order
I like Zhang Aijia's lyrics very much: "Do you still remember your dreams when you were young? Like a flower that never fades ... ",I think many old players, especially those who have experienced the era of red and white machines, have deep feelings. Although the current games are dazzling, they often seem to be short-lived. When they are brilliant, they will soon disappear or be replaced by new favorites. On the contrary, they are old games that accompany us to spend a wonderful childhood, but they can last forever in our hearts. Whenever we take them out to taste, we can deeply touch ourselves.
Black whirlwind-"trillion drive"
1988101On October 29th, SEGA launched its fifth game machine MEGA DRIVE (hereinafter referred to as MD). The words "16Bit" are impressively printed on the lower part of the main engine card holder, which makes people clearly understand the performance difference between it and the mainstream models at that time. At the press conference before the release, SEGA made a demonstration of the popular arcade game's The Story of the Beast on the system 16 substrate and MD version, and MD showed the game quality comparable to arcade. Since then, Sega has broken the previous framework of using the company's game software only on its own mainframe and started to cooperate with third parties. With this as a symbol, the first battle for hegemony in the game industry finally began. ...
Function:
CPU: Motorola MC68000+Z80
Memory: 1MB
Resolution: 256X224/320X224
Maximum number of colors: 5 12 colors.
Number of hair colors on the screen: 64 colors
Number of background reels: 2 layers
Audio processing unit: 6xfm/3xpsg/1xpcm/1xsou
The history of sega
Msgadrive-the best host in Sega history!
1988101On October 29th, MSGA DRIVE (MD for short) was officially released in Japan.
Sega's slogan to promote MD at that time was: "The game console of the next era! ! "This shows Sega's confidence in MD. Although the price of MD was as high as 265,438+0,000 yen at that time, it was 4,200 yen more expensive than the MASTER system released a year ago and 65,438+0,000 yen more expensive than the white Saturn released later, its high price was worthwhile. First of all, in terms of hardware, it has a rather advanced design. The CPU adopts 68000 RISC with a main frequency of 8M, which is not only several grades higher than the red and white machine, but also higher than the Super Nintendo (SFC). Memory includes 72K RAM and 64K VRAM, which was quite high at that time. The powerful function of MD makes the hair color number on the same screen reach 5 12, which is also the strongest index at that time. (Think about the popular online game "Stone Age" with only 256 colors, and the pictures are so beautiful, not to mention 5 12 colors? In order to better display the picture, MD has not only ordinary RF output and video output, but also advanced RGB output. In terms of sound, MD supports FM sound source, PSG sound source and PCM sound source. You can enjoy stereo effects with headphones, but when you connect the TV, you only have mono output.
The most boastful hardware of MD is the handle. The early three-button handle was the first ergonomic handle in the world, and it was quite comfortable to hold. However, it also has considerable shortcomings: the ABC three-key letters on the early three-key handle are red, and the primary colors are used only in the later stage. MD, an unsuccessful handle, has since created an ergonomic handle and become a great contribution of Sega to the development of home game consoles. Too strong, I finally found the reason to worship Sega again)
In terms of software, in the early days of MD release, most of them were masterpieces transplanted from arcade by Sega, which made the software quality better than other hosts. This method has been inherited by every generation of Sega mainframe since then.
During the three years from 1988 to 1990, the declining FC did not pose a threat to MD. In Japan and the United States, MD quickly gained the support of 30% software vendors. At the same time, the NEC mainframe "tuobografx-16 (TG-16)", which is considered to bring the greatest pressure to American MD, received only 6% support. The form was clear, and MD at that time was proud of the spring breeze.
However, after 1990, it was another scene. With the release of the successor model "SUPER FAMICOM(SFC Super Nintendo)" of Nintendo Red and White Machine, a large number of software manufacturers abandoned MD and turned to SFC.. Coupled with Nintendo's prestigious "third-party policy", the possibility of transferring the value of its own software manufacturers to other models is controlled to the maximum extent. Since then, MD has embarked on the road of no return for Sega alone.
It should be admitted that Sega, as a software company, is one of the best in the industry. With their own efforts, they have developed various types of games for Sega, among which there are many classics such as Light and Dark series and Dream Star series. However, these works have never reached the level of Final Fantasy series and enter the dragon series, and their promotion to the sales of mainframes naturally cannot reach the level of the latter. I think, as long as it is Sega, it will not advertise! )。 Therefore, in a year's time, MD was squeezed below by SFC, and Sega could only submit to humiliation and be the second child in the industry. (speechless ...)
