Sega's First Console The SG-1000
63,440
Published 2021-07-02
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Opening 3D Logo By:
Jan Neves
YouTube Page - youtube.com/user/Jan3d
Opening 2D Animation By:
Kevin Bhall
Facebook - www.facebook.com/kevin.bhall.14
Episode Notes:
1. Captured via the Mega SG.
2. The SG-1000 had a keyboard accessory that allowed it to use the software for the SC-3000.
3. The Mark III/Master System will play SG-1000 software. The western variants require a cartridge adapter due to form factor differences.
4. Sega's aversion to 3rd party relations continued with the Master System. While Nintendo's methods didn't help the matter any, Sega did not go after license deals the same way. It wasn't until the Genesis/Mega Drive when Sega really sought 3rd party support.
5. Sega's foray into the home console market with the SG-1000 was motivated by the downturn in the arcade industry. As the golden age ended Sega's profits took a heavy blow. Like Nintendo, they believed home games would ultimately come to define the industry.
6. The original video was not recorded properly on the Mega SG. I was using the colors set for the Master System, which made the games look really dark. It was brought up in the comments so I redid some of the footage and re-edited the commentary. These changes affected some of the games quite a bit. Sega Galaga and Choplifter, especially.
7. They say assumptions are the mothers of all f*** ups. I had assumed Telegames was the Sears brand from the 1970/80s, but it appears that it was the Telegames game maker of Lynx/Jaguar fame. The two are unrelated.
8. Compile did a number of SG-1000 games with Sega. Most were tandem projects that Sega published.
All Comments (21)
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Hey, the SC-3000 was my first console ever! My parents bought it alongside Basic cartridge, so that I could start learning programing (what I remotely did). Hell, it was nearly 40 years ago, and I remember the day like yesterday. My sisters and I all had to choose one game for the system. All we had to decide was the cover and the description on the back. My sisters chose N-Sub and Sinbad Mystery. I chose Pop Flamer, which was my favorite on the console. Later we got Congo Bongo and a few others. Damn, I spent countless hours on them. Then the NES was released, and I spend the next years trying to convince my parents to get it. Which they never did, oh my the frustration! But then again I grew up, and they agreed for the Genesis. But this is another story.
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Before this, I really knew nothing about the SG-1000 except that it was Sega's first console and launched in the early 1980s. This was super informative!
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SG-1000 might have been underpowered, but it’s not as bad as Atari repackaging the 2600 for Japan in 1984.
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My favorite game not mentioned is Champion Billiards. It's basically pool-themed minigolf, and it got a sequel on the NES called Lunar Pool.
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Wow these visuals are basic and insanely charming to me, I love them Really gives me a new appreciation of the graphics the nes was capable of if this was sort of their direct competition
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I consume a loooot of retro gaming content on Youtube and yet somehow I don’t ever recall hearing about this console or even being aware of its existence. SLX strikes again and teaches me something new!
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As I had the SMS, Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, I had to get the SG-1000. Monoco, Zaxxon, Congo Bongo which were early Sega hits. Flicky was also the first unofficial mascot as well. The origins of Sega. SLX, you need to be a Sega historian and write a book.
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So cool having an episode on Sega's most retro of consoles. Great stuff.
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The SG-1000 like many other consoles at the time was basically a variant of the MSX Computer, and thus had poor scrolling. It's a real shame that the entire lineup of MSX Computers had issues with scrolling, as that really held the system back, even the later models that could produce far better graphics such as the MSX2 and MSX2+. Sega was smart to use a graphics implementation that offered smooth scrolling in their Mark-III, which was also basically just a variant of the MSX2. Regardless, it was a rather massive improvement over the SG-1000, and I feel it could have competed significantly better with the NES in America had it been advertised like... at all, or if it had actually been available for purchase in most stores instead of only a very select number. Considering the complete & utter lack of advertising & availability, it's actually a small miracle that it even sold as well as it did.
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Hahah suuuure I'll watch this a second time I suppose
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I got into looking at the sg-1000 library of games about 4 years ago when I learned it had ports of some of my favorite apple II games from when I was a kid. Lode Runner, Choplifter, Drol, and Zaxxon. It's great to play them on a crt via 240p video without needing an entire apple computer in my house to do so.
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I discovered the SC-3000 and SG-1000 due to buying a box of random gaming stuff. There was an SC-3000H in the box with a few games. Powered it up and it works! So cool.
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Solid console overview, thanks for taking one for the team!
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This was a super well done history on the console! I really enjoyed this one a ton!
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I really like the tone of this video. It feels like I'm watching an old school PBS documentary
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Holy moley - I first heard "The Sinking Old Sanctuary" about two weeks ago when I watched someone speedrun Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, and now you're using the Bloodlines version behind this video! Awesome!
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I didn't even know the SG-1000 existed until I bought a RetroFreak last year and learned it was capable of playing SG-1000 games. I liked Girl's Garden & found the Golgo-13 game to be an amusing diversion, but I didn't find much else to hold my interest. Still, a fun piece of gaming history to explore. Thanks for the video.
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Just found your channel, love the content man! Keep it coming.
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This was a great review of the console! Learned a lot and found it fun.
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Very similar to the Coleco and MSX... actually, the games can be ported to one another!!! Lots of unlicensed games in Asia were MSX games ported to the Master System which had a legacy mode (backwards compatible) to play SG1000 games. Also, a console called Dina 2 in 1 had a way to play both CV and SG1000 games via their respective ROM ports, but no indication (I think) what the 2nd ROM port was for.
