Categories within 'Mega CD'

First unveiled in Tokyo in 1991, the Sega Mega CD was released to complement the Mega Drive. Not only did it give the Mega Drive a shot in the arm power-wise, it also gave the machine access to a new media format - Compact Discs, which held nearly 500 times more data than than a cartridge could and allowed CD-quality soundtracks to be used.

Although CD-based consoles are commonplace now, it was still new technology in the early nineties and it took a while for companies to utilise the system to its full potential. Most simply added CD soundtracks and Full Motion Video intros. There were also some notoriously bad FMV games such as Microcosm and Sewer Shark which were primitive games built onto an FMV film.

The Mega CD (Sega CD in the US) wasn't the commercial success it had the potential to be due to the high price-point - £270 in the UK- and the lack of third-party support.

The Original Mega CD
(with Mega Drive attached)


The redesigned Mega CD II
(with Mega Drive II attached)