About the unit:
The Sega CD debuted in Dec. 1992. Though it wasn't the first CD-ROM based console unit to hit the market,
it was the first CD-ROM based system to become popular. It was released in a time when the Genesis was
king with a huge library of games and the SNES was too new and thus had a small library of games. The
Sega CD was a chance for a change of pace from your standard low density ROM cartridge to the mind
bungling capacity of CD-ROM! Although the Sega-CD had an overall lackluster lifetime, a few gems made
the Sega CD shine.
The SegaCD
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The Sega CD offered a CD-ROM drive, which made it possible to play larger games with CD-quality music,
digitized sound samples and the tool of the devil, FMV. The Sega CD added a little extra RAM and a whole
new processor, which was an exact copy of the one in the Genesis with more power. It also added scaling
and rotation effects seen in the SNES in the form of "Mode 7". Besides Sega CD games, the unit was also
capable of playing CD+G disks (CDs with extra graphics that can be shown while the music is playing) and
Audio CDs.
One thing the Sega CD didn't add, however, was enhanced colors. It would not be until the 32X's debut
that the Genesis and Sega CD would be able to display more than 64 colors per screen from the small
pallet of 512. (Well, you CAN switch the pallet between scanlines for higher colors a la Eternal
Champions...but that slows things down and is complicated).
Many of the games made for the units were enhanced versions of the Genesis ROM counterpart, like Earth
Worm Jim: Special Edition and Sonic CD. Many other games pushed the Sega CD's technology to the limit to
create some creative looking games, like "Make My Video." The Sega CD's loading speed was horrible. It
was not so much the drive's single speed data read speed, but the seek time of 1 sec (geez!) To find
something on the disk at that speed really slowed the Sega CD down. One example is Mortal Kombat. Sure,
the sprites are larger than the Genesis version, but you have to wait like 1 min between matches just so
you can play. This problem was found on many other games and thus plagued the unit with annoying 10-20
sec load times verses the instant load time found in the Genesis. However, nothing could be done about
it short of a whole new Sega CD unit with a new drive.
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