The Sega Channel (1995-1998)

[digitalpress]

My cable company never carried The Sega Channel. I was an X-Band owner and loved it but I always hated the fact that I was unable to tap into the Sega resources. From what I understand there were even a few unreleased games available on the system.

If you had it or experienced it, tell me about it! How did it work, how much did you pay, did you ever see or play unreleased titles? Also, if you remember which adapter you had, please describe it. I have two different ones and they're markedly different: one looks like a huge black Genesis cart with The Sega Channel logo in blue, another looks like a small brick with a white label and the logo printed in black.

Describe!

[Querjek]

I have no experience with the channel itself (Was too young when it was around), but I have the adaptor that has the big blue logos on it. Anyone know about the rarity of it? Mine appears to be brand-new, in box, with all manuals etc.

[Anotherfluke]

I only got to use it once, at a friend's house. Basically, it was a rather plain menu that listed games by genre. I believe when you first turn it on, it says "SaayGa... Channel" then brings you to a menu with things like news, updates, tricks, and game list, and a few other things (feel free to correct me on this).

Once you choose a game, the download begins. It took awhile, basically the same amount of time as it would take to download the rom over a 28.8 connection (approx. 3-8 mins). If I remember correctly, the selection seemed large, but good games were somewhat rare. Never got to try any of the exclusive titles though.

[VACRMH]

If you had it or experienced it, tell me about it! How did it work, how much did you pay, did you ever see or play unreleased titles? Also, if you remember which adapter you had, please describe it. I have two different ones and they're markedly different: one looks like a huge black Genesis cart with The Sega Channel logo in blue, another looks like a small brick with a white label and the logo printed in black.

Describe!

Ah, Memories :) I'll try my best to describe what I remember.

It worked by simply screwing your cable line into the back of the Unit, which also had an AC adaptor to run it. Turn it on, Sonic runs across the screen and turns on a Genny and Poof! Tons of games to play :) (My Sega Channel unit was Black with the blue guy imprinted on it)

Next came a large menu with Types of games, the only category I remember the name of was "Swords and Spells" which was the RPG section.

When I first started with Sega Channel, it had 100 games a month I think, and then closer to the end of it's life, I think it was 50 games every 2 weeks.

I may have played unreleased titles, but I honestly can't remember which games were released or not. They did have a few imports from time to time, That's where I played Pulseman and Megaman - The Wily Wars for the first time.

We paid around $12 a month I think

*Misses his sega channel* :(

[Jive3D]

I know that the only Genesis Megaman Game was only available over the Sega Channel: megaman the wily wars, or something like that.

I'm sure many of you remember it, kind of a Megaman version of mario All-stars, a 16 bit compilation of Megaman/rockman 1-3. Neato.

I guess it was easy for them to do it since the cart was released in Europe, it was already translated in English. I still dont know why the game was never released stateside as a actual cart, but sega channel was better than nothing.

[Bratwurst]

I remember looking at a listing for Megaman Wily Wars in a Fingerhut catalogue some time back, there's no telling why Capcom never brought it over because it was apparent they were pondering it. Maybe the Sega Channel promotion was used to gauge interest.

[kai123]

I always wanted it but it never came to my area. :( I would have killed for the sega channel when I was a kid.

[davidbrit2]

Sega Channel was awesome. The three games I remember seeing on there that never made it to North America were Mega Man Wily Wars (Rockman World), Body Count, and Golden Axe 3.

The startup sequence was like this:
1. Model 1 Genesis is shown from a straight front view
2. Sonic runs in and bounces off the power switch
3. The Sega Channel logo appears over a starfield, and funk music plays while the program checks for updates

I still remember that music track to this day. Oh, for an mp3.

[Gunstarhero]

Yeah, Sega Channel was awesome. I can't say how much it was a month, because my friend who was on leave from the military had bought it while he was home for a few months...but I did get to play the crap out of it.

