Pioneer Sega Genesis

[cyberfluxor]

I've never seen this before let alone heard of others discussing it:
Pioneer CLD A100 Laseractive Player (http://cgi.ebay.com/Pioneer-CLD-A100-Laseractive-Player_W0QQitemZ270124916474QQihZ017QQcategoryZ331 7QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

Apparently that's a swappable bay and has a Genesis module currently in it. A little link tells a bit more:
Computer Closet (http://www.computercloset.org/PioneerLaseractive.htm)

Who owns one of these?! Anyone? (I'm sure at least a few of you)

[WSUCougars]

I picked up one of these last summer at a yard sale, with the Sega Mega-LD module, remote, "Laseractive" branded controller, and manuals. You can see pics of it, and the start-up menu, in my "Room of Doom" link in my signature. Or try this:

http://videogamecollectors.com/gallery/Seattle-Room-of-Doom

It's an incredibly huge (and heavy) system. You really have to see one in person to appreciate how big it is! Meant to be an "all in one" entertainment system, back in "the day." Plays laserdiscs, CDs, and (as you correctly deduced) Sega Genesis carts and Sega CD games via a plug-in module (roughly the size of a car stereo). There are also modules for Karaoke and Turbografx 16 hucards / CD-Rom games. The latter is incredibly expensive, and worth more than the Laseractive itself. In terms of performance it's no different than a standard Genesis & Sega CD combo. No extra features, although there are a few special laserdisc games that can only be played on this particular machine. These too are rather expensive, and I have yet to find / play one. It sounds great, however, if you route it through a good stereo. But if you already own a Genesis, CDX, X'eye, etc., there's no reason to go out of your way to get one of these, unless you dig the "coolness" factor of having a suped-up monster Genesis in your game room. :)

[norkusa]

Yeah, I've got one of these and 14 LD games for it (if anyone has 3D Museum or Don Quixote for sale, let me know).The games are basically all either FMV's, shooters, or Dragon's Lair style titles. I think the shooters kinda suck but the others are pretty decent. Road Avenger and Blue Chicago Blues are my favorites.

The Japanese releases have a bit more variety (including a few nudie titles), but the prices for most are too much for me. I gotta get my hands on the 3D goggles and a copy of Pretty Illusion before I die though.

[Damaramu]

Another Laseractive owner here. It is a gargantuan system. Unfortunately, I don't have room to properly display it so it sits in what my friends dubbed The Vault (ie, my closet).

In fact, I pick the system up here at DP for quite a bargain!

[Reid]

Im trying to find one for a reasonable price- I am a huge LD fan and a huge retro gamer....so its perfect for me.

[Jorpho]

I've seen this discussed many times here before. As I recall, you can even plug in the Power Base converter into the Genesis module, but you have to remove the shell from the converter before it will fit.


I picked up one of these last summer at a yard sale, with the Sega Mega-LD module, remote, "Laseractive" branded controller, and manuals.

Must have been some yard sale if such a hefty piece of kit was up for grabs.

[Dangerboy]

I lovingly own one with all the US Games (Blue Chicago Blues was amazing, and I really need to get back to playing the other ones) but the rest can be argued. Heck, at least half of the 'games' are just edutainment discs, like Melon Brains and The Great Pyramid.

All I need are boxed LA TG16 extension cords and boxed LA Genny / Turbo controllers and I'll have every thing for the US library.

Useless fyi: The Laseractive disc LD tray is larger than an Xbox. :)

[77punk]

i need to catch me one of these systems. they rock and for their time it was awesome. I have never played it but if a dvd player came out with switchable drives for xbox 360 and nintendo Wii i would get it in a heartbeat. Anyone know where screen shots are of the games for this?

[idrougge]

It's an incredibly huge (and heavy) system. You really have to see one in person to appreciate how big it is! Meant to be an "all in one" entertainment system, back in "the day."

Pioneer did this once before, in the early eighties. They had a TV set with swappable modules, including an SG-1000 module.

[cyberfluxor]

I've seen this discussed many times here before.
I ran a search last night and the page kept loading until it timed out. Not sure what the deal was but I tried multiple searches and nothing was going through. :-/

Interesting responses non-the less

[Steve W]

I've got one. I bought it in a store called Incredible Universe while they were discontinuing it. I bought a floor model for something like $190. I had already bought a copy of Pyramid Patrol, hoping that someday I would get the chance to buy a Laseractive to play it on, and when I picked up the floor model, I went over to the laserdisc section where they stocked the games.... and they were gone! They had sent them away a week before. A year or two later, the store chain was going out of business, and right before they closed for good they suddenly dug up the Sega Mega LD module from out of the back somewhere, and I bought it for $20. I still kick myself for not picking up the karaoke module too.

The only games I have for mine are Pyramid Patrol and Rocket Coaster. I didn't own a Sega CD until a year or so ago, so all this time I used my Laseractive mainly as a Sega CD player. When I got the Mega LD module, it was around the time that Sega CDs were being clearanced from stores, so I picked up a bunch of games cheap. Keio Flying Squadron only cost me $12.50 at Best Buy, for example. Sweet.

I've always liked my Laseractive, although it's always bothered me that the color of the unit is a very dark gray as opposed to the rest of the components in my Pioneer stereo system which are solid black. I held off buying a DVD player for years out of loyalty to my laserdisc collection. But then the Nuon DVD players came out, along with VLM2 and Tempest 3000, and I couldn't resist...

