Mega Drive sales figures - an update

There has been further research conducted into the Mega Drive's total sales figures within the Sega community, but this time more in-depth. This brings us closer to solving the dispute among retro gamers as to which console really did sell the most during the 16-bit console war.

Here is a list of sales figures compiled so far, including sources:

• Genesis (North America) - 20 million
• Mega Drive (Japan) - 4.3 million
• Mega Drive (Europe) - 6.9 million
  
• Mega Drive (Brazil) - 2 million+
• Genesis 3 (North America) - 2 million
• Nomad (North America) - 1 million
• Mega Drive (Other Regions) - 3.5 million
  

This brings the total sold worldwide to around 39.7 million. The most widely-quoted figure of 29 million total units sold must therefore be inaccurate, as this new figure has been compiled from various sources rather than just one.

What the compiled figures do show is that the Mega Drive was the best-selling unit in the Americas. Nintendo's official sales figures quote that 23.35 million SNESs were sold in total, compared to the Mega Drive's 25 million.

The Mega Drive sold more than the SNES in "other regions" as well, which includes Europe - compare Sega's 10.4 million to Nintendo's 8.58 million.

These figures do miss out on one thing, however - there are no solid sales figures for the many variations of Mega Drives, such as the Wondermega and Multi-Mega. One website mentions that in North America 10,000 JVC X'Eyes may have been sold along with 5,000 CDXs.

If we take all of the figures gathered so far, we can safely assume that the Mega Drive sold almost 40 million units worldwide, a much more accurate figure than the previously assumed 29 million. We can also say that the Mega Drive outsold the SNES in the Western hemisphere.

It seems that Nintendo's huge sales of the SNES in Japan (17.7 million) have led to the general assumption that the Mega Drive was "beaten" everywhere, when in fact Japan was the only major market where this occurred. Japan's figures gave the total SNES sales a huge 49.1 million, compared to Sega's 39.7 million.

Aside from these sales figures, the community found some software and hardware revenue figures from Sega and Nintendo:

Sega - US Hardware and Software Revenue in millions of dollars (including Sega Genesis, Sega CD, and Sega 32X, not including Sega Nomad, Sega CDX, JVC X'Eye, the Genesis 3 or software sold by Majesco in 1997-1999)

1989 - $182
1990 - $280
1991 - $586
1992 - $1,151
1993 - $1,938
1994 - $1,812 (End of 16-bit era Total: $5,949)
1995 - $812
1996 - $294
1997 - $180
Total - $7,235

vs.

Super NES - US Hardware & Software Revenue in millions of dollars

1991 - $560
1992 - $1,733
1993 - $1,890
1994 - $1,471 (End of 16-bit era Total: $5,654)
1995 - $823
1996 - $514
1997 - $243 (End of Sega Total: $7,234)
1998 - $137
1999 - $20
Total - $7,391

This shows that Sega was ahead (revenue-wise) of Nintendo from 1994, with Sega's cheaper hardware and software suggesting more units were sold. If we take into account Sega's hardware and software not included on the list then surely they made more revenue in total?

I will update the figures when more sources have been found. All this effort put in from the community shows that for many of us, the 16-bit war will rage for all eternity!

EDIT 28/12/09: I have updated the figures with new information, mainly for Europe and Japan.
02/01/10: Here is another source for the Mega Drive sales figures. [Unreliable chart removed.]
08/07/10: Here is a chart from the May 1995 issue of Man!ac Magazine showing console sales of 29 million at the fiscal end of 1994.

Happy 18th Birthday Sonic!

Today is Sonic's 18th Birthday - it was 18 years ago today that Sonic the Hedgehog was released on the Mega Drive in North America and Europe. The Japanese release was a month later, with added parallax and raster effects.

Sonic showed everyone what the Mega Drive could do, and what the NES couldn't. He was part of the reason Sega dominated the generation in Europe, and challenged Nintendo's rule in the rest of the world.

Despite some terrible games in the last decade, Sonic has remained a household name. At one point in the Nineties he was more well-known among children that Mickey Mouse! He was also the first video game character to appear in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a feat only replicated by Pikachu.

