The North American version of the Sega Mega Drive. Sega's Genesis was released in 1989 and competed with Nintendo's old 8-bit video game system and the Turbo Grafix 16 (a 8-bit system with two processors). The best competition for the Sega Genesis would come from the Super Nintendo, who would have a higher resolution and more advanced sound chip, but the Sega Genesis was still able to compete and sometimes out do the newer Super Nintendo, partly due to the fact the Sega Genesis had about twice the processing power as the Super Nintendo.

After three years of struggling to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega decided to change direction. Engineers incorporated elements from Sega's 16-bit arcade technology into a home console, and in August 1989, the Sega Genesis was released onto American store shelves. The Genesis (called the Megadrive in Japan) originally retailed for $199, and featured the same 16-bit Motorolla 68000 processor that had powered the original Apple Macintosh computer. With such a powerful engine, it was capable of producing high quality reproductions of popular Sega arcade titles. The pack-in game was a home version of Sega's coin-operated hit, Altered Beast. Only a single game controller was released with the Genesis platform, with additional controllers retailing for $20. The 16-bit NEC TurboGrafx-16 console had beaten the Genesis to America by four months. Though they initially trailed the competition, Sega knew from past experience with Nintendo that the system that had the best variety of quality game titles would ultimately be the most successful. Sega vigorously sought out third party software support, and within one year, 30 outside developers were designing games for the Genesis compared to the TurboGrafx with four. The Genesis quickly became the dominant 16-bit system. The first peripheral that Sega released was the Power Base Converter -- a module that allowed the Genesis to play Sega Master System cartridges. Its availability was important to owners of the SMS be...

Also known as the SEGA Megadrive in Japan and Europe.

The first 16-bit home console ever made by SEGA. The hardware is based on a modification of SEGA's System 16 arcade hardware, which was created in 1985(?). The SEGA Genesis was released in 1988 and competed with Nintendo's Super NES system, which was released in 1991. Although the graphics and sound were obviously inferior to the Super NES, the quality gameplay and innovative uses of the Genesis's hardware limitations were more than enough to challenge Nintendo in the marketplace for the entire 9 years of its lifespan.