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Happy 20th Birthday SEGA Mega Drive |_O| Genesis !

C

camineet

Banned
Launched October 29, 1988
2gw4ytt.jpg


Launched August 14 (in NYC, LA) - September 15 (nationwide) 1989
U.S. price for national launch was $189.99 with Altered Beast packed in.
23vg41y.jpg


One of the first (if not THE first) Japanese Mega Drive commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stt0Z-LR08k


2f09lao.jpg



j5jvwh.jpg



Certainly not the first U.S. commercial for Genesis, but it's among the oldest, and probably the best one from 1989:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd-tH9fKuOo
slightly different verision of same commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppui7nC-jFs&NR=1




"We Bring The Arcade Experience Home" was Sega's first advertising campaign & marketing slogan for Genesis in the United States. This was an entire year before the
"Genesis Does What Nintendon't" campaign of the second half of 1990.



I did not know about the Mega Drive / Genesis when it launched in Japan in late 1988. I was completely oblivious to it. I would not know of this new system until just before it came out in the U.S. All I owned in late 1988 was an Atari 7800 and some games. I was eying both the NES and the Master System as the next thing I wanted. I ended up getting the Master System for my birthday in Feb 1989.

By spring/summer, I was going from one SMS experience to the next. The big deal for me at that point in time was R-Type. I have amazingly cool memories of getting R-Type and waiting for my parents to goto sleep so I could sneak in a few games in the wee hours of the morning.

I had no idea that a title-wave of amazing memories was almost opon me. I still wasn't aware of the Genesis. I didn't hear about it until late June or early July 1989. I first about Genesis when I called 1800-USA-SEGA one evening for info on Master System games. There was a recording that mentioned Sega's new 16-bit Genesis. I had no idea what this was. Was it a new Master System game?
Was it a cheat code for a game? LOL.

I soon learned about Genesis, what it was, from this article in EGM Number 2 which I picked up sometime in July 1989 (the first EGM ever got to read).


x4jk8i.jpg

2hncrrs.jpg


I had a choice to make. I would only be able to get one of the new systems coming out. Genesis or TurboGrafx-16

The next issue of EGM made my choice clear:


o8fl9w.jpg


xfxmds.jpg


jk93es.jpg





Then on a car trip to & from Iowa in August 1989, I was reading this constantly:
jtwax2.jpg



It would be Genesis. And so began a 9-10 month part of my life
where I tried hard in school so my dad would actually let me get
a Genesis, or rather, get one for me. The wonderful memories
that this journey would have for me, are beyond my ability to
put them into words.




Over a great deal of time, I discovered the best reason for ME owning a Genesis.



It wasn't for its arcade conversions.



It wasn't for the truly exellent Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star IV.



It certainly wasn't for Sonic.



It was for an amazingly good 2-player game that started the Real-Time Strategy genre...






30lccnn.jpg
 
J

jman2050

Member
Hard to believe Sonic didn't come out for almost two years after the Genesis released. I can't remember a time when the Genesis *wasn't* associated with Sonic.
 
C

Catalix

And on the sixth day the LORD David Bowie created man and woman in His image. And he saw that it was good. On the seventh day the LORD created videogames so that He might take the bloody day off for once.
Genesis Does...
 
T

Timo

Member
10fuc0j.gif



I thought that was mad post worthy.

Anyways, the Genesis was my first console. It's what made me a Sonic kid. I fucking loved Vectorman 2 and Chakan as a kid as well. The Genesis is slightly magical for me.
 
T

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
happy birthday MegaDrive Sama , best 16-Bit system , best controller of that era , best games , time to play some Sonic and Shining Force

as Sega fan and MegaDrive only owner i didn't miss anything in that gen , I am proud .

I am still waiting for the MegaDream 9/9/09

Believe
 
C

camineet

Banned
jman2050 said:
Hard to believe Sonic didn't come out for almost two years after the Genesis released. I can't remember a time when the Genesis *wasn't* associated with Sonic.
Click to expand...


