Hardware Heaven: Mark III
After buying one before lockdown, Nick’s had plenty of time to revisit Sega’s console
» MANUFACTURER: » COST:
Sega 1985 ¥15,000 (launch), £160+ (today, boxed), £80+ (today, unboxed)
A» YEAR:
lthough the SG-1000 surpassed Sega’s initial expectations following its launch in 1983, the console’s fortunes quickly faded due to competition from Nintendo’s technically superior Famicom. Sega’s response was the Mark III, an upgraded machine with considerably improved graphical capabilities and more RAM, as well as backwards compatibility with existing Sega 8-bit games and peripherals. While these upgrades helped Sega to maintain steady console sales, they didn’t contribute to a noticeable upturn in the company’s fortunes and the hardware achieved greater success overseas as the Master System. Japan would be the first region where the format was discontinued, with only two games released after the October 1988 launch of the Mega Drive.
The console’s design is close to that of the SG-1000 II, to the point that they can easily be mistaken for one another. The Mark III inherits its predecessor’s colour scheme and basic form factor, including the joypad holders on the sides and expansion port on the front. The most notable feature is the new card slot, which enables users to play Sega My Card games without the need for the Card Catcher peripheral. The console also includes a port for composite and RGB output, making it far more friendly to importers than its predecessors.
Mark III fact
■ Some Mark III consoles were bundled with the Telecon Pack – a low-powered transmitter and receiver bundle that enabled the console to be wirelessly connected to your TV.
PROCESSOR: 8-BIT Z80 CPU (3.58 MHZ)
RAM: 8KB MAIN MEMORY, 16KB GRAPHICS MEMORY
GRAPHICS: CUSTOM SEGA VDP, 256X192 DISPLAY, UP TO 32 COLOURS ON-SCREEN (FROM 64 PALETTE), 64 SPRITES PER FRAME
AUDIO: SN76496 PSG SOUND CHIP, THREE SQUARE WAVE CHANNELS, ONE NOISE CHANNEL
MEDIA: ROM CARTRIDGE (UP TO EIGHT MEGABIT), SEGA MY CARD
(UP TO 256 KILOBIT)