Launched October 29, 1988
Launched August 14 (in NYC, LA) - September 15 (nationwide) 1989
U.S. price for national launch was $189.99 with Altered Beast packed in.
One of the first (if not THE first) Japanese Mega Drive commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stt0Z-LR08k
Certainly not the first U.S. commercial for Genesis, but it's among the oldest, and probably the best one from 1989:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd-tH9fKuOo
slightly different verision of same commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppui7nC-jFs&NR=1
"We Bring The Arcade Experience Home" was Sega's first advertising campaign & marketing slogan for Genesis in the United States. This was an entire year before the
"Genesis Does What Nintendon't" campaign of the second half of 1990.
I did not know about the Mega Drive / Genesis when it launched in Japan in late 1988. I was completely oblivious to it. I would not know of this new system until just before it came out in the U.S. All I owned in late 1988 was an Atari 7800 and some games. I was eying both the NES and the Master System as the next thing I wanted. I ended up getting the Master System for my birthday in Feb 1989.
By spring/summer, I was going from one SMS experience to the next. The big deal for me at that point in time was R-Type. I have amazingly cool memories of getting R-Type and waiting for my parents to goto sleep so I could sneak in a few games in the wee hours of the morning.
I had no idea that a title-wave of amazing memories was almost opon me. I still wasn't aware of the Genesis. I didn't hear about it until late June or early July 1989. I first about Genesis when I called 1800-USA-SEGA one evening for info on Master System games. There was a recording that mentioned Sega's new 16-bit Genesis. I had no idea what this was. Was it a new Master System game?
Was it a cheat code for a game? LOL.
I soon learned about Genesis, what it was, from this article in EGM Number 2 which I picked up sometime in July 1989 (the first EGM ever got to read).
I had a choice to make. I would only be able to get one of the new systems coming out. Genesis or TurboGrafx-16
The next issue of EGM made my choice clear:
Then on a car trip to & from Iowa in August 1989, I was reading this constantly:
It would be Genesis. And so began a 9-10 month part of my life
where I tried hard in school so my dad would actually let me get
a Genesis, or rather, get one for me. The wonderful memories
that this journey would have for me, are beyond my ability to
put them into words.
Over a great deal of time, I discovered the best reason for ME owning a Genesis.
It wasn't for its arcade conversions.
It wasn't for the truly exellent Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star IV.
It certainly wasn't for Sonic.
It was for an amazingly good 2-player game that started the Real-Time Strategy genre...
![2gw4ytt.jpg](http://i38.tinypic.com/2gw4ytt.jpg)
Launched August 14 (in NYC, LA) - September 15 (nationwide) 1989
U.S. price for national launch was $189.99 with Altered Beast packed in.
![23vg41y.jpg](http://i34.tinypic.com/23vg41y.jpg)
One of the first (if not THE first) Japanese Mega Drive commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stt0Z-LR08k
![2f09lao.jpg](http://i33.tinypic.com/2f09lao.jpg)
![j5jvwh.jpg](http://i34.tinypic.com/j5jvwh.jpg)
Certainly not the first U.S. commercial for Genesis, but it's among the oldest, and probably the best one from 1989:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd-tH9fKuOo
slightly different verision of same commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppui7nC-jFs&NR=1
"We Bring The Arcade Experience Home" was Sega's first advertising campaign & marketing slogan for Genesis in the United States. This was an entire year before the
"Genesis Does What Nintendon't" campaign of the second half of 1990.
I did not know about the Mega Drive / Genesis when it launched in Japan in late 1988. I was completely oblivious to it. I would not know of this new system until just before it came out in the U.S. All I owned in late 1988 was an Atari 7800 and some games. I was eying both the NES and the Master System as the next thing I wanted. I ended up getting the Master System for my birthday in Feb 1989.
By spring/summer, I was going from one SMS experience to the next. The big deal for me at that point in time was R-Type. I have amazingly cool memories of getting R-Type and waiting for my parents to goto sleep so I could sneak in a few games in the wee hours of the morning.
I had no idea that a title-wave of amazing memories was almost opon me. I still wasn't aware of the Genesis. I didn't hear about it until late June or early July 1989. I first about Genesis when I called 1800-USA-SEGA one evening for info on Master System games. There was a recording that mentioned Sega's new 16-bit Genesis. I had no idea what this was. Was it a new Master System game?
Was it a cheat code for a game? LOL.
I soon learned about Genesis, what it was, from this article in EGM Number 2 which I picked up sometime in July 1989 (the first EGM ever got to read).
![x4jk8i.jpg](http://i41.tinypic.com/x4jk8i.jpg)
![2hncrrs.jpg](http://i42.tinypic.com/2hncrrs.jpg)
I had a choice to make. I would only be able to get one of the new systems coming out. Genesis or TurboGrafx-16
The next issue of EGM made my choice clear:
![o8fl9w.jpg](http://i43.tinypic.com/o8fl9w.jpg)
![xfxmds.jpg](http://i40.tinypic.com/xfxmds.jpg)
![jk93es.jpg](http://i44.tinypic.com/jk93es.jpg)
Then on a car trip to & from Iowa in August 1989, I was reading this constantly:
![jtwax2.jpg](http://s4.tinypic.com/jtwax2.jpg)
It would be Genesis. And so began a 9-10 month part of my life
where I tried hard in school so my dad would actually let me get
a Genesis, or rather, get one for me. The wonderful memories
that this journey would have for me, are beyond my ability to
put them into words.
Over a great deal of time, I discovered the best reason for ME owning a Genesis.
It wasn't for its arcade conversions.
It wasn't for the truly exellent Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star IV.
It certainly wasn't for Sonic.
It was for an amazingly good 2-player game that started the Real-Time Strategy genre...
![30lccnn.jpg](http://i35.tinypic.com/30lccnn.jpg)