The MegaModem

The MegaModem peripheral was release on the 3rd of November 1990 (according to SEGA archive site) but three games who already support it were release before (Cyberball, Tel Tel Mahjong and Tel Tel Stadium).

There is three known packages for the MegaModem, the HAA-2951, the HAA-2952 and the Game Toshokan package.

The HAA-2951 only contains the modem while the other two contain also the Game Toshokan cartridge.

The MegaModem HAA-2951 cost ¥9,800 while the others ¥12,800.

There was also a rare modem released by San-San who has a DE-9 instead of the RJ11 cable.

The Game Toshokan package, this is the more common.

The Modem itself with the RJ11 cable, the RJ11 multiplexer and the screw to fix it at the back of the MegaDrive.

The Regcards and the envelope.

The Modem booklet (exclusive to the Game Toshokan package)

Two docs I know nothing about.

Check rig_vega blog entry to see more pictures.

The MegaModem compatible games

All other games supporting the MegaModem were release in 1991, this includes :

• Advanced Daisenryaku
• The Game Toshokan (discuss later in this article)
• Nikkan Sports Pro Yakyuu VAN
• San San
• Shikinjoh
• Go Net

Some banking soft were released too :

• Mega Anser
• Nagoya Home Banking
• Smisey Home

With them you could consult your bank account, do transfer etc …

Of course none of those games can still be played with the MegaModem nowadays and none of the emulators support this device.

The Sega Net Work System / Game Toshokan

This was the name of the service used by the Game Toshokan “game”.

On the internet it is often called the “MegaNet”, most likely cause the wikipedia entry was named like this until I correct it 2/3 month ago. “MegaNet” was the name of the service used in Brazil, you can see on the Game Toshokan box the “SEGA NET WORK SYSTEM” (also note the space between NET and WORK).

The Game Toshokan itself was useless without a subscription to this service (it costs ¥800 per month). With it you could download game developed exclusively for it (i.e. you couldn’t download Sonic or Street of Rage). The more popular games were the Phantasy Star Text Adventures (8 were released, each one follow a character of PSII).
All those games were released after on the MegaCD compilation Game no Kandume volume 1 and 2.

I’ve recreated the MegaDrive wiki and started to put a lot of info. It’s far from finished (and I think it will never be ) but the goal is to do what furrtek and I have done on the NeoGeo Wiki.

I’m currently rewriting libmd, the MegaDrive dev library, it’s still in ASM for C programs but it’s more a SDK now rather than a low-level lib. The lib is polling the joypads automatically, you add request to load gfx/data/palette to vram and the lib will do it in vblank. I’m fixing some bugs right now so I should released it soon.

The lib size is ~3Kb and uses ~1Kb of ram for joypad status, sprites list etc … but it will use more when I’ll add some decompression routines for the gfx.

On the NeoGeo side it’s a bit calm. It’s been a long time since furrtek or I have touched the neopenbios. I also have an SDK in development but I want to finish the MegaDrive one first.

That’s all folks.

I’ve just dump two more japanese megacd1 bioses. Those are revision B and D.
Which means that now we have the B,C,D,H and “p” revision. The “p” revision isn’t confirmed.

epr-14088X

I’ve come to the conclusion that all SEGA published games which uses backup ram have for serial either G-5XXX or G- 45XX.
If I’m not wrong all G-45XX games uses serial EEPROM while G-5XXX games use standard SRAM.

I also got my package from japan with four MegaCD, one complete in box and the others three in loose.
I’ve bought them to help me repair my development unit.

For MegaDrive and next systems SEGA attributed a prefix code to each publisher for their games serial. This code start by T- and is followed by two or three digits.

After that there is the game unique identifier, which is two digits then the console code (digit or letter).

Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts was authorized to build their own cartridges/boxes and thus have their own serials.

They all start by EM200 and they are followed by a two digits unique game identifier.

Victor / JVC

Victor released with their WonderMega (serial RG M1 and RG M2) the “Wonder Library”. The software has a special serial : RG-ED1.

Third Party Publisher Code

I’ve managed to build a list of all (or at least almost) the third party publisher with their code.

Some codes are used by different publisher, and some publisher use different codes don’t ask me why

Sega Third Party Publisher Code

Part 1 – SG1000/SC3000

Game cartridges serial is G-10XX. G means Game and XX is the software unique identifier.

Card game serial is C- XX. C means Cart and XX is the software unique identifier

Educational cartridges serial is E-1XX. E means Educational and XX is the software unique identifier (the only two software that don’t have serials are 物理(運動と力編) and 物理(エネルギー編)

Basic cartridge serial is B-XX. B means Basic and XX is the software unique identifier.

Part 2 – MarkIII/SMS

Gold cartridges serial is G-13XX.

Silver cartridges serial is S-00X (only two are known).

Card game serial is C-5XX.

Part 3 – Game Gear

Game cartridge serial is G-3XXX.

Part 4 – MegaDrive

Here comes the only tricky part of the serials system, most of the games have a serial in the form of G-4XXX (130 to be exact), but a small amount of games have an G-5XXX serial (37) and Virtua Racing have for serial G-7001 (which can be understandable considering that it’s the only game with Sega SVP chip).

There is no clear relation between those games so I really don’t know why they don’t have an G-4XXX serial.

Part 5 – MegaCD

Game serial is G-6XXX, nothing fancy.

Part 6 – 32X

Game serial is GM- 40XX, except for Virtua Racing Deluxe, Golf Magazine Presents 36 Great Holes Staring Fred Couples and Chaotix which have GM-500X serials.

I assume that the M is for Mars (code name of the 32X). Again no clear relation between game who have G-500X serials, maybe it’s the same for MegaDrive games ?

Part 7 – Saturn

Almost all games have serial GS-9XXX. The S is for Saturn I think.

SegaNet title serial is GS-71XX

Part 8 – Dreamcast

Dreamcast is easy too, all games have for serial HDR-XXXX.

For the 102 we will explore the world of third party publisher, and it is a mess