of the Sega CD and 32X add-ons for the Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega's last big announcement came in the form of a partnership with Time Warner in the U.S. to offer a subscription-based service called Sega Channel, which would allow subscribers to "download" games on a month-by-month basis.
Decline in market share
The failures of the Sega CD and 32X, a lack of effective advertising, and disputes between Sega of America and Sega of Japan had taken their toll on the company. By 1994, Sega's market share had dropped from 65% to 35%, and the official announcements of newer, more powerful consoles, such as the Saturn, Playstation, and N64 signaled that the 16-bit era was drawing to a close. Interest in the Genesis suffered greatly as a result, compounding its already falling sales. In 1996, less than a year after the debut of their Saturn console, Sega quickly brought their participation in the 16-bit era to an end by discontinuing production of the Genesis and its associated accessories. This obviously angered consumers around the world who had bought the Sega CD and 32X attachments only to see Sega abandon all support. This can, at least in slight, be seen as a contributing factor to the downfall of Sega as a console manufacturer. (see Video game market).
[edit]
Resurgent popularity
In recent years, there has been something of a revival of interest in the Mega Drive/Genesis, led largely by the grey market trade in both unlicensed cartridges (for instance, the biblically themed output of Wisdom Tree) and dumped ROMs, which are played through emulators such as Kega Fusion, GENS, or Genecyst. There is also a trend towards home programming, using the PC-based SGCC.
In the 2000s, there came a trend toward plug-and-play TV games, and Radica has released licensed, self-contained versions of the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in both North America (as the Play TV Legends Sega Genesis) and Europe (as the Sega Mega Drive 6-in-1 Plug 'n' Play), which contain six popular games in a small box and control pad. It does not have a cartridge slot, and thus is a dedicated console. However, Benjamin Heckendorn, of Atari portablizing fame, has proven that it is possible to connect a cartridge slot with some soldering.
The GameTap subscription gaming service includes a Genesis emulator, and has several dozen licensed Genesis games in its catalog.
On March 23, 2006, it was announced at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose California that Nintendo will offer Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game ports on the Wii home console. However it is not yet clear whether this includes all titles in the console's back catalogue. The announcement also stated that PC Engine games would be available for download to the virtual console.
On May 22, 2006 Super Fighter Team released the Beggar Prince, a game translated from a 1996 Chinese original. It is the first commercial Sega Megadrive game since 1998 in the North American market. It was released worldwide.
Variations of the Mega Drive/Sega Genesis
Main article: Variations of the Sega Mega Drive
During its lifespan, the Mega Drive and Genesis quite possibly received more officially licensed variations than any other console. While only one major design revision of the console was created during its lifespan, each region has its own peculiarities and unique items, while other variations were exercises in reducing costs (such as the removal of the little-used 9-pin EXT. port) or expanding the capabilities of the Mega Drive/Genesis.
Technical specifications
CPU
Main processor: 16-bit Motorola 68000 (or equivalent)
* Runs at 7.61 MHz in PAL consoles, 7.67 MHz in NTSC consoles.
* Some systems contained clones of the Motorola 68000 manufactured by Hitachi and Signetics.
* Signetics 68K only found in early revisions as this CPU is known to be inefficient.
Secondary processor: 8-bit Zilog Z80 (or equivalent)
* Runs at 3.55 MHz in PAL consoles, 3.58 MHz in NTSC consoles
* Used as main CPU in Master System compatibility mode.
Memory
Boot ROM: 2 KB
* Known as the "Trademark Security System" (TMSS)
* When console is started, it checks the game for certain code given to licensed developers
* Unlicensed games without the code are thus locked out
* If a game is properly licensed, the ROM will display "Produced by or under license from Sega Enterprises Ltd."
* Boot ROM is not present on earlier versions of the Mega Drive and Genesis
* Some earlier games not designed for the TMSS may not work in later consoles
Main RAM: 64 KBytes
* Part of M68000 address space
Video RAM: 64 KBytes
* Cannot be accessed directly by CPU, must be read and written via VDP (Video Display Processor - see below)
Secondary RAM: 8 KBytes
* Part of Z80 address space
* Used as main RAM in Master System compatibility mode
Audio RAM: 8 KBytes
Cartridge memory area: up to 4 MBytes (32 Megabits)
* Part of M68000 address space
* Game cartridges larger than 4 MBytes must use bank switching
Graphics
The Mega Drive has a dedicated VDP (Video Display Processor) for playfield and sprite control. This is an improved version of the Sega Master System VDP, which in turn is derived from the Texas Instruments TMS9918. It contains both mode 4 (for Master System compatibility) and mode 5 (for native Genesis games). However, Master System programs can switch the VDP into mode 5 and make use of advanced VDP features. This page only discusses mode 5 capabilities.
Planes: 4 (2 scrolling playfields, 1 sprite plane, 1 'window' plane), per-tile priority
Sprites: Up to 64 (32H)/80 (40H) on-screen, 16/20 per line, 256/320 pixels per line, per-sprite priority
Palette: 512 colors (1536 using shadow/highlight mode)
On-screen colors: 64 × 9-bit words of color RAM, 4 lines of 15 colors plus transparent, allowing 61 on-screen colors (up to 1536 via raster effects and shadow/highlight)
Screen resolution: 256x224 (32Hx28V), 320x224 (40Hx28V), 256x240 (32Hx30V, PAL only), 320x240 (40Hx30V, PAL only)
* Interlace mode 1 provides no increase in resolution, but still generates a true interlaced signal
* Interlace mode 2 can provide double the vertical resolution (i.e. 320×448 for NTSC, 320x480 for PAL). Used in Sonic 2 for two-player split screen
Scroll size: Width and height independently set to 32, 64, or 128 cells as VRAM allows
Sound
Main sound chip: Yamaha YM2612
* Six FM channels, four operators each; channel 6 can be used for PCM data or as a regular channel
* Programmable low-frequency oscillator and stereo panning
Secondary sound chip: Texas Instruments SN76489 compatible device built into VDP.
* Four-channel PSG (Programmable Sound Generator)
* Three square wave channels, one white noise channel
* Programmable tone/noise and attenuation
* Used for Master System compatibility mode as well as to supplement FM
* Different random noise generation compared to a real SN76489/SN76489A chip
Inputs and outputs
RF output: RCA jack connects to TV antenna input
* Exists on original model European and Asian Mega Drive and North American Genesis only
* Other models must use external RF modulator which plugs into A/V output
A/V output: DIN connector with composite video, RGB video, and audio outputs
* Mega Drive and the first model Genesis have an 8-pin DIN socket (same as Sega Master System) which supports mono audio only
* Mega Drive 2, Multimega, and other models have a 9-pin mini DIN socket with both mono and stereo audio
Power input: positive tip barrel connector. Requires 9-10 volts DC, 0.85-1.2 A depending on model
Headphone output: Amplified 3.5-mm stereo jack on front of console with volume control
* Exists only on original model Mega Drive and Genesis units
* Provides stereo audio on models which have the mono 8-pin DIN A/V output
* Also suitable for passive speakers
* Can be used for mixing audio from the SegaCD
"EXT" port: DE-9F (9-pin female D-connector) on back of console
* Used with the Meganet modem peripheral, released only in Japan
* Exists on all first-model Japanese and Asian Mega Drive units, and on early American Genesis and European Mega Drive units
* May have been used for game selection on arcade adaptations of the Mega Drive / Genesis console
Control pad inputs: two DE-9M (9-pin male D-connectors) on front of console
Expansion port: Edge connector on bottom right hand side of console
* used almost exclusively for Sega Mega-CD connection
* not present on Genesis 3 model
* also used for the Sega Genesis 6 Cart Demo Unit (DS-16) in stores.
Development
Although the Sega Master System had proved a success in Brazil and Europe, it failed to ignite much interest in the North American or Japanese markets, which by the mid-to-late 1980s were both dominated by Nintendo with 95% and 92% market shares respectively. Hoping to dramatically increase their share, Sega set about creating a new machine that would be at least as powerful as the then most impressive hardware on the market - the 16-bit Commodore Amiga and Atari ST home computers.
Since the System 16 made by Sega was very popular, Hayao Nakayama, Sega's CEO at the time, decided to make their new home system utilize a 16-bit architecture. The final design was ported to the arcade, and eventually used in the Mega-Tech, Mega-Play and System-C arcade machines. Any game made for the Mega Drive hardware could easily be ported to these systems.
The first name Sega considered for their console was the MK-1601, but they ultimately decided to call it the "Sega Mega Drive". "Mega" had the connotation of superiority, and "Drive" had the connotation of speed and power. Sega used the name Mega Drive for the Japanese, European, Asian, Australian and Brazilian versions of the console. The North American version went by the name "Genesis" due to a trademark dispute, while the South Korean versions were called Super Gam*Boy (?????) and Super Aladdin Boy (transliterated from ???????; this was the Korean version of Mega Drive 2). The Korean-market consoles were licensed and distributed by Samsung Electronics.
North American release and further development
In 1987, Sega announced a North American release date for the system of January 9, 1989, making it the second console to feature a 16-bit CPU (the first one being the Mattel Intellivision) and the first to feature single-instruction 32-bit arithmetic. Sega was not able to meet the initial release date and U.S. sales began on August 14, 1989 in New York City and Los Angeles[2] with a suggested retail price of $200 at launch. The Genesis was released in the rest of North America on September 15 of the same year with the price reduced slightly to $190.
The Genesis initially competed against the 8-bit NES, over which it had superior graphics and sound. Nonetheless, it had a hard time overcoming Nintendo's ubiquitous presence in the consumer's home and the huge catalog of popular games already available for it. In an attempt to build themselves a significant consumer base, Sega decided to focus on slightly older buyers, especially young men in their late teens and early 20s who would have more disposable income and who were anxious for more "grown-up" titles with more mature content and/or more in-depth game play. As such, Sega released titles such as Altered Beast and the Phantasy Star series. Although the NES and Nintendo's impending SNES were still threats to Sega's market share, they had forced the theoretically competitive TurboGrafx 16 system into relative obscurity, thanks in part to NEC's poor North American marketing campaign.
Eventually, the main competition for the Genesis became Nintendo's 16-bit SNES, over which it had a head start in terms of user base and number of games, reversing the problem Sega had faced against the NES. The Genesis continued to hold on to a healthy fan base composed significantly of RPG and sports games fans. The release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 began to threaten Nintendo's up-to-then stranglehold on the number one console position in the USA. Sonic was released to replace former mascot Alex Kidd, and to provide the "killer app" that Sega needed. This sparked what was arguably the greatest console war in North American video gaming history.
