i still think they should have been sued for claiming there was "millions of geoffrey, all under one roof" my local TRU never had a single one of those giraffes
As a brazilian, I'm glad you've mentioned the huge market share Sega had in this territory through Tec Toy efforts, most of game history videos fails in this regard. They still support Mega Drive and Master System in mainstream retail stores until this very day in Brazil! This alone deserves recognition in Sega's history.
Sure, but he but he neglected most European countries by stating that Virgin Mastertronic distributed the Mega Drive *in Europe* . In my country it was "Giochi Preziosi" (while the rival GiG distributed the Super NES) and I'm sure Germany and France had other companies distributing it.
@@Robert_Manners And they're still awesome! My most recent (Genesis/MD) pickups are Rocket Knight Adventures (which is finally getting more recognition lately, but unfortunately getting more expensive by the day) and Cyborg Justice. I had a lot of fun with both of these games growing up, and I'm glad I picked them up (I never owned either of them, but we played them at friend's houses, borrowed, or rented back then).
My ex-wife just gave me a boxed copy of Toejam & Earl the other day... never hurts to have a spare! Wait, that was probably my original copy that I had to replace!
This video deserves more views. So well done. Great editing, great music, such thorough detail. Seriously top level stuff. THIS IS THE BEST GAME DOCUMENTARY I'VE EVER SEEN.
Here in Brazil we had a cartridge called "Tele Bradesco". Bradesco is a bank and the cartridge had a port to plug a telephone wire and access banking information thorugh the dial up!
That was an absolutely brilliant video on The Megadrive. Great work & nice to see things from our point of view here in England. Nearly every video is always 'Genesis' on the internet when it was the Megadrive we grew up with here.
Cherish it, baby it, keep it clean, pristine, and functional. Unplug it when not in use to protect it from surges. Pristine boxes are just as valuable to collectors as the complete console itself.
me now being 49,,in my teens in the early 80's,,living in the arcades,,spending all my lawn cutting money there.and had a SNES,,PLAYSTATION1,2,3,,ORIGINAL ATARI 2600(SEARS TELE-GAMES),it shure is nice to see people who appreciates the golden days of simplicity. boy what i wouldnt give to go back to 1982(i was 14)and live at the red baron,,putt-putt plus,,fat darils,old towne,,electronic experience,,and all the arcades i lived in thru the middle 80's. watching these videos on old systems brings a warm,,glowing smile to my face. thanks for putting all these up,,makes me happy to have lived thru these days in my teens. :)
How the hell could i have missed this channel for so long?! Amazing to relive the glory days of gaming and awe at the ridiculous quirkiness of the 80s. Powerful!
true! and funny at the same time! I remember the groundhog commercial I laugh a lot I got even kicked out of my classroom because of that commercial! I still laugh today!
I love seeing the fanboys argue in the comments, but really it's just that I loved my mega drive and as a kid you generally only got one unless you were spoiled. I think if I was older at the time and had a paper run or something I probably would have still chose the mega drive because of game prices. The amiga was what got me into gaming and I guess it was easier on my parents wallets since there was an amazing market near me that had loads of "cheap" ;) games, so I had quite a lot on there, we usually went and we all chose a game to get, so yeah I really loved that. Even on the wii I was emulating mega drive over snes though even though earthbound and other rpgs are more my speed now. So yeah say what you want about either, if you have to put it down to nostalgia or logic I'm still for the mega drive :)
How nostalgic... I actually had an early model MD with the "High Definition Graphics" and "Stereo Sound" markings on it. Thanks for making this video. Even though I got a SNES at some point back then, it never brought me as much joy as the MD did.
Really well done mate. Clearly a lot of work went into this. I appreciate the effort. This is the first of your content I've stumbled across and you've earned a fan. Looking forward to checking out more of your stuff.
(24:10) I remember the Genesis game speed being a selling point. The titular character in _Sonic the Hedgehog 2_ was depicted in the "Chemical Plant" stages as sometimes moving faster than the screen could keep up, and it was incredible to experience it first-hand rather than being just a marketing gimmick.
BURNING FORCE!!!! You showed Burning Force!!!! No one ever does that when showing anything in the Genesis! I thank you most sincerely! This was my all time favorite Genesis game. It’s always ignored and overlooked. Thank you so much. On top of showing the love, this is a great video. Amazing work. Instant Subscriber! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Looking at this gives me so much nostalgia of growing up with a mega drive (albeit a lot later than 1990 lol). As much as I appreciate and enjoy the SNES (even with its better GFX and sound capabilities), FM synth and black angles always gets me to this day.
This video gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside. Come back 90s Sega, we miss you! Awesome job on the video, fantastic production. I daren't think how long this took!
I think the only big mistake Sega made designing the hardware was there's no sprite scaling chip. Not even something that emulates it. And for a company that was focusing on that in the arcade, it made a lot of their ports look quite choppy for years.
The Mega Drive soundchip was better at synthy stuff. The SNES had the samples which are more versatile but lack punch. A lot of the western Mega Drive games had terrible soundtracks thanks to the awful GEMS sound driver rather than the sound chip being bad in of itself. The MD also had many faster ports than the SNES. I think it was the colour palette let it down most myself. Sprite scaling on 1988 home hardware would probably be a bit pricey!
DejaVoodooDoll I totally forgot the Sega CD had sprite scaling, I just had the 32X stuck in my head as that had pretty much perfect ports of Space Harrier and After Burner (strangely no OutRun :S) But what was the Afterburner 3 ad?
I did actually look it up when you mentioned it, it does look absolutely terrible. It's not even a proper After Burner game. Even more baffling is why Sega didn't advertise Thunderhawk instead, that used a lot of sprite scaling and looks amazing, even by today's standards.
There's no arguably about it... Streets of Rage is far, far better than Final Fight ever was. Streets of Rage to this day, completely defines the pinnacle of the genre, with only it's two sequels even slightly comparing to it. They are still three of the best videogames ever made. The same can be said of the original Sonic titles for platform games. The Megadrive completely changed gaming. I miss those days so much...