To think it was nearly 15 years ago that I first played Sonic 2 on the Mega Drive - I still own both the game and the console. Sonic Adventure 2 was the reason I bought a GameCube back in 2002 (sorry Dreamcast!).

Hopefully Sonic will still be around in another 18 years, with a return to form in his games. More 2D sidescrollers please Sega (and a new console whilst you're at it)!

Alien Soldier gets Genesis'd

"Bratwurst" over on Sega-16 has created a Genesis version of the classic Treasure shooter Alien Soldier, box and all. The game, originally released in 1995, never saw a Genesis release, making it only to Japan and Europe on the Mega Drive.

Other well-known Treasure games on the Mega Drive include Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy, both of which were released in all regions. The only way to play Alien Soldier in North America was through the Sega Channel service, a cable equivalent of today's PSN and XBLA.

Games such as Pulseman, Golden Axe III and Mega Man: The Wily Wars were only released on the Channel, with some since being "Genesis'd" by Bratwurst. These cartridge versions are sometimes available for purchase.

You can of course buy Alien Soldier on the Virtual Console, but why would you want that when you could have the physical version?

[Source: Kotaku]

Latest Sega buys are pants

Today I bought some Sega-related brilliance; one a game, the other... not a game.

The first thing I bought was Puyo Pop Fever for the GameCube, priced at £2.99 from GameStation. They must be trying to get rid of their remaining stock, although they'll never shift a mouldy Super Smash Bros. for £11.99!


The next thing I bought was truly epic. Never did I think you could buy underpants with Sega on them, but now you can at New Look for just £5! Yes, these y-fronts have a Mega Drive controller and Saturn 3D controller on them, as well as a SNES pad, a Game Boy, a PlayStation, an Atari Lynx and a plug-and-play Atari joystick.


You know you want to buy some now. If not to wear, to frame.

Famitsu confused by new Mega Drive hardware

New, cheap Mega Drive hardware is relatively well-known in the West. You can buy a tiny, officially-licenced Mega Drive that plays your old cartridges (to a degree) or a handheld device, both of which have many built-in games.

This concept seems to have confused Famitsu, who saw the products at this year's E3. Here is a poorly translated version of the article, entitled "New Mega Drive model announced secretly at E3?":

"At the American game show E3, there are many suspicious-looking games and peripherals. Since E3 has reduced in size, some things have had to be scaled down. We saw a miscellaneous booth in the far end of the hall, which smelt rather fishy. It was called "Innovative Accessories" (a Californian manufacturer), and it had many hidden treasures! One of these was a miniature version of the Mega Drive, called the "Firebox".

The Mega Drive has Sonic and Knuckles, Alex Kidd and another 20 titles built-in. It also supports wireless controllers, and is SD card adapter compatible (unknown specification). It is expected to be released in July for $49.99. There is another Firebox console, this time portable with the same 20 games included.

The employee explained that both are officially-licenced Sega products, with the logo printed on the box. One might want one as a gift if they live in America.

In addition to the Firebox consoles, there was a "Super MD". This portable games machine can play the original Mega Drive cartridges, although the only test cartridge was Virtua Fighter 2. The start screen is familiar, you select a character, and then you are shocked. It's Virtua Fighter 2, but in 2D! This version was actually released in North America, and is also available on the Wii's Virtual Console.

Looking back, there was also a Puyo Puyo 5-in-1 cartridge. The Sega logo was nowhere to be seen, so we asked the employee why: "This product, and the software itself, is not officially licenced". Oh.

E3 is the world's largest games exhibition, and the space is very limited. The search for these small exhibits is the best part of E3."

Clearly Virtua Fighter 2 was never released on the Mega Drive in Japan - the reporter seemed very shocked by the fact it was 2D! At least the floor has a convincing 3D effect. The consoles seemed to shock the reporter as well. Do these things not get released in Japan?


Ah, the wonders of E3. You'd think these smaller booths would be scared to show unlicenced products when the actual company is just around the corner!

[Source: Famitsu]

Vintage Collection dates released

Yesterday Sega revealed the release dates for the games part of Vintage Collection 2. The games will be available to download on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.

Some of the titles have added online functionality, such as the ability to play Sonic 3's Competition Mode over the internet.