By 1992, Sega was enjoying a stronghold on the market, holding a 55% market share in North America. Faced with a slight recession in sales and a brief loss of market share to the SNES, Sega again looked to Sonic to rejuvenate sales. The release of the highly anticipated Sonic the Hedgehog 2, coinciding with an aggressive ad campaign that took shots at Nintendo, fueled Genesis sales a while longer and boosted Sega's market share percentage back up, to an astounding 65%.
Less than a year later, in 1993, Sega released a redesigned version of the console at a newly reduced price. By consolidating the internal chipset onto a smaller, unified motherboard, Sega was able to both physically reduce the system's size and bring down production costs by simplifying the assembly procedure and reducing the number of integrated circuits required for each unit.
Aside from the release of the Sega CD and 32X add-ons for the Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega's last big announcement came in the form of a partnership with Time Warner in the U.S. to offer a subscription-based service called Sega Channel, which would allow subscribers to "download" games on a month-by-month basis.
Decline in market share
The failures of the Sega CD and 32X, a lack of effective advertising, and disputes between Sega of America and Sega of Japan had taken their toll on the company. By 1994, Sega's market share had dropped from 65% to 35%, and the official announcements of newer, more powerful consoles, such as the Saturn, Playstation, and N64 signaled that the 16-bit era was drawing to a close. Interest in the Genesis suffered greatly as a result, compounding its already falling sales. In 1996, less than a year after the debut of their Saturn console, Sega quickly brought their participation in the 16-bit era to an end by discontinuing production of the Genesis and its associated accessories. This obviously angered consumers around the world who had bought the Sega CD and 32X attachments only to see Sega abandon all support. This can, at least in slight, be seen as a contributing factor to the downfall of Sega as a console manufacturer. (see Video game market).
[edit]
Resurgent popularity
In recent years, there has been something of a revival of interest in the Mega Drive/Genesis, led largely by the grey market trade in both unlicensed cartridges (for instance, the biblically themed output of Wisdom Tree) and dumped ROMs, which are played through emulators such as Kega Fusion, GENS, or Genecyst. There is also a trend towards home programming, using the PC-based SGCC.
In the 2000s, there came a trend toward plug-and-play TV games, and Radica has released licensed, self-contained versions of the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in both North America (as the Play TV Legends Sega Genesis) and Europe (as the Sega Mega Drive 6-in-1 Plug 'n' Play), which contain six popular games in a small box and control pad. It does not have a cartridge slot, and thus is a dedicated console. However, Benjamin Heckendorn, of Atari portablizing fame, has proven that it is possible to connect a cartridge slot with some soldering.
The GameTap subscription gaming service includes a Genesis emulator, and has several dozen licensed Genesis games in its catalog.
On March 23, 2006, it was announced at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose California that Nintendo will offer Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game ports on the Wii home console. However it is not yet clear whether this includes all titles in the console's back catalogue. The announcement also stated that PC Engine games would be available for download to the virtual console.
On May 22, 2006 Super Fighter Team released the Beggar Prince, a game translated from a 1996 Chinese original. It is the first commercial Sega Megadrive game since 1998 in the North American market. It was released worldwide.
Variations of the Mega Drive/Sega Genesis
Main article: Variations of the Sega Mega Drive
During its lifespan, the Mega Drive and Genesis quite possibly received more officially licensed variations than any other console. While only one major design revision of the console was created during its lifespan, each region has its own peculiarities and unique items, while other variations were exercises in reducing costs (such as the removal of the little-used 9-pin EXT. port) or expanding the capabilities of the Mega Drive/Genesis.
Technical specifications
CPU
Main processor: 16-bit Motorola 68000 (or equivalent)
* Runs at 7.61 MHz in PAL consoles, 7.67 MHz in NTSC consoles.
* Some systems contained clones of the Motorola 68000 manufactured by Hitachi and Signetics.
* Signetics 68K only found in early revisions as this CPU is known to be inefficient.
Secondary processor: 8-bit Zilog Z80 (or equivalent)
* Runs at 3.55 MHz in PAL consoles, 3.58 MHz in NTSC consoles
* Used as main CPU in Master System compatibility mode.
Memory
Boot ROM: 2 KB
* Known as the "Trademark Security System" (TMSS)
* When console is started, it checks the game for certain code given to licensed developers
* Unlicensed games without the code are thus locked out
* If a game is properly licensed, the ROM will display "Produced by or under license from Sega Enterprises Ltd."
* Boot ROM is not present on earlier versions of the Mega Drive and Genesis
* Some earlier games not designed for the TMSS may not work in later consoles
Main RAM: 64 KBytes
* Part of M68000 address space
Video RAM: 64 KBytes
* Cannot be accessed directly by CPU, must be read and written via VDP (Video Display Processor - see below)
Secondary RAM: 8 KBytes
* Part of Z80 address space
* Used as main RAM in Master System compatibility mode
Audio RAM: 8 KBytes
Cartridge memory area: up to 4 MBytes (32 Megabits)
* Part of M68000 address space
* Game cartridges larger than 4 MBytes must use bank switching
Graphics
The Mega Drive has a dedicated VDP (Video Display Processor) for playfield and sprite control. This is an improved version of the Sega Master System VDP, which in turn is derived from the Texas Instruments TMS9918. It contains both mode 4 (for Master System compatibility) and mode 5 (for native Genesis games). However, Master System programs can switch the VDP into mode 5 and make use of advanced VDP features. This page only discusses mode 5 capabilities.
Planes: 4 (2 scrolling playfields, 1 sprite plane, 1 'window' plane), per-tile priority
Sprites: Up to 64 (32H)/80 (40H) on-screen, 16/20 per line, 256/320 pixels per line, per-sprite priority
Palette: 512 colors (1536 using shadow/highlight mode)
On-screen colors: 64 × 9-bit words of color RAM, 4 lines of 15 colors plus transparent, allowing 61 on-screen colors (up to 1536 via raster effects and shadow/highlight)
Screen resolution: 256x224 (32Hx28V), 320x224 (40Hx28V), 256x240 (32Hx30V, PAL only), 320x240 (40Hx30V, PAL only)
* Interlace mode 1 provides no increase in resolution, but still generates a true interlaced signal
* Interlace mode 2 can provide double the vertical resolution (i.e. 320×448 for NTSC, 320x480 for PAL). Used in Sonic 2 for two-player split screen
Scroll size: Width and height independently set to 32, 64, or 128 cells as VRAM allows
Sound
Main sound chip: Yamaha YM2612
* Six FM channels, four operators each; channel 6 can be used for PCM data or as a regular channel
* Programmable low-frequency oscillator and stereo panning
Secondary sound chip: Texas Instruments SN76489 compatible device built into VDP.
* Four-channel PSG (Programmable Sound Generator)
* Three square wave channels, one white noise channel
* Programmable tone/noise and attenuation
* Used for Master System compatibility mode as well as to supplement FM
* Different random noise generation compared to a real SN76489/SN76489A chip
Inputs and outputs
RF output: RCA jack connects to TV antenna input
* Exists on original model European and Asian Mega Drive and North American Genesis only
* Other models must use external RF modulator which plugs into A/V output
A/V output: DIN connector with composite video, RGB video, and audio outputs
* Mega Drive and the first model Genesis have an 8-pin DIN socket (same as Sega Master System) which supports mono audio only
* Mega Drive 2, Multimega, and other models have a 9-pin mini DIN socket with both mono and stereo audio
Power input: positive tip barrel connector. Requires 9-10 volts DC, 0.85-1.2 A depending on model
Headphone output: Amplified 3.5-mm stereo jack on front of console with volume control
* Exists only on original model Mega Drive and Genesis units
* Provides stereo audio on models which have the mono 8-pin DIN A/V output
* Also suitable for passive speakers
* Can be used for mixing audio from the SegaCD
"EXT" port: DE-9F (9-pin female D-connector) on back of console
* Used with the Meganet modem peripheral, released only in Japan
* Exists on all first-model Japanese and Asian Mega Drive units, and on early American Genesis and European Mega Drive units
* May have been used for game selection on arcade adaptations of the Mega Drive / Genesis console
Control pad inputs: two DE-9M (9-pin male D-connectors) on front of console
Expansion port: Edge connector on bottom right hand side of console
* used almost exclusively for Sega Mega-CD connection
* not present on Genesis 3 model
* also used for the Sega Genesis 6 Cart Demo Unit (DS-16) in stores.
Saturn
The Sega Saturn is a 32-bit video game console, first released on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 1995 in North America and July 8, 1995 in Europe. Approximately 170,000 machines were sold the first day of the Japanese launch. 5,000 were sold in the weekend following the United Kingdom launch.
At one time, the Sega Saturn held second place in the console wars, placing it above Nintendo's Super Famicom in Japan and Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in North America and Europe, but the Saturn slowly lost market share to Sony's PlayStation and, outside Japan, the cartridge-based Nintendo 64.
The Japanese Saturn was rushed to the market, just a few weeks ahead of its rival, Sony's PlayStation. This led to very few games being available at launch.
The system was supported in North America and Europe until late 1998, and in Japan until the end of 2000. The last official game for the system, Yukyu Gensokyoku Perpetual Collection, was released by Mediaworks in December that year. Interestingly, a game called Sega Saturn: Lost & Found VOL #1 was released in the US by Older Games in August of 2004 (although it is not playable with a retail, unmodified Saturn).
Sega's 27-member Away Team, comprising employees from every aspect of hardware engineering, product development and marketing, worked exclusively for two years to ensure the Sega Saturn's hardware and design met the precise needs of both the U.S. and Japanese markets. The Saturn was a powerful machine for the time, but its design, with two CPUs and 6 other processors, made harnessing its power extremely difficult. Rumours suggest that the original plan called for a single processor, but a second one was added late in development to increase potential performance.
One very fast central processor would be preferable. I don't think that all programmers have the ability to program two CPUs - most can only get about one-and-a-half times the speed you can get from one SH-2. I think only one out of 100 programmers is good enough to get that kind of speed out of the Saturn.
Third-party development was further hindered by the initial lack of useful software libraries and development tools, requiring developers to write in assembly language to achieve decent performance. Programmers would often utilize only one CPU to simplify development in titles such as Alien Trilogy.
The main disadvantage of the dual CPU architecture was that both processors shared the same bus, and besides 4K of on-chip memory, all data and program code for both CPUs was located in the same shared 2 MB of main memory. This meant that without very careful division of processing, the second CPU would often have to wait while the first CPU was working, reducing its processing ability.
The hardware also lacked light sourcing and hardware video decompression support. Nevertheless, when properly utilized, the dual processors in the Saturn could produce impressive results such as the 1997 ports of Quake and Duke Nukem 3D by Lobotomy Software, and later games like Burning Rangers were able to achieve true transparency effects on hardware that used simple polygon stipples as a replacement for transparency effects in the past.
