16 Facts About Sega Mega-CD

Sega CD, released as the Mega-CD in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles.

The Sega CD plays CD games and adds hardware functionality such as a faster CPU and graphic enhancements such as sprite scaling and rotation.

Sega Mega-CD sought to match the capabilities of the competing PC Engine CD-ROM² System, and added an additional CPU and custom graphics chip.

The Sega Mega-CD CD was redesigned several times by Sega Mega-CD and licensed third-party developers.

The high price of the Sega Mega-CD CD was a contributing factor in its lack of success.

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Sega Mega-CD partnered with JVC, which had been working with Warner New Media to develop a CD player under the CD+G standard.

Third-party game development suffered because Sega Mega-CD took a long time to release software development kits.

Sega Mega-CD was launched in Europe in April 1993, starting with the United Kingdom on April 2,1993, at a price of GB£269.

In late 1993, less than a year after the Sega CD had launched in North America and Europe, the media reported that Sega was no longer accepting in-house development proposals for the Mega-CD in Japan.

Sega Mega-CD released an additional accessory to be used with the Sega Mega-CD CD for karaoke, including a microphone input and various sound controls.

Sega Mega-CD released the Genesis CDX, a combined Genesis and Sega Mega-CD CD, with additional functionality as a portable CD player.

The Sega Mega-CD CD received enhanced ports of Genesis games including Batman Returns and Ecco the Dolphin.

Likewise, most Genesis ports for the Sega Mega-CD CD featured additional FMV sequences, extra levels, and enhanced audio, but were otherwise identical to their Genesis release.

Sega Mega-CD felt that FMV games, targeted toward more casual players, were not enough to satisfy hardcore players.

GamePro cited the same problems, noting that many games were simple ports of cartridge games with minimal enhancements; GamePro concluded that the Sega Mega-CD CD was merely "a big memory device with CD sound" rather than a meaningful upgrade.

Retrospective reception of the Sega Mega-CD CD has been mixed, praising certain games but criticizing its value for money and limited upgrades over Genesis.