However, this situation has changed. From 65438 to 0992, Sega's new signature star "Sonik" was loved by players all over the world as soon as it appeared. With the high performance of MD, Sonik can move at super high speed in the game. However, this ultra-high-speed scroll game is beyond SFC's reach. Overnight, Sonik and MD equipped with it became people's new favorites, and MD sales soared, surpassing SFC in one fell swoop. I love you! Sonik) However, this success has stunned the decision makers of Sega. Instead of leading MD to defeat SFC, they stopped and let Nintendo make a comeback. Soon, 1993, the CSRC regained the throne of sales champion. Since then, MD has rebounded occasionally with the help of popular works such as Dream Star 4 and Dream Simulated Warfare 2, but this cannot hide the fact that it is declining day by day. (Residual thoughts ...)
On April 23rd 1993, MD II was released. The MD of this six-key handle is an improved version of the early MD, and the single machine price is only 12800 yen, which is more than 8000 lower than the first one! As can be seen from the price, MD2 is a simplified version similar to today's PSone. However, although it is simplified, it has made many improvements close to the players. For example, the output is changed to AV output to meet the demand of stereo, and there are exquisite 6-key small handles. This new 6-key handle is really classic, it is very comfortable to hold, the control of direction keys is also very good, and there is a slight elasticity when pressing keys ... great! Maybe many China players started to contact Sega's mainframe from this MD2. At least at that time, the scene in front of MD2 counter in Beijing store was quite hot. I think, if the fire is not fierce, the second degree has the most say? Haha)
End: MD's life extension plan died with MD.
In order to promote MD2, Sega has created a series of games for it, the most famous of which is Descendants of Light. This ARPG game with 6-key handle should be the highest level in terms of screen, plot, jigsaw design and character scene design. Unfortunately, at that time, the sales of consoles were really limited, and even the best games could only be the regrets that people occasionally talked about when chatting.
By 1996, no new works were born on MD.
In order to prolong the market life of MD, Sega has painstakingly developed and produced a large number of additional equipment. These additional devices greatly improve the hardware index of MD, but because of the ubiquitous problem of no software support, they have all become the funerary objects of MD, the most famous ones are "MEGA CD", "SUPER 32X" and "MULTIMEGA".
MEGA CD has a better fate than the latter two, because it has an early market and relatively rich software, so it also has many supporters. Among these softwares, final fight, luna Galaxy Star and Battle of Rhode Island are the best. But apart from them, there seems to be no more games worth playing. Moreover, MEGA CD has obvious technical defects, such as slow reading and poor pronunciation. When playing a CD with MEGA CD, it is called "the worst sound", which can be seen.
SUPER 32X is so famous, not because it is so excellent, but because Sega played very well at that time. What 3D is powerful? The arcade has changed a lot, which has caused great shock in the hearts of players. After all, if all this is really realized, it can also bring your dying MD back to life! But is the reality really that beautiful? Of course not! 16-bit host can only display the pictures that 16-bit computer should have, just like Saturn pictures with dual 32-bit CPU can never reach the quality of N64. (I have witnessed the respect of VR Warrior on 32X, and the most profound feeling is that it is a parallelepiped with eyes. I heard that this is the most serious work on 32X, not to mention the others ...) In short, 32X fell earlier than MD.
1At the end of 994, Sega launched a mainframe called MULTIMEGA. Its American name is CD-X. At first glance, it thought it was an all-in-one machine of MEGA CD and 32X. Later, I learned that it was MD and MEGA CD pocket integrated machine.
MULTIMEGA was quite advanced at that time. It is only a little thicker than ordinary CD walkman, but it has the pleasure of listening to CD and playing MD at the same time. The quality of CD playback has also been greatly improved, not "the worst sound" but "the most beautiful function". Only two 3A batteries are needed. Unfortunately, due to the need of portability, many expansion interfaces have been cancelled, and the original expansion function of MD has been weakened, so 32X and other devices cannot be used on MULTIMEGA. However, MULTIMEGA is still popular with SEGA fans, selling well and being one of the best collections for players. Unfortunately, such a good host had to end his life after MD fell.
After all, without your figure, there are no more clothes! !