It had a menu with tons of games on it, all types..any type of genre you can think of. I remember it tended to keep a generally the same lineup of games, but it would be updated with NEW releases and would have some games that you could play before they were available for rental or purchase. For instance I remember Earthworm Jim and Skitchin showing up on Sega Channel as special previews before you could buy them.

Yeah, the download process took about 2 minutes ,but there were no problems once the game was installed. It played just as if you had the cartridge plugged into the Genny. I remember playing alot of 2 player games of course, like Buster Douglas Boxing and Madden Football.

Oh man, what a great idea by Sega and one that they actually held onto for a little while. They had better success with this than they ever did with any of their proposed Modem accesories thru the years.

[Balloon Fight]

The sega channel was awesome! A friend of mine had it, and i would go over to his house, pick out the game, which was usually Zombies ate my Neighbors or something, and play forever. No lag once it dled. If only it was still around.

[GaijinPunch]

Sega always had great ideas. Anyone remember the Dream Library? A bit of an expensive version of the Sega Channel for Japanese DC owners.

You were able to download not only MegaDrive roms, but PC-Engine roms as well. They were smart and had a lot of the rarer ones available. Magical Chase, Splatterhouse, Panorama Cotton, etc. 300 yen and you could download it an unlimited number of times (deleted from system memory on reboot) for 3 days.

[tynstar]

I remember it only a little. I had the black version of it. I think my cable company was doing a "try it free" promo. I do remember the menus just like Flukkake said.

I can't remember what games I played sorry.

[geelw]

i actually have a sega channel denim shirt (size M) around here somewhere, which i'm thinking of getting rid of one of these days (as it doesn't fit, and i'm on a bit of a cleaning kick lately, lol...)

[Jive3D]

I would never wear a denim shirt.

LMAO

[rbudrick]

I remember my ex-girlfriend had the Sega Channel...I remember this 32x-ish thing sitting on the Genesis and I remember the menu, sorta...I only remember her playing Gargoyles....there were only a few games to choose from at the time.

Unfortunately, the only town even close to me that got the Sega Channel was Nashua, NH...I live in Milford, so no dice. My gf lived in Nashua, so I saw it when I went over her house. I remember the loading screen...I thing the little bar that indicated how much has been loaded was purple...don't remember, tho.

Hey, did anyone manage to keep their Sega Channel Modem? I mean, wtf would Sega do, sue you? At most, they'd bill you for the item. ANyone got pics? If anyone does still have one, what happens when you turn it on? WHat channel did you have to be on?

-ROb

[Sotenga]

Yeah, I remember hearing about the Sega Channel. Never got a chance to try it, on two accounts:

1. I only had basic cable back then.

B. I was pretty much a Nintendo fanboy in my real early days. You'll have to understand that it really wasn't a good period in my life... :embarrassed:

Now that I'm as much of a Sega freak now as I am of Nintendo, I kind of regret not playing this thing... after all, with the exception of imports, it was the only way to play Rockman Megaworld in the U.S.

[SoulBlazer]

Hey Rbudrick.....

Sorry for going off topic, but I just had to say WOW! You live in Milford NH? I grew up in Amherst! :D

I lived there from about mid 1984 to mid 1994 when I went off to college at Plymouth State. My folks moved to Knoxville in early 1995. I also went to the old joint high school between the towns (MASH) in 1990-1992 and then the new Souheagen in 1992-1994.

I still have friends in the area and have visted several times over the years, especily during the last two years since I started grad school in Rhode Island. it shocks me how much that whole area has GROWN in the last 10 years.....

Back on topic -- a friend who just lives over the town line in Amherst had the Sega Channel for a year. It's funny Amherst would have it and Milford would'nt....are the two towns served by different cable companies? It WAS the cable companies decision to carry the service, correct?

[carnage6]

I got a Canadian Sega Channel unit in a pawn for cheap. Unfortunately, it didn't come with the power supply so I've never been able to test it but it is in mint condition.

PG

[Jasoco]

I was a Nintendo Fanboy during the Sega Channel craze.. or whatever.

I was jealous though. I kept hoping Nintendo would do it. Nintendo Channel.

They never did, though.