"my favourite 16 bit system which was so important to the history of video games" And will forever be ;) timeless system with timeless games. Also check out the homebrew scene or the huge amount of FM/PSG enthusiasts with many people who do music/covers in a similar way.
Streets of Rage 2 is undoubtedly the best 16-bit console beat em up and a Top 5 16-bit era game...but is of course never recognized by the Snes-obsessed internet atmosphere. The deep fighting system, the methodical game-play, the variety in attacks over 13 for 4 characters, variety in levels, enemies, and bosses, the phenomenal soundtrack. Also the wide resolution, smooth animation, 2 players plus tons of enemy sprites on screen with no slowdown or flicker AT ALL. No freaking contest. The only Snes beat em up imo that rivals it *in fun factor* but still falls a little short imo is Ninja Warriors, I think that's the best Snes beat em up but SOR2 is the King.
Yeah I agree, but then Sega crafted a sequel with 16 mega power!! (Game Sack ref lol) as opposed to the 4 megabit first game and it ended up looking alot better than Final Fight with it's richer more vibrant colors imo.
Those days aren't gone. They are very much still alive, albeit in retrospect. Retro gaming has become more then just a fad, with a loyal following on UA-cam. More and more companies based entirely on retro video games, are becoming physical entities on local high streets today.
What a fantastic video. This is the sort of stuff that youtube was made for. It's really pleasing to see someone putting together such a well researched history (and with excellent production values!). Nice one.
No console has ever matched the feeling i got when i first played a jpn import of this with revenge of shinobi in a local gaming shop and the anticipation of waiting for its uk release and getting it for christmas.
I wanted a Mega CD so bad. I was late to the party, but had saved hard, and entered the store one triumphant day to finally purchase one... PlayStation got there the day before. I hadn't even heard of PS before. It cost almost 3 times more at this point ($800 AU) which was way out of my budget. Needless to say, I promised far more to my parents than I could ever deliver in order to get that machine. One of the best days of my life, not to mention a bullet dodged.
Christopher Sobieniak Hell yeah, dude. It doesn't help the basement dweller demographic that the majority of gamers are insinuated on, but if we did have arcades, at least some of us would be around and about.
A good and very well made in-sight history review of the Mega Drive / Genesis. I still have my MD/Genesis until today and i can't even express how proud i am to be a MD/Genesis owner. Thank you for making this video, especially for the addition of the TecToy's MD line :-)
This is a nice summary of the console's history. As someone that only owned the console after the first Sonic game, it's interesting to know more about it's origin, and what happened after I hopped on board the Saturn.
Wow !!! This Sega Documentary has to be the best edited, writing, style and more ! I'm so impressed with this video and the one you did for the Master system I subscripted right away and have showed it at my friends at IGN. you will get a a lot of traffic ! Please don't ever stop making these system documentaries .. THANK YOU !!! I just subscribed because this video.
born in 94, but i will always appreciate 80s video game culture, so much happened in the early days of gaming before i was even created. it's actually crazy
"-removed Altered Beast as a pack-in, and replaced it with a certain, other character..." *start ad* "Introducing, League of Legends! (Woo!)" Perfect timing. xD
That Sonic 2 Bad Influence clip knocked me off my feet. Some seriously UNREAL emotional flashback there! I remembered how super excited I was when I saw that as a kid.. Sonic 2 is still my favourite game of all time as I've never had the same reaction to a game since that release
still can't believe both michael jackson and ayrton senna made their own video game on the same machine. this is what makes it so special nowadays, while back in 90s the super nintendo was a better option, especially as a kid.
Great video mate. I used to work for Sega/Ozisoft in Australia as a games counselor and game reviewer during these glory days . Keep up the great work :)
Another excellent video. I really love your stuff. Thanks for putting the time in to share all this wonderful nostalgia and all the research you do! I always learn new things about stuff I loved from my childhood.
The Sega Genesis game console was a breakthrough in the year 1989 when there weren't many competing 16-bit consoles available on American soil. The NES and a few 8-bit video game consoles were still popular at the time, as were a few home computer models.
38:15 Donkey Kong Country was a big deal when it came out. It really showed that the SNES was a great system late in its life. I remember renting it, and played all weekend. It was fantastic. A great game
me and my brothers spent hundreds of hours on mario kart, we absolutely thrashed the crap out of that game, our parents got way more than their moneys worth for that and mario world.
Damn, your videos are so produced and documented, it's mind-blowing. Sometimes it even even too detailed. But hats-off really, you deserve more subscriptions
Best present I ever got. My kids love playing sonic on it now. I still enjoy playing regularly (sonic1 and 2, sensible soccer, European club soccer) amongst my favourites. I brought toy story Rambo 3 and sonic 3 just yesterday at cex. Mega drive will live 4eva
i had so much fun on the megadrive, first gaming console and introduction to video gaming, so many memories watching this, and those sounds and music from the old console, i regret letting it go, after i got the Playstation, didn't think i would play on it again or ever become worth anything, wish i still have it
the time and care gone in to this review has to applauded. it's a remarkable achievement and for me this is the definitive review of the Mega Drive from a UK perspective. brilliant job sir
I still remember the day my parents purchased the MegaDrive. It was on the second day of Eid! For the next couple of yeafs, my life never had a dull moment
Kids will never know how serious the Nintendo Sega wars really were. Its ALL WE TALKED ABOUT at school. Literally every hour of every day this is all we thought about. And it was all around us too...Nintendo cereal, Sega pajamas, Nintendo Bubble Bath, Sega Spaghettios... it never stopped. And it was awesome!! Also wow I forgot how insane some of these commercials were lol, especially the Sega ones!
***** Salty kid spotted. Also, if you want to respect the company so much, why don't you just time travel back and get it from the company, huh? Now, it's just random people selling it at high prices, also we get rom hacks and filters.
***** And try getting 4k with your console. Also, if you want to let him decide, why do you have to be so salty and not let me decide? Go back to your cave, kid.