Yeah, Sonic came out about 2.5 years after the Mega Drive was released in Japan and indeed, nearly two years after the Genesis released in the U.S.

That amount of time is like, more or less, roughly half of a console-generation. Even though I didn't know about MegaDrive in 1988, I was certainly aware of Genesis at its U.S. launch... Actually (as i said in my OP) a month or two before its release here, so my earliest memory of first hearing & reading about Genesis for the first time (June-July 1989) is just about exactly 2 years before Sonic came out (June 1991).

Therefore before Sonic came out I had two years of exposure to Genesis, its games, two different Sega marketing campaigns, magazine coverage, etc. Even though I didn't get a Genesis of my own until April 1990, that was still over a year before Sonic's launch.

I have a very strong perspective & memory of Genesis, pre-Sonic.

I noticed the shift of what SEGA and the Genesis was about overall,
from the 1989/early 1990 era (We Bring The Arcade Experience Home)
to the late 1990 era (Genesis Does) when Sega had alot of celebrities,
sports licenses, and more big-name arcade conversions including Strider,
to the 1991-1992 (and beyond) era (Sonic, Blast Processing, Welcome To The Next Level, Sega Scream etc).
There are clear lines in my mind between these times.
 
T

ten13

Member
I sold my entire NES collection at the time to get exactly enough to buy the Genesis (with Altered Beast pack-in), Golden Axe, Phantasy Star II, and an extra controller.
 
T

Tiktaalik

Member
I think the Japanese Mega Drive had some of the best visual branding out of any console ever.

Sega's consoles, more so than any other, feel high tech, and the Mega Drive really captured the 80s technology design feeling.
 
J

Jonnyram

Member
Subterrania - best game you've never played. Absolutely amazing graphics for the MD.

I remember my friend imported an MD and he generously let me borrow it for a week when he went on holiday. I was hooked on Sonic, Castle of Illusion and ESWAT. Then I bought my own a few weeks later.

MD > SNES!
 
Coolio McAwesome

Coolio McAwesome

Member
A friend of mine once made fun of me for playing Super Mario Bros. 3. He told me that it was a kids game and that the Genesis was better than the NES because it was 16-bit. When he told me that the NES was only 8-bit, my brother defended me by insisting that the NES was at least 10-bit.

I thought about saving my money to get a Genesis, but the NES demanded to much time from me in 1990 (Mario 3, River City Ransom, Mega Man 3, Castlevania 3, Final Fantasy, Dr. Mario, Crystalis, and Ninja Gaiden 2 all came out that year). The SNES was on store shelves by 1991, so I could no longer justify saving money for a Genesis. Thankfully, I was able to go back and play Genesis games several years later. (I believe it was Aristolte that said the best part about getting older is the ability to go back and play the video games missed out on because you couldn't afford them at the time.)

If I was stranded on a desert island with 10 Genesis games, I'd choose Gunstar Heroes, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Strider, Thunderforce III, Streets of Rage 2, M.U.S.H.A., Shining Force II, Castlevania Bloodlines, Contra Hard Corps, and Rocket Knight Adventures.
 
R

Rlan

Member
Ristar%20(2).gif


<3

While not the same year, Megadrive was released on the 28th of October - my birthday.

No wonder I was such a SEGA nerd.
 
2

2 Minutes Turkish

Banned
It feels like yesterday when I had the choice between Sonic the Hedgehog - The unknown platformer, and Strider, the Arcade hit.

I chose Strider and after beating it in like 3 hours, I regretted the choice ever since.

Got Sonic eventually though. What a game.
 
R

Rlan

Member
2 Minutes Turkish said:
I chose Strider and after beating it in like 3 hours, I regretted the choice ever since.

Got Sonic eventually though. What a game.
Click to expand...

And then beat that in 40 minutes? :p
 
A

andymcc

Banned
2 Minutes Turkish said:
It feels like yesterday when I had the choice between Sonic the Hedgehog - The unknown platformer, and Strider, the Arcade hit.

I chose Strider and after beating it in like 3 hours, I regretted the choice ever since.

Got Sonic eventually though. What a game.
Click to expand...