[hezeuschrist]

One of my good friends had it, and the only thing I remember was him having problems with RPG save files. I remember the little blue guy logo too, but I never played it much.

[Jasoco]

I have a CIB Genesis Xband modem. Useless of course, but really cool to look at. I especially like the neat light pattern it displays while running. And the graphical style is neat in that hand-drawn way. Too bad it can't actually do anything except save my info for a time that will never happen.

[farfel]

Were there any games exclusive to the Channel (no longer available on cart)?

[Ed Oscuro]

Were there any games exclusive to the Channel (no longer available on cart)?
That's what Joe said. I can't think of any at the moment - I know Wily Wars is available as an import - but I'm pretty sure there's some out there.

[digitalpress]

Were there any games exclusive to the Channel (no longer available on cart)?
That's what Joe said. I can't think of any at the moment - I know Wily Wars is available as an import - but I'm pretty sure there's some out there.

Someone else will need to confirm it, but I'm fairly confident that some of the "non-Genesis" ROMS that are floating around, like Barbie Vacation or Baby's Day Out came from Sega Channel. Also check Davidbrit's reply above, he lists a few Mega Drive games that he played on the Channel here in the US.

[rbudrick]

I wonder if it would be possible to figure out the protocols the modem used and start a new Sega Channel service...

-Rob

[izret101]

i actually have a sega channel denim shirt (size M) around here somewhere, which i'm thinking of getting rid of one of these days (as it doesn't fit, and i'm on a bit of a cleaning kick lately, lol...)
I would gladly take it off you're hands :-P .


I wonder if it would be possible to figure out the protocols the modem used and start a new Sega Channel service...

-Rob
That would be awesome. I never got to play on it. I never even heard about it until it was long gone. I saw online a video of some people playing Mortal Kombat though.

[TheRedEye]

Garfield was actually cut in half to save ROM space. The "lost levels" were put on Sega Channel.

[Brian_Provinciano]

The Sega channel was so great! I loved it so much! I never actually had it myself at the time, but a friend of mine did, and I'd go over to his house and play it. It was the coolest thing you could imagine. Sega was so ahead of their time with it. I remember playing beta versions of games with one or two levels, one with a tiger or something, I think it was based off a Disney show at the time... can't toally remember. None the less, it rocked! It's one of my favorite things about the Genesis bar none!

[slip81]

I never had it because it was not offered in my area. But I remember seeing the ad for it in Sega Magazine (or whatever the name of that Sega mag was), and really wanting it. Oh well, no Sega Channel for me :(

[suppafly]

I just had a dream...what if someone found how the sega channel worked, and made a sega channel website in the Internet?

Someone could make an adaptor so we all could connect our sega channel modems to our PCs


yeah, i know I AM dreaming... LOL

[suppafly]

The Sega channel was so great! I loved it so much! I never actually had it myself at the time, but a friend of mine did, and I'd go over to his house and play it. It was the coolest thing you could imagine. Sega was so ahead of their time with it. I remember playing beta versions of games with one or two levels, one with a tiger or something, I think it was based off a Disney show at the time... can't toally remember. None the less, it rocked! It's one of my favorite things about the Genesis bar none!

That game sounds like "Bonkers", a sega club title

[qbertandernie]

hey joe(or anybody)!

any way to post photos of the sega channel adaptors you have? i have two also, and though they are probably the same id like to compare and contrast. might help folks that dont have them see what they look like too...i dont have hosting or id do it.

[Wavelflack]

This is the one I have:

http://www.photodump.com/direct/wavelx/segachannelfront.jpg

http://www.photodump.com/direct/wavelx/segachanneltop.jpg

I got this from the "junkpile" pawnshop in Wichita I described awhile back. I also have a little coax patch cable that came with it (it has an integral choke in the sheathing), and is about 8" long.

The guy at the pawn shop actually gave me some challenge on this. He insisted it was a modem of some kind (true) for one of the new systems (false). I told him that the service was discontinued and it was worthless and I'd give him $5. He accepted.