So you're telling me that not only did Nintendo shoot itself in the face by screwing over Sony with the CDi but Sega also shot itself in the foot by not wanting anything to do with them too? WOW.
I think at the time Sega's policy was "how can we screw ourselves even further." I think part of them problem was the amount of freedom Sega of America had when compared to Nintendo of America. Kalinske and Company wanted to do their own thing, wasting precious time and money on the 32X, money that could have been spent on things like, oh, I don't know, maybe making the cartage slot on the back of the Saturn accept Gen/Meg carts and have backwards compatibility as a feature, something Nintendo didn't offer outside the Game Boy until the Wii. Sega actually had a offer from Silicon Graphics, the people who designed the chipset used in the N64, offering them the chip first. And Sega turned them down as well.
Look at what Sony wanted in the Nintendo deal. Sega was better off staying away from Sony. There’s still a chance Sega could make a console today. I doubt that would be the case if they entered into a Sony deal.
I owned both the Megadrive and SNES as a kid (but not at the same time). Both had their own game styles and i keep magical memories and unforgettable experience on both system. With the Megadrive it was arcade at home with Revenge of Shinobi, Street of rage, Road Rash, Golden Axe, and crazy Thunder Force II. Without even mentionning Sonic, Shining Force series, Landstalker. All soundtrack were bloody good for the time. Then came the SNES with unbeatable SF2 CE (and later Turbo), Mario Kart and StarFox multiplayer, crazy Super Aleste and of course.... Zelda, Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger... Square alone change the destiny of the SNES. As a gamer if i had enough money i would have kept my Megadrive but i had to make a choice and sold it to buy the SNES and I never regretted. Thanks for the video btw
Great video! I've watched other history of Mega Drive/Genesis videos but this stands out more. Also because the author is British I recognize most of those old adverts, ahh good times :) RIP Rik Mayall.
Yeah, the Megadrive holds a special place in my heart as well... I still have my black-and-red M2 but sadly years and probably rust.. not to mention the lack of a COax-In anywhere prevent me from using it. I own an AtGames clone but it sucks... terrible waste of 30 euroes, so now I am saving for an Analogue Mega-SG.
You can just buy an RGB Scart cable for the Megadrive. I've just done so myself. Go to 'Retro Gaming Cables UK' website for the best place to get the best quality cables. You can also buy an OSSC to improve the image quality even further, but its quite expensive.
thanks so much for this, many gamers forget or never realized what an impact Sega had and continues to have. most of our modern gaming has sprouted from the level of ambition Sega showed in the face of industry standard set at the time by Nintendo, Atari, and NEC. they are pioneers.
Pretty good video! The Mega Drive is my favorite console ever alongside the Neo Geo, the Saturn and, computers wise, the Commodore Amiga. The Mega Drive had a huge impact and was very successful but could have done even better if: 1° some of its best games such as Pulseman or Alien Soldier didn't stay in obscurity due to lack of diffusion. 2° Nintendo and their cheap moves didn't prevent some things to happen. For example Street Fighter II was one of the main reasons behind SNES success but if it was released on Mega Drive at the same time AND a version that properly uses the system capabilities, history would have been otherwise. Street Fighter II SCE on Mega Drive is a good version on par with SNES Street Fighter II Turbo but Crapcom deliberately underused Sega's console capabilities, some recent hacks improved the sound effects/voices/colors while still using the same cartridge size and the resolution could have been improved as well (Mega Drive standard resolution is higher than SNES)... So imagine a port which fully uses the Mega Drive capabilities and released around the same time as the SNES port? This would have blown everyone's mind! Anyway it's great that, as time passes, many things are highlighted, some truths revealed and everyone improves their experience.
Competent colors capabilities in proper 320x224 resolution (Genesis) > more colors but everything in low resolution which causes stretched graphics with wrong aspect ratio and smaller playfield (SNES). I take ANY DAY Genesis versions of Earthworm Jim or Mickey Mania for examples which despite displaying less colors still look great AND run in proper resolution as opposed to SNES versions which have stretched graphics with wrong aspect ratio and smaller playfield.
Parallax Craze Animations are also terrible on the genesis. Look at Mortal Kombat, those characters move like crap. The snes version makes the characters fluidly move
Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 were made by Probe, a company well-known for laziness so this is not relevant. Still it's funny that the first MK is better on Genesis thanks to better gameplay and non censorship. Compare Mortal Kombat 3, both ports were made by Sculptured Software and it shows as they're very close this time around: the SNES version has better backgrounds but Genesis version has better sprites (thanks to Genesis' higher resolution), clearer sound, play faster and has others advantages such as the streets theme which plays just as we enter the streets.
I want to add that the Genesis' sound capabilities could be quite amazing at times, a far cry from the poorly optimized soundtracks found on certain ports which people like to mock to this day. Just listen to Time Trax's OST and it's clear to see that, as long as the composer or arranger (the legendary Tim Follin in this case) knew how to work with FM synthesis, music on Genesis could give any SNES soundtrack a run for its money and then some. It's just unfortunate that so many soundtracks were sloppily handled due to how much more difficult FM is to work with than sampling. I feel like the Genesis' sound card wouldn't have nearly the bad rap it does today if more sound engineers back then had more experience with FM.
Something I love about your chanel is that I am an unashamed Brit-o-phile and was born in 1980 so remeber most of these systems but never saw it from the British perspective or saw the ads and comercials on that side of the atlantic. Its really trippy and cool ;p
@ロボット鳥山 well, Xbox one could be considered DEAD since most main franchises are ported to the Xbox. Like call of duty, they changed from one to the other because they knew of the PS4 superiority. Doom is mainly a PS4 game (I'm only talking about consoles, we all know pc is better), the fucking Spiderman game has everyone losing their heads and its a ps4 exclusive. Same with god of war. Xbox doesn't have any console seller, and don't tell me that halo is a console seller because is just a shitty Doom clone
Just noticed, Rik Mayall advertised Nintendo and Chris O'Donnell advertised Sega...Richie Rich and Spudgun from Bottom! Funny that Spudgun had a mate called Dave HEDGEHOG!
