Editing Sega Mega Drive (section)

==History==
Although the [[Sega Master System]] was relatively successful in Europe, and later also in Brazil, it failed to ignite much attention in the North American or Japanese markets, which, by the mid-to-late 1980s, were both dominated by [[Nintendo]]'s large market shares thanks to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom], and ultimately lost to its rival in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_generation_of_video_game_consoles 8-bit era].<ref>{{Cite book|ref=CITEREFKent2001|last=Kent|first=Steven L.|title=The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World|year=2001|publisher=Prima Publishing|location=Roseville, California|isbn=0-7615-3643-4|pages=303, 360}}</ref><ref name="MarketShare1988">{{Cite book|title=Nintendo Official Magazine - Nintendo's Market Share 1988|author=Nintendo Official Magazine Staff|date=2001|pages=35|publisher=Future Publishing}}</ref><ref name="MarketShare1990">{{Cite book|title=Business Week - Nintendo's Market Share 1990|last=Business Week staff|date=1999|pages=60}}</ref> Because of this, Sega seeked out a new way to make itself a much stronger competitor then before.

The first name [[Sega]] considered for its console was the MK-1601, but it ultimately decided to call it the "Sega Mega Drive". The name was said to represent superiority and speed, with the new and powerful Motorola 68000 processor in mind.<ref name="sreac1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.skillreactor.org/cgi-bin/index.pl?megadrv|title=Sega Mega Drive information|accessdate=2008-04-01|publisher=skillreactor|last=Bolitz|first=Christoph}}</ref> Sega intended to use the name "Mega Drive" worldwide, but the North American version instead went by the name "Genesis" due to a trademark dispute.<ref name="retroinspection">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=68&title=Retroinspection:%20Mega%20Drive|last=Szczepaniak|first=John|year=2006|month=September|title=Retroinspection: Sega Mega Drive|publisher=Retro Gamer|accessdate=29 March 2018}}</ref>

===Launch===
The Mega Drive was released in Japan on October 29 1988,<ref name="ConsoleInfo 1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.consoledatabase.com/consoleinfo/segamegadrive/index.html|title=Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Console Information|accessdate=18 October 2007|author=Console Database Staff|publisher=Console Database/Dale Hansen|work=http://www.consoledatabase.com}}</ref> almost exactly a year after the release of NEC PC Engine and the same year as the release of TurboGrafx-16 in North America. The Japanese release of the Mega Drive was a commercial failure in this region due to it already being overshadowed by the then-newly released ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros._3 Super Mario Bros. 3]'' on the Famicom in the same year, and remained a distant third behind the PC Engine and especially Nintendo's Super Famicom.

In 1987, [[Sega]] announced that the North American release date for the system (under the name "Sega Genesis") would be January 9 1989.<ref name="GenesisRelease">{{Cite book|title=Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children|last=Sheff|first=David|date=1993|pages=352|location=New York|publisher=Random House|isbn=0-679-40469-4}}</ref> Sega initially attempted to partner with now-defunct [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Corporation Atari Corporation] for distribution of the console in the U.S., but the two could not agree to terms and Sega decided to do it themselves.<ref>{{Cite book|ref=CITEREFKent2001|last=Kent|first=Steven L.|title=The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World|year=2001|publisher=Prima Publishing|location=Roseville, California|isbn=0-7615-3643-4|pages=401}}</ref> Sega was not able to meet the initial release date and United States sales began on August 14 in test regions New York City and Los Angeles, with the North American release following by the end of the month.<ref name="NArelese">{{Cite book|last=Kent|first=Steven L.|title=The Ultimate History of Video Games|pages=404–405|location=Roseville, California|publisher=Prima Publishing|year=2001|isbn=0-7615-3643-4}}</ref> Initially, although it proved to be technologically superior over the NES, the Genesis was not successful until the arrival of the original ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' in 1991, which immediately resulted in an intense rivalry between Sega and Nintendo by the release of the more advanced Super NES in the same year, infamously known as the "Console Wars", due to North America's previous dominant experience with the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega's aggressive marketing in the region (which Nintendo also did the same). Throughout the 16-bit era, despite both companies' consoles were extremely popular in the U.S., neither could maintain a definitive lead, but the Super NES ultimately surpassed the Genesis in market sales by a small margin.

The European release was in September 1990, keeping its original name.<ref name="EUrelease"/> Following on from the European success of the [[Sega Master System]], the Mega Drive became a very popular console in Europe like its predecessor and even outselling the Super NES. Unlike in other regions where the Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System had been the dominant platform, the Master System was the most popular console in Europe at the time, which continued for the Mega Drive.

