Sins of the Silicon and Console Curios - The Bear and Badger

retroking1981

Was MKIII card games just MKII software or was it still system specific?

Blue Swirl

I think there were Mk III cards that were Mk III only, but II cards would play on the later system.

Blue Swirl

Another random discovery, found whilst tatting about on the internet when I probably could have been doing something productive (or at least making progress in Fallout 4 or something).

Up until at least the 90s, Japanese products were banned from sale in Korea. In order to not miss out on this rather sizeable (and affluent) market, Japanese companies licensed their tech to Korean manufacturers. SEGA signed a deal with Samsung; the Game Gear, Master System, Mega Drive, Saturn, and possibly even the Dreamcast were sold with the Samsung logo on them. (The English-speaking part of the internet is unsure about the DC.)

images.duckduckgo.com_zpsou1doaea.jpg

They had weird names, too. The Master System was the Gam*Boy (I think I've posted about that before in this thread), and the Mega Drive was known under various names, including Super Gam*Boy, Aladdin Boy, and the utterly bizarre "Mega Drive 2".

Even weirder, Nintendo stuff (up to and including the N64, it seems) was apparently sold by Hyundai. The car people. Righto.

NES-Nintendo-System-Hyundai-Comboy-Korean-Version_zpspnk9svzy.jpeg

NES-Nintendo-System-Hyundai-Comboy-Korean-Version_zpspnk9svzy.jpeg

Hyundai renamed the Nintendo systems the Comboy and Super Comboy, but apparently didn't bother to remove the (S)NES bit.

And just to drive collectors nuts, there was an entirely unique model of the Mega Drive released only in South Korea, this time by a company called Nasun Zzangopo. There's some debate as to whether it was a licensed product or an illegitimate clone, but it's definitely interesting either way. Behold, the New Mega Drive.

EDIT: Broken image links fixed.

Blue Swirl

Oh, and I found this, too. Remember the Wondermega? The Mega Drive/Mega CD all-in-one from Victor, aka JVC? (Sold by SEGA, ironically enough, under the X'Eye name in the US.) While the Wondermega was compatible with the 32X, the latter blocked the CD tray of the former. This wasn't generally a problem, but it did mean you couldn't swap discs while using the 32X - usually this was OK, but it did mean unplugging your 32X every time you wanted to change Mega CD games. Again, not generally a problem, but it could render unplayable the handful of 32X-CD games that required disc-swapping. (I have no idea why anyone at SEGA thought games that required both the 32X and Mega CD at the same time were a good idea, but hey ho.)

The solution? JVC offered a "32-bit upgrade" service, in which they essentially fitted a new disc lid, with the offending part rendered immobile. It meant CDs were a tiny bit harder to take in and out, as the disc tray was partly blocked, but it did mean you could swap discs without unplugging your 32X. (Thank Christ, amirite?)

Normal X'Eye
jvc+x%2527eye.png

X'Eye with the "32-bit upgrade" installed.

Bingo, you can open your disc tray again.

The most amazing thing about all this? JVC offered the service up until 2013. That's 20 years after the machine launched, and about 18 after anyone gave a shit. Now that's customer service.

Blue Swirl

Final post, I promise.

Talking about the Wondermega/X'Eye, here's probably the most interesting (read: questionable) pack-in title ever. In the US, the X'Eye was bundled with Prize Fighter, a karaoke disc (but no mic, natch), and... Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia. ("But Moooooom, it'll help me with my homework! And you can sing 'Achy Breaky Heart'!")

retroking1981

Keep em coming mate, some interesting stuff there.

Yossarian

Excellent work there Swirl.

Blue Swirl

I'm holding back the temptation to start collecting Mega Drive pads with different company names on. There must be loads.

RedDave2

retroking1981 wrote:

Keep em coming mate, some interesting stuff there.

Quoted for truth. I still reread edge retro specials. This kind of history i can never get enough of.

Blue Swirl

More information on the Korean Sega stuff:

Linky link the first. Includes pictures of the Super Aladdin Boy II (aka the Mega Drive II).
Linky link the second. With pictures of the Samsung-branded Game Gear, 32X, and Saturn.

RedDave2

I always liked the wondermega design. Even that korean megadrive looks kinda cool. Almost pc engine like.

Blue Swirl

Yeah, the Wondermega is up there with the Neo Geo AES on the phwoar-o-meter.

cockbeard

Wasn't there another Wondermega that was even sexier? Though it might have just been the lighting in promo shots

Ahh, found it, this was the one I was thinking of

Blue Swirl

That's the original, the M1. The lights around the disc tray are excellent. Like the PS3, the M2 had some features removed to cut costs.

RedDave2

cockbeard wrote:

Wasn't there another Wondermega that was even sexier? Though it might have just been the lighting in promo shots

Ahh, found it, this was the one I was thinking of

Ooooooh! That is nice. Needs a 6 button pad though. So its a no from me

nick_md

http://videogamesdensetsu.tumblr.com/post/149092824100/the-sega-digitizer-system-a-tool-used-by-graphic

Pretty decent tumblr in general, from a quick scroll - http://videogamesdensetsu.tumblr.com/

Blue Swirl

I wonder how much one of those stations would go for if one turned up for auction... or if any still exist. Good find.

Blue Swirl

Another check on the list towards proving my "every electronics company has, at some point, made a games machine" hypothesis. We've recently added Samsung with the Korean SEGA machines, and now here's Sharp, with their NES/TV hybrid.

cockbeard

Panasonic did the Q as well, looks gaudy as fuck now but I defender thinking it quite desirable back in the day

The Sony PS2/PVR thing has aged much better

Blue Swirl

Yeah, the Q has been mentioned, fabulous thing.

The PSX is a design triumph, would look ok under a TV today.

Blue Swirl

So I put together a list of hardware that plays Mega Drive games. Got to be some sort of record for a video games format. Can anyone think of any more?

(Officially licensed - not including retro machines like the RetroN5, etc.)

Consoles
Mega Drive/Genesis
Mega Drive II
Genesis 3
Mega CD/Sega CD
Mega CD II
WonderMega/X’Eye (Victor/JVC/Sega)
WonderMega Mk 2
Pioneer LaserActive Mega-LD
AtGames Firecore
Nasun Zzangopo New Mega Drive <- Official status not confirmed.

PCs
Amstrad MegaPC
TeraDrive
MSX 330/660/990

Portables
Nomad
Multi Mega/CDX
Aiwa CSD-G1M
Mega Jet

retroking1981

32X, although like the Mega CD they're their own systems really.

[Deleted User]

I'm sure one of those ones with built in games had a port on it.

mistercrayon

Some of them do. - that might be the at games one though.

I guess you could lob wii in there

Yossarian

And every console from that gen on if you're going that route.

[Deleted User]

My impression was Swirly was talking about hardware that would take an original physical cart.

cockbeard

Not really sure you can count megaCD as it won't accept a megadrive cartridge

Diluted Dante

cockbeard

That's not a mega cd, that's a multimega, which he had on the list already

mistercrayon

Pwned.

Howdy, Stranger!

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