I played the Genesis for the first time in 1991 or 1992 with one of my baby sitters son. We played Sonic, Sonic 2, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3. Very informative video two thumbs up!
get the audio book 'Console Wars' the Sega and Nintendo rivalry from the 80s-90s. I promise you, you will not be disappointed and will end up loving Sega even more. There is a full feature length movie being made based on the book.
Your videos are truly great. It feels like you're peaking now - a history of great videos, great general subjects still to cover, still enthusiastic, youngish but with great knowledge. In the future I'm going reminisce about the good old times when Nostalgia Nerd was on the top of his game at a time when your interest will eventually phase out and you start doing weekly videos where you play random games, with less-talented friends doing unfocused chit-chat whilst playing. Thankfully reminiscing is for the future and the peak is now!
I'm pretty much gonna echo the sentiments of other comments. Excellent stuff. Some parts are a paced a bit weird, and there's one graphical error (showing the wrong box artwork along side another game (I'll leave you to find that :p)), but this is just nitpicking. These story vids are really well done, I enjoy them a lot. Thank you for your time and effort.
I love that Toys'R'Us advert, it's so pretty and reminds me of being a kid and how magical toy stores were back then.
Lies again? Marsiling Drive USD SGD
i still think they should have been sued for claiming there was "millions of geoffrey, all under one roof" my local TRU never had a single one of those giraffes
As a brazilian, I'm glad you've mentioned the huge market share Sega had in this territory through Tec Toy efforts, most of game history videos fails in this regard. They still support Mega Drive and Master System in mainstream retail stores until this very day in Brazil! This alone deserves recognition in Sega's history.
Sure, but he but he neglected most European countries by stating that Virgin Mastertronic distributed the Mega Drive *in Europe* . In my country it was "Giochi Preziosi" (while the rival GiG distributed the Super NES) and I'm sure Germany and France had other companies distributing it.
@@kaisersoymilk6912 Perhaps it simply would have taken too long to fit every company in there in a coherent and smooth fashion?
@@BakiX Of course, but he shouldn't have said *in Europe* , effectively stating a "fake fact" , he should have said: *in the UK* .
@@kaisersoymilk6912 But it wasn't just the UK, it was other European countries as well, so it's not like he was wrong.
Victor, agreed.
Brazil is a continental country
Today is October 29, 2018. The mega drive was launched in October 29, 1988.
Happy Birthday, Sega Mega Drive.
30 years on and we are still playing these 16 bit games.
Steve Johnson your pfp matches with you comment 😂😂😂
I support sonic and Mario and Spyro and crash bandicoot
@@Robert_Manners And they're still awesome!
My most recent (Genesis/MD) pickups are Rocket Knight Adventures (which is finally getting more recognition lately, but unfortunately getting more expensive by the day) and Cyborg Justice.
I had a lot of fun with both of these games growing up, and I'm glad I picked them up (I never owned either of them, but we played them at friend's houses, borrowed, or rented back then).
My ex-wife just gave me a boxed copy of Toejam & Earl the other day... never hurts to have a spare!
Wait, that was probably my original copy that I had to replace!
This is the most comprehensive megadrive documentary ever! No idea how you managed to get so much detailed info! Incredible effort! Thank you!
This video deserves more views. So well done. Great editing, great music, such thorough detail. Seriously top level stuff. THIS IS THE BEST GAME DOCUMENTARY I'VE EVER SEEN.
I wouldn't call stretching old tv 4:3 ratio videos "great editing". It should be illegal and completely forbidden on UA-cam.
EA trying to circumvent manufacturer DRM.
That's an irony for you.
Zero fucks in 1989 - Zero fucks 30 years later
@@will5948 Oh but they do, that's the irony @TheFrantic5 was referring to.
Hey those EA fellas are swell guys! Theyre just possesed by Satan thats all
They kill everything they touch.
And failing (karma).
Very well done! The wealth of vintage ads and TV clips really makes this story come alive.
Brings back so many memories!
The "wealth" of stretching old tv 4:3 ratio videos. It should be completely banned from UA-cam. It should be illegal.
Here in Brazil we had a cartridge called "Tele Bradesco". Bradesco is a bank and the cartridge had a port to plug a telephone wire and access banking information thorugh the dial up!
Super famicom had a similar thing for trading stocks. Some of the obscure stuff that came out was amazing for what it was.
Amazing!
só o valor da conta do telefone pra verificar o saldo custava mais que o videio-game
Eh, there are better, deeper beat-em-ups
@@vivisect53 even the famicom
That was an absolutely brilliant video on The Megadrive. Great work & nice to see things from our point of view here in England. Nearly every video is always 'Genesis' on the internet when it was the Megadrive we grew up with here.
Same here. Over here in Britain, the good old mega drive!
ditto for Australia. megadrives were the tits. then i think nintendo started to kick ass later with the snes
Still have my launch Genesis with box and launch Sega CD with box. Still play them. It's just got so many great games.
Good for you
Cherish it, baby it, keep it clean, pristine, and functional.
Unplug it when not in use to protect it from surges.
Pristine boxes are just as valuable to collectors as the complete console itself.
Wow that's awesome, my dad still has his old MegaDrive and SNES, great consoles for the time
That is probably valuable right now, and it will be way more valuable later, if you mind about those stuffs...
I wish I still had my childhood gen 2 Genesis. Good for you man!
So many gems on this great console, Genesis/Mega Drive ruled then and still rules now.
me now being 49,,in my teens in the early 80's,,living in the arcades,,spending all my lawn cutting money there.and had a SNES,,PLAYSTATION1,2,3,,ORIGINAL ATARI 2600(SEARS TELE-GAMES),it shure is nice to see people who appreciates the golden days of simplicity. boy what i wouldnt give to go back to 1982(i was 14)and live at the red baron,,putt-putt plus,,fat darils,old towne,,electronic experience,,and all the arcades i lived in thru the middle 80's. watching these videos on old systems brings a warm,,glowing smile to my face. thanks for putting all these up,,makes me happy to have lived thru these days in my teens. :)
How the hell could i have missed this channel for so long?! Amazing to relive the glory days of gaming and awe at the ridiculous quirkiness of the 80s. Powerful!
