The Failure of Sega's First Console! - Sega SG 1000 : Gaming History Documentary

In today's video, we look at the history of the Sega SG-1000, the first-ever Sega console and the first sega home console to go up against Nintendo. This prequel to the Sega Master System came out in 1983 and went one on one with the Nintendo Famicom in the first console war between the Japanese companies. #Sega #SegaHistory #mastersystem
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Additional Footage & Gameplay Sources
• Top 25 SG-1000 Games
Top 25 SG-1000 Games
Matt Flin
• Sega SG 1000 10 Games ...
Sega SG 1000 10 Games Worth Playing
Retro Tuna
• Best SEGA Arcade Games...
Best SEGA Arcade Games Classics
TR Old School Gamer
www.msx.org/wiki/Sega_SG-1000
• Arcade Game: Congo Bon...
Arcade Game: Congo Bongo (1983 Sega)
Old Classic Retro Gaming
• Video
H.E.R.O (1985) [SG-1000]
Oberon Gaming
• Let's Play H.E.R.O (At...
Let's Play H.E.R.O (Atari 2600)
TheLimeyDragon
• SG-1000 Longplay [24] ...
SG-1000 Longplay [24] Star Jacker
World of Longplays
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SG-1000
segaretro.org/SG-1000

[@LadyDecade]

As stated in this video, going forward I am going to be recording parts of these episodes every Wednesday on twitch.tv/ladydecade - so follow me there now!

[@scroatworx2339]

i dont know about "40lb heavier" i see one hell of a sexy woman that i would love to "motorboat" with all day & night!

[@usmanchughtai1751]

I like you, you’re cute

[@sharptoothtrex4486]

The truth is the Sega SG-1000 did not come to North America due to Atari and Intellivision consoles sold.

[@SNKev411]

Why do people hate on her she gives great analysis in detail of Video games

[@jasonjones7461]

No idea. I've watched lots of diff retro game channels and this is one of the best imo

[@micktaylor9332]

Probably because they can't stand the fact a woman knows a lot more than they do about gaming and game systems. Pathetic really.

[@SNKev411]

Haters going to hate

[@UberNeuman]

Almost as impressive as Sega's SG-1000 was the Sega President's comb-over.

[@aderek79]

Legend has it he only had six hairs which he wrapped around his head. /s

[@perrytheplatypus4620]

As soon as I clicked, I knew LD would start the video off with the classic “a necessity for gracious living” intro. Never gets old.

[@HatStackMike]

I had no idea that the SG-1000 even existed for a LONG time. It’s really interesting learning about it and its history. Great video as always!

[@mehere3013]

where have you been, other youtubers have covered this like Kim justice

[@Ru_bizzy]

Yeah I only knew about it after watching KZbinrs talk about it

[@thenerderrant4293]

I love these obscure system videos. It's great to just know about gaming history beyond the commonly talked about stuff (like, well, most history). A suggestion for a future topic is the Nintendo Color TV-Game systems.

[@IsaacKuo]

My family visited Japan in 1984 so I remember seeing Sega and Nintendo consoles in stores ... I was just confused about what was available and not being able to understand Japanese didn't exactly help either. But this whole SG-1000 SG-3000 MkII MkIII stuff sure looked intimidating in the magazine ads.

[@HiNRGboy]

There was also the Epoch Super CassetteVision I think came out the same time as Famicom and SG-1000... This was the beginning of the classic Japanese consoles! Then you had the early 80's gaming computers all released around that time like MSX, PC88, PC98, X1, FM-7/77... That's one hell of a lineup for 1983 in Japan!!

[@OpenLogicEFI]

13:49 I am in tears laughing at this entire scene. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣 I love your sense of humor Lady Decade. Don't ever change.

[@mr.mmarkham9014]

I really don't remember the Sega SG 1000. I grew up in the States and I don't recall ever hearing about it. Thanks for filling in the historical gaps. And for all those people out there dissing the host of this channel, could you please stop. She is an excellent host and does a brilliant job of explaining the history of the systems she reviews. Please keep up the great content.

[@WizardClipAudio]

Omg,.., I never thought of top loading cartridges looking like tombstones before. Now I can’t un-think of it!

