Sega SG-1000 - Third VideoGame Generation Recap - Adam Koralik 

Thanks! This was the most authentic review of SG-1000 becauase it came from a fan's perspective that actually researched firsthand. As a big Sega fan that grew up in the arcades and first bought an SMS and subsequent consoles till Dreamcast, I ended up buying an SG-1000 to complete my collection. Took me three years to track down a near mint condition with all original parts including the AC adapter box, game package insert, warning leaflets. Also the first games from legendary Sega OGs, Yu Suzuki, Rieko Kodama (RIP), Yuji Naka.

I was a young gamer during the 1984 video game crash and I would argue that gaming was alive and well on computers like the Commodore 64. At the time it seemed to only really affect the console market ...but that’s my recollection.

The Mark 2 being how the 80s imagined the year 2000: you absolutely nailed it with that analogy hahahaha

Gulf and western used to own SEGA Gulf and western is now a part of paramount And now paramount is making the Sonic movie. Weird how those things tie together

The SG-1000 Mark 2 looks like a giant Cassette Player.

The Madman. He's actually continuing it! He didn't forget!

It looks like Sega took a chunk out of R2-D2 & made a console out of it.

I can remember game console history but I cant remember anything for tests thanks to Adam I am educated in video console history :D

I first learned of this console by screwing around with Microsoft Office clipart, typing in random binary numbers, and this console happened to show up as one of the results of one of my random searches.

In terms of Hardware Releases, SEGA is/was more schizophrenic than my sister!

I was wondering if you’d ever get a hold of one of these things

Holy shit, Man I've been waiting forever for you to do this video. I will forever love you're video game generation retrospective serise.

"That was a decision." Yup, that sums up SEGA alright.

Very cool Adam! I have always had an interesting curiosity about this console.

Not only was SEGA originally an American company, but they also released their first console on the same day as the NES? My mindpenis is blown and all my brain cells collectively came.

The guts of the SG-1000 and Colecovision are basically the same internally. You can run games on either if you wanted to with adapters. Both Sega and Coleco basically used more-or-less an off-the-shelf configuration to make consoles. The sound chip, cpu and gpu were used in a ton of different machines with different configurations. The Texas Instruments TMS9918 graphics chip used in the SG-1000 was introduced all the way back in 1979! I think it was meant to be a catch-all chip that could be used for games and computers. Once Texas Instruments couldn't compete in the computer market they probably didn't have much of a choice other than to push this for other companies who might have better success elsewhere.

Hey Adam. Thanks for putting out these videos over all the years, as someone with a big interest in retro gaming, however only growing up around the time with a PlayStation 2 and a Wii, your channel did and continues to be a super helpful and entertaining way to learn about videogame history. I've been binge watching once again through all these retrospective videos, but I have chosen to comment on this one because I'm from New Zealand and feel like I can add a bit of perspective to it. I'm not sure if somebody has told you this elsewhere, but New Zealand is a fairly common market for companies to do 'test' releases of sorts. Culturally, New Zealand is a western English speaking country that has a similar culture to Australia, the UK, the US and Canada. New Zealand also has quite a small population and is very isolated from the rest of the world, so its used as a market that if you do a release here, you can test the waters of how it may be received in major western markets. For example, recently Netflix changed their password sharing rules and people were really upset about it, but they enforced that password sharing rule update in New Zealand like a month or two ahead of the rest of the world. This to me is surely the reason the SG-1000 released in New Zealand. Sega at the time likely saw it as a low risk release, as the small isolated population probably meant it wasn't going to cost a fortune for them to release here and they could see if there was a western appetite for this new Sega home console. Your videos have inspired me to try and do a bit of video game collecting myself. The oldest stuff I own is for my PS2, which is kind of sad. Unfortunately New Zealand seems to just be a pretty useless place if you are into retro video games. From all the research I have done, I don't think there exists any single retail store in the country that has a focus on retro video games. Your best bet here for something in person is to find some sort of second hand store that MAY have a small handful of games that are from the 5th generation or even rarer for earlier generations. Looking online for Sega stuff though, randomly it seems like its considerably easier and more affordable to find Master System stuff here than it is to find Mega Drive or other Sega content. I was able to find some local forums of a couple people with NZ versions of SG-1000s which was just called the Sega-1000 here it seems. But it's more common to find SC-3000 stuff, apparently it was relatively successful over here. Also in general its easier to get old Sega stuff than it is old Nintendo stuff, so I guess like Europe, Australasia must've also been a hotspot for Sega over Nintendo. It's strange its so uncommon to find anything retro videogame related here considering the country does have a decent history with video games, the 2600 released here and was a decent success and New Zealand even had its own exclusive 1st generation console, the Sportronic. Anyway, with my rambling aside, I don't usually comment but thanks for the content you produce and thank you for helping ignite my interest in videogame history. Looking forward to your next upload!

