Sega Mega Drive

Sega Mega Drive was launched in 1988 in Japan. Europe waited two whole years before the machine was released.

Designed to replace the 8-bit Master System, it initially competed with other 8-bit systems, namely Famicom/NES and PC Engine/TurboGrafx.

Mega Drive was a mess. In Japan, the console did not sell well at all, with PC Engine and later Super Famicom dominating. In Europe, on the other hand, Mega Drive did much better.

The success of the console in Europe, as well as Genesis in America, contributed to the delay in the fall of Sega. Two unpopular add-ons, 32X and Mega CD, brought a huge drop to Sega's reputation, which was so great that the company would never recover.

A redesigned Mega Drive II was released in 1993. The smaller console was cheaper to produce, unlike the Master System II.