The Lost Sega Genesis Console Add-On! - Gaming History Secrets

In today's video, we look at the history of the Sega Megadrive FDD (Sega Megadrive Floppy Disk Drive). Let's look at the story of this cancelled lost hardware, and how it would have functioned. A Sega Genesis Disk Drive was sadly never released.
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#sega #segagenesis #retrogaming
Additional Information Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SG-1000
segaretro.org/Super_Control_S...
www.smspower.org/forums/6174-...
segaretro.org/Master_System_F...
www.famitsu.com/news/201606/0...
www.smspower.org/forums/files...
segaretro.org/Mega_Drive_Flop...
mdshock.com/2018/07/15/the-me...
Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 3
BEEP! Magazine 1989
Electronic Gaming Monthly September 1990
Raze Issue 1 November 1990
Some Additional Footage Sources:
• JAPAN: SEGA ANNOUNCES ...
JAPAN: SEGA ANNOUNCES FUTURE OF DREAMCAST
AP Archive
• Classic Gaming Expo 20...
Classic Gaming Expo 2012 - Sega Neptune prototype / mockup; binaural sound
Valentin "Valet2" Kozin

[@skaldlouiscyphre2453]

It's a shame Sega didn't just keep releasing add-on attachments for the Genesis up until today. I want my Genesis to have more attachments than the Megazord and compete with the Xbone, even if we can't see the Genesis underneath it all anymore. 😅

[@gamegab7271]

Can we call it the Segazord? 😂

[@krzysztofczarnecki8238]

This would remind me of V'ger from Star Trek: The Mostion Picture, a massive, sentient autonomous starship that went on exploring the universe and happened to find the Earth. Later it turned out that it has been built around one of the Voyager probes in order to help it with its original purpose of exploring, and said probe still existed in the middle of it.

[@bghoody5665]

@@krzysztofczarnecki8238 Damn, you beat me to the V'ger analogy lol. Too many add ons and the Genesis will become sentient and want to join with the creator.

[@Subfightr]

Can you imagine the amount of plugs?!

[@jinneasbushindo7554]

Adding all of the attachments to each console and join them all together (Genesis/Megadrive + Saturn + Dreamcast), it could've been the vehicle Voltron of consoles.

[@Drewbe821]

I can only imagine the amount of vestigial growths that Sega would have strapped onto the Mega Drive if left to their own devices....

[@FoolishMrT]

The Sega Strapons. Oh dear…..

[@andrewamann2821]

I am from an alternate timeline, where Sega continued down this path... We are all master system peripherals there. They kinda screwed the pooch when they accidentally unlocked the time-travel functionality. As it turns out, adding a Tokemak, and a blender, is more dangerous than it sounds.

[@GabePuratekuta]

@@andrewamann2821 Add that Tokemak to the blender and you'll get INTER-DIMENSIONAL TRAVEL!

[@BB-te8tc]

The bit about "as its known in the Old Testament" made me laugh harder than it should have thanks to your dry delivery. Thank you. Keep being your lovely self. Also, love how you used the two Batman Returns songs back to back. Nice little (unintentional?) shoutout to Sega Lord X there.

[@djafk]

Games back then were fun for a longer period. Meaning if you played it for a few days it was fun, but if you played it for years later, it was still fun. It wasn't a race to minmax or speedrun, it was just fun to play...

[@GabePuratekuta]

They're also most popular for speedrunners.

[@gyromurphy]

I had a neighbor who had Sega Channel. All I can remember is that I thought it was awesome. Probably too ambitious for the time, but still a cool service to offer

[@JohnnyProctor9]

I had it, it was awesome unless you wanted to juggle 2 RPGs at a time because it only had enough memory to save one game at a time on the cart...I wish that I'd had more time to devote to it while it lasted, but at least half of my time was spent playing Sega CD and 3DO during that time period. It would've been far more successful and probably lasted longer if it'd been released earlier in the system's lifespan...

[@Nomad0036]

Imagine a universe where EVERY hardware add-on for every system existed.

[@Shinmsl]

Thus the first A.I. rose to existence, a plague of combiner technology gone wrong...

[@JohnnyProctor9]

Imagine a universe where FMV games were truly the future of gaming instead of ugly, blocky polygons...

[@jamescameron1861]

Many thanks Lady Decade. I was very much into the 16-bit era. Megadrive, MegaCD, A500 etc... Never knew about this!

[@RichardCyberPunk]

A friend of me had an illegal MEgadrive diskdrive system connected to his megadrive. It contained RAM and the diskdrive and was able to copy + play most Megadrive Rom cartridges. Only the bigger ones (mostly RPGs) couldnt be run. also several small games could be put on 1 3.5 inch disk. I remember that the illegal diskdrive system wrote more than 1.44MB on 1 floppy. I guess, it contained a special zip/unzip routine in its firmware rom.

[@elijahmodnar1]

12 megabits = 1.5 megabytes, so it was only writing 0.06MB more (60kb) on to the 1.44MB floppy disc, prob to over writing to the TOC area on the disc im guessing

[@LatitudeSky]

There was a 3.5" floppy drive add-on for OG Playstation as well. It plugged into the memory card slot and was used to back up memory card game saves to floppy diskette. The idea was saving money. Memory cards at that time were 20 bucks. But floppies were 30 cents maybe, or free if you already had them. With the floppy drive, you only needed one actual memory card to hold the active game saves you needed at that moment. All the others could just sit on floppies. A whole ton of saves on just one box of diskettes. And the gadget worked.

[@common_c3nts]

Everyone knows that as it was sold in normal stores like KB toys.

[@DFX2KX]

@@common_c3nts News to some of us. Perhaps it's down to not having a KB toys around. They didn't have anything like that at Toys R Us or Best Buy that I remember.

[@tizianasaav450]

And with celular

[@AReallyBadSN]

Sega channel was amazing! It would give you cheats and tips for a game while the game loaded. Every month they switched out games. I had a subscription with TCI (if anyone remembers that). We had nothing like it for years.

[@JohnnyProctor9]

If only it had been released earlier in the system's lifespan and had the ability to save more than one RPG at a time, it would've been far more successful...sadly, by 1994 many gamers had moved on to CD systems like Sega CD and 3DO (I know that despite having the Sega Channel, most of my time was still spent playing the more advanced systems).

[@ZakTDuck]

There's another more plausible reason they ditched it before it hit retail. Piracy. That reminds me, there was another floppy add-on, the Mega Disk Interceptor, although that blatantly was a piracy tool.

[@harrisonallen651]

Some cancelled sonic games on the floppy disk drive would’ve been perfect

[@radical_ans]

The rich kid up the street from me had Sega Channel. It definitely led to me being exposed to a ton of obscure Sega games than I otherwise would have.

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

They should have put 4x Yamaha YM2612 in it!!

[@RWL2012]

what, so the console would have 5 YM2612s total? 😄

[@danielmendez7468]

Wow what a great collection! New to your videos (suscribed long time ago but did not have time to enjoy your videos). Thank you for this grear content. SEGA FOREVER

[@apollolux]

Dang, the Genesis as a proper PC would’ve been a sight to see. The Motorola 68000 CPU it had as its main CPU certainly would’ve allowed it the raw power to compete with early Amiga and Macintosh System 7, definitely would’ve beaten 6502-based Apples, C64, and Z80-only PCs for sure!

[@Anonymous-oh4xw]

That's sick!

[@Akutabai5]

Now I'm wondering what would happen if I asked a Genie for a Genesis with every real and proposed peripheral. I would need to do that out in my yard I think

[@retrorobbins]

Great informative video as always can't beat a bit of this decade ,

[@JMFSpike]

It seems Sega's answer to literally everything in the early to mid-90's was some kind of Genesis/Mega Drive add-on. They sure didn't seem to be concerned at all with oversaturating the market or confusing the hell out of their loyal fanbase. Anyway, the best part of this whole video was you answering that question at the end. You're such a funny and entertaining person to listen to. That's why I love this channel.

[@tylerbrunton7696]

Ontarioan here, loved that story! What a unique find. Edit: Oh no, you didn't enjoy poutine, that's a bummer. I can't get enough.

[@AzumiRM]

I'm really beginning to love this channel. I was still a teenager and still back home in JPN at the time of the mega drive but was an extremely rare owner of an Amiga 500. Good times! 😊

[@JB9000x]

Strange that a third party was designing the joystick. I would have thought that was one element Sega would have been fully capable of developing

[@cujoedaman]

Nintendo: We have a port on the NES to add a disk drive (and will never use it). Sega: That's cute, kid.

[@kingoffanta7902]

Really thought the Patreon backer question was going in a different direction for a sec

[@jayjay-xk1zn]

I had a mega drive i remember filing off the corners of the slot where game plugs in so i can use foreign cartridges

[@GabePuratekuta]

Region breaking, a necessity for gracious living!

[@abx42]

Strangest story for me I frequented this antique shop in Portsmouth New Hampshire and they have a small electronics space I'd look over it once in awhile and one day I found a PlayStation one $150 games all with a decent condition for 15 bucks I snatched the box I paid the bill and I ran out wish I kept the lot but I sold most of it for profit.

[@JillyMaysHere]

This is really interesting to learn about. Thank you!

[@Sly88Frye]

I don't know who that guy was that was holding up that all in one Sega console but for some reason I just found him to be awesome I'm not sure why I did but it was just that hats or just his pose like his intentional awkward yet coolness I don't know I just thought he was awesome! Maybe we'll see more of him?

[@tron3entertainment]

I had a Genesis and loved it. Simply too many add-ons. Had they made a new 32bit system coupled with the CD drive, it would have been a killer system for years.

[@starsiegeplayer]

That was the Saturn?

[@antivanti]

I had a different floppy drive addon for my MegaDrive but it was not exactly official hardware but it allowed me to make backups of the games I owned... and the ones I rented at the video store 😉 It was called the Super Magic Drive

[@Just.A.T-Rex]

Did you mean mega disk interceptor?

[@brichan1851]

Another wonderful piece of video game history. Thank you, Madame Decade. I would love to see you do a future video on SEGA going to software only, SEGA arcade games, and the regular old 8-Bit NES/Famicom. If you’ve done any of these already, my apologies for not catching them… yet.

[@archimagirussancti7956]

It's an American subject, but have you seen the X-band? It was a modem and online multiplayer device/service for the Genesis and SNES. Not sure if it was in the UK or Europe, but it was definitely here in the US and it was really cool

[@SBXIII]

Pausing during the answer to the Patreon question to say this: I live in southern Ontario, roughly an hour-s drive from Pearson International Airport (YYZ) near Toronto. I see Amish people in and around my city all the time, and you gotta drive straight through Amish country to get to my Aunt & Uncle's place in Listowel. Also, judging from the white sticker on the bottom corner of the front of the case, that game was probably sold by Microplay at some point before you got it.

[@tylerbrunton7696]

I miss Microplay so much. The location in Peterborough rented out computer games, which essentially meant if you could get a no-CD patch, or owned a burner, you could grow an enormous library for very little, and I did. :)

[@nyrol1]

I was thinking she may have gotten it from St. Jacob’s Farmer’s Market, about an hour south of TO. I’ve found games there in random places.

[@TheRealDustinNunn]

A Sega Genesis is never complete without the Sega CD and Sega 32X add-ons. Mark Bussler from Classic Game Room said it best. He said "Optimus Prime is never complete without his trailer."

[@gooddesign9991]

04:20 - oh look. she's using her foot to push the disk.. such a honorable act to a sacred console!

[@arri275555]

I got to experience Sega TV because one of my friends had it. It was awesome and ahead of it's time.