I haven't tried firing it up yet, as it DIDN'T have a PSU, and it asks for a 15V source.

Oh yeah. The thing it's sitting on it the 32X spacer for the Genesis 2. It makes a nice little stand for the unit.

[qbertandernie]

howd you get that spacer?

and thanks for the pics! (thats one that i have..)

[Wavelflack]

It's the 32X spacer for a model 2 Genesis. It came with the 32X. I just use it as a stand.

[suppafly]

The Sega Channel sounds like it was a dream come true......and made me realize once again how sega has always been ahead of the competition, and that its weak spot was the bad marketing....

[Brian_Provinciano]

The Sega channel was so great! I loved it so much! I never actually had it myself at the time, but a friend of mine did, and I'd go over to his house and play it. It was the coolest thing you could imagine. Sega was so ahead of their time with it. I remember playing beta versions of games with one or two levels, one with a tiger or something, I think it was based off a Disney show at the time... can't toally remember. None the less, it rocked! It's one of my favorite things about the Genesis bar none!

That game sounds like "Bonkers", a sega club title

Ah yes! That WAS it! I remember the show as well, heh.

[suppafly]

The Sega channel was so great! I loved it so much! I never actually had it myself at the time, but a friend of mine did, and I'd go over to his house and play it. It was the coolest thing you could imagine. Sega was so ahead of their time with it. I remember playing beta versions of games with one or two levels, one with a tiger or something, I think it was based off a Disney show at the time... can't toally remember. None the less, it rocked! It's one of my favorite things about the Genesis bar none!

That game sounds like "Bonkers", a sega club title

Ah yes! That WAS it! I remember the show as well, heh.

yeah, Bonkers is supossedly a kids game but i enjoyed it a lot back in the 90´s......the graphics were nice and it was kinda fun!

[Jasoco]

The Sega channel was so great! I loved it so much! I never actually had it myself at the time, but a friend of mine did, and I'd go over to his house and play it. It was the coolest thing you could imagine. Sega was so ahead of their time with it. I remember playing beta versions of games with one or two levels, one with a tiger or something, I think it was based off a Disney show at the time... can't toally remember. None the less, it rocked! It's one of my favorite things about the Genesis bar none!

That game sounds like "Bonkers", a sega club title

Ah yes! That WAS it! I remember the show as well, heh.I remember the THEME SONG. I used to watch the Disney afternoon thingy every day. Aladdin was one of my most favorites as well as Goof Troop, but Bonkers was just great.

[AFGiant]

Two of my friends had it. I remember seeing the selection screen for it, with all the little squares that showed pictures of the games you could play. I remember playing Sonic Spinball on it. Somehow I think it was a little different, but that was probably just me being stupid. That's about all...

[spider-man]

I remember waking up early every 1st of the month to see what new games they would put on the SC. Then would be disappointed to find an awesome game only to end up turning it off a couple minutes later, due to school :o . I remember there was one game called Nightmare Circus that was never released here in the states. It seemed to be a beta, because it was glitchy as hell and the debug mode opened up just by simply pressing start if I remember correctly.

[MegaDrive20XX]

This is the one I have:

http://www.photodump.com/direct/wavelx/segachannelfront.jpg

http://www.photodump.com/direct/wavelx/segachanneltop.jpg

I got this from the "junkpile" pawnshop in Wichita I described awhile back. I also have a little coax patch cable that came with it (it has an integral choke in the sheathing), and is about 8" long.

The guy at the pawn shop actually gave me some challenge on this. He insisted it was a modem of some kind (true) for one of the new systems (false). I told him that the service was discontinued and it was worthless and I'd give him $5. He accepted.

I haven't tried firing it up yet, as it DIDN'T have a PSU, and it asks for a 15V source.

Oh yeah. The thing it's sitting on it the 32X spacer for the Genesis 2. It makes a nice little stand for the unit.

Weird...this is the one I found two weeks ago

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v129/Akumajo22/SegaChannel.jpg

[SoulBlazer]

Just different cable companies. One was made by Scientific America and the other by General Instruments.