From a market viewpoint, the architectural design problems of the Saturn meant that it quickly lost third party support to the PlayStation. Unlike the Playstation's use of triangles as its basic geometric primitive, the Saturn rendered quadrilaterals. This proved a hindrance as most industry standard design tools were based around triangles, and multiplatform games were usually developed with triangles and the Playstation's larger market share in mind.
If used correctly the quadrilateral rendering of the Saturn would show less texture distortion than was common on Playstation titles, as demonstrated by several cross-platform titles such as Wipeout and Destruction Derby. The quadrilateral-focussed hardware and a 50% greater amount of video RAM also gave the Saturn an advantage for 2D game engines and attracted many developers of RPGs, arcade games and traditional 2D fighting games. A 4 MB RAM cart, released only in Japan, boosted available memory even further for games such as Capcom's X-Men Vs Street Fighter.
Tomb Raider was originally designed for the Saturn's quadrilateral-based hardware and as a result was incapable of displaying levels containing any triangular parts. This restriction remained in place for most of the 32-bit sequels. In the other hand, the quadrilateral ability allowed the Saturn to render First-person shooter games better than other consoles at the time, games like Quake, Powerslave, Duke Nukem 3D, HeXen. Also, the extra video RAM allowed larger levels than in PlayStation versions.
A true example of the Saturn's capability is widely considered to be the systems version of Shenmue, Yu Suzuki's multi-million dollar project that would eventually find a new home on the Saturn's successor, the Sega Dreamcast. Work on the title is believed to have been fairly complete, and several technical demos and gameplay footage have since been released to the public. The footage displays a system capable of producing fully rendered, entirely 3D locations and characters. The quality of image Suzuki and his team were able to achieve is quite extraordinary considering the Saturn's infamously complicated hardware. Certainly, Shenmue was graphically superior to anything that had been produced on the Saturn before it.
Performance in the North American and European marketplace
The Saturn was launched almost four months ahead of schedule in North America and Europe. This was announced at 1995's E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) where Sega representatives were engaged in a public relations battle with Sony. This surprise move resulted in very few sales due to the USD$399 price of the system, versus the announced Playstation launch price of USD$299, and the lack of available software at launch.
In North America, Sega chose to ship Saturn units only to four select retailers which caused a great deal of animosity from unselected companies, including Wal-Mart and KB Toys. Additionally the summer launch broke with the tradition of launching in early fall to coincide with the Christmas shopping season [2]. Sega also struggled against distrust amongst gaming consumers after a series of quickly discontinued add-on peripherals to the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, including the Sega CD system and the Sega 32X.
Asian models
In Japan Sega licensed the rights to produce Saturns to their hardware partners - Hitachi, who provided the CPUs and several other chips, and JVC who produced the CD drives for most models, although functionally identical Sanyo drives were sometimes used. SunSeibu released a model with a 7-CD changer for use in hotels. The concept of a multi-game player for hotel use is very common in Japan.
Sega HST-3200
Sega Saturn
Sega Skeleton Saturn
Sega Derby Saturn
Hitachi Hi-Saturn
JVC/Victor V-Saturn RG-JX1
JVC/Victor V-Saturn RG-JX2
Samsung Saturn
All North American models are black in color and were produced by Sega.
MK-80000 7/95 - 3/96
MK-80000A 3/96 - 9/96
MK-80001 7/96 - 98
European and Australian Saturns are identical as both regions share the same AC voltage and TV standard. There is no internal variation between PAL and SÉCAM machines as all were shipped with SCART leads. All models are black and externally quite similar to the North American variations. PAL and SECAM machines will have "PAL" next to the BIOS revision number on the system settings screen instead of "NTSC".
MK-80200-50
MK-80200A-50
In North America the existing tall, single hinged case design used for Sega CD games was adopted for Saturn titles. The cases incorporate a white spine containing a 30 degree stripe pattern in gray, with white outlined lettering displaying the words "Sega Saturn". The manual slides into the case in the same manner as the liner notes in a normal jewel case, and the cover often carries a back insert with information about the game. The manuals were substantially larger than standard CD manuals, and as a result had more room for art.
These cases had several problems:
* Their sheer size made them vulnerable to cracking.
* The mechanism that keeps the cover closed wears out quickly if the cover is opened and closed too much
* There is sufficient empty space inside the case that if the CD comes loose of the case's spindle then it can easily suffer scratching or be shattered during case transportation. Some games (especially early in the system's life) came with a foam brick to keep the disc from falling off the spindle.
Games packaged with the system or a peripheral such as Virtua Fighter and NiGHTS Into Dreams often came in a standard CD Jewel case.
Processors
* Two Hitachi SuperH-2 7604 32-Bit RISC processors at 28.2 MHz (50-MIPS) - each has 4 kB on-chip cache, of which 2 kB can alternatively be used as directly addressable RAM
* SH-1 32-bit RISC processor (controlling the CD-ROM)
* Custom VDP 1 32-bit video display processor (running at 7.1590 MHz on NTSC Systems, 6.7116 MHz for PAL Systems)
* Custom VDP 2 32-bit video display processor (running at 7.1590 MHz on NTSC Systems, 6.7116 MHz for PAL Systems)
* Custom Saturn Control Unit (SCU) with DSP for geometry processing and DMA controller
* Motorola 68EC000 sound processor
* Yamaha FH1 DSP sound processor, "Sega Custom Sound Processor" (SCSP)
* Hitachi 4-bit MCU, "System Manager & Peripheral Control" (SMPC)
Memory
* 1 MB (8 Megabits) SDRAM
* 1 MB (8 Megabits) DRAM, combined with SDRAM to make the main 2 MB memory area
* 512KB (4 Megabits) VDP2 video RAM
* 4K VDP2 on-chip color RAM
* 512KB (4 Megabits) audio RAM
* 512KB (4 Megabits) CD-ROM cache
* 32KB nonvolatile RAM (battery backup)
* 512KB (4 Megabits) BIOS ROM
Audio
* Saturn Custom Sound Processor
Video
* VDP1 32-bit video display processor
* VDP2 32-bit background and scroll plane video display processor
Storage
* Saturn double-speed CD-ROM drive
Input/output
* Two 7-bit bidirectional parallel I/O ports
* High-speed serial communications port (Both SH2 SCI channels and SCSP MIDI)
* Cartridge connector
* Internal expansion port for MPEG adapter card
* Composite video/stereo (standard)
* NTSC/PAL RF (optional)
* S-Video compatible (optional)
* RGB compatible (optional)
* EDTV compatible (optional)
* HDTV compatible (optional - never used)
Peripherals
* Saturn digital gamepad (D-pad, Start button, 6 face buttons, 2 triggers)
* Analog gamepad (introduced with NiGHTS Into Dreams)
* "Stunner" lightgun (introduced with Virtua Cop)
* Cobra light gun by Nuby, Also was compatible with non GunCon PlayStation games
* Multitap (up to 10 players)
* Sega NetLink
* Netlink PS/2 Keyboard Adapter (for use with Netlink modem)
* 1.44 MB 3.5" disk drive (interfaces with serial port, supported by only a few games)
* Arcade Racer Joystick
* DirectLink
* Various MPEG cards allowing VCD playback using the Saturn (containing various MPEG video/audio decoder ASICs)
* RAM expansion cartridges (1 MB and 4 MB versions; expands Saturn RAM up to 6.5 MB)
* Backup data Memory Cartridges
* Action Replay/ Game Shark cheat devices
Power source
* AC120 volts; 60 Hz (US)
* AC240 volts; 50 Hz (EU)
* AC100 volts; 60 Hz (JP)
* 3 volt lithium battery to power non-volatile RAM and SMPC internal real-time clock
* Power Consumption: 25 W
Dimensions (US/European model)
* Width: 260 mm (10.2 in)
* Length: 230 mm (9.0 in)
* Height: 83 mm (3.2 in)
At one time, the Sega Saturn held second place in the console wars, placing it above Nintendo's Super Famicom in Japan and Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in North America and Europe, but the Saturn slowly lost market share to Sony's PlayStation and, outside Japan, the cartridge-based Nintendo 64.
The Japanese Saturn was rushed to the market, just a few weeks ahead of its rival, Sony's PlayStation. This led to very few games being available at launch.
The system was supported in North America and Europe until late 1998, and in Japan until the end of 2000. The last official game for the system, Yukyu Gensokyoku Perpetual Collection, was released by Mediaworks in December that year. Interestingly, a game called Sega Saturn: Lost & Found VOL #1 was released in the US by Older Games in August of 2004 (although it is not playable with a retail, unmodified Saturn).
Sega's 27-member Away Team, comprising employees from every aspect of hardware engineering, product development and marketing, worked exclusively for two years to ensure the Sega Saturn's hardware and design met the precise needs of both the U.S. and Japanese markets. The Saturn was a powerful machine for the time, but its design, with two CPUs and 6 other processors, made harnessing its power extremely difficult. Rumours suggest that the original plan called for a single processor, but a second one was added late in development to increase potential performance.
One very fast central processor would be preferable. I don't think that all programmers have the ability to program two CPUs - most can only get about one-and-a-half times the speed you can get from one SH-2. I think only one out of 100 programmers is good enough to get that kind of speed out of the Saturn.
Third-party development was further hindered by the initial lack of useful software libraries and development tools, requiring developers to write in assembly language to achieve decent performance. Programmers would often utilize only one CPU to simplify development in titles such as Alien Trilogy.
The main disadvantage of the dual CPU architecture was that both processors shared the same bus, and besides 4K of on-chip memory, all data and program code for both CPUs was located in the same shared 2 MB of main memory. This meant that without very careful division of processing, the second CPU would often have to wait while the first CPU was working, reducing its processing ability.
The hardware also lacked light sourcing and hardware video decompression support. Nevertheless, when properly utilized, the dual processors in the Saturn could produce impressive results such as the 1997 ports of Quake and Duke Nukem 3D by Lobotomy Software, and later games like Burning Rangers were able to achieve true transparency effects on hardware that used simple polygon stipples as a replacement for transparency effects in the past.
From a market viewpoint, the architectural design problems of the Saturn meant that it quickly lost third party support to the PlayStation. Unlike the Playstation's use of triangles as its basic geometric primitive, the Saturn rendered quadrilaterals. This proved a hindrance as most industry standard design tools were based around triangles, and multiplatform games were usually developed with triangles and the Playstation's larger market share in mind.
If used correctly the quadrilateral rendering of the Saturn would show less texture distortion than was common on Playstation titles, as demonstrated by several cross-platform titles such as Wipeout and Destruction Derby. The quadrilateral-focussed hardware and a 50% greater amount of video RAM also gave the Saturn an advantage for 2D game engines and attracted many developers of RPGs, arcade games and traditional 2D fighting games. A 4 MB RAM cart, released only in Japan, boosted available memory even further for games such as Capcom's X-Men Vs Street Fighter.
