Sega SG-1000

Since I didn't properly cover this console in the Sega history thread a while back due to focusing on arcade games, I decided to make this thread.


Spring, 1983. The console battle in North America raged on between Atari, Mattel and Coleco, a battle soon headed for an industry crash.

On the other side of the Pacific, ASCII's computer format MSX arrived on scene while Gunpei Yokoi and his men were creating a console called the Famicom.

Arcade game maker Sega officially released their first console, the SG-1000(Sega Game 1000). I have read that it was test marketed earlier but I can't confirm that.
http://www.zonesega.com/img/Historiq...a%20SG1000.jpg
[thumbnail]http://sega.jp/community/segahard/sg1000/tirasi/1000_03a.jpg[/thumbnail]

SG-1000 hardware was very similar to the Coleco Vision and the MSX. Its game library mostly consisted of Sega arcade ports although it did have original Sega games. Sega also ported some Taito arcade games and Western-made games to it.

In 1984 Sega released an SG-1000-compatible computer named the SC-3000(Sega Computer 3000). There was also a more powerful version of it, the SC-3000H.
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/ata...tn-sc3000h.jpg

They also released an upgraded version of the SG-1000 in 1984 called the SG-1000 Mark II. It had a new look but it was essentially the same machine as the original except it was upgradable to SC-3000-level with the keyboard add-on. I'm not sure if all Mark II/SC-3000 games will play on the original SG-1000.
http://www.zonesega.com/img/Historiq...SG1000%202.jpg

Sega only released the SG-1000 and SC-3000 in Japan but they were distributed by other companies like Grandstand and Yeno in some European countries, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~pinwhiz/segalogo.jpg
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~pinwhiz/sc3000.jpg

Tsukuda made an SG-1000 clone called the Othello Multivision.

Bit Corp. made a console called the Dina 2-in-1 which played SG-1000 and Coleco Vision games.

Here's a clone machine by Aaronix. http://segaclone.emucamp.com/clones/...ne/aaronix.htm

Neither the SG-1000 nor SC-3000 reached much success in Japan. The SG-1000 died at the hands of the Famicom and the SC-3000 couldn't touch the popularity of the MSX computers. Sega gave up on the computer hardware market after this, at least until the '90s when they made IBM-compatible Tera machines.

In 1985, Sega introduced the third system in the SG-1000 series, the Mark III.
http://www.segamastersystem.com/mark3_s.jpg

Unlike the Mark II, this wasn't a slight upgrade but an entirely new console that was much more powerful. The Mark III was backwards-compatible with the SG-1000 although I hear the colours are a bit off. Sega still released a few SG-1000 games until 1988 but pretty much all their effort was now focused on the Mark III. Outside of Japan, the Mark III was released as the Sega Master System.

Some SG-1000/SC-3000 games:

Congo Bongo - Sega's take on Donkey Kong. This version oddly doesn't use the isometric view of the arcade game unlike every other port.
http://darkwatcher.psxfanatics.com/c...ns/sg10002.jpg

Sindbad Mystery - A port of the Sega arcade game.
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~pinwhiz/scsin.jpg

Sega Galaga - Namco's arcade classic ported by Sega.
http://smspower.speedhost.com/db/sgalaga-2.gif

Doki Doki Penguin Land - The first in the Penguin Land puzzle series.
http://smspower.speedhost.com/db/pengland-4.gif

Girl's Garden - Pick flowers for your boyfriend while avoiding bears. It's worth noting that this was Yuji Naka's first game.
[thumbnail]http://www.iespana.es/elafountain/ggarden.jpg[/thumbnail]

http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics3/girl.html

Q*Bert - One of a few releases by Tsukuda; it's a port of the popular Gottlieb arcade game.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/sg1000/q-ber.html

Chack 'n Pop - A port of Taito's arcade game. This is the predecessor to Bubble Bobble.
http://smspower.speedhost.com/db/chackpop-4.gif

H.E.R.O. - Sega's version of the Activision game.
http://spoutnick.free.fr/dor/images/screen9.gif

Pitfall II - Another Activision conversion by Sega.
http://smspower.speedhost.com/db/pitfall2-02.gif

Zaxxon http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/sg1000/zaxxon.html

Gulkave - A horizontal shooter, probably developed by Compile.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/sg1000/gulka.html

Ninja Princess - An overhead action game. The arcade original was known as Sega Ninja in the West.
http://spoutnick.free.fr/dor/images/screen1.gif

Loletta no Shouzou - This adventure game was one of the last SG-1000 games released in 1987. http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics3/loletta.html

Safari Race - As far as I know, this was the only SG-1000 game released in 1988. http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics3/safarirace.html

Flicky
http://spoutnick.free.fr/dor/images/screen8.gif

Dragon Wang - The predecessor to Kung Fu Kid.
http://smspower.speedhost.com/db/dragwang-02.gif

Choplifter - Unlike Sega's other versions, this one is closer to the Broderbund original(due to technology limitations).
http://smspower.speedhost.com/db/choplift-2.gif

Lode Runner - Another Broderbund computer port. http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/sg1000/loder.html

To give an idea of the technology difference between the SG-1000 and Mark III, compare the versions of Wonder Boy.