[anagrama]

I remember there was one game called Nightmare Circus that was never released here in the states. It seemed to be a beta, because it was glitchy as hell and the debug mode opened up just by simply pressing start if I remember correctly.

That one was released in Brazil by TecToy. It was apparently scheduled for Genesis release in late '95, but got canned. Probably 'cos the game is pretty awful.

[SegaAges]

they had sega channel in my area, and even promoted it. only the rich kids had it though. lucky for me, i had a rich friend and got to play it once.

all i remember from it was that there were genre menus and there was a new releases menu or something like that. i played vectorman and one of the earthworm jim games on there. that is about all i can remember.

them damn rich kids. this rich kid got a genesis, 32x, sega channel, and some genesis and 32x games for x-mas one year when everything was still being sold new. he was the same kid that got the ghostbusters backpack blaster thing. you guys know what i am talking about. the blaster pack that only the rich kids had.

their little brother eventually got a power wheel, man, those rich punks :)

[qbertandernie]

ill check later on, but i think my sega channel by general instrument is differnet. i think it has blue plastic at the top...

[Slate]

I have had No experience with the SC whatsoever.

But i do know that David Crane's Last Console game Made, Klondike, was only playable on the Sega Channel.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Sadly during 1995-1998, I was living in Bethel, Alaska. So I had idea what it was until I visited Anchorage Alaska for a weekend stay.

The only thing I wish I could had the chance to play, was "Mega Man in Wily Wars" during that one and only month.

[DragonMaster Sam]

The Sega Channel was an awesome idea! I do remember having it, and playing it just about every day. Every month when the new games came out on it, either me, my brother, or my sister would make attempts to be the first one to check it out. I usually spent my time playing either RPG or Sports games, and also played the games of other genres. Somehow, during the last few months that we had it, there would be times that it wouldn't connect, and we'd have to keep resetting it or whatever.

[vulcanjedi]

Ok

So who has some spare Cable TV broadcasting equipment laying around?

And you would probably need the original content that Sega provided the cable companies.

Anybody know anyone that worked for a cable company 10 years ago?

VJ.

[-hellvin-]

A friend of mine had this when I lived in Ft Lauderdale. Man it kicked ass. The games were seperated by genre and there were probably at least 50-100 titles at a time. There were some unreleased game that appeared on there, the one I remember specifically being Mega Man Wily Wars. Was pretty surprised to find out it was european when I got into the emulation scene =\.

[Tron 2.0]

Were there any games exclusive to the Channel (no longer available on cart)?
Beside (MegaMan the Willy Wars) and (Golden Axe 3) i can say (Pulseman).Think of it as a MegaMan clone type of game.To bad all 3 were import only.

I use to have the, Sega Channel as well back then fun times indeed.

[VACRMH]

Were there any games exclusive to the Channel (no longer available on cart)?
Beside (MegaMan the Willy Wars) and (Golden Axe 3) i can say (Pulseman).Think of it as a MegaMan clone type of game.To bad all 3 were import only.

I use to have the, Sega Channel as well back then fun times indeed.

Damn, beat me to it ;)

Also like someone said Nightmare Circus was on there too.

For whoever mentioned saving with RPGs, the adaptor let you save with 1 game at a time. If you saved in another game, you lost the previous data.

[Captain J]

We had sega channel the whole time it ws out and it was $11.99 a month. for some reason our cable was so slow it would take up to 10 minutes to download one game and it sucked because you couldnt save! also, op, i had the xband as well for super nintendo though. that really sucked because you had to pay per minute and nobody in my area hardly had it so i kept getting linked up with like the same 3 people. after a month it just got two expensive. i still have my sega channel modem and my xband modem though. the funny thing about the xband modem is that it still has in memory the last newsletter that was downloaded into it from 1996 and i can put the cart in and see that any time!

[vulcanjedi]

Hmm

Something like this should be a hackers delight!

The storage system. Download a 1/4 size cart to ram. And play till powered off.

The problem is the delivery system. harder to duplicate than a modem connection.