Sega's advertising game back then was so on point! Wish commercials were that weird and crazy these days.
Best advertising I've ever seen
Nostalgia Nerd You have never seen game gear's weird ads
true! and funny at the same time!
I remember the groundhog commercial I laugh a lot
I got even kicked out of my classroom because of that commercial!
I still laugh today!
God If I was an advertising exec, I would just have a field day ripping peoples asses for this stupid idea of "humor" they all have lately...
@@Nostalgianerd I think that's true of a lot of late 80s early 90s stuff.
I love seeing the fanboys argue in the comments, but really it's just that I loved my mega drive and as a kid you generally only got one unless you were spoiled. I think if I was older at the time and had a paper run or something I probably would have still chose the mega drive because of game prices. The amiga was what got me into gaming and I guess it was easier on my parents wallets since there was an amazing market near me that had loads of "cheap" ;) games, so I had quite a lot on there, we usually went and we all chose a game to get, so yeah I really loved that.
Even on the wii I was emulating mega drive over snes though even though earthbound and other rpgs are more my speed now.
So yeah say what you want about either, if you have to put it down to nostalgia or logic I'm still for the mega drive :)
"This was the genesis of the Mega Drive" I see what you did there.
HE SAID THE THING
That was the most comprehensive video about the Mega Drive I have ever seen. Absolutely stunning. Keep them coming!
Seen a few megadrive system reviews lately and this one of the best! Nice work!
How nostalgic... I actually had an early model MD with the "High Definition Graphics" and "Stereo Sound" markings on it. Thanks for making this video. Even though I got a SNES at some point back then, it never brought me as much joy as the MD did.
Really well done mate. Clearly a lot of work went into this. I appreciate the effort. This is the first of your content I've stumbled across and you've earned a fan. Looking forward to checking out more of your stuff.
(24:10) I remember the Genesis game speed being a selling point. The titular character in _Sonic the Hedgehog 2_ was depicted in the "Chemical Plant" stages as sometimes moving faster than the screen could keep up, and it was incredible to experience it first-hand rather than being just a marketing gimmick.
BURNING FORCE!!!! You showed Burning Force!!!! No one ever does that when showing anything in the Genesis!
I thank you most sincerely! This was my all time favorite Genesis game. It’s always ignored and overlooked. Thank you so much.
On top of showing the love, this is a great video. Amazing work.
Instant Subscriber!
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Looking at this gives me so much nostalgia of growing up with a mega drive (albeit a lot later than 1990 lol). As much as I appreciate and enjoy the SNES (even with its better GFX and sound capabilities), FM synth and black angles always gets me to this day.
This video gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside. Come back 90s Sega, we miss you! Awesome job on the video, fantastic production. I daren't think how long this took!
After watching this vid i realized how awesome the name MEGA DRIVE was, expecially as a follow up name to the MASTER SYSTEM. Its freaking genuis.
AT :043 THATS ME!! I'm a mother's pinball in desplaines IL. I was playing defender and i was on the evening news. I'm famous:)
And to see that same clip from the news all these years later, That's hilarious
Do you still game?
Nice to see that Tec Toy made an awesome work here in Brazil with the Sega consoles, much better than their own console, Zeebo was a huge deception.
ahahahahahaha Zeebo was something else!
(Eu me lembro de discutir com os meus colegas da faculdade na época, o que a TECTOY tinha na cabeça. lol )
I think you meant to say that it was a huge letdown. Although Tectoy is a master of deception as well.
Zeebo?
I think the only big mistake Sega made designing the hardware was there's no sprite scaling chip. Not even something that emulates it.
And for a company that was focusing on that in the arcade, it made a lot of their ports look quite choppy for years.
*****
I had both as a kid and I'd opt for a SNES port over Mega Drive. But that's true in 90% of the cases.
The Mega Drive soundchip was better at synthy stuff. The SNES had the samples which are more versatile but lack punch. A lot of the western Mega Drive games had terrible soundtracks thanks to the awful GEMS sound driver rather than the sound chip being bad in of itself.
The MD also had many faster ports than the SNES. I think it was the colour palette let it down most myself. Sprite scaling on 1988 home hardware would probably be a bit pricey!
DejaVoodooDoll
I totally forgot the Sega CD had sprite scaling, I just had the 32X stuck in my head as that had pretty much perfect ports of Space Harrier and After Burner (strangely no OutRun :S)
But what was the Afterburner 3 ad?
I did actually look it up when you mentioned it, it does look absolutely terrible. It's not even a proper After Burner game.
Even more baffling is why Sega didn't advertise Thunderhawk instead, that used a lot of sprite scaling and looks amazing, even by today's standards.
Larry Bundy Jr Sometimes we don't make the best choices in planning I find.
There's no arguably about it... Streets of Rage is far, far better than Final Fight ever was. Streets of Rage to this day, completely defines the pinnacle of the genre, with only it's two sequels even slightly comparing to it. They are still three of the best videogames ever made. The same can be said of the original Sonic titles for platform games. The Megadrive completely changed gaming. I miss those days so much...
TheVyperii Streets of rage is much better
"my favourite 16 bit system which was so important to the history of video games"
And will forever be ;) timeless system with timeless games. Also check out the homebrew scene or the huge amount of FM/PSG enthusiasts with many people who do music/covers in a similar way.
Streets of Rage 2 is undoubtedly the best 16-bit console beat em up and a Top 5 16-bit era game...but is of course never recognized by the Snes-obsessed internet atmosphere.