A price for the individual downloads has not been released yet, and neither has confirmation of whether some of the games will remain XBLA exclusive.

Here are the release dates:

• Gunstar Heroes - June 10th (XBLA), June 11th (PSN), Online
• Altered Beast - June 10th (XBLA), Online
• Shinobi (Arcade Version) - June 10th (XBLA), No online
• Comix Zone - June 10th (XBLA), No online
• Phantasy Star II - June 10th (XBLA), No online
• Sonic 3 - June 10th (XBLA), Online
• Sonic and Knuckles - Late Summer 2009 (XBLA), Online

Hopefully more of the games will become available on the PSN, especially Sonic and Knuckles with its Lock-On technology that was (deliberately?) left out of Mega Drive Ultimate Collection. In fact, the best option is probably just to buy the compilation disc - most of the games in Vintage Collection 2 are available on it.

[Source: ShackNews]

Make 32X games for just £3,000!

In a thread over on Assembler Games about 32X development, someone has uncovered an old advert offering a 32X development kit for just £3,000!

The advert comes from Issue 17 of Edge, released in February 1995. The product is entitled "SNASM2", and is "the world's most exciting development tool for the Sega 32X". Here is a shortened list of the "benefits" of the SNASM2:

• Hundreds already in use by developers worldwide
• RAPID PORTING of existing code and code samples
• Comes complete with GNU C for the SH2
• Includes the highly-regarded SNASM2 debugger
• Uses enhanced production Genesis & 32X
• Uses Non-Maskable Interrupts (NMI) to all 3 processors
• Simulated boot
• More than a programming tool, not just an EPROM Emulator
  
• High-speed SCSI-2 interface
• Advanced design incorporating dual port RAM and NMI
  
• Supplied with 32Mbit (4MB) of RAM

If you understood all of that then you should hand over your £3,000 straight away! That's about $4,770 to all you Americans, using today's monetary values. A cheaper option would be to buy the "CartDev" 32X kit for just £75 from Andy's Arcade.

Delicious.

I would buy one just so I could say the name - "SNASM2". Or to all you Americans - "S-N-A-S-M-2".

Check out dis '90s attitude!

[Source: ASSEMbler Games, scan Unclejun]

Pitfall released on European Virtual Console

The Mega Drive version of Activision classic Pitfall has just been released on the European Virtual Console. The game was released last month on the North American store.

Mayan Adventure, the fourth game in series, was first released back in 1994 on almost every major platform at the time. I personally have the PC and Mega Drive versions, with ports on the SNES, Mega CD, 32X, Jaguar and Game Boy Advance also available.

I really like this game - the humorous animations make it even better. For example, when you land in some quicksand, Harry Jr. waves goodbye as he sinks to his imminent demise. Nintendo Life like the game as well, giving it 8/10.

One of the best parts of the game is the ability to play the original Atari 2600 version. Just enter a secret code on the title screen and get ready to see all the pixelly goodness!

Overall, this is a recommended download. It is available now and costs 800 Wii Points.

[Source: Nintendo Life]

Sega Europe's retro bargains

Martin the Fat Ninja of the Sega Europe blog has posted his latest haul of retro Sega goodness. He seems to have a lot more luck at car boot sales than I do!

His first find was a Sega "Lock-On" laser tag game, bought for just £2 boxed. I had one of these, though not Sega-branded, unfortunately.


The best find was this box full of Mega Drive games, 58 to be exact. Scarily, it looks almost exactly like my Mega Drive collection. I didn't accidentally sell them to a man in a ninja suit, did I? If I did, I certainly wouldn't have accepted the steal price of £33 for the lot!

The last item is not Sega-branded, but still good. It's a Pac-Man belt bought for £1, originally £15 from GameStation. Lovely.

It's car boot sale season in the UK now, so hopefully I'll get some good bargains this summer. Sega 32X mint in box with games? £1 you say? Deal!

[Source: Sega Europe]

Sonic 1 remade in 3D by fans

Yes, you read the headline correctly, but unfortunately it is not what it seems. Someone on YouTube has uploaded a video that appears to be a preview for a fanmade 3D remake of Sonic 1, but it is in fact just a CG movie.