Tomb Raider was originally designed for the Saturn's quadrilateral-based hardware and as a result was incapable of displaying levels containing any triangular parts. This restriction remained in place for most of the 32-bit sequels. In the other hand, the quadrilateral ability allowed the Saturn to render First-person shooter games better than other consoles at the time, games like Quake, Powerslave, Duke Nukem 3D, HeXen. Also, the extra video RAM allowed larger levels than in PlayStation versions.
A true example of the Saturn's capability is widely considered to be the systems version of Shenmue, Yu Suzuki's multi-million dollar project that would eventually find a new home on the Saturn's successor, the Sega Dreamcast. Work on the title is believed to have been fairly complete, and several technical demos and gameplay footage have since been released to the public. The footage displays a system capable of producing fully rendered, entirely 3D locations and characters. The quality of image Suzuki and his team were able to achieve is quite extraordinary considering the Saturn's infamously complicated hardware. Certainly, Shenmue was graphically superior to anything that had been produced on the Saturn before it.
Performance in the North American and European marketplace
The Saturn was launched almost four months ahead of schedule in North America and Europe. This was announced at 1995's E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) where Sega representatives were engaged in a public relations battle with Sony. This surprise move resulted in very few sales due to the USD$399 price of the system, versus the announced Playstation launch price of USD$299, and the lack of available software at launch.
In North America, Sega chose to ship Saturn units only to four select retailers which caused a great deal of animosity from unselected companies, including Wal-Mart and KB Toys. Additionally the summer launch broke with the tradition of launching in early fall to coincide with the Christmas shopping season [2]. Sega also struggled against distrust amongst gaming consumers after a series of quickly discontinued add-on peripherals to the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, including the Sega CD system and the Sega 32X.
Asian models
In Japan Sega licensed the rights to produce Saturns to their hardware partners - Hitachi, who provided the CPUs and several other chips, and JVC who produced the CD drives for most models, although functionally identical Sanyo drives were sometimes used. SunSeibu released a model with a 7-CD changer for use in hotels. The concept of a multi-game player for hotel use is very common in Japan.
Sega HST-3200
Sega Saturn
Sega Skeleton Saturn
Sega Derby Saturn
Hitachi Hi-Saturn
JVC/Victor V-Saturn RG-JX1
JVC/Victor V-Saturn RG-JX2
Samsung Saturn
All North American models are black in color and were produced by Sega.
MK-80000 7/95 - 3/96
MK-80000A 3/96 - 9/96
MK-80001 7/96 - 98
European and Australian Saturns are identical as both regions share the same AC voltage and TV standard. There is no internal variation between PAL and SÉCAM machines as all were shipped with SCART leads. All models are black and externally quite similar to the North American variations. PAL and SECAM machines will have "PAL" next to the BIOS revision number on the system settings screen instead of "NTSC".
MK-80200-50
MK-80200A-50
In North America the existing tall, single hinged case design used for Sega CD games was adopted for Saturn titles. The cases incorporate a white spine containing a 30 degree stripe pattern in gray, with white outlined lettering displaying the words "Sega Saturn". The manual slides into the case in the same manner as the liner notes in a normal jewel case, and the cover often carries a back insert with information about the game. The manuals were substantially larger than standard CD manuals, and as a result had more room for art.
These cases had several problems:
* Their sheer size made them vulnerable to cracking.
* The mechanism that keeps the cover closed wears out quickly if the cover is opened and closed too much
* There is sufficient empty space inside the case that if the CD comes loose of the case's spindle then it can easily suffer scratching or be shattered during case transportation. Some games (especially early in the system's life) came with a foam brick to keep the disc from falling off the spindle.
Games packaged with the system or a peripheral such as Virtua Fighter and NiGHTS Into Dreams often came in a standard CD Jewel case.
Processors
* Two Hitachi SuperH-2 7604 32-Bit RISC processors at 28.2 MHz (50-MIPS) - each has 4 kB on-chip cache, of which 2 kB can alternatively be used as directly addressable RAM
* SH-1 32-bit RISC processor (controlling the CD-ROM)
* Custom VDP 1 32-bit video display processor (running at 7.1590 MHz on NTSC Systems, 6.7116 MHz for PAL Systems)
* Custom VDP 2 32-bit video display processor (running at 7.1590 MHz on NTSC Systems, 6.7116 MHz for PAL Systems)
* Custom Saturn Control Unit (SCU) with DSP for geometry processing and DMA controller
* Motorola 68EC000 sound processor
* Yamaha FH1 DSP sound processor, "Sega Custom Sound Processor" (SCSP)
* Hitachi 4-bit MCU, "System Manager & Peripheral Control" (SMPC)
Memory
* 1 MB (8 Megabits) SDRAM
* 1 MB (8 Megabits) DRAM, combined with SDRAM to make the main 2 MB memory area
* 512KB (4 Megabits) VDP2 video RAM
* 4K VDP2 on-chip color RAM
* 512KB (4 Megabits) audio RAM
* 512KB (4 Megabits) CD-ROM cache
* 32KB nonvolatile RAM (battery backup)
* 512KB (4 Megabits) BIOS ROM
Audio
* Saturn Custom Sound Processor
Video
* VDP1 32-bit video display processor
* VDP2 32-bit background and scroll plane video display processor
Storage
* Saturn double-speed CD-ROM drive
Input/output
* Two 7-bit bidirectional parallel I/O ports
* High-speed serial communications port (Both SH2 SCI channels and SCSP MIDI)
* Cartridge connector
* Internal expansion port for MPEG adapter card
* Composite video/stereo (standard)
* NTSC/PAL RF (optional)
* S-Video compatible (optional)
* RGB compatible (optional)
* EDTV compatible (optional)
* HDTV compatible (optional - never used)
Peripherals
* Saturn digital gamepad (D-pad, Start button, 6 face buttons, 2 triggers)
* Analog gamepad (introduced with NiGHTS Into Dreams)
* "Stunner" lightgun (introduced with Virtua Cop)
* Cobra light gun by Nuby, Also was compatible with non GunCon PlayStation games
* Multitap (up to 10 players)
* Sega NetLink
* Netlink PS/2 Keyboard Adapter (for use with Netlink modem)
* 1.44 MB 3.5" disk drive (interfaces with serial port, supported by only a few games)
* Arcade Racer Joystick
* DirectLink
* Various MPEG cards allowing VCD playback using the Saturn (containing various MPEG video/audio decoder ASICs)
* RAM expansion cartridges (1 MB and 4 MB versions; expands Saturn RAM up to 6.5 MB)
* Backup data Memory Cartridges
* Action Replay/ Game Shark cheat devices
Power source
* AC120 volts; 60 Hz (US)
* AC240 volts; 50 Hz (EU)
* AC100 volts; 60 Hz (JP)
* 3 volt lithium battery to power non-volatile RAM and SMPC internal real-time clock
* Power Consumption: 25 W
Dimensions (US/European model)
* Width: 260 mm (10.2 in)
* Length: 230 mm (9.0 in)
* Height: 83 mm (3.2 in)
History of Dreamcast
American Launch 9/9/1999
Best Selling Game: Sonic Adventure
The Sega Dreamcast (Japanese: code-named "Blackbelt," "Dural," and "Katana" during development) was Sega's seventh & final video game console and the successor to the company's Sega Saturn. An attempt to recapture the console market with a next-generation system, it was designed to supersede Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo 64, and although generally considered to be "ahead of its time" (literally fifteen months before the PlayStation 2 and three years (based on original release dates, not U.S. release dates) before GameCube or Xbox) it failed to gather enough momentum before the release of the PlayStation 2 in March 2000. After the Dreamcast was discontinued, Sega withdrew entirely from the console hardware business.
History
When the time came to design the successor to the Sega Saturn, the new President of Sega, Shoichiro Irimajiri, took the unusual step of hiring an outsider. He hired Tatsuo Yamamoto from IBM Austin to head a skunkworks group to develop the next-generation console. It soon became apparent that the existing Japanese hardware group led by Hideki Sato did not want to relinquish control of the hardware department, bringing rise to two competing designs led by two different groups.
Design
A timeline of the development of the console's GPU may be found here.
The Japanese group led by Hideki Sato settled on an Hitachi SH4 processor with a PowerVR graphics processor developed by VideoLogic (now Imagination Technologies) and manufactured by NEC. This was originally codenamed "White Belt". The first Japanese prototype boards were silkscreened "Guppy", and the later ones "Katana".
The US skunkworks group (in a secret suite at the 303 Twin Dolphin Drive building) led by Tatsuo Yamamoto settled on an IBM/Motorola PowerPC 603e processor with a 3dfx Voodoo 2 graphics processor, which was originally codenamed "Black Belt". The first US prototype boards were silkscreened "Shark".
The Japanese hardware was codenamed "Dural", then later, "Katana". "Black Belt" and "Shark" were the only codenames used by the US hardware team (the hardware team was called "Black Belt team"; the "Shark" was in response to the Japanese team's "Guppy").
When 3dfx declared its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in April 1997, it revealed every detail of the contract with Sega. Sega had been keeping the development of its next-generation console secret during this competition, and was outraged when 3dfx publicly laid out its deal with Sega over the new system in the IPO.
In July 1997, perhaps as a result of 3dfx's IPO, it was decided that the Japanese "Katana" would be the chosen format, renamed Dreamcast. In September 1997, 3dfx filed a lawsuit against Sega and NEC (later including VideoLogic), stating "breach of contract", and accusing Sega of starting the deal in bad faith to take 3dfx technology, although they later settled.
Launch
The Dreamcast was released on November 27, 1998 in Japan, on September 9, 1999 in North America (the date 9/9/99 featured heavily in US promotion) and on October 14, 1999 in Europe. The tagline used to promote the console in the US was, "It's thinking", and in Europe "Up to 6 Billion Players".
The Dreamcast was the first console to include a built-in modem and Internet support for online gaming (besides the NES, Satellaview, and the Nintendo 64DD). It enjoyed brisk sales in its first season, and was one of Sega's most successful hardware units. In the United States alone, a record 300,000 units (citation Maclean's September 24, 1999) had been pre-ordered before launch and Sega sold 500,000 consoles in just two weeks (including 225,000 sold on the first 24 hours which became a video game record until the PlayStation 2 launched a year later). In fact, due to brisk sales and hardware shortages, Sega was unable to fulfill all of the advance orders. Sega confirmed that it made $98.4 million on combined hardware and software sales with the Dreamcast with its September 9, 1999 launch. Sega even compared the record figure to the opening day gross of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which made $28.5 million during the first 24 hours in theaters.
