The 1998-1999 Sega "gap" in console availability

[Gameguy]

Yes. I have in my posession a Genesis made in 1998.

How do you know when it was manufactured? Do you have any pictures?

I am not sure if Majesco did any re-releases like they did with SNES games but the Genesis was alive and well well into 1998

Majesco did rerelease games for the Genesis, and rereleased their own Genesis 2 console. And later released their own Genesis 3 console in 1998.

There are numerous guides that describe how to tell the differences with Genesis motherboard revisions, all documenting the Majesco versions too. Yet none of the guides I've found mention how to date the manufacturing date of the console. So I'm curious how you know your console was made in 1998.