The deep fighting system, the methodical game-play, the variety in attacks over 13 for 4 characters, variety in levels, enemies, and bosses, the phenomenal soundtrack. Also the wide resolution, smooth animation, 2 players plus tons of enemy sprites on screen with no slowdown or flicker AT ALL. No freaking contest.
The only Snes beat em up imo that rivals it *in fun factor* but still falls a little short imo is Ninja Warriors, I think that's the best Snes beat em up but SOR2 is the King.
Yeah I agree, but then Sega crafted a sequel with 16 mega power!! (Game Sack ref lol) as opposed to the 4 megabit first game and it ended up looking alot better than Final Fight with it's richer more vibrant colors imo.
Those days aren't gone. They are very much still alive, albeit in retrospect. Retro gaming has become more then just a fad, with a loyal following on UA-cam. More and more companies based entirely on retro video games, are becoming physical entities on local high streets today.
Great episode!!!!!!! You can tell how much effort you put into this
It takes me a few days to recover XD
What a long and fantastic episode, well done!
What a fantastic video. This is the sort of stuff that youtube was made for. It's really pleasing to see someone putting together such a well researched history (and with excellent production values!). Nice one.
No console has ever matched the feeling i got when i first played a jpn import of this with revenge of shinobi in a local gaming shop and the anticipation of waiting for its uk release and getting it for christmas.
Awesome video I appreciate you taking the time and effort into it 💪🏾 long live the genesis/megadrive
I wanted a Mega CD so bad. I was late to the party, but had saved hard, and entered the store one triumphant day to finally purchase one... PlayStation got there the day before.
I hadn't even heard of PS before. It cost almost 3 times more at this point ($800 AU) which was way out of my budget. Needless to say, I promised far more to my parents than I could ever deliver in order to get that machine.
One of the best days of my life, not to mention a bullet dodged.
I kinda wish the arcades weren't dead.
Sean Flannery depends on we're you live Japan is thriving still
KenshiHZS They know how to make 'em work.
hell yeah
If only we had that sort of ambition here, and a society that still likes going downtown for things.
Christopher Sobieniak
Hell yeah, dude. It doesn't help the basement dweller demographic that the majority of gamers are insinuated on, but if we did have arcades, at least some of us would be around and about.
I wish we got those Rik Mayall advertisements here. Man was a comedy legend!
A good and very well made in-sight history review of the Mega Drive / Genesis. I still have my MD/Genesis until today and i can't even express how proud i am to be a MD/Genesis owner.
Thank you for making this video, especially for the addition of the TecToy's MD line :-)
So what do you actually own? A Megadrive or Genesis?
Best video i've ever watched about the Mega Drive, my favourite console of all time. Awesome stuff!
This is a nice summary of the console's history. As someone that only owned the console after the first Sonic game, it's interesting to know more about it's origin, and what happened after I hopped on board the Saturn.
This is the best Sega Genesis video I've seen! Truly informative! My favorite console of all time!!!!!!
Loving your nostalgia series mate, keep up the good work!
Man, I need a tracklist of the background music here. Catchy stuff!
Wow !!! This Sega Documentary has to be the best edited, writing, style and more ! I'm so impressed with this video and the one you did for the Master system I subscripted right away and have showed it at my friends at IGN. you will get a a lot of traffic ! Please don't ever stop making these system documentaries .. THANK YOU !!! I just subscribed because this video.
Great timing. Did you hear about Brazil's rerelease of the console?
Edit: Nevermind, you mentioned it in the video :)
born in 94, but i will always appreciate 80s video game culture, so much happened in the early days of gaming before i was even created. it's actually crazy
"-removed Altered Beast as a pack-in, and replaced it with a certain, other character..." *start ad* "Introducing, League of Legends! (Woo!)"
Perfect timing. xD
I swear dude your videos/movies/documentarys are like more than good enough to be the History channel or something!!!
Very interesting! Thanks for posting this, and also the video on the Master System!
No problem. It's what I do :D
I played my Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) for years. This brought back so many memories
I just got my new mega drive, from the brazilian tectoy release... Great stuff!
That Sonic 2 Bad Influence clip knocked me off my feet.
Some seriously UNREAL emotional flashback there!
I remembered how super excited I was when I saw that as a kid.. Sonic 2 is still my favourite game of all time as I've never had the same reaction to a game since that release
I hope people come back to this video now that the Sega Genesis Mini/Mega Drive Mini is out. It's VERY good.
still can't believe both michael jackson and ayrton senna made their own video game on the same machine. this is what makes it so special nowadays, while back in 90s the super nintendo was a better option, especially as a kid.
I love the bodge capacitor hanging off the clock for the audio processor
Great video mate. I used to work for Sega/Ozisoft in Australia as a games counselor and game reviewer during these glory days . Keep up the great work :)
I like your videos very enjoyable to watch, it brings back so many memories of my early gaming past well done
Another excellent video. I really love your stuff. Thanks for putting the time in to share all this wonderful nostalgia and all the research you do! I always learn new things about stuff I loved from my childhood.
Zzyzx Wolfe You are most welcome. Thank you for the kind comment!
@@Nostalgianerd Could you possibly do a documentary on the Tomb Raider series? It was my favorite game growing up
Excellent, and very thoroughly researched presentation. Seriously impressed!
The Sega Genesis game console was a breakthrough in the year 1989 when there weren't many competing 16-bit consoles available on American soil. The NES and a few 8-bit video game consoles were still popular at the time, as were a few home computer models.
As of today, 10/29/2018, the Mega Drive is now 30 years old. Happy 30th Birthday, MD! 🎊
I didn't know countries that use that date format coincide with countries that call it Mega Drive lol
38:15 Donkey Kong Country was a big deal when it came out. It really showed that the SNES was a great system late in its life.
I remember renting it, and played all weekend. It was fantastic. A great game
me and my brothers spent hundreds of hours on mario kart, we absolutely thrashed the crap out of that game, our parents got way more than their moneys worth for that and mario world.
Damn, your videos are so produced and documented, it's mind-blowing. Sometimes it even even too detailed. But hats-off really, you deserve more subscriptions
Your video edits to Sega music was perfect. Love your videos bro.