[@tylerbrunton7696]

Bahahahaha!! Your message to the mutant incels was hilarious, surprising and fully on point. You're a great host, your videos are super entertaining and your fans are numerous.

[@1026cvalle]

I found that extremely hilarious!

[@perrytheplatypus4620]

highlight of the video

[@jimharrison2513]

Wait she makes fun of people? I guess I'm skipping this video then.

[@alistair4909]

@@jimharrison2513 oh hey it’s one of those mutant space incels lmao

[@tylerbrunton7696]

@@the-np4mr care to explain your seemingly antisemitic reply?

[@xcaluhbration]

How could something that looks like it's picture should be on the side of an ice cream truck fail? 🤔

[@russellsegui9215]

I've always loved lady decade but her mocking internet trolls is classic

[@joesretrostuff]

Omg that’s Grass Valley music from Road Rash in the background at 7:00 - basically my fav 8 bit tune ever

[@apanapane]

Never heard of this console before! Thanks for the introduction! :)

[@shanemartin6300]

I found this channel last week, and started listening to the videos while I work. After this video you have become my FAVORITE classic video game channel!

[@br3bid10]

When I was growing up, our first computer was the SC3000 which I think was a computer precursor to the SG1000. Pretty primitive but at the time it was a ton of fun!

[@visisydandthevoid]

Lady decade roasting trolls possibly deserves its own video series lol

[@jeremyandrews3292]

I was vaguely aware of the SG-1000 as basically a more primitive predecessor to the Master System that was Japan only, but I never knew that it was intended to compete head-to-head with the Famicom from the start. It also really changes how I view what Sega did later on. I always thought it seemed crazy or inexplicable that Sega kept trying to compete in the 1990s by releasing new systems on a very short cycle, desperately trying to offer better hardware. But it now seems like what happened with the Saturn being followed up by the Dreamcast wasn't unique at all, and Sega essentially churned out systems with updated specs trying to beat Nintendo in the 1980s, eventually hitting gold with the Genesis/Mega Drive. It seems that it's actually the Genesis that was the fluke... the Saturn and the Dreamcast were actually more representative of Sega's typical strategy of churning out revised hardware until they have better specs hoping it will get them additional sales. The only thing that really changed was in the 1990s, the new hardware they released wasn't backwards compatible like the Master System was, so the strategy wound up angering people who invested in the library of the previous console even more than before. I doubt the Dreamcast being backwards compatible with Saturn games would have done much to save Sega, but it certainly couldn't have hurt if they'd tried it.

[@greenkoopa]

It would have definitely helped them move units of Saturn games...Sega hurts so much to love lol

[@TRJ2241987]

@@greenkoopa there were no Saturn games on shelves by the time Dreamcast came out in USA. They were already LONG gone by then. Sega had literally no presence in American stores for a while. Except Funcoland.

[@franwex]

That’s a very interesting way of looking at it actually. The Genesis (in the USA) was the fluke.

[@seamusoblainn4603]

That's the concensus many of us have seemingly arrived at, that we had it all backwards. Some parallels there with Commodore as they lucked out with the C64, and then regionally with the Amiga in the UK, Netherlands, Germany etc, but they were never mentally at the races even when momentarily out on top. It helps put it all to bed in a sense by knowing as sad as it all was, it wasn't likely to be any other way given the actors involved.

[@zacharyrollick6169]

I really wish that Nintendo had made an NES adapter for the SNES like how Sega made a Master System adapter for the Genesis/MD.

[@aintgotshtkid4748]

I thought I like you when you were talking about the console wars, but when you mentioned the Monday night wars at the same time I knew I loved you.

[@cujoedaman]

I'm still amused how these game companies didn't want to do computers and focus on consoles, but always seem to turn the consoles into computers with the peripherals and disk drives.

[@grahamfield6173]

great stuff, ,the amount of research you do is always very impressive,,, thank you

[@CasperEgas]

I have a PAL SEGA SC-3000H. I like it. It can use a SCART cable and takes Master System pads, which are way better than the original joy sticks. The games are a bit simple, but there are quite a lot of fun ones.

[@rogeliomontoya4818]

it takes lots of hard work to produce videos like this. Well Done. Pay no attention to the rants haters.

