Sega, created in 1960, started off as a coin-operated game manufacturer. The first coin-operated game they created was Periscope, an analog shooting gallery game that simulates submarines attacking warships. As arcades began to die out in the 80s, Sega decided to enter the home video game console world by releasing the Sega SG-1000 which came out in 1983, the same year as the infamous North American video game crash so it was released exclusively in Japan.
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Posts 8After some time, Sega’s consoles broke out from obscurity in the West and more closely competed with Nintendo with the Sega Genesis in 1988. It was a strong start, though some poor decisions with succeeding consoles led to a divided fanbase, eventually leaving the console market entirely. While their consoles may only be a part of history now, it's still nice to look back on what was once Sega's biggest focus.
Updated September 28th, 2024 by Hilton Webster: a While Sega hasn't released any brand new consoles in the years since this article was first published, it has released plenty of mini versions of them, and gotten a general surge in popularity from their stellar games. So let's take a renewed look over all of their consoles, and which of them came out on top.
7 Sega Pico
Console
Release Date
Pico
JP: June 26th, 1994 NA: November 1994 EU: 1994
Advanced Pico Beena
JP: August 6th, 2005
The term 'edutainment' isn't one that people throw around all that much anymore, and it's typically associated with cheap imitations of actual games consoles. In Sega's case however, a genuine attempt at an edutainment console was made in the form of the Sega Pico, released in 1993.
It was designed to look like a laptop, though much sturdier, and came with a bunch of simple games for children to learn through. They weren't pre-installed either, with you able to buy new cartridges designed to look like books. It wasn't a great success internationally though, and so it's successor, the Pico Beena, was released exclusively in Japan.
6 Sega SG-1000
Console
Release Date
SG-1000
JP: July 15th, 1983 AU: November 1983
SC-3000
JP: July 15th, 1983 AU: November 1983
SG-1000 II
JP: July 1984 TW: 1986
Sega Mark III
JP: 1985
The Sega SG-1000 or Sega Computer Video Game SG-1000 was exclusive to Japan and was Sega’s very first video game console. Sega, who at this point was involved heavily in arcade cabinet production, realized that arcade sales were beginning to dwindle so they decided to join the home console manufacturer world alongside Atari, Commodore, and more.
The very same day the Sega SG-1000 was released, a certain toy manufacturer decided to also throw there hand in the ring by releasing the Famicom. That’s right, on the 15th of July in 1983, both Sega and Nintendo released their very first console to the market, though the SG-1000 barely saw a fraction of the success Nintendo did. The SG-1000 seen many revisions until finally, it was shelved for the SG-1000 Mark III or more commonly known as the Sega Master System.
5 Sega Game Gear
Console
Release Date
Game Gear
JP: October 6th, 1990 NA/EU: April, 1991 AU: 1992
Game Gear Micro
JP: October 6th, 2020
The Sega Game Gear was released in 1991 and was created to compete with Nintendo’s Game Boy. A marvel for the time, the Game Gear had full color and a backlit screen compared to the Game Boy which had neither.
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PostsThe Game Gear was essentially a portable Sega Master System, with graphics and sound that matched Sega’s second home console. Many games that were released for the Master System were also released for the Game Gear with no loss in quality. However, the Game Gear’s bulky size and excessive need for batteries really make it show its age.
Game Gear Micro
How does one make a follow-up version to a handheld console that is already quite small. The same way you do with the re-release of any classic console - you make a mini version of it! The Game Gear Micro is just comically tiny, yet can play games and runs off the same hardware of the original Game Gear too.
Each console only comes with four pre-installed games so you can't pop in your actual Game Gear cartridges, though it's really intended more as a gimmick console. A limited edition of the Game Gear Micro was also made that came with a brand-new game native to the hardware, GG Aleste 3.
4 Sega Master System
Console
Release Date
Master System
JP: October, 1987 NA: September 1986 EU: June 1987
Master System II
NA/AU/EU: 1990
Following the lack of success of the SG-1000, Sega, as they tended to do at the time, revised the system multiple times, releasing a computer model, an updated Sega SG-1000 Mark II, and finally released the Sega Master System in 1986 which is known as the SG-1000 Mark III in Japan.
In Europe, the Sega Master System was just as or maybe even more popular than the Nintendo Entertainment System. Brazil especially took a liking to the console with the system still being sold as a plug and play machine there, almost thirty-five years after its initial release.
3 Sega Saturn
- Released November 22nd, 1994 in Japan, May 11th, 1995 in North America, and July 8th, 1995 in the EU.
In retrospect, many believe that the North American launch of the Sega Saturn is one of the biggest reasons Sega left the console market. Sega released their ill-fated Sega 32X in 1994, the same year as the Japanese release of the Sega Saturn. It compounded many growing issues of communication between their North American and Japanese divisions.
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PostsWhile the Sega Saturn is seen as a failure in North America, in Japan it saw great success with over 800 titles being released that were exclusive to the region. Sega's consoles always performed at least moderately well in Japan, though the poorer reception in North America didn't work in their favour with it becoming such a big playing field for the console industry.
2 Sega Dreamcast
Console
Release Date
Dreamcast
JP: November 27th, 1998 NA: September 9th, 1999 EU: October 14th, 1999
Divers 2000 CX-1
JP: 2000
The Sega Dreamcast, released in 1998, was Sega’s final console before leaving the console market and turning into a third-party developer. Though the Dreamcast was ahead of its time with built-in online functionality and fantastic games, a combination of Sony’s PlayStation 2 and all of their prior losses led to failure and to their downfall. However, like the Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast saw plenty of love in its home country with 150 exclusive titles being released in Japan.
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Posts 7Luckily, the Dreamcast is more loved than ever, with a majority of its titles being ported over to most modern consoles. Though Sega has left the console market, it still and forever will be the king of arcade gaming.
1 Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Console
Release Date
Mega Drive
JP: October 29th, 1988 NA: August 14th, 1989 PAL: September 1990
Mega Drive II
1993
Genesis CDX
1994
Genesis Nomad
NA: October 1995
TeraDrive
JP: May 31st, 1991
The Sega Genesis, released in 1988, was Sega’s third and most successful console. The Genesis was created to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System, but 2 years after the release of the Genesis, Nintendo released the Super Nintendo.
Though the Super Nintendo had overall better graphics and more colors, the Genesis had what was marketed as blast processing, which was just a fancy way of saying that it has more processing power to handle faster games. Because of this, the Genesis was the perfect home for many of Sega and many other third-party developer’s games and truly brought the arcade home.
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Expansion And Nomad
CloseThe Mega Drive was far and away not only Sega's most popular console but it's most supported as well. It got not only years of great games, but expansions to make the console even more powerful. These came in two forms - the Mega CD, and the 32.
The Mega CD added a more powerful CPU as well as the ability to play disc-based media. This resulted in some new games, such as Lunar, though Sega gave rather limited support to the peripheral. This was later followed-up by the 32X which gave the Genesis 32-bit computing. In a similar vein to the Mega CD, it was quickly usurped by the succeeding Sega Saturn and support was dropped quickly.
On the opposite end, Sega also created the Genesis Nomad, a portable version of the Sega Genesis that had all the same functionality of the original. It was, for the time, seen as the most powerful handheld on the market. Though like with previous Genesis versions, a renewed focus on the Sega Saturn as well as a North America-exclusive release, meant the Sega Nomad quickly fell off without much support.
Next6 Consoles That Nearly Didn't Get Made
The world we know today would've never been the same.
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