====== Sega SG-1000 (1983) ======
===== History and Trivia =====
The SG-1000, which stands for Sega Game 1000, is a cartridge-based video game console manufactured by Sega. This system marked Sega's entry into the home video game hardware business, which they would continue to be in until the end of the Dreamcast in 2001. While the system was not very popular, it was the basis for the more successful Sega Master System.
It was test marketed in Japan in 1981 and first released to the Japanese market in July 1983, in direct competition with Nintendo Famicom. Sega's arcade background meant that a number of arcade games were converted to the system, most of which were very well done. The graphics and sound may seem primitive today, but it was cutting edge technology back then and the games are still quite playable even now.
While Sega marketed the console in Asia, Grandstand Leisure took care of overseas sales. The console was available in a number of countries such as New Zealand and Taiwan, where it was quite popular, Italy, Spain, and South Africa, but for some reason it was never released in North America.
Some clones were also available: Tsukada Original manifactured Othello Multivision, while Bit Corp produced Dina 2-in-1 ColecoVision , a clone brought to North America by a company called Telegames. Telegames called its clone the Telegames Personal Arcade and mainly advertised it as a ColecoVision clone, but it was able to play SG-1000 games as well.
It is remarkable SG-1000's wide availability on Taiwan's secondary market: this console is highly significant in Taiwan as one of its first and best-remembered consoles, where it was manufactured and sold (very briskly) under license. This was striking in that in the same time period from 1981 to 1986, Famicom games were widely pirated as standalone and multi-carts (replete with rudimentary switch banks to select the active ROM), as well as no less than three different pirated versions of the Atari 2600 with boastful monikers characteristic of the times ('Adventurer', 'Delight', 'Steadfast Creator').
Taiwan, among a few countries, also received a Mark IV version of the console - very likely a modified Sega Master System II - and the 'Mark' naming convention was further extended to the Mega Drive/Genesis (which became 'Mark V').
The SG-1000 was followed by the SG-1000 Mark II, which was released in 1984.
//(info from old-computers.com & Wikipedia)//
===== Links =====
* [[wp>Sega_SG-1000]]
* SG-1000 at old-computers.com -- http://old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1257
===== Other Emulators =====
* MEKA -- http://www.smspower.org/meka/
Generated on Sun Jul 19 10:17:28 2009