Im almost 40, and im just learning this existed.

Awesome to finally see the return of the Recap series. These were the videos that first drew me to your channel.

to this day your style on your sega passion and knowledge dropping is always top quality. thank you adam. Keep it coming

New Zealand was one of the few countries to get the SG1000, licensed by Grandstand Leisure. Wikipedia made it seem as if we were the only other country to have it, but information has since surfaced since then, and it appears to have been released in Australia, under the John Sands Electronics, and Italy, and Spain. We also got the SC3000 here too. Neither fetch very high prices, even in their box.

And sadly...Sega of Japan became its own worst enemy in the 90s...

Been waiting for more Generation Recaps. Hopefully there are more to come! Keep up the good work!

So glad you are still doing these! This whole series is really awesome, thanks.

That's awesome having those 2 first boxed consoles. (Nice one Leroy for the SG1000) I'm so jealous. Lol. Great informative video, Adam. Bravo 🤟 Sega forever 🤘

I'm a child of the 70s who grew up in the UK. The gaming industry crash didn't affect the UK 🇬🇧 nearly as much as the us because there was a massive micro computer market over here. video games were available on audio cassette for pocket money prices for the Sinclair ZX spectrum, BBC, Amstrad, commodore c64/Vic 20, msx, ect.... you'd get a new game pretty much every week or two . (not to mention you'd borrow a friends game and copy it into a blank cassette, not that I've ever done that 🙄). cartridge game's on console's were much more expensive in comparison.

You have to have a really negative state off mind to look at those cartridges and think: “hmm, tombstones.”

Great video and I had never heard of the built in but unusable backwards compatibility in some of the sega consoles.... that's amazing lol

Great to see you're still updating this series! Out of interest, "Sindbad" may or may not be a typo -- it may very well be but it's also an alternative (slightly archaic) translation of the name of the sailor

SEGA's 1st console!!!!!!

The SC-3000 version of this console was also sold in France under the Yeno brand. I just got hold of one recently for a reasonable price

Your Console Retrospective and Birthday videos are my favorite! Like many, it's how I found your Channel. Thanks so much for another one!!

If you don't mind emulation, an easy way to play SG-1000 games is with the Cyber Gadget Retro Freak. It has an adapter that plays Mark III, Game Gear, and SG-1000 games.

Cool video, very informative. I feel lucky to own one myself, along with the Mark 2 and 3 and an SC-3000H :-). As a sega fan and collector looking forward to more video’s like this one!

I know what you mean!!! it looks like "the futureeeee!!!" but an "old" version of the future!.

"Exactly like how the 80's would have depicted the year 2000" Agreed! IMO, the Master System does as well, and the Genesis looks like how the 90's would have done it.

Its been so long since I seen you had finally picked up these consoles, but we've been blessed to finally hear bout these game consoles! Loved the video Adam, well worth the wait!

Love this channel

SC-3000 was briefly available in Finland too, long before even Master System and Mega Drive.

Here in the UK a device called the powerbase converter was available for Megadrive, which allowed Master System games to run on Megadrive, like you mention the hardware is in the machine, the converter is predominantly a plastic mould and a revised edge connector to accept SMS cartridges, the converter accepted cards too, so could run the 3D glasses games, as well.

I’ve never ever seen anyone who has one of those. That is spectacular like spider - man

Awesomely phat injection of historical game console knowledge. Many thanks!

