Mega Drive/Mega-CD



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Known as Sega CD in the US, this was not just a CD drive for the Mega Drive: it added a faster CPU, new graphics and audio processors, and more RAM. All this power was mostly wasted on hilariously cheesy FMV "games"; nonetheless, this system had a good number of quality games. It could also be combined with the 32X to form a behemoth of a system for which only six (terrible) games were made.

There's two models of the system. The Model 1, with a mechanical tray for the CD drive. And the Model 2, with a popup lid. The Model 1 was built around being used with a Model 1 Mega Drive and likewise for the Model 2. You can use either system model (or the SG Mega) with either Mega CD, but the Model 2 looks small on top the Model 1 Mega CD. The Model 1 Mega Drive does require a plastic extender to "properly" fit on the Model 1 Mega CD. Model 2s do have a tendency to last longer since there's no mechanical tray to load and eject each game. Regardless, both are identical in performance.

PROTIP: as the Mega-CD was released long before CD burners became popular, it has no copy protection system. Still, the games are region-locked, and it takes modding or a special cart / Flashcart to bypass that.

NOTE: you may notice that some screenshots below have black side borders. That's because several Mega-CD games used the low-resolution "H32" mode (256x224), while cartridges typically used the "H40" mode (320x224). The TV would stretch the picture to the proper 4:3 ratio, and emulators may do it by default. This can be seen, for example, on Kega Fusion with the "Double Raw" plugin to disable the stretching.

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