[@AzraelThanatos]

I remember the bits about the other disc based thing and bits on it in a magazine about it being a potential solution to the memory issues the early Sega CD had (Not sure about the later one) which caused a lot of issues with families because you had a limited number of save slots for any of your CD games. Essentially using a 3.5 as a a memory card for the system was what the local stores seemed to think it would be there while potentially working with other things as well.

[@greenkoopa]

The memory cartridges were sold commercially, I've never been able to tell if there were 3rd party though I think it was all Sega's

[@AzraelThanatos]

@@greenkoopa There were some sold, but not that many of them showed up in stores. I only remember seeing them once at a store and they cost more than the genesis games at the time...if i remember right the new games were around $49.99 and the memory one was $64.99. They also didn't work as well between different Genesis systems...I had the CD that mounted entirely under the system and a friend had the side one...it didn't recognize his saves on mine with games.

[@aeonjoey3d]

SUBSCRIBED! love the pre-cap, love your style of vid, great info, presentation and editing. thumbsup

[@ichrius]

Golly. One of the strongest visions I have seen.

[@andrewroberts6505]

I love the tune playing off the beginning of the video is the Jungle zone from Sonic on the Master System ^_^ Nostalgia!!

[@joshblaylock948]

i have a lot of fond memories of the genesis and cd. loved them never heard of the fdd tho thank u

[@ninjazhu]

that explains why my 3rd party mega drive keyboard works with BASIC on the mega drive - it was already capable officially to drive a keyboard!!!

[@MaxAbramson3]

We'd found by the mid-90s that a bone stock SEGA Genesis was capable of 3D graphics, sound, and video to rival the early PlayStation launch games. Games like Toy Story, Street Fighter II, and Adventures of Batman & Robin proved that add ons and the Saturn weren't necessary for the system to compete. In fact, it would've been easy to upgrade the sound, up the VRAM to its originally designed 128KB VRAM, offer a 4K (4,096 color palette) version that played those 32- and 40-megabit games. Indeed, the maximum cartridge size was 128-megabits, and we've seen how good some of the latest releases have been for the Genesis. There are still tens of millions of these working consoles out there, and SEGA could've simply put their money into limit pushers, better SDKs, and marketing to maintain their lead until the Dreamcast was ready for launch. Hardware and software rotation, scaling, and 2,000 polygon/sec 3D graphics was possible, and even some Doom-like games were released at the bitter end of its life.

[@hicknopunk]

Quick disks need many metal moving parts, but it is also much faster than the Sony 3.5" floppy.

[@DanielKoolboy]

Awesome video im glad to meet youre channel

[@kadosho02]

Wait, Lady Decade & Top Hat "Strange Adventures in a Strange Land" I like that idea

[@alexsuriano4712]

Thanks for answering my question and props for getting the last name right! What a crazy story!

[@daniellefebvre1171]

From the picture you have shown this was not a poutine. It makes me angry that someone tries to sell that as a poutine! Give it another chance next time you're in Canada.

[@rick9021090210]

@4:19 Uhhhhhhh... lovin' that foot action... xD . Cheers!

[@RedRanger2001]

Well, at least the side slot didn't go to waste, thanks to the Mega CD module...

[@theblubus]

I have no idea how you continue to dig up these obscure corners of the gaming world but I am always grateful for the work you're doing! Thank you nerdy metal mum!!!

[@ageg3572]

The story time at the end 😂 hilarious!

[@Sarge92]

i find myself liking this channel alot not for pervy reasons or anything like that but her delivery and interests in the field differ to your average stereotypical retro guy and its great getting to see all the stuff from a fresh perspective

[@HelloKittyFanMan.]

At least the Nintendo64's floppy disk drive is a Zip drive, so its disks can hold a ton more then those old low-capacity systems like _standard_ floppy disks and drives.

[@jimbarry3856]

Nice choice regarding the background music...(Batman - Sega Genesis/Mega Drive)

[@ScavengerFX]

Thanks for this video! I never knew there was ever a planned FDD for the Genesis!

[@nucflashevent]

I dare say this kinda seemed like a "no brainer" for Sega in regard to the cost of floppy disks vs. solid state memory on carts. Though for sake of posterity, it's likely better they *didn't* release it as I have no idea of the longevity of even high quality floppy disks compared to the game carts (which as far as I know have no expiration, save more replacing the button batteries on those which have it, etc.)

[@dsj66u]

Sega how you loved a add-on we love you for your crazy flops

[@nicotoscani1707]

which man writes this and tells u about gaming history like this lady? u clearly just an actor

[@danieldavis2055]

Holy crap... Imagine paying almost a thousand dollars in 80s money for a console floppy drive. That's almost three grand today...

[@MrHunterseeker]

I never see anyone talk about the addon for the sega genesis/mega drive that allowed you to connect it to your satellite dish for the sega channel? Did that addon get memory holed too? I remember it because I had the channel on my 12 foot tall dish I had in my yard, and it was a thing all through the late 80s. They apparently kept it on air for a few years.

[@evilstarlegacy]

Me watching the video : Me getting to the part when you dunk on Poutine :

[@afriend9428]

*there were disc drives floating in Hong Kong and Taiwan during that time you can play disc games copied from Mega Drive carts the same time as the Super Nintendo disc drives back then!* 💡

[@FishcatGames]

We had Sega Channel as a kid! I had no idea how ahead of its time it was

[@brandonsutton3714]

I wouldn't classify BoF 3 as a retro game just yet, but I get where you're coming from. That's a hell of a find, though! Definitely one of my all time favorite games!

[@Cpgeekorg]

I'm in the US. I've seen several segacd addons (in use even), but I've still never seen an amiga cd in person. Amiga's were all that big here in the states.

[@joshb6470]

imagine a pass through adapter that would allow for the sega CD and FDD being connected at once!!! Shut up and take my money

[@quarters_cp3754]

It can’t just be me but that slogan a necessity for gracious living is the best part of lady decades videos.. put a patent on that seriously 🎉

[@channelI748]

Be interesting to see any test software developed maybe an OS. It wouldn't have been the easiest being a tile based system.

[@Johnnie_reacts]

Yea lady decade. You have totally awesome videos.

[@martinmaunder2852]

thx again me lady for another cool vid :)

[@RidinWithMyLocsOn]

Nice digging, miss my old Sega 8bit with Alex Kidd ^^

[@TheGodOfAllThatWas]

Hey Oceanic Cable.... that's my local cable company. (or well it was? It was a time warner subsidiary, officially took on the Time Warner Cable branding in the 00's , and is now just spectrum). I remember those ads, and one of my neighbors had the sega channel. I was still using a NES then. I interned for them in like 99, they gave me some of the old sega channel stuff... Nothing too important basiaclly just a sega genesis and a sega channel unit. I don't think I've ever tried plugging that thing in. I really should.

[@coyoteartist]

The Disk System kiosks were in places until 2003. They just stopped making new games for them in 1992 which makes it a short life. I guess it's just the number of places of those 10,000 they intended that wanted to keep them around wasn't that big is what you're saying and why they would stop making games for it.

[@DaveVoyles]

I had no idea this thing even existed

[@adariepennant3389]

I would like to see, Microsoft + sony + nintendo + sega = joint forces team up and make a super ultimate console together. 🤝💯💥✔🔥

[@hosam7609]

There won't be a console, each will make an accessory and they will all unite Combatler V style to form a 500 ft. console 😎

[@jackofallgamesTV]

And add Atari, Intellivision, Colecovision, Bally and Magnavox.

[@GabePuratekuta]

Like the Triforce with more versatile tech?

[@ithydoodles]

That's how I got my second copy of BoF 4 for maybe $2.50. I gave my mom some cash to use if she found any games when she went to this one flea market thing and she found that, vandal hearts 2, ff8, ff9, re directors cut and a few other games at $2.50 each. My original copy of BoF 4 was stolen from me.

