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SG-1000 - TV Tropes

  • ️Tue Dec 26 2023

Platform / SG-1000

The SG-1000note  and SC-3000note  were Sega's first 8-bit gaming platforms, both released in July 1983. The SG-1000 was sold as a dedicated gaming console and came with a single hardwired joystick and a port for an additional controller or peripherals, while the more expensive SC-3000 was primarily marketed as a microcomputer and came equipped with an integrated keyboard. The two platforms were otherwise functionally identical; a separate keyboard (the SK-1100) could be purchased for the SG-1000 in order to run programming and educational software created for the SC-3000, while the SC-3000 had two joystick ports for playing SG-1000 games. They were primarily designed for the Japanese market, although the SC-3000 had limited releases in parts of Europe and Australia.

Sega and Coleco had a close relationship in the early 80's. Sega licensed to Coleco a number of their most popular arcade titles, such as Zaxxon, for ports to the ColecoVision, which led to them striking a deal with Coleco to distribute the console in Japan. The Great Video Game Crash of 1983 would put a stop to this particular deal, but Sega would ultimately adapt the technology to their own console. The SG-1000's hardware specifications are very similar to the ColecoVision, using most of the same chips. A dozen or so SG-1000 games ended up being ported to the MSX, which also had nigh-interchangeable specs (both officially and unofficially).

Sega decided to make a dedicated gaming console as a result of a soft arcade sales year in 1982, in part because they caught wind that rival arcade game manufacturer Nintendo were going to make their own game console, the Famicom. The decision to make a microcomputer version was prompted in large part by uncertainty of the direction the market would take, as computers following the MSX standard were introduced the same year to much fanfare, and Sega wanted to play to both potential outcomes.

In 1984 Sega released the SG-1000 II, a revised version of the console that changed the exterior shell and made other form factor changes in response to feedback. Instead of a hardwired-joystick, it came with two detachable joypads that could be stored on the side of the unit when they were not in use.

At first, the SG-1000 was relatively competitive with the Famicom due to having a larger and more varied launch year lineup. Eventually, though, the SG-1000 would be undone by two glaring weaknesses. The SG-1000's inferior graphical capabilities to the Famicom became more and more apparent as the latter's games became more advanced graphically. Worse, Sega saw third-party developers as competition for their own games, and insisted that they publish most of the SG-1000's library themselves. Nintendo was not only more welcoming to third party developers, but signed the biggest publishers to exclusivity deals. This would give the Famicom's game library a lead over the SG-1000 that would prove unsurmountable.

While the SG-1000 only sold about 160,000 units in its lifetime, this actually exceeded Sega's initial projections of 50,000. This small but significant win was enough to convince them to commit to video game console development. The Sega Mark III was released in 1985, and featured a Visual Display Processor that allowed for exclusive games with better graphics. The Mark III became the basis for the Sega Master System, their first internationally-released game console.

Specifications:

Processor

  • CPU: A Zilog Z80A. Well, to be accurate, it was an NEC Z80A clone, model µPD780-1A, running at 3.58 MHz. The European/Australasian models of the console runs at 3.55 MHz.
  • The graphics were drawn by a TMS9918 GPU, the exact same one used in the MSX and Colecovision.

Memory

  • 1 KB of Random Access Memory with 16 KB of Video RAM; the SC-3000 doubling the system RAM to 2 KB, which can be further expanded with cartridges and the SF-7000.
  • Game ROM sizes for cartridges typically ranged from 8 KB to 32 KB as the SG-1000 can only handle reading ROM sizes up to 32 KB, though like the NES, bank-switching can be done using mapper chips; the largest game which used it was Loretta No Shouzou Sherlock Holmes at 128 KB. Other storage media for the system was the Sega Card which maxed out at 32 KB and the 3-inch floppy disks, which can hold up to 160 KB.

Sprites

  • Sprites are 8x8 or 8x16 pixels, with up to 32 on screen.

Display

  • Resolution was 256x196 pixels.
  • 16 colors were allowed on screen

Sound

  • Sound was produced on a Texas Instruments SN76489, containing 4 channels of sound; 3 square wave channels and one noise generator. It was only capable of outputting audio in Mono.

Add-ons and Peripherals

  • Sega Keyboard SK-1100: A keyboard that plugs into the SG-1000, essentially turning the console into an SC-3000. The keyboard contains ports which supported peripherals such as SR-1000. The keyboard will also work with the Sega Mark III, but only one game; F-16 Fighting Falcon is compatible with it.
  • Data Recorder SR-1000: A tape drive peripheral for the SC-3000 that read and wrote data to cassette tapes, allowing it to run software as well as write save data. It was also compatible with the SG-1000, but requires the Sega Keyboard to run.
  • Super Control Station SF-7000: An floppy disk drive add-on for the SC-3000 micro-computer that supported 3-inch floppy disks that held upto 160KB of data, far more than what cartridges could hold at the time. It also added an additional 64kb of RAM and 8kb ROM to the SC-3000.

Games: