Gooday Gaming Guests - SEGA Systems Beyond Genesis

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

The CDX and JVC X-EYE are really fun.

Alright, so today was a busy day. I did my first face-to-face video on YouTube. You can check it out. In all my glory, as I'm aging. I really like getting old. It's fun. I find it very fascinating watching the body kind of whittle away here. But my mind is really sharp, so that's the cool part. Alright, so what I decided to do was for my system it's a little bit later in the day but I'm still going to do it and it's going to be I did Sega Genesis we did all the 1601 1631s and now we're going to go to the Sega 32 times boot up.

I think. Hold on. I might have just lost my... I'll change the thought here. Something just happened. I just lost them give me a second here it didn't go

um um there's a reason I'm at a stop sign I'm not sure why why is it maybe it's the end of this thread

let's just try a new thread then I call them Maybe it's the end of this thread. Let's just try a new thread then. I call them threads. It's the last conversation. There's a stop there. I wonder why that is. So I've been having a little problem with ChatGPT these days. Let's try this. There's the line I'm looking for.

Sega 32 times 32 times boot process. Let's see what we get. Let's see if it'll do it for me. There's the add-on.

Sega Genesis Mega Drive, that boosts the console's capability, allowing it to render 32 graphics. Power on hardware initialization, the power system, both Sega Genesis and 32, so it's an add-on. You're going to either put it in the

regular 1601 Genesis or the 1631. And when I did the boot process the other day, we learned that the newer models, the worse they got with the audio and video chips. So you want to have the Sega Genesis 1601 high-definition graphics board.

Unless you get the 1631 with the version VA3 or VA4. Okay, so, when the system power is on, the Sega Genesis system is not initialized. Genesis Z80 processor initializes check.

The Genesis begins to start up the Z80 processor and the 680,000 CPU. So that's what's inside of the 32. The Z80 checks the cartridge slot to detect the 32 times cartridge is present. The 32-time unit includes its own BIOS that the Genesis can detect. Transfers of control. If the 32-time detects it, the Genesis 68000 CPU temporarily

halts its operation and allows the 32x hardware to take over function. 32x dual SH-2 processor initializes so the Z80s in the Genesis as well as the 6 CPU now we're getting to the 32 which is dual sh-2 processor handles most of the computing and rendering for the 32 times games the 32 times BIOS executes a series of checks including confirming it's 32 hardware. Checks for compatibility, game cartridge, executable code. The SH-2 processor takes rendering and then the CPU, Genesis 68000 CPU does the rest. Video signal handling processor, the 32 times renders. And then the Genesis takes over. Game execution, it's a combination of Genesis and 32.

Debugging or boot issues. If Sega 32 fails to boot, checks ribbon could mean you need that jumper cable you need like really need a college education to figure out how to run 32 times on shows the 32 cartridge clean do the power base add-on how about the Sega power base converter boot there's also the regular 32 I mean the regular Sega power base I have some I had some of those at one time and I had a converter to take a power base converter boot process so a power base all known as the Sega Master System allows Sega Genesis Mega Drive, it's not called Mega Drive here in the United States,

it must be a European thing, to play Sega Master System SMS games. The Genesis powers on with the Motorola 6800 and the Z-Log Z80. The Powerbase converter physically maps the master system's cartridges. It disables the Genesis 68000 entirely, allowing the Z80 processor, which is native to the Megasyster system, to take over control. So it doesn't use the CPU just uses the Z80

processor interesting so I think the games were a little bit less all right so there's also a lot of the regular up power base as well we're gonna stick with this so it looks like the power base the converter that we're putting on top remember putting it inside the Sega Genesis you can do either one and so it bypasses the CPU on the Genesis because it's only eight bits so Sega Master systems are only 8-bit they were they was right there were earlier versions whereas 16-bit was Sega Genesis and then 32 times so we're actually going backwards

video output plus also for the 32 times not only do you need that jumper cable to the Genesis you also need another power adapter for the power base converter you don't need a power adapter or a jumper you just

plug in the cartridge right into that and add the little slide cards or the cartridge and now I understand because it's only 8-bit therefore it doesn't need another processor the game code executes the z80 processor backwards compatibility utilizes the back built-in backwards compatible feature designed to emulate the so a lot of these systems use inner emulation not actually not actually the chip of the original most versions of power base converter including a card slot to play master games not just cartridges yep light phaser compatibility requires requiring the light phaser like Sephira hot

compatible with CRT displays as yes this is not enhance or modify the light gun functionality hmm bios free booting the Sega Master System does not require a BIOS To come power does not boot on you got to check to clean the cartridge and all that stuff. Okay, so now let's go So then we so those are the two you put inside the Sega Genesis. So now let's take a Sega Genesis

either the 1601 or the 1631 and let's stick it to the side and put it in a Sega CD. Those are fun. I like those. I still have some of those. Sega CD boot. There's two some of those. Sega CD boot. There's two kinds of Sega CDs.

The top loader and then the double stack front loader, which are harder to find, the front loader. I don't have any more front loaders, but I do have some more top loaders, though. Sega CD boot process. So the Sega CD is an add-on as well. It doesn't do anything without the Genesis. Okay, so the Sega CD or Mega CD is the add-on.

But the Sega Genesis. And there's no on button or anything. And if your Sega doesn't work right. Your Genesis. You're never going to see the Sega CD. Then you're going to get the Sega CD to work. So. Power's on.

Same sort of Motorola. Same using it. And we're using the. Sega CD is being connected by the EX port. But not the one. There's an EX port. the original high-definition graphics Sega Genesis. It says it on the cover in the back. I always thought that was a video port back there, but it's an EX.

It's another EX port that was really never used. It was supposed to be for modems and something that uh in japan they had some sort of a modem something something but we're using one on the side with a little thing as you unslide it open and you put it on there uh it says genesis check support determine if the sega cd hardware is connected uh sega cdOS initializes onboard memory. Verifies the integrity of the CD. Initializes Sega CD's custom ASIC chip. Which has the CD drive controller.

Which CD drive controller. CD drive and BIOS splash screen. So then now you'll see a screen. When you turn on the Sega Saturn instead of seeing that you'll see the Sega CD screen come on when it's all together if the Sega CD sees a

if you have a disc I mean a cartridge in the Sega Genesis I think it boots to that first game discs look for a game disc, audio disc. Unsupported disc, it doesn't read it. If it valid, Sega's easy to detect. The system will load the game from the CD.

Night Shift, I have Night Shift. Dana Plato. That's the weird things about... Oh, I had Sewer Shark 2. Which is really weird. But it's all... A lot of it's mini-movies. The Sega CD games.

So they're really kind of weird. But fun. Scaling, rotating. But just because it's just so old video that it's like really bubbly. You can't really see anything anymore. But I do have night shift I just don't have an original case for it try to play the few times really almost

impossible play and sure the Sega DC talks about issues we understand that all right so how about that so that it's a Sega CD. So let's go. Let's switch it up a little. Let's go to a Sega Game Gear boot process. You've got to also remember there's the Sega Nomad. We'll do that one next. So Sega Game Gear has its own game cartridges.

It's an 8-bit handheld system. The Sega Nomad is a handheld that plays the regular cartridges. Pretty cool. I had one of those at one time. Didn't work, though. I sold it.

Oh, and Powered On Game Gear uses a... So there's only 8-bit games for the game gear lots of mods now that you can make them look a lot nicer i have a bunch actually i have three uh right next to me that i'm gonna take a poke at one of these afternoons video display processor sound processing unit memory Memory mapping. Cartridge ROM is mapped. RAM 8K internal memory. Z80 goes to 0x40's cartridge detection.

It does not have a BIOS. No cartridge searches and there's a blank screen. You don't get anything. Initializes game code to VDP sets up proper video sound I think those can go out to the TV I can't remember I know the Nomad you can resolution is 160 by 144 pixels but with a mod screen you can probably do a lot better than that I want to do that with my I have a few of them I just haven't had time. The primary processor is the Z80 at 3.5 megahertz responsible for executing the code. Large color palette is 4096 colors compared to the massive system 64 colors provide for channeled ROM so

troubleshooting blank screen to keep the cartridge the screens often go on those so let's do this let's go to the Sega Nomad that's got to be 16-bit those are hard to find I had one pretty much had just about every system ever made. I tried to. I resold pretty much all of them. But the only way to learn about stuff is to actually get them. But this one I don't think it worked when I had it. Sega Nomad.

I'm a big Sega fan of the process. Let's see. Now it should go. So we're going to go to Nomad. And then there's one that's even more fun. The Sega CDX. Yeah, that's like the Holy Grail.

That's really fun. I had a couple of those. Actually, some of them worked. And if you look through my videos, somewhere I took one or two apart. Alright, so the Nomad is a handheld version of the Sega boot processor Sega Nomad mirrors the Genesis so pretty much everything is the same mapping out X 0 X with three six zeros cartridge system RAM is 64k programmable sound generator the Nomad integrated 3.2 inch LCD screen has a built-in speaker the main processor is a Motorola Motorola the 68000 same one runs at 7.67 megahertz in our region NTSC and then a PAL it runs

at 7.61 so the PAL signal is only off by a little bit programmable hardware YM 2612 FM synthesizer portability power management runs on 6 AA batteries has an integrated 6 button controller on it screen no close

ok there's another Sega I can't think of it right now but I know the Sega CDX so all these if you type them on eBay like type in Sega CDX

and see how much they are they're really expensive Sega CDX boot process so also known as the Sega Multi Mega

in some some regions it's a compact compact hybrid console that combines the Sega Genesis Mega Drive and Sega CD Mega Drive into one single so you can put a cartridge and a CD in this little portable thing it's really cool same processor 6800 if you took a couple of those apart if you look at the videos you do really're like layers of all kinds of stuff in there. Sega's drive controller, Sega CD has a custom ASIC chip. No media system. Boots to the Sega BIOS interface cartridge boot 68 X 0 X with six arrows you insert CD will play CD or if you have a cartridge it'll default to the cartridge first I believe