Amazing video! Love playing my Megadrives especially Sonic and Toejam & Earl!
Lovely video. This is a shining example of why I usually watch videos online instead of shows on TV.
love the Streets of Rage background music...
Kryz Matic as soon as it started playing, I was hit with an orgasmic feeling of nostalgia
Streets of Rage has the one of OST GOATs.
Best present I ever got. My kids love playing sonic on it now.
I still enjoy playing regularly (sonic1 and 2, sensible soccer, European club soccer) amongst my favourites.
I brought toy story Rambo 3 and sonic 3 just yesterday at cex.
Mega drive will live 4eva
Great video, very well researched! I remember getting one in 1989...Changed my life!
Are you a meth addict now then? 😳
@@shifty2755 No, in recovery though (11 years)
@@Jamesadamiak
Keep fighting the good fight 💪
@@shifty2755 Thank you! I will
i had so much fun on the megadrive, first gaming console and introduction to video gaming, so many memories watching this, and those sounds and music from the old console, i regret letting it go, after i got the Playstation, didn't think i would play on it again or ever become worth anything, wish i still have it
the time and care gone in to this review has to applauded. it's a remarkable achievement and for me this is the definitive review of the Mega Drive from a UK perspective. brilliant job sir
Videos such as this are ones that make me glad I found (and subbed to) your channel.
I still remember the day my parents purchased the MegaDrive. It was on the second day of Eid! For the next couple of yeafs, my life never had a dull moment
*yeafs*
*Yeass*
This piece is well done. I would play this video like a podcast in my home. great work!
"Welcome to the next level" that was the Dr. Sbaitso voice from the Sound Blaster.
Kids will never know how serious the Nintendo Sega wars really were. Its ALL WE TALKED ABOUT at school. Literally every hour of every day this is all we thought about. And it was all around us too...Nintendo cereal, Sega pajamas, Nintendo Bubble Bath, Sega Spaghettios... it never stopped. And it was awesome!!
Also wow I forgot how insane some of these commercials were lol, especially the Sega ones!
Amazing job! I never owned a Mega Drive but I'm quite tempted to rectify that now.
Timeless Gaming UK just make sure it's a Model 1 with "High Definition Graphics • Stereo Sound" on it and that it's 60Hz modded!
Timeless Gaming UK Get an emulator instead
***** Salty kid spotted. Also, if you want to respect the company so much, why don't you just time travel back and get it from the company, huh? Now, it's just random people selling it at high prices, also we get rom hacks and filters.
***** And try getting 4k with your console. Also, if you want to let him decide, why do you have to be so salty and not let me decide? Go back to your cave, kid.
***** Still salty, much? Grow up, kid.
Streets of rage music in the background is making me smile!! Fits perfectly man. Great nostalgic look at some classy consoles.
So you're telling me that not only did Nintendo shoot itself in the face by screwing over Sony with the CDi but Sega also shot itself in the foot by not wanting anything to do with them too?
WOW.
I think at the time Sega's policy was "how can we screw ourselves even further."
I think part of them problem was the amount of freedom Sega of America had when compared to Nintendo of America. Kalinske and Company wanted to do their own thing, wasting precious time and money on the 32X, money that could have been spent on things like, oh, I don't know, maybe making the cartage slot on the back of the Saturn accept Gen/Meg carts and have backwards compatibility as a feature, something Nintendo didn't offer outside the Game Boy until the Wii.
Sega actually had a offer from Silicon Graphics, the people who designed the chipset used in the N64, offering them the chip first. And Sega turned them down as well.
Sammy Fox Nintendo screwed Sony with the CDi? Didn’t Nitnendo screw Phillips over by abandoning hem, then Phillips made the CDi on their own?
Look at what Sony wanted in the Nintendo deal. Sega was better off staying away from Sony. There’s still a chance Sega could make a console today. I doubt that would be the case if they entered into a Sony deal.
@@PotatoeSnow That sounds highly interesting.
@@metropod Finally someone who gets it!!
I owned both the Megadrive and SNES as a kid (but not at the same time). Both had their own game styles and i keep magical memories and unforgettable experience on both system. With the Megadrive it was arcade at home with Revenge of Shinobi, Street of rage, Road Rash, Golden Axe, and crazy Thunder Force II. Without even mentionning Sonic, Shining Force series, Landstalker. All soundtrack were bloody good for the time. Then came the SNES with unbeatable SF2 CE (and later Turbo), Mario Kart and StarFox multiplayer, crazy Super Aleste and of course.... Zelda, Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger... Square alone change the destiny of the SNES. As a gamer if i had enough money i would have kept my Megadrive but i had to make a choice and sold it to buy the SNES and I never regretted. Thanks for the video btw
Great video! I've watched other history of Mega Drive/Genesis videos but this stands out more. Also because the author is British I recognize most of those old adverts, ahh good times :) RIP Rik Mayall.
@Nostalgia Nerd 20:25 what game is this music from?
Yeah, the Megadrive holds a special place in my heart as well... I still have my black-and-red M2 but sadly years and probably rust.. not to mention the lack of a COax-In anywhere prevent me from using it.
I own an AtGames clone but it sucks... terrible waste of 30 euroes, so now I am saving for an Analogue Mega-SG.
You can just buy an RGB Scart cable for the Megadrive. I've just done so myself. Go to 'Retro Gaming Cables UK' website for the best place to get the best quality cables. You can also buy an OSSC to improve the image quality even further, but its quite expensive.
thanks so much for this, many gamers forget or never realized what an impact Sega had and continues to have. most of our modern gaming has sprouted from the level of ambition Sega showed in the face of industry standard set at the time by Nintendo, Atari, and NEC. they are pioneers.
Pretty good video! The Mega Drive is my favorite console ever alongside the Neo Geo, the Saturn and, computers wise, the Commodore Amiga.
The Mega Drive had a huge impact and was very successful but could have done even better if:
1° some of its best games such as Pulseman or Alien Soldier didn't stay in obscurity due to lack of diffusion.
