Sega Genesis

Sega Genesis / Mega Drive

Top: Sega Genesis model 2 Bottom: Original Japanese Mega Drive
Manufacturer	Sega
Type	Video game console
Generation	Fourth generation
Release date(s)	JP October 29, 1988 NA August 14, 1989
Discontinued	JP 1995 NA 1997
Units sold	Estimated from 37.3 to over 40.9 million
Media	ROM cartridge
CPU	Motorola 68000 and Zilog Z80
Online services	Sega Meganet, Sega Channel, XBAND
Best-selling game	Sonic the Hedgehog (pack-in), 15 million Disney's Aladdin, 4 million
Predecessor	Sega Master System
Successor	Sega Saturn

The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as Mega Drive (メガドライブ Mega Doraibu?), then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that Sega was unable to secure legal rights to the Mega Drive name in North America. The Sega Genesis is Sega's third console and the successor to the Sega Master System with which it has backwards compatibility (with the Sega Power Base Converter).

The Sega Genesis was the first of its generation to achieve notable market share in Europe and North America. The Sega Genesis was launched to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System and NEC's PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16. Two years later, Nintendo released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the competition between the two would dominate the 16-bit era of video gaming. While technically inferior to the newer SNES, the Sega Genesis enjoyed significant 3rd party support, in large part because it did not censor games as severely as the SNES, using a rating system instead. The rating system allowed for accurate arcade ports and controversial games to thrive on the console, and proved so successful that Nintendo adopted the rating system, leading to the ESRB.

The Sega Genesis is well known for its wide variety of variations and addons. Two add-ons, the Sega CD and Sega 32X, were even designed to extend the capabilities of the console to compete with 32-bit consoles. These briefly supported add-ons and variations made developers weary of the Sega brand, which lead many of them to embrace competitor consoles in the fifth-generation. This legacy would continue to plague Sega even into the sixth-generation, and was partially responsible for the fall of Sega as a hardware developer.

The console and its games continue to be popular among fans, collectors, retro gamers, emulation enthusiasts and the fan translation scene. Licensed 3rd party variations of the console are still being produced to this day, and there are also several indie game developers continuing to produce games for the console. Many games have been re-released in compilations for newer consoles or offered for download on various online services.

The Sega Genesis began production in Japan in 1988 and ended with the last new licensed game being released in 2002 in Brazil, making it one of the longest supported consoles of all time. The Genesis was also Sega's most successful console; though Sega has never released a total sales figure quote, sales estimates in the past have ranged from as low as 29 million to over 40.8 million. It was succeeded in 1994 with the release of the Sega Saturn.

Virtual Console Compatibility List (Sega Genesis/Megadrive)

Help to complete the list!

• If a game is missing or information is incomplete, go to the Sega Genesis VC Ratings Template, then press edit at the top of that page. Please put in alphabetical order!
• If you want to update a game's rating, click the icon to the right of the rating stars, and put just a number of 1 through 5 into the page. Use the compatibility guide below as a reference for what rating to use.
• If there are problems with a game, go to the page for that game and write down the problem!

Compatibility	Description
	Perfect: No issues at all!
	Playable: Runs well, only minor graphical or audio glitches. Games can be played all the way through
	Starts: Starts, maybe even plays well, but crashes or major graphical/audio glitches
	Intro/Menu: Hangs/crashes somewhere between booting and starting
	Broken: Crashes when booting
	Unknown: Has not been tested yet

Region indicator	Region description
AU	Australia
CA	Canada (NTSC /w French translation)
EU	Europe, PAL/SECAM territories
JP	Japan and Asia (NTSC-J)
KO	Korea
NA	North America and NTSC territories
RU	Russia

Title	Year	Genre	Region	Compatibility