The video is entitled "Sonic HD", and looks as though it was based on that "real life" Sonic fanart from last year. Both the video and the picture have the same mistakes, such as enemies from Emerald Hill rather than Green Hill. Exclusive to the video, however, is the "lost rings" noise whenever you collect rings.

"Real life" Green Hill Zone.

The graphics are rather impressive, until Sonic appears on the screen. It is quite possibly the worst Sonic model I have ever seen, and is even uglier than the Sonic Heroes render. He should join that list of "Gormless Sonics" I posted a while back.

ARGH!

Here is a translation of the video's description, courtesy of Sonic Retro:

"Video TEASER of a make-believe HD Sonic game created by fans of the blue hedgehog. What do you think?"

Judging by the comments, people don't think it is very good:

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha"

"That Sonic is giving me nightmares."

"You... really need a better model for Sonic."

It looks like the only way you'll ever be able to play Green Hill in 3D is by unlocking it in Sonic Adventure 2. Oh well...



[Source: Sonic Retro]

Galaxy Force II released on Virtual Console

The Mega Drive version of Sega's 1988 superscaler classic Galaxy Force II has been released on the European Virtual Console. The game is available now and costs 800 Wii Points.

Released in Japan back in February, there has been no confirmed date for a North American release.

Galaxy Force II is one of Sega's most advanced superscaler games, surpassing the likes of After Burner and Out Run in graphics and technology. The game is not a sequel, despite the "II" in its title. The name was originally used to differentiate the sizes of cabinet the game was available in.

Although enjoyable, the Mega Drive version of Galaxy Force does not accurately represent its arcade counterpart. The floors and tunnels have been replaced with coloured bars, and lack of true sprite-scaling means the gameplay is somewhat jerky. Reviews for this game are generally around the 5-6/10 mark.

Why Sega have not released the arcade version of this game is a mystery. The arcade version of Space Harrier was released back in March, so surely Galaxy Force and other superscalers were up for release eventually?

Personally, I would wait for the arcade version to be released, if ever.

[Source: Nintendo Life]

Sega Rage Guy #2

Today Rage Guy is playing Streets of Rage on his Mega Drive. Rather aptly, it's his favourite game - that won't stop him from having an angry fit though, will it?

Click to enlarge.

The amount of times this has happened to me. In two-player, when your partner accidentally does this, the excuse is always "I thought A was punch and C was special!". That's just not good enough!

Play Soul Blade and Tekken 2 on your Mega Drive

Over on Sega-16, there is a regular "Hacks and Homebrews" feature, with this edition focussing on pirate fighting games. Not fighting games literally pitting pirates against each other, but bootleg titles.

Some interesting pirate fighting games have been made over the years, including ports of Dragon Ball, King of Fighters '98 and Mortal Kombat: Mythologies. Perhaps the most intriguing of these big-name games to be ported onto the Mega Drive are Soul Blade and Tekken 2.

Soul Blade

Soul Blade is apparently extremely buggy, with character freezing and self-harm (!). The controls also don't work, which is a shame as the graphics are extremely good. The sprites are nice and big, and the backgrounds are very colourful.

VR Fighter vs. Taken 2

Tekken 2 is not a direct port of Namco's fighter, but a very weird "vs." game entitled VR Fighter vs. Taken 2. "VR Fighter" is referring to Virtua Fighter, although the sprites have not been ripped from the Mega Drive version of the game. Instead, all new sprites have been made for both games, which neither look like the actual characters nor animate very well. The pirate Tekken 3 port is actually a more accurate representation of Tekken 2!

Sega-16 recommend steering clear of these bootleg fighting games, except for one: Top Fighter 2000 Mk VIII. This game boasts an impressive roster, taking characters from Street Fighter, Art of Fighting and X-Men. Other characters include Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan. Indeed...

Anyway, go here to read the entire article.

Sega Rage Guy #1

Following the recent meme from 4chan, known simply as "Rage Guy", I decided to attempt some Sega-themed ones. They probably won't be very funny unless you've played the game. In fact, they probably won't be very funny at all!

Anyway, here's the first one. It's Rage Guy playing Sonic 1!