This was essentially a rebranded Colecovision with Sega games on it. No way could it compete with the Famicom.

Wow that was a great video mate. Did not know most of that. You're so good at recounting video game history! And all in one take! Ridiculous. Lol OK enough ass kissin. That 2nd iteration is probably my favorite console of all time, aesthetically. So cool. What were they thinking with the cards?! Lol

Very happy to see you doing another one of these videos. They are my favorite type. Thank you.

Of Course when it comes to a Sega Console, the history of it is weird as fuck and that is why sega is amazing.

Adam: "Here's the Sega SG-1000, Sega's third generation console most of us thought was second generation."

this was an awesome video man thanks for all the great insight

Sega started as Standard Games before coming Service Games then being shortened to SeGa. It was started to supply vending machines, juke boxes, early arcade games, and pinball machines to military bases. It moved to japan with the war and stayed there due to the increased us military presence in Asia from the 40s on.

13:33 - Man, I wish today's consoles had a advertising copy for the console printed on the console itself.

Loving these recap videos on game console generations especially the Wild West Atari era.

Awesome video Adam, been waiting a long time for this. I’m still dying on that hill, that the video games crash was only north America 🤣. For us in the UK, Sega was king and not Nintendo.

I've waited for this video for 2 years or so. Loved it! Thank you!!!

So happy you made this!!!!!!

That small console is a mark in Sega history !

Hi Adam, Regarding the name of "Sindibad Mystery" game, this is how the character name is originally spelled in Arabic. The first "D" was omitted when the story was first translated into English, as it was common practice at that time.

18:09 Its actually "Sindbad" from (One Thousand and One Nights) but in the west he is commonly known as "Sinbad"

This is the year 2000! Flying cars, androids and Sega SGs

It amazes me how thin the turbo Graphics games are especially when you compare them to the Game Boy what you think would have benefited from having such thing games

Awesome video Adam i love this old consoles and i am a big SEGA fan as well. For me as a 80s child Its always fun to watch this generations recaps, my best regards :)

Economically, yes, the video game crash was global. It's just that the affects were only truly felt in North America. I think we can agree Atari hemorrhaging money due to the crash had an affect on its marketing budget in Europe and the UK - the latter quickly engaging in computers, which developed negative press of consoles. It's debatable whether or not Nintendo truly saved console gaming. A part of me feels like Blockbuster and the ability to legally rent games deserve a lot of credit for putting the industry on a path that encourages customers to wisely try games and experience their quality before buying - something that wasn't a thing during the Atari days unless you count discount bin purchases during the crash, which I don't. Sega also deserves some credit for the early success of the Master System in the UK and Europe. They essentially told the negative console press to screw off and presented their quality software that could give computer games a run for their money. So, the way I look at it, we have Nintendo, Sega, and Blockbuster to thank for putting console gaming on a good, economically viable path.

2:51 perfect chance to say "it's genesis" and make a Sega pun come on Adam smh

Mega Drive / Genesis' codename is Sega Mark V btw

You ever see or are you planning to get a Nintendo Color TV Game 6? Liked the video Adam :)

6:31 Huh I always thought the Famicom launched on July 15? This is my first time hearing July 13. Anyway, great video I never knew Sega had a console before the Master System.

Congrats on the new console Adam and Happy Birthday!

Good for you Adam!

This is one of those systems I had from the early days of eBay that I got dirt cheap then sold at a profit when I went to uni. Should have kept it. Sindbad Mystery and Othello were the games I had, I believe. It was the model on your right / viewer left.

Just saw this Adam! Great Video!

Thanks for the history of this console and sega. Your the best Adam!!!

I am pretty sure it came to Australia, I remember as a kid in Australia someone at school mentioning having Sega console called a SG1000, at the time I thought they were talking about the Master System, as I had owned one and always assumed it was the first Sega console. But when they described what it looked like, and the games and such I was really confused, you could say it was a real mystery to me, I never saw anything about it in magazines! Unfortunately I never got to see it in person

YES AT LONG LAST !!!!

Hey Adam, off-topic question: Of the 5th Generation Graveyard Consoles [i.e. Panasonic 3DO, Apple Pippin, Atari Jaguar etc.] what is in your opinion, the best of the bad bunch of consoles?

Love your channel man. Long live Sega

Not gonna lie, the SG-1000 model 1 looks really cool.

I like these videos about the game consoles. I like hearing about these consoles I’ve never heard of.

The most Sega thing ever is from the jump TWO CONSOLES SAME DAY AND THEN ATTACHMENT TO READ SOME OTHER TYPA GAMES🤣 and then a model 2??? Jesus Christ I love those guys

Glad to see you make another part to this series

Still waiting on that Loopy retrospective!

Happy Birthday!

It's funny to know that first game coded by Yu Suzuki was Champion Boxing on the Sega SG-1000. Originally released in the Arcades in 1984 and ported to the Sega SG-1000 one year later.

Man it’s a good day that Mr. Koralik made a video today, say how was the post launch of Shenmue 3 in Burbank yesterday???!!!

I think there may be 3rd party adapters to be able to play Japanese Master System and SG-1000 games on NTSC and PAL Master Systems. I know there are definitely adapters for the reverse (to play western cartridges on Japanese Master System / Mark III).

Hi Adam great channel I have only watched just your SEGA streams well most.Being a MASSIVE SEGA fan I own two original SEGA Master Systems my original I got doesn't work anymore but lasted for years and I mean years! I own a SEGA Game Gear that was made by the very first company here in Australia on Ebay that made and sold the very first modified SEGA Game Gears. This was in 2016, now I see them made in UK and US as well. And I did own my very first SEGA Dreamcast I bought from a shop called Cash Converters in 2003 second hand but VERY near brand new I couldn't believe it! The guy who sold it to Cash Converters must have wanted the money to buy the brand new Sony Playstation 2 that had just come out. The condition of this Dreamcast was flawless and spotless AND it was not chipped. I'm sad to say that SEGA Dreamcast died on me in 2016. I went on Ebay few years later won some auctions for some SEGA Dreamcasts 2 of them, but they were duds they literally bombed within the day I received them. So I was absolutely lucky on finding a PAL SEGA Dreamcast from England brand new but opened but never been used including 3 sealed SEGA Dreamcast games which were MSR Virtua Fighter 3TB and Jet Set Radio which is 2 of my all time favourite SEGA Dreamcast games. It even came with the original 2003 receipt with it which I still have. I have this from SEGA Adam I don't know if you remember this or even heard of this. Right after the SEGA Dreamcast ,SEGA started making I would call now rare oddities. And this oddity was THE best oddity SEGA ever made. It was called The SEGA Lock On system. What this was was a copy but a superior copy of Laser Tag. This literally left Laser Tag for dead. What it was were 2 Headsets and 2 Guns. instead of the crappy cheap plastic chest detector SEGAs Lock On had an incredible headset display. This included a fully red lit up digit display displaying the numbers backwards. And why it did that was because you had a scanner reader that covered one eye just like DragonBall Zs scanners, that displayed the digit reversed so now you actually could read the numbers from the headset, which was amazing. the headset also was padded right around the inside of the headband which made it very comfortable and kept it from sliding down your face. What also helped this were the adjustment straps at the back. This headset beeped slow to fast which told you how close you were to your opposition friend, and it had right next to the number display the infa red reader that was your target to shoot at. Then you had the guns these were roughly the same size guns you would use on the SEGA Dreamcast. It had two infa red scopes for shootiing one above the other. What these did was you could fire the main scope that would be one shot fired BUT then on the side of the gun but very easily accessed by your thumb you hit that button and you can fire rapidly 3 shots at once my reaction was WOW just like Robocops Beretta. And what happened was you started with a number count I can't remember exactly what it was 20 or 30 and when you were shot that number count would decrease by one digit. That was just the main firing but if hit by the rapid fire successfully then 3 would be decreased until the unit would hit Zero then yours or your friends headset would start making very loud beeping noises which meant the game was over. I still have my SEGA Lock On in its original box with everything still included instruction manual and the styrofoam I absolutely loved this from SEGA. I don't even remember how I knew about this SEGA Lock On I must have seen it on a TV ad or read about it but my Mum wanted to buy me something special just for loving me. She asked which present would I like to have and immediately I said The SEGA Lock On. Adam is this really true SEGAs very first console SEGA SG 1000 came out July 13? If so I'm not lying here that is my birthday. If that's true then I Heh was meant to be a SEGA Boy Man! I never even heard of the SC 3000 until I watched this I am almost very sure I have actually seen in person in a junk yard place not far from my house a SG 1000 the only one I have seen in Australia. But I was just a boy then I didn't even know what SEGA was let alone have the money to buy it! Well keep up your tremendous work for SEGA in your videos much enjoyed them. Oh I wished they could re release some of the SEGA Saturn games on the SEGA Dreamcast as new Hybrid games instead of different party games. I have the one from the SEGA Mega Drive that was converted and facelifted for the Dreamcast Pier Solar great game incredibly well made converted from 16BIT to 128BIT graphics. I would love to see NIGHTS or Panzer Dragoon series in 128BIT!