2° Nintendo and their cheap moves didn't prevent some things to happen. For example Street Fighter II was one of the main reasons behind SNES success but if it was released on Mega Drive at the same time AND a version that properly uses the system capabilities, history would have been otherwise. Street Fighter II SCE on Mega Drive is a good version on par with SNES Street Fighter II Turbo but Crapcom deliberately underused Sega's console capabilities, some recent hacks improved the sound effects/voices/colors while still using the same cartridge size and the resolution could have been improved as well (Mega Drive standard resolution is higher than SNES)... So imagine a port which fully uses the Mega Drive capabilities and released around the same time as the SNES port? This would have blown everyone's mind!
Anyway it's great that, as time passes, many things are highlighted, some truths revealed and everyone improves their experience.
Parallax Craze Ya, genesis is so great. Lots of colors, something snes never had..... Oh, wait.
Competent colors capabilities in proper 320x224 resolution (Genesis) > more colors but everything in low resolution which causes stretched graphics with wrong aspect ratio and smaller playfield (SNES).
I take ANY DAY Genesis versions of Earthworm Jim or Mickey Mania for examples which despite displaying less colors still look great AND run in proper resolution as opposed to SNES versions which have stretched graphics with wrong aspect ratio and smaller playfield.
... And Genesis resolution advantage also provides sharper visuals.
Parallax Craze Animations are also terrible on the genesis. Look at Mortal Kombat, those characters move like crap. The snes version makes the characters fluidly move
Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 were made by Probe, a company well-known for laziness so this is not relevant. Still it's funny that the first MK is better on Genesis thanks to better gameplay and non censorship.
Compare Mortal Kombat 3, both ports were made by Sculptured Software and it shows as they're very close this time around: the SNES version has better backgrounds but Genesis version has better sprites (thanks to Genesis' higher resolution), clearer sound, play faster and has others advantages such as the streets theme which plays just as we enter the streets.
What game is the music from at 20:26? Please someone help!
I want to add that the Genesis' sound capabilities could be quite amazing at times, a far cry from the poorly optimized soundtracks found on certain ports which people like to mock to this day. Just listen to Time Trax's OST and it's clear to see that, as long as the composer or arranger (the legendary Tim Follin in this case) knew how to work with FM synthesis, music on Genesis could give any SNES soundtrack a run for its money and then some. It's just unfortunate that so many soundtracks were sloppily handled due to how much more difficult FM is to work with than sampling. I feel like the Genesis' sound card wouldn't have nearly the bad rap it does today if more sound engineers back then had more experience with FM.
Another top class video, best on UA-cam hands down.
Proud owner of a Sega Megadrive model 1 since 1990.
RaceToNowhere I'm the proud owner of a Model 1 since 2016 😂
@Benjamin Owuye Jagun 08/2020
Same here ;)
Something I love about your chanel is that I am an unashamed Brit-o-phile and was born in 1980 so remeber most of these systems but never saw it from the British perspective or saw the ads and comercials on that side of the atlantic. Its really trippy and cool ;p
this is about as powerful as a ps4 pro. only real difference is the mega drive Can play games at native res.
Aaron Coleman Sick burn. Not even pro's loud fans can cool its burn
The only thing that comments like this expose, is the fact you are too broke to buy the best or too stupid to know what the best is.
A gaming PC can still get past that, but that's a different story.
@ロボット鳥山 well, Xbox one could be considered DEAD since most main franchises are ported to the Xbox. Like call of duty, they changed from one to the other because they knew of the PS4 superiority. Doom is mainly a PS4 game (I'm only talking about consoles, we all know pc is better), the fucking Spiderman game has everyone losing their heads and its a ps4 exclusive. Same with god of war. Xbox doesn't have any console seller, and don't tell me that halo is a console seller because is just a shitty Doom clone
@@TheCyndicate. claiming the pro is best shoes how dense you are!
Rik Mayall was great in everything he did. I had totally forgotten about those old commercials.
Just noticed, Rik Mayall advertised Nintendo and Chris O'Donnell advertised Sega...Richie Rich and Spudgun from Bottom! Funny that Spudgun had a mate called Dave HEDGEHOG!
Wow! I had no idea it was the guy who played Spudgun! And Dave Hedgehog... Mad coincidence?
I played the Genesis for the first time in 1991 or 1992 with one of my baby sitters son. We played Sonic, Sonic 2, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3. Very informative video two thumbs up!
I love my SEGA Genesis!!!👍😀👍
(Sega mega drive in UK/world)
get the audio book 'Console Wars' the Sega and Nintendo rivalry from the 80s-90s.
I promise you, you will not be disappointed and will end up loving Sega even more.
There is a full feature length movie being made based on the book.
Duane Locsin thank you
Your videos are truly great. It feels like you're peaking now - a history of great videos, great general subjects still to cover, still enthusiastic, youngish but with great knowledge. In the future I'm going reminisce about the good old times when Nostalgia Nerd was on the top of his game at a time when your interest will eventually phase out and you start doing weekly videos where you play random games, with less-talented friends doing unfocused chit-chat whilst playing. Thankfully reminiscing is for the future and the peak is now!
Evilkingus I vow to never get to that point. I'd rather watch match of the day than videos like that.
I'll remember that - Until if this should happen I'll continue to enjoy your wonderful videos :-)
Thumbs up, excellent job on the Megadrive!
Man do I need the distraction today, and your videos are always engaging and informative. Thanks
MinoTheShow I hope it was a worth distraction!
Perfect overview about the best console ever made.
I'm pretty much gonna echo the sentiments of other comments. Excellent stuff. Some parts are a paced a bit weird, and there's one graphical error (showing the wrong box artwork along side another game (I'll leave you to find that :p)), but this is just nitpicking. These story vids are really well done, I enjoy them a lot. Thank you for your time and effort.
Neffers yeah, I noticed that box one minute after it went live. There's only so much quality control I can do after 6 cups of strong coffee