SG-1000 version
http://smspower.speedhost.com/db/wboy1sg-2.gif

Mark III version
http://www.nostromo.ch/games/img/MasterWonderBoy.gif

Arcade version
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...Wonder_Boy.png

Wow, I had no idea there was a Dina 2 in 1.

www.telegames.com/dina.htm offers the Dina, that plays Colecovision games, but does'nt use the accesories like the Driving module, or arcade stick.

Nice thread NZ. I see you raided Sega's Japanese site. There is some incredibly cool artifacts to be found there if you dig.... The history of the early Sega consoles is quite interesting to me :)

...

Penguin Land... still a classic. :)

Flicky's still pretty fun too. ;)

Actually, Sega's site had hardly anything worth taking from what I saw, unfortunately. I was hoping to find pics of games there. Most of these pictures are from an emulation site.

The reason I said that was because I saw you directly linked to the rather funny looking flyer on the Community site. If you dig around on that site you can find some amazing stuff like old magazine scans, adverts, interviews, and all kinds of random stuff. I don't understand any of it but I look for clickable links and save anything that looks cool. ;)

I think that ad might explain why Sega consoles never took off in Japan. Dorky-looking androgynous chicks don't sell systems.

Quote:

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Originally posted by gamevet
Wow, I had no idea there was a Dina 2 in 1.

www.telegames.com/dina.htm offers the Dina, that plays Colecovision games, but does'nt use the accesories like the Driving module, or arcade stick.

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I was just going to ask that. Does the Telegames Dina play the Sega games, even if it doesn't use all the accessories?

Quote:

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Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
Dragon Wang - The predecessor to Kung Fu Kid.

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I don't know about you guys, but I'm all about some Dragon Wang. I think I'm gonna tell Gabe at Penny Arcade about that one.

Answered my own question. Yes, the Dina being currently sold at Telegames *is* the Dina 2-in-1, capable of playing the Sega games.

Telegames eventually acquired the rights to the ColecoVision and bought most of Coleco's stock, much of which is still available through their Web site. The Britain-based company also released a few titles of its own. In 1988, Telegames began manufacturing and distributing the Bit Corporation-designed Dina 2-in-1 ColecoVision clone. Telegames renamed the console the Telegames Personal Arcade, and has continued selling them to this day. It's much smaller than the original ColecoVision and uses joypads instead of the awkward ColecoVision stick. The pads have no numeric keypad, which is instead built into the unit. There is only one keypad, however, so two-player games requiring the keypad won't work on the Personal Arcade.

http://www.classicgaming.com/museum/colecovision/

Wow, I did'nt see all that information on the site. Telegames also made their own versions of the Atari 2600 and Intelevision consoles. They were sold in the Sears catalog back in the late 70's.

i never knew of this version of hero. i love that game.

No mention of the SF-7000?

SG-1000 was pretty cool, even if it was basically a coleco.

Penguin Land is defiantely to most notable original game on the system, but Dragon Wang is worth mentioning too. Oh yeah, and I really liked Safari Race.

Yeah, I didn't bother mentioning SC-3000 add-ons and peripherals like the SF-7000 and SR-1000. If there's anything cool to mention about them, please do. I don't really know much about them. Do any games require the SF-7000 to run?

wonder boy = hudson's adventure island?

Yes, Adventure Island is Hudson's bastardized version of it. ;)

master higgins would skateboard and throw an axe at you for that!

but that's interesting since i thought the hudson version started it all. makes me want to go back and play it right now too... and i just might!

I remember always hating Hudson's Adventure Island because it came after and blantantly ripped off Wonder Boy, AND looked worse, AND because it was on Nintendo, no one knew about the original WB and always thought Adventure Island was the original. "It's like Wonder Boy!" "Oh you mean Adventure Island?" "NO! Wonder Boy damnit!"
And then Sega completely changed future Wonder Boy games from having anything to do with the original. :P

Quote:

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Originally posted by DHG Otaku
I remember always hating Hudson's Adventure Island because it came after and blantantly ripped off Wonder Boy, AND looked worse, AND because it was on Nintendo, no one knew about the original WB and always thought Adventure Island was the original. "It's like Wonder Boy!" "Oh you mean Adventure Island?" "NO! Wonder Boy damnit!"
And then Sega completely changed future Wonder Boy games from having anything to do with the original. :P

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That reminds me of a user game review at some site that knocked Tactics Ogre for being a FF Tactics clone.

I was planning on doing a thread about the SG-1000, but I decided to wait for NeoZeed to do it instead.

I guess it was a good idea ;)

thanks for the new Avatar.. :)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Ashen Victor
master higgins would skateboard and throw an axe at you for that!

but that's interesting since i thought the hudson version started it all. makes me want to go back and play it right now too... and i just might!

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Read and learn. Hudson liscensed all the wonderboy games from Westone, but changed the titles and characters to stupid shit because Sega owned them.