The Mega Drive's launch titles in Japan are ''Space Harrier II'' and ''Super Thunder Blade''. In North America and Europe, more games were added including ''Altered Beast'', ''Golden Axe'', and ''Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle''.

===Marketing===
The advertising of the Mega Drive's United States release as the Genesis was notorious for Sega's aggressive marketing specifically to challenge its established rival, Nintendo, head-on by all means possible and provide a more arcade-like experience than the NES at the time, creating the infamous "Genesis does what Nintendon't" (called "Sega does what Nintendon't" in Japan/Europe) slogan. In spite of this, Sega struggled to overcome Nintendo's sales, but eventually, by the time ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' was released and became successful, Sega brought up new slogans such as "Blast Processing" or "Welcome to the Next Level" to advertise the Mega Drive CPU's faster processing speed in platform games (7.67MHz compared to the Super NES' 3.58MHz) and position it as the "cooler" console aiming for older audiences. This continues with the [[Sega CD]]/[[Sega 32X|32X]] add-ons.

In the United Kingdom, the most well-known of Sega's advertising slogans was "To be this good takes AGES, to be this good takes SEGA". Some of these adverts employed a rather inappropriate sentences for example, "The more you play with it, the harder it gets" displayed with an illustration of the waggling of a joystick.<ref name="SegaVizAds">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2006/03/segas-bizarre-early-1990s-viz-adverts.html|title=SEGA'S BIZARRE EARLY 1990S VIZ ADVERTS|accessdate=20 October 2007|year=2006|publisher=UK Resistance}}</ref> 

Another prominent figure in the European marketing was the "Sega Pirate", a talking one-eyed skull that starred in many TV adverts with a generally edgy and humorous attitude. Since the Mega Drive was already two years old at the release in Europe, the many games available at launch were naturally more in numbers compared to the launches in other regions. The ports of arcade titles like ''Altered Beast'', ''Golden Axe'' and ''Ghouls 'n Ghosts'', available in stores at launch, provided a strong image of the console's power to deliver an arcade-like experience.<ref name="MegaDriveLaunch">{{Cite web|url=http://www.vc-reviews.com/news/60/hardware-focus-sega-megadrive-genesis.php|title=Hardware Focus - Sega Megadrive / Genesis|accessdate=19 October 2007|year=2007|last=McFerran|first=Damien|publisher=VC Reviews}}</ref> 

The arrival of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' in 1991 was highly successful in Europe and especially North America, with the [[Sonic the Hedgehog|new Sega mascot]] becoming popular throughout the two continents and directly competing with Nintendo's [[Mario]].<ref name="MegaDriveLaunch"/>

In Brazil, the Mega Drive was released by [[Tectoy]] in 1990, only a year after the Brazilian release of the [[Sega Master System]]. Tectoy also ran the Internet service "Sega Meganet" in Brazil, as well as producing games exclusively for the Brazilian market.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gameproducer.net/2008/02/26/how-piracy-can-break-an-industry-the-brazilian-case/|title=How Piracy can Break an Industry - the Brazilian Case|accessdate=14 April 2008|last=Tiago|first=Tex Pine|date=26 February 2008}}</ref>

===End of support and third-party licensing===
The Mega Drive/Genesis was supported until 1997 worldwide, when Sega announced it was dropping support for it.<ref name="ConsoleInfo 2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.consoledatabase.com/consoleinfo/segamegadrive/index.html|title=Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Console Information|accessdate=18 October 2007|author=Console Database Staff|work=http://www.consoledatabase.com}}</ref> It was discontinued along with its predecessor, the Master System, to allow Sega to concentrate on its newer console, the [[Sega Saturn|Saturn]]. The Mega Drive's add-ons, the [[Mega CD]] and [[Sega 32X|32X]], were also both discontinued at this point, having been the same general failures they were in the other regions.<ref name="failure">{{Cite web|url=http://www.gamepro.com/gamepro/domestic/games/features/111822.shtml|title=The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time|last=Blake|first=Snow|date=30 July 2007|publisher=[[wikipedia:GamePro|GamePro]]|accessdate=20 May 2008}}</ref>

In 1997, Sega licensed the Mega Drive to [[Majesco]] so that it could re-release the console in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pelikonepeijoonit.net/cgi-bin/page.cgi?pkpcode=genesis3|title=Sega (Majesco) Genesis 3|publisher=pelikonepeijoonit|accessdate=6 March 2006}}</ref> Majesco began re-selling millions of formerly unsold cartridges at a budget price together with the second model of the Genesis, until it later released a third version of it.