SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis 20th Anniversary is this month in Japan

[parallaxscroll]

October 29, 1988 Sega released the 16-bit Mega Drive in Japan, so in Japan the Genesis / Mega Drive is about to turn 20 years old.

The funny thing is, back in late 1988 and early 1989, almost all of us who were playing video games had no idea that SEGA was releasing a new home video game system. It wouldn't be until summer 1989 that even most *hardcore* gamers found out about Genesis, because, that's when magazine coverage (EGM, VG&CE, GamePlayers) of Genesis really started and when Sega of America started talking about Genesis on their 1-800-USA-SEGA hotline, etc. Those were the main ways of finding out gaming info. It was before the internet was used by the masses. Nowadays, we find out about new consoles YEARS before they get released--How things have changed!

As for the late Oct 1988 launch in Japan, only two games were available AFAIK, Space Harrier II and Super Thunder Blade.

I'm pretty sure that Altered Beast didn't come out until early 1989 in Japan. edit: it was Nov 1988 ( thanks Adol ).


I could've made a huge OP with tons of pictures, articles, etc. but I don't have time so if anyone wants to do something really cool, post it and I will edit it into this OP and give you full credit for it.

[ccovell]

Let's make a nice celebratory bonfire out of the 1000000s of Madden carts! Woo!

Just kidding, I'll celebrate by playing the MD's fantastic shooters and a few platform games too.

[Haoie]

It's kind of early for a birthday party.

Well, I guess in the meantime I'll thank the MD for bring the world Sonic. Woo.

[Adol]

Space Harrier 2 & Super Thunder Blade were the 2 first games on 29th October 1988.
But Altered Beast came out on 27th November 1988,and Osmatsukun on 24th December.
4 games for 1988.

21 more game swill come out in 1989,the most interesting being:
Alex Kidd (10th February)
Phantasy Star 2 (21st March)
Thunder Force 2 (15th June)
Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star (1st July)
Ghouls'n Ghosts (3rd August)
Super Hang-On (6th October)
Forgotten Worlds (18th November)
Kujakuoh 2 / Mystic Defender (25th November)
The Super Shinobi / Revenge of Shinobi (2nd December)
Tatsujin / Truxton (9th December)
Herzog Zwei (15th December)
Vermilion / Sword of Vermilion (16th December)
Golden Axe (23rd December)

Then on 1990 began the BIG stuff,many mroe games out there, Genesis marker beginning to grow,etc..

[parallaxscroll]

Space Harrier 2 & Super Thunder Blade were the 2 first games on 29th October 1988.
But Altered Beast came out on 27th November 1988,and Osmatsukun on 24th December.
4 games for 1988.

21 more game swill come out in 1989,the most interesting being:
Alex Kidd (10th February)
Phantasy Star 2 (21st March)
Thunder Force 2 (15th June)
Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star (1st July)
Ghouls'n Ghosts (3rd August)
Super Hang-On (6th October)
Forgotten Worlds (18th November)
Kujakuoh 2 / Mystic Defender (25th November)
The Super Shinobi / Revenge of Shinobi (2nd December)
Tatsujin / Truxton (9th December)
Herzog Zwei (15th December)
Vermilion / Sword of Vermilion (16th December)
Golden Axe (23rd December)

Then on 1990 began the BIG stuff,many mroe games out there, Genesis marker beginning to grow,etc..

Thanks for the exellent, informative post Adol, it's nice to know what came out and when.

I've said this in another post, but I still find it interesting: Phantasy Star II was released in March 1989 in Japan - At that point in time, I know I still had not heard of the MegaDrive/Genesis at all. I am sure the same is true for many others. I had just bought my Master System in Feb 1989. It would not be until June or early July that I learned about Genesis.

[c0ldb33r]

Hold on hold on hold on hold on.

...

What?

Are they re-releasing actual genesis hardware? and cartridges?

What?

... I don't get it.

edit: OHHHHHH shit. never mind. I TOTALLY misunderstood this thread. I thought the topic said that Sega was releasing the console again in celebration of the Genesis birthday.

Crap

[otaku]

Well playasia is selling this little mini genesis thing with tons of games built into it and has sega's support also some new chinese developed games on it to.

Also recently a portable genesis was made in the uk and is being sold

I'll celebrate by..playing my copy of beggar prince or hellfire maybe? Or perhaps buy a 32x with kolibri to play finally

[parallaxscroll]

Hold on hold on hold on hold on.

...

What?

Are they re-releasing actual genesis hardware? and cartridges?

What?

... I don't get it.

edit: OHHHHHH shit. never mind. I TOTALLY misunderstood this thread. I thought the topic said that Sega was releasing the console again in celebration of the Genesis birthday.

Crap

My fault ? For not making my thread subject clear enough ?

Sorry.

[Yukio]

There are "new" redesigned Mega Drives on Brazil. But their cartridge slot was gone for good ... Since even the last interaction of the Super Mega Drive 3 (71 games) is incompatible with a lot of games, it is even less compatible than the SEGA Genesis 3 board!

Some games that do not work right:
Super Street Fighter 2
Midnight Resistance

Not sure if it would work with the Virtua Racing cartridge. It is also incompatible with the Power Base and only output composite video with mono sound ...

Probably when their produce a better emulator with quality stuff the cartridge slot could return.

[c0ldb33r]

My fault ? For not making my thread subject clear enough ?

Nahh, probably just me reading what I wanted to read.

[parallaxscroll]

Nahh, probably just me reading what I wanted to read.

Ahh okay, well just so ya know, I do that all the time, I think most of us do