Before the launch in the United States, Sega had already taken the extra step in displaying Dreamcast's capabilities in stores nationwide. Much like the PlayStation's launch in North America, the displays of titles such as Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, Power Stone, and Hydro Thunder helped the Dreamcast succeed in the first year.
Electronic Arts announced it would not support the Dreamcast unless it sold 1 million units. When this happened within a record 90 days, EA went back on their word and declined to support the Dreamcast in favor of Sony's upcoming PlayStation 2. Although the Dreamcast had none of EA's popular sports games (due in part to EA's losses from the past Sega Saturn), Sega Sports titles helped to fill that void.
Competition
In April 1999, Sony announced its PlayStation 2, designed to be backwards-compatible with the older PlayStation. The actual release of the PS2 was not until March 2000 in Japan, and late October 2000 in the US. Sony's press release, despite being a year ahead of the launch of the PS2, was enough to divert a lot of attention from Sega. With the looming PS2 launch in Japan, the Dreamcast was largely ignored in that territory. The Dreamcast had great initial success in the US, but had trouble maintaining this with the PS2's release.
Dreamcast's overall superior games (vs. early PS2 games), online capabilities including SegaNet (the PS2 would not go online until late 2002), and significantly lower price (1/2 cost) did little to help sales once the Playstation 2 was launched. American public attention was focused upon the Playstation 2's much hyped graphics and its ability to play DVDs (the DVD format did not catch on in Japan until after the release of the PS2 as the LD was the established standard). During the holiday season of 2000, the Dreamcast was largely ignored even as the PlayStation 2 was plagued by production shortages, as people often paid in excess of $1000 on eBay for Sony's next-generation console.
The biggest competition between the two systems in the US was their football games (NFL 2K1 vs. Madden NFL 2001). Both games were highly regarded with NFL 2k1 having the advantage of online play (coinciding with release of SegaNet) and Madden arguably having a graphics edge. NFL 2K1 outsold Madden 2001. It sold about 410,000 copies which was about the number of PS2s sold in America [citation needed].
Quality of the overall PlayStation 2 library wouldn't catch up until a year later after developers abandoned Dreamcast development en masse and cancelled many nearly completed projects. Sony already enjoyed brand-name dominance over Sega after the huge success of the original PlayStation and commercial failure of the Sega Saturn, Sega 32X, and Sega CD, which contributed to poorer sales of the Dreamcast.
In 2000, the announcement of the Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube was widely regarded as the last straw for the Dreamcast, since both competitors had deep pockets, which fueled speculation that Sega did not have the resources for a prolonged marketing campaign.
Sega's decision to release the Dreamcast early, or even at all, is still debated. While it was largely regarded as a risky gamble, the Dreamcast was initially successful. Ultimately, anticipation of competitors' newer consoles resulted in stagnation of Dreamcast sales. The GameCube and Xbox weren't released until well after the Dreamcast was officially discontinued (nearly a year later).
End of production
On January 31, 2001, Sega announced that production of Dreamcast hardware was to be discontinued by March of that year, although the 50 to 60 titles still in production would be published. The last North American release was NHL 2K2, which was released in February 2002. With the company announcing no plans to develop a next-generation successor to the Dreamcast, this was Sega's last foray into the home console business. By the time Sega decided to cease development of the Dreamcast, about 10 million consoles had been sold. One key reason cited for the failure of the Dreamcast was Sega's poor relations with the games publishers (such as Electronics Arts, following the poor performance of previous consoles.
Though the Dreamcast was officially discontinued in early 2001, commercial games were still developed and released afterwards, particularly in Japan. Many consider the critically acclaimed arcade shooter Ikaruga developed by Treasure to be the Dreamcast's swan song. It was released in September 2002 in Japan only after a large amount of speculation on the game's fate; its US release was on the GameCube in April 2003. Hacked unreleased games like Propeller Arena and Half-Life continued to become available to the public by warez groups like Echelon.
On February 24, 2004, Sega released their final Dreamcast game, Puyo Pop Fever, although a small number of third-party games are still being released, such as Trizeal, Rajirugi, and most recently Under Defeat (released in March 2006).
Despite its short lifespan, the Dreamcast is still a very popular and highly-regarded console among many fans due to its impressive library of both mainstream and quirky titles. It is even starting to become a cult classic, as the system is getting harder to find (in fact, although the Dreamcast was officially discontinued in January 2001, Sega continued to produce the console for a short time afterwards due to rising demand, not least among collectors and hardcore fans).
Several Dreamcast emulation projects have emerged after the Dreamcast's end of production, with Chankast being the most notable.
GD-ROM
The Dreamcast used a proprietary format called GD-ROM or "GigaDisc" for storing games and software. Sega chose the GD-ROM format for its increased capacity while using inexpensive compact disc technology. All Dreamcast consoles could also play audio compact discs until the introduction of revised GD-ROM drives in 2001 that could not read burned CDs of any kind.
Windows CE
Microsoft co-operated with Sega in hopes of promoting its Windows CE operating system for video games. Windows CE offered easy porting of existing PC applications, but offered limited capabilities compared to the Dreamcast's native operating system. When developers took advantage of the easy development offered by Windows CE, the resulting games (e.g., Sega Rally 2) lagged in performance and framerate. The only Windows CE application known by most users was the pack-in CD containing a CE-based dialer and web browser.
The Dreamcast used the same technology as the Sega NAOMI arcade game hardware platform, therefore NAOMI-based games such as Crazy Taxi were easily ported to the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast, however, had less memory and games were loaded from GD-ROM discs (while some NAOMI games were released on GD-ROM most used ROM boards).
Graphics Output
The Dreamcast is able to output true 640x480 VGA (480p60 EDTV), which (at the time) set it apart from other consoles. The system, when combined with the VGA adapter accessory (mentioned below), had the ability to display high-res, non-interlaced picture(s).
The feature was underused by the public despite the potential for improved video quality with the use of a PC monitor or HDTV set. This was likely due to lack of knowledge on the subject. Also, a few notable games were not compatible with this mode, including certain Capcom fighting games and 2D shoot-'em-up games.
Other well known graphic implementations such as, cel-shading and bump mapping, were first seen on Sega's console. In fact, the first completely cel-shaded animation game was Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio in US), released in 2000 on the Dreamcast.
Connectivity
Much like the successive GameCube, the Dreamcast has the ability to connect to a handheld gaming unit. Using a special cable, with specific games, the Dreamcast could connect with the Neo Geo Pocket. SNK and Capcom took advantage of the connectivity to allow players of Capcom vs SNK and The King of Fighters to trade points between the console and handheld versions of their games.
Online
Dreamcast consoles came packed with a disc containing web browser software allowing dial-up Internet access. Dream Passport was the Japanese browser, Planetweb was used in America, and DreamKey in Europe. Version 3.0 of Planetweb included broadband capabilities, Java, Flash, and mouse support. In Europe, the final version of DreamKey was 3.0.
While Planetweb was a browser created specifically for the US market, Europe's DreamKey was in fact a translated version of the Japanese Dream Passport. It was used on some American game releases (such as Metropolis Street Racer); here it was called Internet Viewer.
The Dreamcast was one of the first home console systems to offer online gameplay with the game ChuChu Rocket! (which was distributed free to Dreamcast owners in Europe). Sega also has the honors of the first online console sports title (Sega Sports NFL 2K1) as well as the first ever online console RPG (Phantasy Star Online). The SegaNet online dial-up service (US$29/month membership) attracted 750,000 subscribers in America alone. About twenty-two games, including Quake III Arena and Phantasy Star Online, supported SegaNet. Other major online games include 4x4 Evolution (first crossplatform online game), Starlancer, and Ferrari F355 Challenge. Although the online features of most commercially-released online-capable Dreamcast games are no longer supported, with the complete shut-down of support in the US, some games are still playable online in Japan. Yet, fans have developed servers for playing Phantasy Star Online and the North American version of Quake III Arena which can still be played online by finding or setting up a server using software and a map pack released by Sega. The games still playable online are Quake III Arena, Starlancer, 4x4 Evolution, Phantasy Star Online, Maximum Pool Online, and Sega Swirl, which still have dozens of players online.
In Europe, the online service was known as Dreamarena. This was created and operated for Sega Europe by a partnership between ICL and BT (ICL developed the web sites and software, with BT providing the dial-up capabilities and network infrastructure). The service was free and the game servers hosted within it could not otherwise be accessed from the Internet. Dreamarena ran until the beginning of March 2002. As the DreamKey web browser was customised to only work with Dreamarena, Sega subsequently offered a free replacement version which would allow connection with the user's own Internet service provider.
The modem module in the Dreamcast could easily be replaced with a broadband module to allow networked gaming over Ethernet. Phantasy Star Online, Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament, Outtrigger, Bomberman Online, and POD Speedzone included support for this device. It should be noted, however, that not all of those games supported the Ethernet adapter; the US release of Phantasy Star Online only officially supported dial-up connectivity, however it was possible to use the Japanese version of the game to configure usage of the Ethernet adapter (or, alternatively, another Japanese title that configured the same settings in the system BIOS) and then play the US release of the game with the Ethernet adapter.
The standard Dreamcast unit is made of white and grey plastic. The power light, like the Dreamcast logo in NTSC regions, is orange (this color was chosen because the Japanese consider it to be lucky). Games were sold in jewel cases which initially had the Dreamcast name and logo on a white background, but later games used a black background (blue in Europe).
The unit was packaged with a video cable which supports composite video and right/left stereo audio. Available separately were an S-Video cable, a RF connector (included as standard in the UK and Portugal) and a VGA adapter (see accessories below).
In the United States, a black Dreamcast was released in limited numbers with a sports pack which included two Sega Sports titles. Electronics Boutique offered a blue Dreamcast through its website. Similar offerings were sold through the Lik-sang website. Cases of different colors like blue, red, orange, and green were sold for replacements of the original casing. In Japan, Sega released many varieties of the system, including limited edition Sonic anniversary editions, and Hello Kitty outfits. The Sega Dreamcast Hello Kitty was released in 2000 in Japan. Due to its limited production, it has become an extremely rare collector's piece. The package contains a keyboard, a controller, a VMU, a mouse, and a Hello Kitty trivia game. The console and accessories are translucent pink in color with some printed designs. The Sega Dreamcast Hello Kitty special edition was also available in a blue with all the same accessories.
The Brazilian version, manufactured by Tec Toy under license, was essentially the same as the US version, however its video output was converted to the PAL-M standard and it didn't come with the modem, which was available separately.
