Mega CD
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| Fast Facts on the Mega CD |
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Made by: Sega |
Initially released in late 1991, the Mega-CD expanded the capabilities of the Mega Drive by adding a CD drive and several additional chips, which allowed for the use of Audio CDs and CD+G discs as well as specially-designed games primarily distributed on CD. These additions served as an attempt to gain an upper hand on the oncoming Super Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as compete with NEC's PC Engine CD (TurboGraphx-16 CD in the US), but ultimately failed to gain leverage over either.
Two models of the Mega-CD and several variants were manufactured during the peripheral's lifetime.
Contents
Enhancements
The Mega-CD provided a number of enhancements to the Mega Drive's capabilities, including an additional Motorola 68000 processor for managing all the components on the Mega-CD side, an ASIC that added various scaling and rotation capabilities, a PCM chip that provides eight additional PCM channels, 512KB of Work RAM, 256KB of Program RAM, and a CD drive that allowed for listening to Audio CDs or viewing CD+G discs, as well as the ability to play games specially-designed to run from CD. Also introduced was BRAM, which allowed games for the Mega-CD to save progress and other information. These enhancements could be taken advantage of using either the cart boot mode (Mode 1) or the CD boot mode (Mode 2), allowing developers two methods to utilize these hardware additions.
Hardware Revisions
Through the production lifespan, the Mega-CD had two distinctively different models, as well as a few notable variants. The Model 1 Mega-CD generally carries BIOS revisions in the v1 range. Its form factor was such that it sat underneath the Model 1 Mega Drive as an extension of the base, fitting the Mega Drive's form factor in all but height, and used a tray-loading CD drive. The Model 2 Mega-CD was released later in the Mega Drive's production life, and was designed with the Model 2 Mega Drive's design in mind. Scrapping the undercarriage design of the Model 1 Mega-CD, the design instead seats the CD drive to the side of the Mega Drive and removes the tray in lieu of a cover. The BIOS software also generally carries a revision in the v2 range. Both models have a stereo out and require a separate power supply from the Mega Drive.
There exists a very uncommon, but official variant manufactured by Sega that was distributed under the name of the Sega Multi-Mega (CDX in North America). This variant provides a combined Mega Drive and Mega-CD in the form factor of a portable CD player. Limited amounts of the Multi-Mega were made, and the system runs off of a single power source. The console uses a single revision of the BIOS (due to its very limited production run) and retains the ability to use a 32x, despite some of the manuals for the console stating otherwise.