[@nicholasantonson7296]

I watched this video at 2 hours old

[@RonOverdrive]

NGL while it may not have sold well if released, it would have been pretty damn cool to have my Genesis double as a computer.

[@ninjazhu]

In 1983, 3.5" discs were not really more common than 3" - they were just both uncommon. In 1984/5, 3" became common due to Amstrad but... ultimatley not as common as 3.5" by the early 90s. 3" drives can be found in Amstrad (CPC, PCW, Spectrum +3), Sega SC3000, Tatung Einstein and potentially other less common micros.

[@foxdavani4091]

Finding a game amongst breakfast items is awesome. You go lady decade. Only thing I find amongst breakfast items is coffee.

[@louistournas120]

They have Amish gamers in Canada.

[@johnsilva1773]

Lmao! I live in a fairly large city, Fort Wayne, Indiana and we are very diverse. We also have Amish here, they’re great people!

[@Power2All]

Your voice reminded me of someone, and I don't mean it as a jab at you. Jen from IT Crowd... I can hear already in your voice the following line: "This, gentleman... Is the INTERNET!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@raybombs]

Lady Decade, a necessity for gracious living! 🙂

[@triplehsheartattack8515]

Thats a fake gum desease commercial at the start

[@kaidzaack2520]

“That’s a mouthful!” 😂 Amiga 32 had also an add-on to make it a “full computer” - sx32 or so… Nice toe work btw…😉 Have a nice WE y’all…

[@omegajackson]

That “undertaker/kane” line got me 😂😂😂😂😊

[@GabePuratekuta]

Where did it take you to? I swear I'll rescue you!

[@jeromethompson5848]

I thought she was going to make a megazord reference because all the of those things came together

[@GabePuratekuta]

Or a Voltron reference.

[@Tech-NO-City]

I build bang busses for a living. If you would like I could send one of my drivers over to pick you up.

[@edgardeitz5746]

The graphical tablet was eventually reworked into the Sega Pico...

[@BaneMcDeath]

Did anyone get their hands on the prototype, disks, potential software, tablet, and keyboard? What haul that'd be.

[@demonology2629]

Just when I thought I knew every single add-on

[@A1OFFENDER]

Great peronality

[@jjhack3r]

This lady is a hidden gem 💎

[@kamikaze82]

...as it's known in the old testament. Well done, Lady.

[@kaisercreb]

the Genesis being turned into a computer wouldnt have been that weird. it has a motorola 68000 cpu like the amiga or atari ST and also a z80 like the zx spectru, amstrad, msx, TRS-80.

[@louistournas120]

Also, there was a game cartridge for the Atari 2600 called Programming. I saw it in a small magazine that came with one of my games. I think you needed a special controller that had a keypad.

[@ressljs]

From a hardware perspective, it's certainly not a stretch. But from a marketing perspective, I don't really see it working. Add ons never did that well, and I don't see that many people buying into this computer upgrade to a game system.

[@Shinmsl]

In hindsight it does seem a bit ridiculous how much they wanted to create makeshift computers out of videogame consoles but it wasn't that strange in the 80s and early 90s it seems(not something that was happening in my country so I didn't experience it first hand). It probably made more sense to the Japanese market, since the famicom disk drive also had a keyboard, didn't it? I imagine space in a typical Japanese home is also a quite precious asset. But that didn't work as well in the American market, where I think parents were more than glad to buy the kids a console and keep them away of their work computer. That anecdote at the end was wild XD Fitting to be a sketch out of "the Office" show 😅

[@edman1357]

I still love the idea of console add-ons, but they've clearly been proven to be financial flop across multiple early consoles.

[@Anonymous-oh4xw]

You said it!

[@sGamester]

"Will take sega ages" the word ages is sega backwards food for thought🤔

[@johneysupergd7796]

Whay if the sfd addon was released but not the sega cd? Then we would,ve mumbled now on youtube with things like “what if the sega cd was released” or “what would,ve be the potential of it” etc,, So am glad it didn’t happened that way.