VJ

[VACRMH]

and it sucked because you couldnt save!

You sure about that? I was able to save just fine when I had it, I remember playing through a large portion of Shining Force 2 and Phantasy Star 4.

[sharp]

I don't know much about the Sega Channel except I back 1995 owned a 3DO and CD32. For this reason I bought a lot of games at Computer City which was based in Rotterdam, NL. And at some point they also offered the Sega Channel, but it was limited to the city of Rotterdam and I never had the chance to check it. I now wonder if the Sega Channel in Europe was different and if anybody knows if they released it in any other European countries.

[sfog]

I had the Channel from 1996-1998. It was originally roughly 50 games per month, and then later decreased to about 35-40 games which changed every two weeks. It was well worth the ~$17 per month.

These are the Sega Channel exclusives I've seen from various sources. The games with a * I can remember playing first-hand though the Channel in the US. Are there any more?

Alien Soldier*
Battle Frenzy
Body Count
Donald Duck: Maui Mallard*
Golden Axe 3*
Hurricanes
International Rugby '94
Mega Man: The Wily Wars*
Mr. Nutz*
Nightmare Circus
Power Drive*
Pulseman*

[ZeetherKID77]

The Sega Channel sucked because you couldn't save games. And Mega Man: The Wily Wars had crappy play control and enemies that would become invincible after being shot, which meant you couldn't rapid-fire them like you could in the normal Mega Man games. If Bandai Satellaview X was brought to the U.S. at the same time as the Sega Channel, it probably would have been superior because it would let you save games, it used the SNES's color pallette (which was way better than Genesis'), and it had great games like the update of Legend of Zelda and Mario's Excitebike. I think they should rerelease TWW though with better play control and gameplay.

[davidbrit2]

The Sega Channel sucked because you couldn't save games.

You were supposed to be able to, but I could never get it to work. I suspect the battery in my adapter was dead or something like that.

[mgriff]

Maui Mallard, I remember that game kicking ass.

[evil_genius]

I had a friend that had Sega channel and can remember going to his house first thing in the morning many days over the summer. Game of choice: Toe jam and Earl Panic

[Lothars]

I have to say I was way to young to be with the sega channel, but I wish I could have had it,

also I know they didn't carry it where i lived, that's what i get for living in small town canada

but it seems like a pretty cool thing.

[sharp]

For thos eintrested I found two dutch articles from 1996 about Sega Channel from the Netherlands. The article mentions that Sega Channel was released in France as well, also that the Dutch version was no success as they only got 50 people who took Sega Channel in the first month. The earliest article (21 june 1996) saw Sega Channel as the future as they predicted 500.000 sunscribers in 1998 and even 2.000.000 in the year 2000. Also they mention a possible release in Germany.

Some information is likely from a Wall Street Journal article from 21 june 1996 about Sega Channel in Europe, I didn't read it my self as I won't pay 5$ for it.

[emumuumuucowgomoo]

The Sega Channel sounds like it was a dream come true......and made me realize once again how sega has always been ahead of the competition, and that its weak spot was the bad marketing....

Dude, dunno how it was in Mexico, but here in the States Sega Channel advertisements were EVERYWHERE. For at least a few months. That's how virtually all media (videogames, DVDs, etc) marketing in the States is done - a fast blitz campaign, then if the thing's successful and takes off, a second campaign, about half as large, that focuses more on "since *such and what* sold SO MANY COPIES, we're offering you a SPECIAL OFFER (to mock all the people who bought this title on launch day)!!! Come, be like everyone else on your block! You know you want to!". Anyway, there were plenty of Sega Channel ads on TV and in gaming magazines. They were louder, more b0zzer than the NES advertisements, and generally appealed a lot better to their target audience than the pre-Play It Loud! SNES ads. I remember being 10 and getting angry about the entire ordeal - Sega ads were COOL, even if the system DIDNT HAEV AS MANY KOLERS AND SOUNDZ as SNES. They made being a Sega owner "kewl". Sega's poor "image" (if it can be thought of as that) would be more the result of Nintendo's brainwashing propaganda (ie, Nintendo Power), and less the result of any bad decision Sega made, post 1991. Ask around any schoolyard, and every kid would tell you that Sega was awesome, Nintendo was for dorks - even though few of them could afford a Sega after buying a Nintendo :P

Just the "SEGA!!!!" commercials (a series of commercials in, I think it was the mid 90s, where at the end, a character from the spot would scream, "SEGA"!!) alone sold thousands of units.

