Sega Mega-Drive II (Sega Megadrive)

Member Name: tom1clare

Product:	Sega Megadrive
Date:	20/06/03 (1980 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looked Nice, Plenty of Good Games, No loading times!

Disadvantages: Games as highly priced as £70, Pads wear quickly

The Mega-Drive marked the beginning of the end of my social life. I got this, my first ever games console for Christmas in 1994 (is it really that long ago?) and whilst by today's standards its technologically ancient, it delivered a huge amount of simple fun.
It must be said, the Mega-Drive II (same as the Mega-Drive, but smaller) is still one of the best looking consoles ever divised. A slick black colour, it was a nice size and everything you needed was right infront of you - power and reset buttons and a slot for the game cartridges. Simple and very accessible from the off.
It was a 16-bit console, and because of the comparitive lack of power compared with today's 128-bit behemoth's, couldn't handle any 3D games. Still, the extra power over the Master System (Sega's previous console) meant that developers could use a lot more colour and noticably improve backgrounds in games. Plus, with the Mega-Drive there was the added bonus of still having absolutely no loading times because the console used cartridges and not discs.
The Mega-Drive's main competition came in the form of the Super Nintendo. Now, I'm not going to discuss which is better out of the two (the source of many a playground arguement!), because that wouldn't really be fair. I haven't played many of Nintendo's titles and so couldn't honestly compare the two consoles. Nevertheless, the Mega-Drive-SNES battle was one of the closest in video game history; the two were more or less 50-50, considerably different to the current situation in the Sony-Microsoft-Nintendo battle.
Sega's Mega-Drive first appeared in the mid-late 1980's and remained highly popular until around 1996. For a games console to remain near the front of the market for nearly a decade is highly unusual - so what helped the Mega-Drive achieve this? Well, it could be that as home-entertainment systems weren't as popular pre-playstation, Sega didn't face the prospect

of a tough battle with other companies to constantly upgrade their technology, or at least not to the extent that it is at now - consoles now upgraded every 4-5 years. Poeple remained satisfied with games on offer and rivals Nintendo didn't release their successor until 1996. Perhaps more significant though, was the faliure of the Mega-CD. Sega's first disc based machine was able to play almost photo-realistic video footage, but it simply never got off the ground - the Mega-Drive's potential successor never materialised as a challenger. If it had been more popular, it is likely the Mega-Drive would have gone a few years earlier.
Naturally, the games were played in important role in the building Sega's reputation. In 1990, Sega released their first 'Sonic the Hedgehog' game. This not only showcased the true power of the machine but also gave them a mascot whom they have been assosiated with ever since. Classic Sega-developed games 'Streets of Rage' (still today among my favourite two-player titles) and 'Golden Axe' followed as well as spawning their own sequels. Two of my all-time favourite games, endearing RPG 'Wonderboy In Monsterworld' and the digital masterpiece that was 'Flashback' also graced the console and there were many, many others that were marvellous fun.
Reliability-wise, I have never had any trouble with the Mega-Drive, but it was not without the odd niggle here and there. Control pads tended to wear out pretty quick with a fair amount of use, and from past experience I found they can even blister your thumbs! Game prices in the time between 1992 and 1995 were absolutely horrific - some were priced as high as £69.99 (ouch!). This leads into another problem concerning many games - short lifespans. As only a few games used battery-packs or passwords as a means of saving your progress, you would complete most games within a couple of hours play, and anything much long would be just too
much
to do in one sitting. Was seventy quid really worth spending on games offering just a few hours gameplay? Nope.
On the whole though, Sega's best-selling console ever remains their crowning moment and has gained them a great deal of respect from the fans who bought a Mega-Drive.

Summary: