Background Released in 1988, the
Genesis (known as the Mega Drive in most territories outside of North America) was Sega's entry into the
fourth generation of video game consoles. By the early 1990s,
compact discs (CDs) were making headway as a
storage medium for music and video games.
NEC had been the first to use CD technology in a video game console with their
PC Engine CD-ROM² System add-on in October 1988 in Japan (launched in North America as the TurboGrafx-CD the following year), which sold 80,000 units in six months. That year, Nintendo announced a partnership with
Sony to develop a
CD-ROM peripheral for the
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).
Commodore International released their CD-based
CDTV multimedia system in early 1991, while the
CD-i from
Philips arrived later that year.
Development Shortly after the release of the Genesis, Sega's Consumer Products Research and Development Labs, led by manager Tomio Takami, were tasked with creating a CD-ROM add-on. It was originally intended to equal the capabilities of the TurboGrafx-CD, but with twice as much
random-access memory (RAM). In addition to relatively short loading times, Takami's team planned to implement
hardware scaling and
rotation similar to that of
Sega's arcade games, which required a dedicated
digital signal processor. A custom graphics chip would implement these features, alongside an additional
sound chip manufactured by
Ricoh. Sega of America was not informed of the project details until mid-1991. Despite being provided with preliminary technical documents earlier in the year, the American division was not given a functioning unit to test. According to former executive producer Michael Latham: "When you work at a multinational company, there are things that go well and there are things that don't. They didn't want to send us working Sega CD units. They wanted to send us dummies and not send us the working CD units until the last minute because they were concerned about what we would do with it and if it would leak out. It was very frustrating." Latham and Sega of America vice president of licensing Shinobu Toyoda assembled a functioning Sega CD by acquiring a ROM for the system and installing it in a dummy unit.
Launch As early as 1990, magazines were covering a CD-ROM expansion for the Genesis. Sega announced the release of the Mega-CD in Japan for late 1991, and North America (as the Sega CD) in 1992. It was unveiled to the public at the 1991 Tokyo Toy Show, to positive reception from critics, It was released in Japan on December 12, 1991, initially retailing at
JP¥49,800. Though the Mega-CD sold quickly, the small install base of the Mega Drive in Japan meant that sales declined rapidly. Within its first three months, the Mega-CD sold 200,000 units, but only sold an additional 200,000 over the next three years. As part of Sega's sales,
Blockbuster purchased Sega CD units for rental in their stores. Sega of America emphasized that the Sega CD's additional storage space allowed for
full-motion video (FMV), with
Digital Pictures becoming an important partner. Only 70,000 units were initially available in the UK, but 60,000 units were sold by August 1993. Brazilian toy company
Tectoy released the Sega CD in Brazil in October 1993, retaining the North American name despite the use of the name Mega Drive for the base console there. Sega released a second model, the Sega CD 2 (Mega-CD 2), on April 23, 1993, in Japan. It was released in North America several months later at a price of
US$229, bundled with one of the bestselling Sega CD games,
Sewer Shark. Designed to bring down the manufacturing costs of the Sega CD, the newer model is smaller and does not use a motorized disc tray.
Night Trap controversy On December 9, 1993, the
United States Congress began hearings on video game violence and the marketing of violent video games to children. The Sega CD game
Night Trap, an FMV adventure game by Digital Pictures, was at the center of debate. Following the congressional hearings, Sega and other video game manufacturers came together in 1994 to establish a unified rating system under the
Entertainment Software Rating Board. By 1994, units had been sold in the United States and 415,000 in Western Europe. Kalinske blamed the Sega CD's high price for limiting its potential market; Sega attempted to add value in the US and the UK by bundling more games, with some packages including up to five games. According to Thorpe, the Sega CD only reached a more popular price point in 1995, by which time customers were willing to wait for newer consoles. were cancelled. 2.24 million Sega CD units were sold worldwide. ==Technical specifications==