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Sega
Master System
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| - History - |
| Back in 1986, Sega had become pretty well known as an arcade company
and wanted to puch into the home console market. Sega had expressed some
interest in making NES games but talks between the two companies turned
sour fast. Because of this falling out, Sega decided to release its own
game console. The system would be based around a powerful 8-bit processor
named the Z-80 and would be capable of displaying more colors on the screen
than the NES had in its entire pallete. Sega started its first advertising
campagn and did a pretty good job at it. "Sega... The Challenge will always
be there" was the first slogan Sega chose and soon it could be heard in
the commercials of every Saturday morning cartoon from "Captain Power"
to "Visionaires". With a slew of its own licenced games like Altered Beast,
Outrun, Shinobi, After Burner and others the Master System became widely
known and eagerly wanted. Unfortunately, Sega had not anticipated something
Nintendo had done. Sega soon found it difficult to sell its new system
because retailers were unwilling to carry the rival system. Nintendo had
created a monopoly on the growing game industry and warned retailers not
to challenge this. Nintendo's warning and threats combined with the already
insurmountable library of games made it impossible for the Master Syatem
to succeed. Devices like the 3D-glasses helped get it noticed but werent
enough to overcome the slew of obstacles.
Sega would slowly stop making games for their 8-bit wonder but kept it alive to hide their plans for the future of gaming. Sega listened to the cries of gamers for something new... something more like the arcade... ...something Sega would soon unleash. |
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