The Dreamcast in Europe had its spiral logo in blue, similar to the logo on earlier Sega systems. This change in logo is thought to have been for copyright reasons. A German company, Tivola, had been using a similar swirl logo years before Sega branded the Dreamcast with the orange swirl. As well as the VGA mode (again using an adapter), the European Dreamcast supported PAL video, in both 50Hz and 60Hz modes. This was a first for games consoles, as no previous PAL console had offered the option to play games at full speed, using the ability of more modern PAL televisions to operate at 60Hz. This became a feature of all major consoles released since. The 60Hz option had to be enabled on the game disc, however, but only a small number of games lacked this. Games in Europe were sold in jewel cases exactly twice as thick as their US counterparts, possibly to enable the inclusion of thick instruction booklets containing instructions in multiple languages.
A third-party company from China named Treamcast released a portable modified Dreamcast which used the original first party Dreamcast components with a custom made plastic casing. This small system with its fold-down display resembled the later PS One. Many companies included software and a remote with the unit that enabled it to play MP3s and Video CDs. When the internet import videogame store, Lik-Sang, contacted Sega to ask permission to sell a modified version of the system with Sega trademarks on the system, they were told that Sega did not approve of the unit, and felt that it violated their trademarks. In reality, this system is not any different from selling a Dreamcast pre-modified with a third party shell, as the system's internals still use first party hardware, and contain no modifications whatsoever aside from the outside casing and modifications for internal sound and video.
Recently, in 2005, the internet import store, Lan-Kwei, has started selling a "Treamcast" portable modified Dreamcast with a 16:9 widescreen LCD. Aside from the cosmetic differences in the case to accommodate the larger screen, there are no differences between the original Treamcast portable modified Dreamcast and the newer widescreen model.
The Visual Memory Unit, or "VMU", was the Dreamcast's memory card. It had a monochrome LCD screen, a D-Pad, and two gaming buttons. It could play minigames loaded onto it (a Chao game was obtainable in Sonic Adventure, for example). It could also display a list of the saved game data stored on it, and two VMUs could be connected together (end-to-end, needing no other hardware) to exchange data.
Standard memory cards could also be purchased without the additional features of the VMU. Most of these were manufactured by third-party companies (such as the Nexus Memory Card), although Sega eventually released a 4X memory card. The 4X cards did not have the VMU screen or stand-alone abilities, but they had four times the space by switching between four 200-block sectors.
Controller and Rumble Pack Most Dreamcast games supported a rumble pack ("Jump Pack"), which was sold separately and could be plugged into the controller. In Japan, the Jump Pack was named the "Puru Puru Pack".
The Dreamcast controller offered an analog stick, a D-pad, a Start button, four gaming buttons (labeled A, B, X, and Y), and two analog index finger triggers on the underside. It also contained two slots which fit memory cards or the rumble pack; the uppermost one had a window through which the VMU's display could be seen. The Dreamcast controller was somewhat large and a few players found it difficult to hold.
VGA Adapter Unique to the Dreamcast among current console gaming systems, it could use a VGA adapter for output to a computer display and HDTV compatible sets (which provided much better quality than a television set).
Not all games are compatible with the VGA adapter, but there are work arounds to trick all but a handful of games into working with it.
Dreamcast Mouse and Keyboard The Dreamcast supported a mouse as well as a keyboard which was useful when using the included web browser, but was also supported by certain games such as The Typing of the Dead, Quake 3, Phantasy Star Online and Railroad Tycoon 2. Other games such as REZ offer undocumented mouse support.
Fishing Rod A motion sensitive fishing rod was released for the few fishing games on the system.
Microphone There was a microphone peripheral used for Alien Front Online, version 2.6 of the Planetweb Web browser (long distance calling support), the European Planet Ring collection and Seaman (the first console game to use voice recognition in the US).
Lightgun
Sega also produced a light gun for the system, although this was not sold in the US presumably because Sega did not want its name on a gun in the light of recent school shootings. American versions of light gun games even blocked out using the official gun. Several third parties made compatible guns for the few light gun games released, including The House of the Dead 2 and Confidential Mission. The only other light gun compatible games were Death Crimson OX and its Japanese only prequel, Virtua Cop 2 on the Sega Smash Pack, and a light gun minigame in Demolition Racer No Exit.
Arcade Stick Sega also released the heavy-duty Arcade Stick, a digital joystick with six buttons using the same microswitch assemblies as commercial arcade machines. Although it could not be used for many Dreamcast games due to the lack of an analog joystick, it was well received and helped cement the Dreamcast's reputation for 2D shooters and fighting games. The Arcade Stick itself lives on beyond the Dreamcast, as adaptors are now available to use it on other hardware platforms.
Third-party sticks were also made, like the ASCII Dreamcast fighting Pad, which some regard as having a more comfortable 6-button configuration and a more precise digital direction pad.
Twin Sticks A twin stick peripheral was released specifically for use with the game Virtual-On. This add-on mimicked the original dual arcade stick setup and made gameplay much more precise. They are extremely rare and versions that appear on ebay sell for over $100.
Dreameye Sega developed the Dreameye, a digital camera for the Dreamcast, but it was only released in Japan.
Samba de Amigo controller Sega developed a special "maracas" controller for the Samba de Amigo music game.
Cancelled Accessories Toward the end of the Dreamcast's lifespan, Sega created and displayed prototypes of a high-capacity VMU/MP3 player, DVD player, and Zip drive peripherals. None of these items became available to the public.
Technical Speculations
* CPU: SH-4 RISC CPU with 128 Bit FPU functions for 3D graphics computations (operating frequency: 200 MHz, 360 MIPS, 1.4 GFLOPS)
* Graphics Engine: PowerVR2 CLX2, 7.0 Mil polygons/second peak performance, supports Trilinear filtering. Actual maximum in game performance (with full textures, lighting, gameplay, etc...) of 3-5 Mil polygons/second. Tile rendering eliminates overdraw by only drawing visible polygons. This allows more efficient use of polygons and can make games appear to have 2-4 times their actual polygon count (depending on amount of overdraw eliminated).
* Memory: Main RAM: 16 MB 64 Bit 100 MHz, Video RAM: 8 MB 4x16 Bit 100 Mhz, Sound RAM: 2 MB 16 Bit 66 MHz
* Sound Engine: Yamaha AICA Sound Processor: 22.5MHz 32-Bit ARM7 RISC CPU core, 64 channel PCM/ADPCM sampler, 128 step DSP
* GD-ROM Drive: 12x maximum speed (Constant Angular Velocity)
* GD-ROM: Holds up to 1.2 GB of data. A normal CD-ROM holds 700 megabytes.
* Inputs: USB-like "Maple Bus". Four ports support devices such as digital and analog controllers, steering wheels, joysticks, keyboards and mouses, and more.
* Dimensions: 189 mm x 195 mm x 76 mm (7 7/16" x 7 11/16" x 3")
* Weight: 1.9 kg (4.4 lb)
* Color: Majority are white. Some late models from a sports package are black.
* Modem: Removable; Original Asia/Japan model had a 33.6 kbit/s; models released after September 9, 1999 had a 56 kbit/s modem
* Broadband: these adapters are available separately and replace the removable modem
* HIT-400: "Broadband Adapter", the more common model, this used a Realtek 8139 chip and supported 10 and 100 Mbit speeds.
* HIT-300: "Lan Adapter", this version used a Fujitsu MB86967 chip and supported only 10 Mbit speed.
* Color Output: Approx. 16.78 million simultaneous colors (24 bit)
* Storage: Visual Memory Unit ("VMU") 1 Mbit (128 KByte) removable storage device and 4x memory cards that hold four times as much data.
Best Selling Game: Sonic Adventure
The Sega Dreamcast (Japanese: code-named "Blackbelt," "Dural," and "Katana" during development) was Sega's seventh & final video game console and the successor to the company's Sega Saturn. An attempt to recapture the console market with a next-generation system, it was designed to supersede Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo 64, and although generally considered to be "ahead of its time" (literally fifteen months before the PlayStation 2 and three years (based on original release dates, not U.S. release dates) before GameCube or Xbox) it failed to gather enough momentum before the release of the PlayStation 2 in March 2000. After the Dreamcast was discontinued, Sega withdrew entirely from the console hardware business.
History
When the time came to design the successor to the Sega Saturn, the new President of Sega, Shoichiro Irimajiri, took the unusual step of hiring an outsider. He hired Tatsuo Yamamoto from IBM Austin to head a skunkworks group to develop the next-generation console. It soon became apparent that the existing Japanese hardware group led by Hideki Sato did not want to relinquish control of the hardware department, bringing rise to two competing designs led by two different groups.
Design
A timeline of the development of the console's GPU may be found here.
The Japanese group led by Hideki Sato settled on an Hitachi SH4 processor with a PowerVR graphics processor developed by VideoLogic (now Imagination Technologies) and manufactured by NEC. This was originally codenamed "White Belt". The first Japanese prototype boards were silkscreened "Guppy", and the later ones "Katana".
The US skunkworks group (in a secret suite at the 303 Twin Dolphin Drive building) led by Tatsuo Yamamoto settled on an IBM/Motorola PowerPC 603e processor with a 3dfx Voodoo 2 graphics processor, which was originally codenamed "Black Belt". The first US prototype boards were silkscreened "Shark".
The Japanese hardware was codenamed "Dural", then later, "Katana". "Black Belt" and "Shark" were the only codenames used by the US hardware team (the hardware team was called "Black Belt team"; the "Shark" was in response to the Japanese team's "Guppy").
When 3dfx declared its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in April 1997, it revealed every detail of the contract with Sega. Sega had been keeping the development of its next-generation console secret during this competition, and was outraged when 3dfx publicly laid out its deal with Sega over the new system in the IPO.
In July 1997, perhaps as a result of 3dfx's IPO, it was decided that the Japanese "Katana" would be the chosen format, renamed Dreamcast. In September 1997, 3dfx filed a lawsuit against Sega and NEC (later including VideoLogic), stating "breach of contract", and accusing Sega of starting the deal in bad faith to take 3dfx technology, although they later settled.
Launch
The Dreamcast was released on November 27, 1998 in Japan, on September 9, 1999 in North America (the date 9/9/99 featured heavily in US promotion) and on October 14, 1999 in Europe. The tagline used to promote the console in the US was, "It's thinking", and in Europe "Up to 6 Billion Players".
The Dreamcast was the first console to include a built-in modem and Internet support for online gaming (besides the NES, Satellaview, and the Nintendo 64DD). It enjoyed brisk sales in its first season, and was one of Sega's most successful hardware units. In the United States alone, a record 300,000 units (citation Maclean's September 24, 1999) had been pre-ordered before launch and Sega sold 500,000 consoles in just two weeks (including 225,000 sold on the first 24 hours which became a video game record until the PlayStation 2 launched a year later). In fact, due to brisk sales and hardware shortages, Sega was unable to fulfill all of the advance orders. Sega confirmed that it made $98.4 million on combined hardware and software sales with the Dreamcast with its September 9, 1999 launch. Sega even compared the record figure to the opening day gross of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which made $28.5 million during the first 24 hours in theaters.