So, considering all this, what would, in your eyes, constitute "good marketing"? Front page advertisements in the New York Times? Or better yet, a Unabomber ploy where Genesis I units start exploding in people's hands, then a 400 page manifesto is sent to major newspapers, detailing why EVERY HOME needs a Sega Channel, with the ultimatium that either it gets published, or the Genesis II units will be next to blow up? Door to door salesmen offering free Sega Channel subscription with every set of encyclopedias purchased? Renting out the Kennedy Center and staging a bombastic musical with Andrew Lloyd Weber barfing up a score? "The Sorcerer", starring McCauly Caulkin and the Menacer and featuring a showstopping showdown between Caulkin and Leonardo DiCaprio where DiCaprio reveals his balance-tipping subscription to the Sega Channel in the wham-bang star studded finale? With a foot-tapping soundtrack by Vanilla Ice, Barbera Striesland, and Tony Toni Tonè?



And, also, not to imply that you're completely wrong on every point in your post, but... well... the NES was designed with future online addons in mind... witness the port on the bottom of an old, Toaster NES. It was even tested as an online-lottery unit in Minnesota back in 1991, way before the Sega Channel. Sega CD came out after the Turbo CD, as Johnny Turbo would like you to know. Perhaps it could lay claim to being the first "true" 16 bit system (the Turbo Grafix was 8+8), though there were already computers out that managed 16 bit - Archimedes, or Amiga, anyone? About the only "innovation" Sega provided was the laughable 32X (think about it before you reply, 32X collectors - objectively, was this system worth it back when it was released?), and even that, well, it'd been prototyped before with the Hellraiser cart and arguably the SuperCharger in the early 80s. Sega was not ever, once in their existance, truly "ahead" of the competition - not until the ery end, when the Dreamcast became the only system to date to ship with online capabilities (though I think the software for this was delayed somehow). Of course, it's the Dreamcast that everyone remembers when they try to make far reaching statements. Sigh.

Don't get me wrong, looking back on the Genesis, it's a decent console with a lot of quality action and sports games. Mutant League Football rules, Herzog Zwei is great 2P, and Sonic Spinball keeps you busy for hours. It's a bit lacking in real "meat" games, though - whereas the SNES had Populous, Sim City, Aerobiz Supersonic, and a whole smattering of Koei crap, the Genesis only had Risk and an Aerobiz port. Even so, I'm glad I picked one up when the price droped to $14.99, though it's a bit telling that you can find a Genesis for $14.99 (even cheaper if you thrift) when the SNES still commands $25 and upwards. What I like about the Genesis is that it's very cheap to collect for, very playable, are all those weird, obscure, "what was marketing on today?" early EA games. Like Crue Ball.

Hehe... Motley Crue... Pinball.....


hehehehe...

Oh, EA.... you nutty nut nuts...



Anyway, yeah, The Sega Channel was very cool, just had a limited audience (preteens who could convince their technophobe parents to subscribe to an extra premium channel), and died peacefully once Sega moved on to the next generation....(s)...

[digitalpress]

One thing I'd still like a definitive answer on - does the game you downloaded disappear from memory once you power the system off? Or when you power the Sega Channel adapter off? Or does it stay in memory until you download a second game?

[RugalSizzler]

The sad thing about these devices it shows how long our current devices have been around and how old the technology really is. Still during that time everybody was trying to give new technology a go. Everything that we have now was already done yesterday.

Like the Gamecubes mini disc might in fact be the new media type of the future or handheld of the future.

Or the credit card system that is for use with the PS3.