29 years ago today, Sega released the Mega Drive, launching with two games: Space Harrier 2 and Super Thunder Blade. Despite the weak launch lineup, the Mega Drive has become one of gaming’s top tier consoles.
What are some of your memories of the Genesis/Mega Drive launch? I was too young to remember exactly when we bought ours (which came with the amazing Altered Beast picture above as a pack in), but I do remember it having problems relatively quickly: there was no video out! I noticed that I could hear the music through the headphones jack when it’s turned on, which allowed my dad to diagnose the problem: a couple solder points and we had (terrible RF) picture again!
Anyone else have any great memories of the early days of Sega’s 16-Bit titan?
Happy Bday to one of my all time favorite consoles!
IrishNinja is bringing his Genesis/MD OT over here when he has the time but this thread will do for general MD discussion until then!
I didn’t get the Genesis at launch but eventually I did get a model 2 for Xmas. I begged my parents non stop for the better part of a year to get me one. Sonic was the next cool thing and I was tired of my Mario games on my NES.
When I opened that model 2 on Xmas my joy quickly turned to horror. My blue obsession was nowhere to be found and in his place was columns…a game I do enjoy now but 7/8 year old me had no fucking interest in. My Mom said I cried all day long. No other presents mattered, nothing could cheer me up. Soon after I would get Sonic 2 and I would go on to bleed blue and spread the gospel of my lord and savior Sonic on the playground.
I remember the launch time well. I was anticipating the Genesis release because of magazines like EGM and VG&CE. The system quietly entered stores and this commercial showed up on TV -
For Christmas 1989 I got NES and SMS games but after that I saved up and bought the Genesis in the summer of 1990. When I bought it the guy at the store said “Are you sure you want this? No one’s buying them”. I said “Absolutely”. My original system still works fine despite being used thousands of times.
I didn’t even realize the Model 1 existed until like… 1996. I’d only ever seen the Model 2 up until that point, and was like “the fuck is this behemoth” when I saw the OG.
I finally bought an OG a couple months ago. First Genesis I’ve ever actually owned.
Still have my original Model 1 Megadrive. I did buy a second region modded one that I use the most (gotta keep my OG system untouched). I also have a MD2, but I never use it.
Truly one of the all-time great systems. Who knows, it may end up taking the crown in the end as I’ve been playing way more Sega than Nintendo these last years.
I don’t have the sharpest memories of my time with Genesis hardware. Initially, all I had access to was my sister’s then-boyfriend’s Genesis CDX. But I do remember putting hours upon hours into The Adventures of Batman & Robin. What an amazing game. I remember years later I bought my own Genesis at the flea market specifically to play that game again haha.
This was my second console after the NES. I remember seeing it at a friend’s house and being floored by it. I finally begged my parents to get one for me, and when they did, it came with Sonic 1 and 2. It was a great time to be a gamer. The sprites were so large and fluid in comparison to what the NES could do. I even thought it had better graphics than the SNES at the time, and in a few ways, it did.