Sega did make an adapter for the first player controller(JC-100) that lets you replace the wired controller(SJ-200). It is rarer than the system. I recently picked up a SG-1000 for a decent price. I think the system has a lot of charm. I have a few My card games and picked up a card catcher before I got the system. Tested the catcher on mark III for fun. Great and informative video about another little known system from Sega.

The sg-1000 has a cool library of games. A number of them are exactly the same as a bunch of Apple II games I used to play as a kid. Now I get to enjoy them using my Wii for some 240p crt goodness.

Just got this and a PC-FX for Christmas.

I've never actually seen an sg-1000 in the flesh. We had the Sega Saturn in Australia but by this time no one wanted to play arcade games at home anymore. The Saturn was seen as arcade games, the PlayStation was seen as sports and the Nintendo was seen as the powerful 3D nice graphics. I know playing N64 looks pretty bad these days but compared to previous generations it was amazing. I remember seeing the PlayStation 1 and thinking how low the resolution was and simple the graphics were compared to the N64. I wish Sega could have knocked PS1 out of the game all those years back. In hindsight I should have never jumped ship to Nintendo. Sega master system was a great console very cheap price which is why my parents bought it for me.

Your videos are very simple but super informative! Thankz!

That is so awesome to actually see someone review this console. I was a Sega kid too , love Sega but never knew this console existed until 2016.

Wow, I can't believe that Sega was originally an American company.😮 It's kind of how the Kenny Rogers restaurants no longer exist in the U.S. but it's huge in Asia, despite being originally an American restaurant. You just know that eventually it's going to come back to the U.S. as an import, lol.

Db9 ports are common in that era it's basically a serial port my favorite controller for Atari is the sega genesis controller

actually Adam, the very first Nintendo home console was the Color TV Game only released in Japan on June 1, 1977 and it's from the first generation of game consoles (i think you should do a retrospective series about that generation because it's very interesting), so in reality the Famicom/NES was their second home console because it was released on July 15, 1983 (same day as the Sega SG 1000, also July 15 is my birthday which is today, i was born on July 15, 2001 so now i can drink) and the NES was the first Nintendo home console in North America.

I noticed on one of the closeups of the cartridges that some of them look like ColecoVision carts even having the storage slot for the ColecoVision's controller overlays (though the cart was molded with a Sega label and thus made specifically for the SG-1000 line).

"幽霊早いんだよ。Yūrei hayai nda yo. : Speed of the Ghost" ~Akira : Vitura Fighter. Dude, I wanna see you do something with Lady Decade. Her channel and your Channel are my 2 favorite oldschool gaming channels! I would love to see you two do something on Yu Suzuki and AM2. Yu Suzuki RULES!

I'd love to know what genius classified the SG1000 as 3rd gen. The thing is a friggen colecovision.

Oh my god it's finally back!

That‘s why The Sonic Movie is made from Paramount..... i see.

Great video Adam!! Always informative and Entertaining.

Informative episode Adam. It would be awesome to see some game play footage.