[thetoxicone]

I've been slowly working on one of my relatives to try and get his off his hands for sometime now.

[cyberfluxor]

Great story Steve!

[Reid]

Great story Steve!

Yes- quite interesting

[WSUCougars]

Must have been some yard sale if such a hefty piece of kit was up for grabs.

Believe it or not, apart from the LA there wasn't anything else of note. Just a run-of-the-mill garage sale. Apparently the original owner only used it for Karaoke, although oddly enough he didn't have a Karaoke module. The Mega-LD module was strictly for his kids to play with, and all of the games included were of the Mickey Mouse / Boogerman variety :). Still, not too shabby for $50.

[Mr.collection]

I wish I could find a laseractive, cause of course shipping is a B****.

[Captain Wrong]

I love my LA. (Brag time, $24 pawnshop find! w00t!) I just wish I could find the TG-16 module.

[Marriott_Guy]

Everyone is right - this system is a BEAST! - easily 25 lbs or so, and huge. This was one of the most expensive game systems ever released, going for $970 USD in 1993 - and this didn't even include the various gaming modules (Sega/NEC/Karioke) - those went for $599. So, if you wanted a LaserActive at the time and play your Sega and LD games, it was going to cost you around $1600 USD. The only system that surpassed this amount (even the $970 base unit cost), was the RDi Halcyon, which cost a whopping $2,000 in 1984.

[irata]

I have an LA with the Sega and karaoke modules. Only have Pyramid Patrol and a karaoke sampler. Those games command too high a price for me. So oddly enough I use it mainly as a laserdisc player.

What year is it now? Who watches laserdiscs?

[cyberfluxor]

What year is it now? Who watches laserdiscs?
I do. Bought two LDs a few weeks ago. They are abundant online but locally they are difficult to find and are usually placed with LPs.

[Damaramu]

Man, a few local Half Price Books here in H-Town has a TON of laserdisce...most priced at about $1.99 to $2.99 a pop.

[Jorpho]

Everyone is right - this system is a BEAST! - easily 25 lbs or so, and huge. This was one of the most expensive game systems ever released, going for $970 USD in 1993 - and this didn't even include the various gaming modules (Sega/NEC/Karioke) - those went for $599. So, if you wanted a LaserActive at the time and play your Sega and LD games, it was going to cost you around $1600 USD. The only system that surpassed this amount (even the $970 base unit cost), was the RDi Halcyon, which cost a whopping $2,000 in 1984.

A Neo Geo AES would have set you back about that much after you threw in a game or two.

(Also, the Halcyon was apparently never actually released (http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/community/related/homesystems/halcyon/).)

[Twitami]

I actually have two of these. I also have all three modules for it (Sega, NEC, and Karaoke). I even have the 3D glasses for it. And, one really cool thing about them, they work on the Sega Master System with the 3D games!

[Natty Bumppo]

I have three players (two I bought because they came with modules I wanted) and four modules (S-1,S-10,N-1,N-10).
The other two modules I have never looked for since I don't have much interest in them. I assembled the package off ofebay over the course of time and probably spent $500 (exclusive of shipping).

It is a truly nifty toy - just too bad it was so expensive that it couldn't survive - would have been neat to have a nintendo module or two also.

[Ze_ro]

Another LaserActive owner here... I love the system. It just looks so sexy as the centerpiece of a collection :) Also, you get two systems worth of game and CD compatibility with just one power cord, which is nice for those of us with limited outlets. As for the size, it's not really much bigger than any other laserdisc player. Of course, it's positively huge by todays standards, but what more could they have done in 1993, right?

One thing I always thought was weird is that most of the actual laserdisc games made for this thing were exclusive. I don't think any of them were ever arcade games, and only a handful (Triad Stone, Road Blaster, and maybe the JB Harold games) were ever ported to any other systems. Seems strange to invest the time and money into a laseractive game if you didn't also plan to release an arcade version or something. It's also really too bad they never made a MegaLD version of Dragon's Lair... Maybe that's something the homebrew community can work on ;)

--Zero

[CosmicMonkey]

I've always though the LA was a nifty bit of kit. Laserdiscs weren't exactly popular in the UK; I only ever saw them for sale in Tower Records in London. The main thing that put me off the system was the whole 'disc-rot' or whatever you want to call it. I couldn't justify such a monsterous beast under the TV soley for playing Megadrive or PC Engine games, I'd be wanting to actually use the Laserdic player too. But it would appear that LDs are rotting away and therefore not a good cash investment; although I'd still love to watch the StarWars and Indiana Jones trilogys on LD.

[Natty Bumppo]

I've always though the LA was a nifty bit of kit. Laserdiscs weren't exactly popular in the UK; I only ever saw them for sale in Tower Records in London. The main thing that put me off the system was the whole 'disc-rot' or whatever you want to call it. I couldn't justify such a monsterous beast under the TV soley for playing Megadrive or PC Engine games, I'd be wanting to actually use the Laserdic player too. But it would appear that LDs are rotting away and therefore not a good cash investment; although I'd still love to watch the StarWars and Indiana Jones trilogys on LD.
Laser rot was not as big a problem as it was made out to be. Most of it was confined to the days of discovision (which became laservision) when the glues used to put the two halfs of the disc together had a lot of impurities. The later discs were not really likely to have this. There have been scattered reports of dvds starting to lose their information - if so laserdiscs may well outlive dvds in terms of shelflife.

[vincewy]

Another owner here, perhaps you can read this thread too

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112877

and see my collections