How could you ever regret Strider?
 
C

Catalix

And on the sixth day the LORD David Bowie created man and woman in His image. And he saw that it was good. On the seventh day the LORD created videogames so that He might take the bloody day off for once.
Still have my original Genesis from 1990. First system I couldn't probably claim as "my own." I begged for an NES for years, but my dad was convinced my sisters' hand-me-down 2600 and Intellivion were more than enough. Then I went to a friend's house and saw him playing Altered Beast on his shiny new Sega Genesis. Guess since then I became obsessed and had to have it. lol, kids.

I let a younger family member have it when I entered Junior High, thinking I moved on to bigger and better systems. Regretted it ever since.

She wasn't really a gamer, so luckily I managed to get my system back years later when she seemed to grow bored of it. All my old games were sold off, but I'm building back my collection one game at a time. I'll never let it go, ever!
 
J

jman2050

Member
2 Minutes Turkish said:
It feels like yesterday when I had the choice between Sonic the Hedgehog - The unknown platformer, and Strider, the Arcade hit.

I chose Strider and after beating it in like 3 hours, I regretted the choice ever since.

Got Sonic eventually though. What a game.
Click to expand...

To be fair, that's like choosing between having one of two hot supermodels for a night. Either way, you win.
 
B

Baconbitz

Banned
Catalix said:
Still have my original Genesis from 1990. First system I couldn't probably claim as "my own." I begged for an NES for years, but my dad was convinced my sisters' hand-me-down 2600 and Intellivion were more than enough. Then I went to a friend's house and saw him playing Altered Beast on his shiny new Sega Genesis. Guess since then I became obsessed and had to have it. lol, kids.

I let a younger family member have it when I entered Junior High, thinking I moved on to bigger and better systems. Regretted it ever since.

She wasn't really a gamer, so luckily I managed to get my system back years later when she seemed to grow bored of it. All my old games were sold off, but I'm building back my collection one game at a time. I'll never let it go, ever!
Click to expand...
At least you didn't trade your's off like I did so I could get another system. Bad move. I miss my version 1 genesis. I do own a 2nd gen one that I found at a yardsale and have been slowly collecting the games i remember the names of.
 
A

andymcc

Banned
grenks said:
My first and favorite system. So many memories.
Click to expand...

This was the first system ever purchased for me too. My dad already had both a NES and Master System. He disguised this as a purchase for me because I wanted Ghouls 'n' Ghosts whenever, in reality, it was so he could get Phantasy Star II. :p
 
R

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
*pours a 40*



I'll always remember the Genesis launch as being my favorite. Not sure what it was, maybe my age? Regardless, I have my fondest launch memories with that console. Ended up arguably being my favorite system as well

:')
 
B

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
I remember when my father came home with the Sega Genesis bundled with Altered Beast. Good times. Come back Sega! Come back!
 
C

camineet

Banned
ten13 said:
I sold my entire NES collection at the time to get exactly enough to buy the Genesis (with Altered Beast pack-in), Golden Axe, Phantasy Star II, and an extra controller.
Click to expand...


So you must have done that sometime in 1990, does your memory of that agree?


I know Phantasy Star II did not reach U.S. stores until early 1990, during the very late part of the winter or perhaps the first week or so of spring -- Just weeks before I got my
Genesis in early April 1990 (i wish i knew the exact date).

Got Phantasy Star II a few weeks later, April 17, 1990.

Only had to lay out $24 real cash at Toys 'R' US (PSII was $79.99 ... $85.59 w/ tax), because I received my free Genesis game which I selected from the free-game rebate-program that Sega offered for buying a Genesis (which had nothing to do with the Altered Beast pack-in), a program they offered a bunch of times during the early Genesis years.