Before the launch in the United States, Sega had already taken the extra step in displaying Dreamcast's capabilities in stores nationwide. Much like the PlayStation's launch in North America, the displays of titles such as Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, Power Stone, and Hydro Thunder helped the Dreamcast succeed in the first year.
Electronic Arts announced it would not support the Dreamcast unless it sold 1 million units. When this happened within a record 90 days, EA went back on their word and declined to support the Dreamcast in favor of Sony's upcoming PlayStation 2. Although the Dreamcast had none of EA's popular sports games (due in part to EA's losses from the past Sega Saturn), Sega Sports titles helped to fill that void.
Competition
In April 1999, Sony announced its PlayStation 2, designed to be backwards-compatible with the older PlayStation. The actual release of the PS2 was not until March 2000 in Japan, and late October 2000 in the US. Sony's press release, despite being a year ahead of the launch of the PS2, was enough to divert a lot of attention from Sega. With the looming PS2 launch in Japan, the Dreamcast was largely ignored in that territory. The Dreamcast had great initial success in the US, but had trouble maintaining this with the PS2's release.
Dreamcast's overall superior games (vs. early PS2 games), online capabilities including SegaNet (the PS2 would not go online until late 2002), and significantly lower price (1/2 cost) did little to help sales once the Playstation 2 was launched. American public attention was focused upon the Playstation 2's much hyped graphics and its ability to play DVDs (the DVD format did not catch on in Japan until after the release of the PS2 as the LD was the established standard). During the holiday season of 2000, the Dreamcast was largely ignored even as the PlayStation 2 was plagued by production shortages, as people often paid in excess of $1000 on eBay for Sony's next-generation console.
The biggest competition between the two systems in the US was their football games (NFL 2K1 vs. Madden NFL 2001). Both games were highly regarded with NFL 2k1 having the advantage of online play (coinciding with release of SegaNet) and Madden arguably having a graphics edge. NFL 2K1 outsold Madden 2001. It sold about 410,000 copies which was about the number of PS2s sold in America [citation needed].
Quality of the overall PlayStation 2 library wouldn't catch up until a year later after developers abandoned Dreamcast development en masse and cancelled many nearly completed projects. Sony already enjoyed brand-name dominance over Sega after the huge success of the original PlayStation and commercial failure of the Sega Saturn, Sega 32X, and Sega CD, which contributed to poorer sales of the Dreamcast.
In 2000, the announcement of the Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube was widely regarded as the last straw for the Dreamcast, since both competitors had deep pockets, which fueled speculation that Sega did not have the resources for a prolonged marketing campaign.
Sega's decision to release the Dreamcast early, or even at all, is still debated. While it was largely regarded as a risky gamble, the Dreamcast was initially successful. Ultimately, anticipation of competitors' newer consoles resulted in stagnation of Dreamcast sales. The GameCube and Xbox weren't released until well after the Dreamcast was officially discontinued (nearly a year later).
End of production
On January 31, 2001, Sega announced that production of Dreamcast hardware was to be discontinued by March of that year, although the 50 to 60 titles still in production would be published. The last North American release was NHL 2K2, which was released in February 2002. With the company announcing no plans to develop a next-generation successor to the Dreamcast, this was Sega's last foray into the home console business. By the time Sega decided to cease development of the Dreamcast, about 10 million consoles had been sold. One key reason cited for the failure of the Dreamcast was Sega's poor relations with the games publishers (such as Electronics Arts, following the poor performance of previous consoles.
Though the Dreamcast was officially discontinued in early 2001, commercial games were still developed and released afterwards, particularly in Japan. Many consider the critically acclaimed arcade shooter Ikaruga developed by Treasure to be the Dreamcast's swan song. It was released in September 2002 in Japan only after a large amount of speculation on the game's fate; its US release was on the GameCube in April 2003. Hacked unreleased games like Propeller Arena and Half-Life continued to become available to the public by warez groups like Echelon.
On February 24, 2004, Sega released their final Dreamcast game, Puyo Pop Fever, although a small number of third-party games are still being released, such as Trizeal, Rajirugi, and most recently Under Defeat (released in March 2006).
Despite its short lifespan, the Dreamcast is still a very popular and highly-regarded console among many fans due to its impressive library of both mainstream and quirky titles. It is even starting to become a cult classic, as the system is getting harder to find (in fact, although the Dreamcast was officially discontinued in January 2001, Sega continued to produce the console for a short time afterwards due to rising demand, not least among collectors and hardcore fans).
Several Dreamcast emulation projects have emerged after the Dreamcast's end of production, with Chankast being the most notable.
GD-ROM
The Dreamcast used a proprietary format called GD-ROM or "GigaDisc" for storing games and software. Sega chose the GD-ROM format for its increased capacity while using inexpensive compact disc technology. All Dreamcast consoles could also play audio compact discs until the introduction of revised GD-ROM drives in 2001 that could not read burned CDs of any kind.
Windows CE
Microsoft co-operated with Sega in hopes of promoting its Windows CE operating system for video games. Windows CE offered easy porting of existing PC applications, but offered limited capabilities compared to the Dreamcast's native operating system. When developers took advantage of the easy development offered by Windows CE, the resulting games (e.g., Sega Rally 2) lagged in performance and framerate. The only Windows CE application known by most users was the pack-in CD containing a CE-based dialer and web browser.
The Dreamcast used the same technology as the Sega NAOMI arcade game hardware platform, therefore NAOMI-based games such as Crazy Taxi were easily ported to the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast, however, had less memory and games were loaded from GD-ROM discs (while some NAOMI games were released on GD-ROM most used ROM boards).
Graphics Output
The Dreamcast is able to output true 640x480 VGA (480p60 EDTV), which (at the time) set it apart from other consoles. The system, when combined with the VGA adapter accessory (mentioned below), had the ability to display high-res, non-interlaced picture(s).
The feature was underused by the public despite the potential for improved video quality with the use of a PC monitor or HDTV set. This was likely due to lack of knowledge on the subject. Also, a few notable games were not compatible with this mode, including certain Capcom fighting games and 2D shoot-'em-up games.
Other well known graphic implementations such as, cel-shading and bump mapping, were first seen on Sega's console. In fact, the first completely cel-shaded animation game was Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio in US), released in 2000 on the Dreamcast.
Connectivity
Much like the successive GameCube, the Dreamcast has the ability to connect to a handheld gaming unit. Using a special cable, with specific games, the Dreamcast could connect with the Neo Geo Pocket. SNK and Capcom took advantage of the connectivity to allow players of Capcom vs SNK and The King of Fighters to trade points between the console and handheld versions of their games.
Online
Dreamcast consoles came packed with a disc containing web browser software allowing dial-up Internet access. Dream Passport was the Japanese browser, Planetweb was used in America, and DreamKey in Europe. Version 3.0 of Planetweb included broadband capabilities, Java, Flash, and mouse support. In Europe, the final version of DreamKey was 3.0.
While Planetweb was a browser created specifically for the US market, Europe's DreamKey was in fact a translated version of the Japanese Dream Passport. It was used on some American game releases (such as Metropolis Street Racer); here it was called Internet Viewer.
The Dreamcast was one of the first home console systems to offer online gameplay with the game ChuChu Rocket! (which was distributed free to Dreamcast owners in Europe). Sega also has the honors of the first online console sports title (Sega Sports NFL 2K1) as well as the first ever online console RPG (Phantasy Star Online). The SegaNet online dial-up service (US$29/month membership) attracted 750,000 subscribers in America alone. About twenty-two games, including Quake III Arena and Phantasy Star Online, supported SegaNet. Other major online games include 4x4 Evolution (first crossplatform online game), Starlancer, and Ferrari F355 Challenge. Although the online features of most commercially-released online-capable Dreamcast games are no longer supported, with the complete shut-down of support in the US, some games are still playable online in Japan. Yet, fans have developed servers for playing Phantasy Star Online and the North American version of Quake III Arena which can still be played online by finding or setting up a server using software and a map pack released by Sega. The games still playable online are Quake III Arena, Starlancer, 4x4 Evolution, Phantasy Star Online, Maximum Pool Online, and Sega Swirl, which still have dozens of players online.
In Europe, the online service was known as Dreamarena. This was created and operated for Sega Europe by a partnership between ICL and BT (ICL developed the web sites and software, with BT providing the dial-up capabilities and network infrastructure). The service was free and the game servers hosted within it could not otherwise be accessed from the Internet. Dreamarena ran until the beginning of March 2002. As the DreamKey web browser was customised to only work with Dreamarena, Sega subsequently offered a free replacement version which would allow connection with the user's own Internet service provider.
The modem module in the Dreamcast could easily be replaced with a broadband module to allow networked gaming over Ethernet. Phantasy Star Online, Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament, Outtrigger, Bomberman Online, and POD Speedzone included support for this device. It should be noted, however, that not all of those games supported the Ethernet adapter; the US release of Phantasy Star Online only officially supported dial-up connectivity, however it was possible to use the Japanese version of the game to configure usage of the Ethernet adapter (or, alternatively, another Japanese title that configured the same settings in the system BIOS) and then play the US release of the game with the Ethernet adapter.
The standard Dreamcast unit is made of white and grey plastic. The power light, like the Dreamcast logo in NTSC regions, is orange (this color was chosen because the Japanese consider it to be lucky). Games were sold in jewel cases which initially had the Dreamcast name and logo on a white background, but later games used a black background (blue in Europe).
The unit was packaged with a video cable which supports composite video and right/left stereo audio. Available separately were an S-Video cable, a RF connector (included as standard in the UK and Portugal) and a VGA adapter (see accessories below).
In the United States, a black Dreamcast was released in limited numbers with a sports pack which included two Sega Sports titles. Electronics Boutique offered a blue Dreamcast through its website. Similar offerings were sold through the Lik-sang website. Cases of different colors like blue, red, orange, and green were sold for replacements of the original casing. In Japan, Sega released many varieties of the system, including limited edition Sonic anniversary editions, and Hello Kitty outfits. The Sega Dreamcast Hello Kitty was released in 2000 in Japan. Due to its limited production, it has become an extremely rare collector's piece. The package contains a keyboard, a controller, a VMU, a mouse, and a Hello Kitty trivia game. The console and accessories are translucent pink in color with some printed designs. The Sega Dreamcast Hello Kitty special edition was also available in a blue with all the same accessories.