Click to enlarge.

This comes from real experiences playing Sonic 1. I'm sure many of you will have been through this trauma as well!

I just hate those blocks on Spring Yard Zone...

Mega Drive sales figures - more info

Recently, after reading a thread on Digital Press, I posted the question "What is the Mega Drive's total sales figure?". Despite getting no further in answering this, there has been further debate on the forum.

One suggestion was that the figure of 29 million Mega Drives sold is more or less correct - it could be the SNES's sales figures that are false. This has been backed up by the infamous 1993 book Game Over, which told of Nintendo greatly exaggerating sales figures which were more a reflection of the shipped figures.

This means that the "official" figure of 49.1 million SNESs sold may be incorrect after all, making the sales margins between the Mega Drive and SNES much smaller. Of course, there could be a combination of factors - the Mega Drive may have sold more than quoted, and the SNES less.

One model of Mega Drive not included in the list I posted earlier was the Wondermega, or X'eye. This has been quoted as selling 10 million units, although whether this applies to worldwide sales or just North America is unknown.

Another point made on the forum was that the Mega Drive's support was not stopped in 1998 after the Genesis 3, but in 2000. This is because consoles were still being sold officially in Brazil by their local distributor TecToy. In fact, Mega Drive and Master System models are still being produced by them!

In response to whether or not newer officially-licensed Mega Drive models should be counted in the sales, one poster pointed out that even some first-party Mega Drives used "clone parts", although not to the same extent as these newer models.

So, the speculation continues. A rather pointless waste of time you might say, to care about a single number. But not if you're a Sega fan!

Why does Ultimate Collection feature SID music?

8580 for the win!

The recent compilation disc Mega Drive Ultimate Collection, perhaps following the trend of a certain YouTube fad, has an intro with very unfitting music. Having not bought the collection myself yet, I first realised this whilst watching a video review.

I know I am being quite picky, but to retro games experts such as myself (cough), using the SID chip to create music for a Mega Drive collection seems wrong.

For those who don't know, the SID was the sound chip used in the Commodore 64 computer, and was one of the greatest and most recognisable of all time.

You'd think for the intro they'd have used the Mega Drive's Yamaha YM2612 chip, or at least some samples from well-known games. But instead, they used an 8-bit sound chip to create some very generic-sounding video game music!

I don't know of many Mega Drive games to utilise music in this style, with delicious ultra-fast arpeggios among other things. The console had a sound all of its own, which should have been used in a context such as this.

I can imagine uninformed people buying the collection, listening to the intro music and saying "Oh, it's all coming back to me now! I can remember this music!". I can't help being so contrary, I'm a perfectionist!

Oh well, it's only a minor thing. I'll shut up now.
/END RANT

What is the Mega Drive's total sales figure?

The answer to how many Mega Drives were sold all together from 1988 to 1998 has long been unanswered, as pointed out by an interesting post over on Digital Press. The most quoted figure seems to be 29 million, but how did a console that was #1 in its generation for so long end up selling 20 million less than the SNES?

Sega has never released official sales figures for its consoles, something Nintendo does regularly. This means that whilst we have a solid figure for sales of the SNES at 49 million, unofficial statistics have to be used for the Mega Drive.

One problem with compiling Mega Drive statistics is the fact that there were so many models released. In fact, the Mega Drive is the console with the most official variations. Does this mean we must only count standard Mega Drive models or more obscure ones as well?

The previously mentioned figure of 29 million has been quoted many times with no source, meaning that it may not be reliable. I have never really understood how a console so popular for so long could eventually be outsold by its main rival, which had been stuck in second place.

Maybe Sega should not have dropped support for the Mega Drive so early - the infamous axing in 1995 was fine for Japan, where focus was needed for the upcoming Saturn, but in the West 16-bit was to be supported up until 1999. This was when Nintendo officially dropped the SNES, almost four years after Sega dropped the Mega Drive. Could this be where Nintendo took over? If so, is it possible to count the officially-licensed Genesis 3 from Majesco in sales despite being released after Sega had moved on?

