THE ORIGINAL SEGA GENESIS BOX
Question: What does 16-bit mean anyway?
Answer: 16-bit means that a CPU thus configured can process one 16-bit word in one cycle of instruction (it can process 16 bits of information per cycle). A true 16-bit processor has a 16-Bit external address bus and a 16-bit internal bus
This means that the programmer can not only write code that runs twice as fast as code would run on an 8-bit CPU during one operation, but the code can also be much more sophisticated than what an 8-Bit CPU could handle. Imagine one person only being able to speak or think in one single sentence at a time before having to refer back to his notes. Then another being able to communicate in paragraphs before having to look at his notes. That is a good rough analogy of the 8-Bit to 16-Bit computer. The 16-bit technology allowed significant increases in graphics performance.
At the time of the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive release, 16-Bit CPUs were only found in expensive desktop computers and arcade machines. The Turbo Graphics 16 / PC Engine was not actually a 16-Bit console, however it had graphics capabilities that the designers felt were similar to what a 16-bit processor could do.
However, the Sega Genesis was also not the first true 16-bit console. That distinction belongs to the Mattel Intellivision, though the Intellivision was only nominally a 16-bit machine in most respects. The Intellivision ran at less than even 1 MHz and could support no more than 16 colors.
1991 ADVERTISEMENT INCLUDED WITH STRIDER (click image to enlarge)
Makoto Uchida
Makoto Uchida is the wizard behind several great Sega games such as Altered Beast and Golden Axe. More recently he was a designer of Dynamite Cop and Alien Front Online.
THE HISTORY OF SEGA
*Sega was founded in 1940 as "Standard Games" in Honolulu to provide coin-operated amusements for American military personnel. The company was headed by Martin Bromely, Irving Bromberg, and James Humpert. In 1951 Bromely moved the company to Tokyo and it became "SErvice GAmes of Japan" (SEGA).
*In 1965 'Service Games' and 'Rosen Enterprises' merged and became "SEGA" officially. During that year the Periscope arcade game was released. In 1969 'Gulf Western' purchased Sega and made David Rosen president. Under Rosen's leadership arcade games such as Frogger and Zaxxon were released.
*In 1983 the first Sega console was released, the SG-1000. Due to the video game crash Gulf Western sold the company off to various entities. Rosen became head of the US branch and Hayao Nakayama became CEO of Sega of Japan.
*In 1984 CSK bought Sega and renamed it Sega Enterprises Ltd. The chairman of the company was Isao Okawa, a friend of Rosen. Okawa also became chairman of Sega. He would become the major driving force behind Sega.
*In 1985 Nintendo proved that video games again could be profitable in the consumer market. Sega released the SG-1000 Mark III (Sega Master System) in late 1985 in Japan and 1986 in the US to compete with the NES.
*In 1989 the Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis) was released. Sega gained nearly 50 percent of the market from Nintendo until 1995. This was the most (and last) successful Sega console. Its successful launch was in part due to the arcade ports of Makoto Uchida, namely Golden Axe and Altered Beast (the original pack-in title).
*In 1991 The SNES was released. To compete with Nintendo's Mario Sega developers: Naoto Oshima (artist), Hirokazu Yasuhara (designer), and Yuji Naka (programmer) developed Sonic the Hedgehog. This game became a best seller.
*Due to Sega's lack of support and proper development of the Sega CD, 32X, Game Gear, and Sega Saturn, consumers no longer trusted Sega to support its consoles with software. This caused the early death of the Dreamcast despite its technical superiority over the Playstation 2. Many of the bad decisions concerning Sega were thought to be a result of the influence of the infamously short-sighted American COO, Bernie Stolar, who was persuaded to resign in 1999.
*In 2001 CSK founder Isao Okawa, a leading personality in the SEGA company and also the President and Chairman of the corporation after the resignation of Shoichiro Irimajiri, died of a heart attack. Okawa was a brilliant visionary and philanthropist and the world has been a poorer place for his loss. The Sega Dreamcast was discontinued during the same year. It had only just been released in late 1998.
*In 2003 Sega was taken over by Sammy. The new chairman, Hajime Satomi, stated that Sega would devote its time to Arcade games rather than software for home consoles. Despite that as of 2006 Sega has published many home console games on various systems.
MOVIES OF GENESIS GAMES (click on images to open movie)