The Brazilian version, manufactured by Tec Toy under license, was essentially the same as the US version, however its video output was converted to the PAL-M standard and it didn't come with the modem, which was available separately.
The Dreamcast in Europe had its spiral logo in blue, similar to the logo on earlier Sega systems. This change in logo is thought to have been for copyright reasons. A German company, Tivola, had been using a similar swirl logo years before Sega branded the Dreamcast with the orange swirl. As well as the VGA mode (again using an adapter), the European Dreamcast supported PAL video, in both 50Hz and 60Hz modes. This was a first for games consoles, as no previous PAL console had offered the option to play games at full speed, using the ability of more modern PAL televisions to operate at 60Hz. This became a feature of all major consoles released since. The 60Hz option had to be enabled on the game disc, however, but only a small number of games lacked this. Games in Europe were sold in jewel cases exactly twice as thick as their US counterparts, possibly to enable the inclusion of thick instruction booklets containing instructions in multiple languages.
A third-party company from China named Treamcast released a portable modified Dreamcast which used the original first party Dreamcast components with a custom made plastic casing. This small system with its fold-down display resembled the later PS One. Many companies included software and a remote with the unit that enabled it to play MP3s and Video CDs. When the internet import videogame store, Lik-Sang, contacted Sega to ask permission to sell a modified version of the system with Sega trademarks on the system, they were told that Sega did not approve of the unit, and felt that it violated their trademarks. In reality, this system is not any different from selling a Dreamcast pre-modified with a third party shell, as the system's internals still use first party hardware, and contain no modifications whatsoever aside from the outside casing and modifications for internal sound and video.
Recently, in 2005, the internet import store, Lan-Kwei, has started selling a "Treamcast" portable modified Dreamcast with a 16:9 widescreen LCD. Aside from the cosmetic differences in the case to accommodate the larger screen, there are no differences between the original Treamcast portable modified Dreamcast and the newer widescreen model.
The Visual Memory Unit, or "VMU", was the Dreamcast's memory card. It had a monochrome LCD screen, a D-Pad, and two gaming buttons. It could play minigames loaded onto it (a Chao game was obtainable in Sonic Adventure, for example). It could also display a list of the saved game data stored on it, and two VMUs could be connected together (end-to-end, needing no other hardware) to exchange data.
Standard memory cards could also be purchased without the additional features of the VMU. Most of these were manufactured by third-party companies (such as the Nexus Memory Card), although Sega eventually released a 4X memory card. The 4X cards did not have the VMU screen or stand-alone abilities, but they had four times the space by switching between four 200-block sectors.
Controller and Rumble Pack Most Dreamcast games supported a rumble pack ("Jump Pack"), which was sold separately and could be plugged into the controller. In Japan, the Jump Pack was named the "Puru Puru Pack".
The Dreamcast controller offered an analog stick, a D-pad, a Start button, four gaming buttons (labeled A, B, X, and Y), and two analog index finger triggers on the underside. It also contained two slots which fit memory cards or the rumble pack; the uppermost one had a window through which the VMU's display could be seen. The Dreamcast controller was somewhat large and a few players found it difficult to hold.
VGA Adapter Unique to the Dreamcast among current console gaming systems, it could use a VGA adapter for output to a computer display and HDTV compatible sets (which provided much better quality than a television set).
Not all games are compatible with the VGA adapter, but there are work arounds to trick all but a handful of games into working with it.
Dreamcast Mouse and Keyboard The Dreamcast supported a mouse as well as a keyboard which was useful when using the included web browser, but was also supported by certain games such as The Typing of the Dead, Quake 3, Phantasy Star Online and Railroad Tycoon 2. Other games such as REZ offer undocumented mouse support.
Fishing Rod A motion sensitive fishing rod was released for the few fishing games on the system.
Microphone There was a microphone peripheral used for Alien Front Online, version 2.6 of the Planetweb Web browser (long distance calling support), the European Planet Ring collection and Seaman (the first console game to use voice recognition in the US).
Lightgun
Sega also produced a light gun for the system, although this was not sold in the US presumably because Sega did not want its name on a gun in the light of recent school shootings. American versions of light gun games even blocked out using the official gun. Several third parties made compatible guns for the few light gun games released, including The House of the Dead 2 and Confidential Mission. The only other light gun compatible games were Death Crimson OX and its Japanese only prequel, Virtua Cop 2 on the Sega Smash Pack, and a light gun minigame in Demolition Racer No Exit.
Arcade Stick Sega also released the heavy-duty Arcade Stick, a digital joystick with six buttons using the same microswitch assemblies as commercial arcade machines. Although it could not be used for many Dreamcast games due to the lack of an analog joystick, it was well received and helped cement the Dreamcast's reputation for 2D shooters and fighting games. The Arcade Stick itself lives on beyond the Dreamcast, as adaptors are now available to use it on other hardware platforms.
Third-party sticks were also made, like the ASCII Dreamcast fighting Pad, which some regard as having a more comfortable 6-button configuration and a more precise digital direction pad.
Twin Sticks A twin stick peripheral was released specifically for use with the game Virtual-On. This add-on mimicked the original dual arcade stick setup and made gameplay much more precise. They are extremely rare and versions that appear on ebay sell for over $100.
Dreameye Sega developed the Dreameye, a digital camera for the Dreamcast, but it was only released in Japan.
Samba de Amigo controller Sega developed a special "maracas" controller for the Samba de Amigo music game.
Cancelled Accessories Toward the end of the Dreamcast's lifespan, Sega created and displayed prototypes of a high-capacity VMU/MP3 player, DVD player, and Zip drive peripherals. None of these items became available to the public.
Technical Speculations
* CPU: SH-4 RISC CPU with 128 Bit FPU functions for 3D graphics computations (operating frequency: 200 MHz, 360 MIPS, 1.4 GFLOPS)
* Graphics Engine: PowerVR2 CLX2, 7.0 Mil polygons/second peak performance, supports Trilinear filtering. Actual maximum in game performance (with full textures, lighting, gameplay, etc...) of 3-5 Mil polygons/second. Tile rendering eliminates overdraw by only drawing visible polygons. This allows more efficient use of polygons and can make games appear to have 2-4 times their actual polygon count (depending on amount of overdraw eliminated).
* Memory: Main RAM: 16 MB 64 Bit 100 MHz, Video RAM: 8 MB 4x16 Bit 100 Mhz, Sound RAM: 2 MB 16 Bit 66 MHz
* Sound Engine: Yamaha AICA Sound Processor: 22.5MHz 32-Bit ARM7 RISC CPU core, 64 channel PCM/ADPCM sampler, 128 step DSP
* GD-ROM Drive: 12x maximum speed (Constant Angular Velocity)
* GD-ROM: Holds up to 1.2 GB of data. A normal CD-ROM holds 700 megabytes.
* Inputs: USB-like "Maple Bus". Four ports support devices such as digital and analog controllers, steering wheels, joysticks, keyboards and mouses, and more.
* Dimensions: 189 mm x 195 mm x 76 mm (7 7/16" x 7 11/16" x 3")
* Weight: 1.9 kg (4.4 lb)
* Color: Majority are white. Some late models from a sports package are black.
* Modem: Removable; Original Asia/Japan model had a 33.6 kbit/s; models released after September 9, 1999 had a 56 kbit/s modem
* Broadband: these adapters are available separately and replace the removable modem
* HIT-400: "Broadband Adapter", the more common model, this used a Realtek 8139 chip and supported 10 and 100 Mbit speeds.
* HIT-300: "Lan Adapter", this version used a Fujitsu MB86967 chip and supported only 10 Mbit speed.
* Color Output: Approx. 16.78 million simultaneous colors (24 bit)
* Storage: Visual Memory Unit ("VMU") 1 Mbit (128 KByte) removable storage device and 4x memory cards that hold four times as much data.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Ian's DivX vs. x264 test
You got DivX 6.1.1 (H263) on your computer vs. alpha build X264 (H264).
I used AutoScreenRecorder 2.1 Pro (freeware) has little dialog on top, but uses FLASH (viewable by anyone)!
DivX 6.1.1 under
600 Kbps
Multipass Nth Pass
Insane Compression
X264 build 555
606 kbps
Multipass Nth Pass
6 RDO (Production Quality)
Results
DivX (234 k)
DivX 234 k
x264 (264k)
Winner you decide. DivX has better compression. DivX clearly has the edge in these files. It's cleaner. I think the resolution is a little smaller in X264 to make up for the slightly higher bitrate. x264 is suppose to be better because at low bitrates it is really efficent, but for recording desktop, it's not true.
I used AutoScreenRecorder 2.1 Pro (freeware) has little dialog on top, but uses FLASH (viewable by anyone)!
DivX 6.1.1 under
600 Kbps
Multipass Nth Pass
Insane Compression
X264 build 555
606 kbps
Multipass Nth Pass
6 RDO (Production Quality)
Results
DivX (234 k)
DivX 234 k
x264 (264k)
Winner you decide. DivX has better compression. DivX clearly has the edge in these files. It's cleaner. I think the resolution is a little smaller in X264 to make up for the slightly higher bitrate. x264 is suppose to be better because at low bitrates it is really efficent, but for recording desktop, it's not true.
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
Square-Enix makes console | Free H264, H263 converter (Mediacoder)
Gameindustry.biz confirmed that Square-Enix is entering the console manufacturing like Nintendo thru their acquired hardware department, Taito.
I found this free CT HE-AAC v2 encoder in Mediacoder 0.5.0 last week. It’s probably the best low-bitrate encoder I have ever tried (even better then Vorbis). A 56 kbps mp4 sounds like a 128 kbps mp3. Mediacoder is a front end converts any video format to H.264, H.263+, and WMV8 and is better than RealAnime 4.2 (also on my computer). With H.264, it successfully does 2 passes which improves compression. There is an option to set the file size. It will also output in H.264 at Sony PSP resolution automatically naming the file for you!
I plan on buying Disgaea 2 and Xenosaga 3 this month, Valkyrie Profile 2 next month and then Final Fantasy 12 when it is $20. I don’t want Dead rising. I have over 100 PS2 games which is much more I can play after I start my job. I started Grandia 2, a GameArts RPG, last week. It’s not very good.
Then I played 5 hours of New Super Mario Bros, 2 hours of Mario and Luigi Partners in Time, and 1 hour 30 minutes of Lunar Legend. Lunar Legend is worst then Lunar The Silver Star Story because all the FMV, voice acting is gone, and the audio sounds very low bitrate. More games included 4 hours of Doom 3, 2 hours of Forza Motorsport on Xbox; 5 hours of Prey, 3 hours of Call of Duty 2 on Xbox 360. I haven’t touched Elder Scrolls IV or Titan Quest since July.
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