[@hanonibou]

14:29 I like how there's a typo on literally the only word of the game

[@johnellis3383]

I was always curious about the SG 1000, great video thank you for the info. You truly are a necessity for gracious living!

[@slappymcphee]

Was proud of you for going so long not feeding the trolls, but here we are again. Smh. Just let it go. You have proven that you are a capable presenter.

[@MarkMarkMark]

Yes yes yes I've been waiting for you to do this exact video. Thabk you!!!

[@antonnym214]

Those were nice graphics for the day. I was especially impressed by the Q*bert, but the driving games, everything looked really good, and the Z-80 was about twice as powerful as the cut-down 6502 the Famicom used. (If anyone thinks that's a bold statement, I coded professionally in Z-80 and 8080 Assembly. So shut up.) With twice as many games in 1983, it's a shame the SG-1000 didn't fare better, but they clearly used their experience to engineer a really great successor in the Master System. All good wishes.

[@CrazyBossDK]

Yes the Z80 is a nice processor. I think the 6502 was not bad, it had fewer instructions, but i guess it was faster per cycle than the Z80 ? I dont know the 6502 at all. But Like the Z80 :) the Z80 might had been the ARM Processor of the Past, it was used in so much stand alone hardware, but nowadays I doubt anyone work with Z80. But it was a life for long time and produced for a long run. They planed A Z800 i think but it was never released.

[@joshglenn8212]

And the academy award for best dramatic actress goes to... Lady Decade!

[@phantasticphantom9457]

Cool review, great channel!

[@TheMinchio]

Really nice video! And interesting information about Sega not being so open at the beginning.

[@AcornElectron]

0:50 you left the Clinique box in shot K upside down top right 😉😂

[@zmbdog]

1:27 Worst comb-over ever! Hell, that's not even a comb-over, it's a _comb-around_ !

[@aaronlea-art]

What game does this background music belong to? Specifically at the 4:20 mark.

[@harrkev]

Great video, but one minor complaint. When your face is on-screen, the audio is much louder than when you are doing a voice-over. Maybe make the two volumes about the same? Otherwise, love the vids. Thanks.

[@jesuszamora6949]

The irony? Nintendo mostly left the arcades behind when the NES became famous. Sega never really had anything to worry about in the arcade space from them.

[@lazarushernandez5827]

Yep. Sega's CEO was always worried about the boogieman is in his head, the 32X came about because he was worried about the Atari Jaguar taking market share before the Saturn arrived in the west. 🤦‍♂

[@jesuszamora6949]

@@lazarushernandez5827 That anyone was worried about the Jaguar makes me giggle.

[@jesuszamora6949]

@@jacksonteller3973 But at the same time, the Lynx was a non-entity and the ST was well along in its decline.

[@coreymarch9428]

Love when she attacks the trolls on here so funny. It's so rare most KZbinrs ignore the trolls so refreshing to see her unleash on them

[@darryldavis9488]

Whats the name of the game song that was playing right before this video ended? Love the tune!

[@KevinTuyau]

Saw the PC version for sale in an antique store in Australia last year. Unfortunately I did not have the money to buy it then.

[@justinmohns8279]

I love the Bridge Zone song from Sonic 8-bit.

[@b4dt3mp3r4]

I actually have the rare model 1 sg1000 picked it up cheap coz the controller was unresponsive but that's easy fix and i modded av ports into the back and I actually love the system got some good games on it. And you could actually play the sega cards on the model 1 as well with an adapter they sold.

[@MiharuHiramu]

My favorites for this system is Girl's Garden and Doki Doki Penguin Land. They are charming and have catchy music.

[@scottwilliamclarke6442]

I love all these lesser known systems, I own a few of the 'failed' systems, commodore plus4, dreamcast, CDTV and CD-I 470, i noticed your cd-i at the beginning of your video (I was watching Star Trek on mine tonight) Have you played Atlantis on cd-i?

[@MeeplandHeights]

I love learning about all these game consoles. My parents couldn't afford for me when I was a kid so this is all such a new world to me even though I've always had an interest in it and grew up through some interesting eras in gaming (I just got in now much later than my adult friends haha)

[@Heka41]

This channel deserves more views

[@tgheretford]

13:45 - "Hey! Hey! I may be ugly and hate-filled but I.. erm.. what was the third thing you said?"

[@legend4life205]

loving the classic games vids that heard about but never had at the time other than the snes the ps1 onwards but managing to put a reference about the monday night wars too i defo made the rite choice in subscribing. keep up the great work :)

[@micktaylor9332]

All the old master system game music in the background reminds me of my childhood with my master system lol. 👍👍👍 Then I got a SNES.

[@stephenmarriott369]

I love the SG-1000, it takes pride of place in my Sega console collection

[@VirajKathwadia]

And so it should.

[@entozoon]

What's the music around 10 minutes? I can't quite place it and it's bugging me..

[@entozoon]

Oh, I think it's Space Harrier!

[@superpaul79]

1:27 That man is definitely not balding. He has a thick and glorious lion's mane. Thor himself would envy that beautiful, endless coiffure.

[@bredmond812]

haha, but all jokes aside, I love your channel. It has great content and you give the subject matter a good treatment and your presentation is lively and grounded. Thank you!

[@mscottjohnson3424]

13:40 best part of the vid

[@spector969]

14:18 Best bit of the video!😂🤣

[@rubendarioreymartinez2073]

Muy buena historia de la sega sg-1000 , buen vídeo . Saludos desde colombia 🇨🇴

[@Polycomical]

This is probably the first review video I would describe as Lynchian.

[@cliffjumper1984]

always wanted to play a few games and/or own the console, since I was surprised ar how much I loved the SMS. I didbt get a SMS until Xmas 2012 from my wife. right when I was starting to collect as much as I was gaming. as well as learning more about retro stuff not from USA. I gotten a snes mini, and had it modded with a 1TB hard drive with 43 consoles on it. wasn't really that impressed. but came here for your vids!!! and love learning anything video game related. thanks for the upload!!! currently, you are one that the top 15 youtubers I've been watching faithfully new uploads. game on!!!

[@greenkoopa]

🐢 *I walk left in your comment section* 🐢 I'm Greeeeen Koopa and this has been a great way to stay in shape

[@Rayzor_Blaydez]

Fantastic segment calling out those cringey incel comments hahaha. I love it, make them cry some more Lady Decade I'm here for it 😂

[@MrAPOD]

Wow! I never heard of Sega SG 1000. Thanks for a very interesting video. #MuchLove

[@jonniefast]

if you have an everdrive for your sega genesis you can play all the sg-1000 and master system games 🤔

[@tmcttf8087]

12:53 ....Sonic was never *"edgy the hedgey",* but a certain *"faker"* fits the title.

[@charliefulton4639]

Been playing little bit of SG-1000 on modded Wii it got few good games, but I can tell why the NES was the dominate force hear in the west.

[@AlexDoesYouTubes]

14:23 Holy fucking shit I'm dying laughing. Thank you KZbin for bring Lady Decade into my life.

[@FateReaper5]

Thanks for the awesome video! Don’t let the trolls get you down!!

[@aqualung2000]

What a time to be a kid! Sure, there were school-yard shouting matches about which machines were better, but the important thing was that we were being freed from the _insane_ monetization of games that the arcades were imposing on us. Unfortunately, history repeats itself. But the 8- and 16-bit consoles and home computers were awesome :) \o/

[@youneszreika]

What are your thoughts and opinions on retro recreations ? Like the psOne PS1 , nEs mini etc etc.

[@daviddamasceno6063]

Always wanted to know abou this one. Really dumb idea from Sega to not want 3rd party support. Fortunately, the Master System was a much better console, and I consider that one a much better alternative for the Famicon.

[@garu629]

I'm always shocked that people post mean comments on videos. I really enjoy your videos! Who can say anything bad about a beautiful woman discussing video games?

[@RetroRespawn]

This is one of my wish list consoles, though I'm not sure why.

[@bigbossonair]

i love your videos, but i think they'll improve if you match your volume levels between when you're on camera and when you're on mic. I had you turned up and nearly fell out of my seat (i know mostly my fault). Keep up the great work!