I'm just kind of breathing through this for it because we're gonna do one more that's even more fun I had one of of those too. Wait, hold on. All right, so let's see what we're at here. Oh, doing good. Troubleshooting. Lots of electronics inside those. All right, so now let's go to this. This is one of my favorites.

I say this about all of them. A JVC-XI. A JVC-X-EYE boot process. Why am I jumping to that? Because that is another company that plays all the Sega CDs and cartridges. It's a really fun system. Process. When I first got it, I didn't realize. I thought there was games for it.

It's also called Victor Wondermegger in Japan. It's a hybrid console that combines Sega Genesis, Sega CD it's manufactured by JVC under under the license of Sega so it's still considered Sega so the same 6800 processor you can sit the cartridge it'll default to the cartridge first then go to the CD I had a really good working one I traded it away it was pretty fun though bio Sega

C is located in the memory valid checks the CD so after that it's pretty much the same but yeah definitely check out the JVC XI pretty. It's pretty fun. CD. It does have a karaoke functionality. Built-in game demos or BIOS animators. It must be a different region. Oh, I know what I got. I also have...

We'll do this one. Same CPU. Z80 CPU. Everything is pretty much the same. It's just a whole different design it's really fun just kind of breeze and throw it because it's basically the same stuff so let's go to the Sega we'll go Sega mark 3 there's another fun one and there's a computer with it too I think that's 8-bit though so we're going backwards

I'm trying to hit all the Sega's I can think of I had them all I had a Mark III let's see released in Japan it was Japan based part of the Sega 8-bit consoles so they only used the Z of the Sega 8-bit consoles.

So they only used the Z80. So anything 8-bit. For Sega they used the Z80 CPU at 3.58. Video VDP and program sound generator. Address 0x40 mapping 8 kilobytes of RAM so these were and you could add the computer keyboard to the mark 3 or mark 2 there's a mark there's one before I had a whole keyboard everything everything all set up. It was pretty cool. Again, I pretty much

had at least one of every system. Alright, so that's there. So that's the Sega Mark III. Let's go to what else did I just say I wanted to do? Sega Power Master. Power Base Master

boot process I'm just doing boots because it makes it easy to kind of understand what's going on Sega Power Base Master so not the converter that you put on the Sega it's it's own system Power Base all referred to the Sega Master

system was 8 bits that succeeded Mark 3 so I didn't know that so Sega Mark 3 was first and then the PowerBase came after but still 8 bit still the same Z80 processor 3.58 megahertz built in BIOS let's see that's pretty much there's another Sega and I can't think of, oh I know what I want to do

I have a Sega Master 2 but it's PAL, so everything is basically the same. Z80, VRAM, RAM. It says support resolution is up to 256x192 pixels with 32 color on screen. A power of 64 for for audio channels 8k RAM used for game logic temporary data 6k VRAM VRAM stores graphic data including tiles and sprites and the other day I talked about learned about what sprites are kind of a combination of little dots to make a character or an explosion

or something back then that's what a sprite is oh here we go built in games later the Sega system had including

built in games like Alex Kid and Miracle World so my Sega Master 2 which is a PAL version has that

Alex the Kid or Sonic the Hedgehog. If no media is detected. All right, so let's swap that one. So Sega. Yeah? Hold on. All right, so we'll just finish up with Sega Master 2. PAL version.

See if it's any different than the PAL version. Sega Master 2 PAL version. Streamline, coarse reduced. Widely released in PAL. Yeah, I don't think we have Sacred Master 2 here in the United States. Same. Z80. 3.58 megahertz.

Built-in BIOS. 8K to 32K. 8K RAM. And then it has Alex Kidd in the Miracle World. at least the one i does it says here there's also sonic the hedgehog but my pre-loaded game is the alexa kid i believe you need to have pal cartridges for that player input so the common theme is that Zlog Z80

for up to 8 bit I think and then you go into that other Motorola 68000 processor for like 16 and then the 32 adds something else to it RF only PAL version right that's my only has RF only no composite or audio video options

without modifications i have one for sale but um it's pretty fun all right so that's sega up to there i think it's a few more no i think i pretty much hit them all i can think of so that's a little boot process of all the Segas after the Genesis. But the Genesis obviously was incorporated in most of the ones I talked about. And then there were other ones that were kind of hybrids of it. So that's all I got for today. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Alright, have a good night.

Bye.