I had selected Forgotten Worlds as my free game, got it in the mail very quickly, within no more than two weeks. I was still a brand new Genesis owner, and now I wanted Phantasy Star II. I'd only recently bought (and finished) the original PS for SMS in January 1990, a few months before I got Genesis. My dad and I took that Forgotten Worlds to TRU to "return" it, to get some dough to get Phantasy Star II! They wouldn't give cash but, after some arm-twisting, the manager agreed to store credit. I got $62.00 in "Geoffrey Dollars" for the free Forgotten Worlds that Sega gave me, which I used towards PSII :D

Still have the reciept from that transaction, the only one I kept from that time period:

2mo5hkp.jpg


The big TOYS "R" US in caps at the top was cut off when i scanned it.

Anyway,

Funny thing is, Phantasy Star II came out in Japan in March 1989, a whole year before it was released in the U.S., and before I even knew there even was a Phantasy Star II, or a MD/Genesis system to play it on! I think many people/gamers can say the same thing. If they knew the release dates of MD and MD-games in Japan compared to when they first knew of the MD/Genesis and any given Genesis game in the U.S. This was a time before the internet was in widespread use by the masses, and even by most 'hardcore' gamers.

The U.S. got Phantasy Star II (March 1990) within a few weeks of Japan getting Phantasy Star III (April 1990).
U.S. didn't get PSIII until summer 1991, after Sonic came out.
The wait for PSIV in the U.S was torture, Japan Dec 1993 ===> U.S. Feb 1995 o_o
 
F

Foil

Member
This thread makes me feel so old. :(

Great system with so many awesome games. My Genesis, much like my SNES and Game Gear still work perfectly. Even after being tossed into a closet for many years. Warning: Lots of nostalgia incoming. I probably missed a few classics.

genesis.jpg


genesis1.jpg


genesis2.jpg


genesis3.jpg
 
G

grenks

Neo Member
andymcc said:
This was the first system ever purchased for me too. My dad already had both a NES and Master System. He disguised this as a purchase for me because I wanted Ghouls 'n' Ghosts whenever, in reality, it was so he could get Phantasy Star II. :p
Click to expand...

lol thats great man. I remember asking my nana for it. Then christmas came. Man I flipped when I saw that I got it. It came bundled with Sonic Spinball. Just one of them good memories.
 
E

ElFly

Member
A great fucking machine.

I remember reading about it in a Popular Mechanics magazine that year. It sounded amazing, and the screenshots looked mindblowing, compared to the NES and 8bit computers.

I wouldn't really get one until a few years later, when Sonic was already out.
 
R

RobertM

Member
This was my second system my parents got me as a present for getting into a middle school. They got me a game with it that was kind of like Streets of Rage on some space ship and you would take an elevator to get to the next floor, still haven't found the name of the game. Man I remember my friend getting me Virtual Fighter 2 and accidentally unlocking a character by holding the dpad in right direction for a few seconds. Desert Strike, Zero Tolerance, Streets of Rage, Contra: Hard Cops, Sonic games, Vectorman, Earth Worm Jim, Mortal Kombat 2, Road Rash pure orgasm.

I love seeing games on the box.
 
M

mosqito

Member
Back in the days (I was a Nintendo Nerd), me and my cousin, played the shit out of the Sega Games. Sonic, ToeJam and Earl, Earthworm Jim, Shinobi where so much cooler than Mario an the rest of the Nintendo games. Nowadays I bought myself a Genesis and i have to say, i love it more than the Snes.

One of the fav. game of that time : Kid Chameleon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q15t0KGCVl8&feature=related

My last purchase:
1z1uv6b.jpg


Getting older and older...
 
H

Hive

Banned
Sonic the Hedgehog
Phantasy Star II
Streets of Rage
Toejam & Earl
Raiden Trad
Road Rash
NHL Hockey ('93)

Those are the only games I need and I'm good for life~
In fact, those are the only games I still have, and still play from time to time

Forget SNES~ Genesis and NES are where it's at ^o^
 
C

camineet

Banned
I wanna find the very first U.S. Genesis television commercial which introduced the system and Altered Beast to bored NES gamers. It was on YT a year or two ago but it got taken down. It's really pissing me off that it's gone and that i can't find another posting of it.
 
T

Tain

Member
The second best console of the generation, but it was an awfully close one.

And it's still better than the SNES.
 
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