[@damin9913]

Outta all the Sega consoles the Genesis was Sega best console they ever made and they threw it away like idiots

[@666Entity666]

I just love this stuff! =)

[@igorkrugly4842]

You gotta balance the volume level between cuts :)

[@shadownet_nft]

You make me feel brand new

[@deadmetalbr]

I don't know if anyone's commented this, but spotty circuitry wasn't the only reason launch-era Famicoms were recalled; very early units shipped with square-shaped soft rubber A and B buttons on the (hard-wired for some reason I'll never understand apart from it being a design trend among Pong clones) controller. The shape and composition of the buttons made it too easy for them to slide under the controller housing and get stuck, an unacceptable design flaw that would have tarnished the public's perception of the young platform. Ya gotta ace the little stuff. Here we are 30-some years later and we're _still_ bitching about the placement of the Master System's pause button.

[@danieldizon5306]

No-one is going to talk about that comb over???

[@jonniefast]

the dina game system played sg-1000 titles and colecovision carts as well ; its quite rare but i think they anticipated a north american release but it never officially came / this would have been the only way to play in the USA aside from importing

[@jonniefast]

i think they called it the "master system" because it was backwards compatible with all previous sega hardware (the japanese version takes the sg-1000 card catcher +carts

[@gottfriedneuner3721]

i think the true tragedy of this is that they made a console that was at the absolute top of it's game, until the very day it was released.

[@jacobreed7959]

I just love her channel and pretty British accent. TopHat is a very lucky man to have such a wonderful wife and partner in life. Cheers and hello to the both of you. Hello from Seattle Washington USA 🇺🇸 + 🇬🇧 = best friends

[@velvetdogg7375]

So if they were more friendly maybe Sega would have gotten wind of how cool Nintendo toy was going be maybe they could have come up with something better than P. O. S. 1000

[@xenos_n.]

Lady Decade, you really feed the trolls too much lol.

[@mervynstent1578]

Were they compatible with the later Master System? As the hardware is the same!

[@joandarc441]

You should talk about the new fanmade Sonic E.X.E game

[@harrisonallen651]

Wasn’t the powerhouse which we knew from the 90s then

[@erygion]

I love your videos and that breakdown of certain "commenters" 🤣 was gold!

[@kumquatqueen5975]

It's tangential, but is there a connection between the Sega Congo Bongo game and the island of Kongo Bongo featured in the animated Donkey Kong series? Yes, I was one of like five people that actually watched that show when it aired; hell if I know why...

[@TheJeremyHolloway]

Good vid…. but Atari “two-six hundred”? It’s pronounced “twenty-six hundred”. One point of pondering that seems almost relevant today is why Gulf+Western [Paramount] didn’t approach Warner over the possibility of merging Sega with Atari Inc. Sure, The Crash was happening in North America with the console biz at the time but the arcade biz had already recovered. An Atari/Sega merger in the coin-op biz then would’ve been epic. As for the “relevance” to today…Warner and Paramount are toying with the idea of fully merging their businesses.

[@adventuretaco7140]

Lady decade and top hat rules!!

[@mari-du7wl]

Whats the most obscure consoles you guys know about, for me its probably this

[@uyscuti5376]

Was not ready for that aside about your comment section lol

[@Yakobu90]

I saw this being recorded give me money!!!!!!!!!!! I mean. Hi. I imagine the SG 1000 is a bit like the ZX Spectrum in terms of its fans except more exclusive.

[@LatitudeSky]

Sega should have made a boxing game where two players in Sega-logo outfits fight to the death. Because Sega did few things better than coming up with good ideas and then working as hard as possible to screw it up. Like a Sega boxer punching another Sega boxer right in the face until one dies. Sigh. Maybe it is because they were first an American company Service Games rather than a pure Japanese company founded with Japanese business ideals.

[@MarkWhich]

I had the SC-3000 With a Hard Keyboard, not that horrible soft-touch one.

[@wastelander138]

Ripping into the incels just broke me 🤣 fantastic

[@jonniefast]

girls garden 🥺💕

[@Mamiya645]

Girl's Garden remade would make a lovely pick up and play cheap little game that won't need a ridiculous lot of marketing and CG and voice talent. They've got the Yakuza game engine, let's go, play little Haruka going around to make a flower wreath for (adoptive) papa Kiryu and uncle Majima.

[@dethharmoniker2893]

Doesn't Ojisan mean Uncle?

[@noahbolesta2587]

Fucking ouch 😂 I don't take any of it to heart except the not gaining weight part lmfao Go get em' !