This leads on to the next problem - seen as how the Genesis 3 was third-party but still officially-licensed, do the latest breed of officially-licensed Mega Drives count in worldwide sales? This includes Blaze's recent handheld and mini plug-and-play models, among others. Perhaps a line should be drawn at 1999, when 16-bit officially ended.

One poster on Digital Press has outlined sales figures that they have compiled:

• Genesis (North America) - 19 million
• Mega Drive (Europe) - 9 million
• Mega Drive (Japan) - 3.5 million
• Genesis 3 (North America) - 2 million
• Mega Drive (Brazil) - 2 million
  
• Nomad (North America) - 1 million

That gives us a total of at least 36.5 million Mega Drives sold. Counting other regions (Australia, South Korea, India, the rest of Asia...) and more recent models, that figure could be over 40 million, according to the poster. These statistics were compiled from various sources for each region, and then added up. So how was a previous figure of 29 million calculated, and which one should we trust?

We will never know the true sales figures for the Mega Drive, unless Sega has them but has not released them. What we do know is that the Mega Drive was the best-selling 16-bit console overall in PAL regions, and dominated most of the generation in North America.

The Wii is a Mega Drive according to games developer

Peter Wanat, developer of such games as Chronicles of Riddick and Wanted, has compared the Wii to a Mega Drive (specifically the Genesis, of course). A rather strange comparison, you might think.

On GameTrailers Wanat said that it is very hard to make a profit on the Wii, due to competition from the first party and being difficult to port major games to. The PS3, Xbox 360 and PC all have interchangeable multiplatform titles, whereas an extreme step down would have to be made to get the game on a Wii. He said they would have to be designed as "less than a PS2 game".

This is where the comparison comes in - the Wii may as well be a Mega Drive compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360 when it comes to major multiplatform titles. They probably wouldn't even be attempted, and if they were, they would have to be severely cut down.

An interesting evaluation of the Wii, although any console could replace the Mega Drive in the remark. I wouldn't compare the two consoles - one had amazing games with great graphics for the time, the other has generally low-quality games with the worst graphics of its generation. Guess which is which!

[Source: PS3 Centre]

Look at this amazing Mega Drive top!

Carrying on the theme of gaming apparel, here is an amazing Mega Drive top being offered by Enterbrain. In the style of a football shirt, the front features a giant "16" with "Bit" on the back. The arms say "16" with "Mega Drive" underneath.

Also on the back is the phrase "SPEED SHOCK! VISUAL SHOCK! SOUND SHOCK!", with "The Sega T-Shirt System" underneath in the Master System font. Delicious!


This shiny gold and black shirt will cost you ¥6,640, which works out at a whopping £47.75! And that's even through a special offer from Famitsu's gift card service, whereby promotional codes are printed in the magazine each month.

You're better off attempting to make this yourself with a blank t-shirt and a iron. Good luck!

Could Wolfenstein 3D be ported to Mega CD?

You may know that Wolfenstein 3D is currently being ported to the 32X by programmer "Chilly Willy". This has currently moved out of alpha stages into beta, and now features sound, an auto-map and saving. Music looks like the next thing to be implemented.

But what is going to happen after this is finished? Well, you may also know that he mentioned re-porting Doom to the 32X, which is now definite. But before that he is going to work on a Mega CD 32X version, and perhaps even a stand-alone Mega CD port!

Here's what Chilly has said over on the Sega-16 forums: "I am working towards the CD[/32X] version now, so that should help folks who have picked up a CD unit. Once I get that going, I will be looking into a new version of Doom 32X. Wolfenstein 3D is mainly my learning project for figuring out how to make homebrew for the 32X and CD".

Another poster asked Chilly Willy about the prospect of a Mega CD version, to which he replied, "I might take a stab at a plain SEGA CD version some time in the future, but not right away. The Sega CD could handle it, but I'd need to do more work on the graphics: process the textures and sprites to use 16 colors and separate palettes. It would also not be in the same resolution. Instead of 320x200 like the 32X version is, I'd probably run the VDP in 256x224 mode and make the game screen 200x160".

Hopefully he will eventually do a Mega CD version. If the Mega Drive could handle it, then the Mega CD certainly could. But let's wait for the final 32X version to come out before then - keep it up!