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Sega Mega-CD5555555
The '''Sega Mega-CD''' ([[Japanese language|Japanese]]: &#12513;&#12460;CD) is an add-on device for the [[Sega Mega Drive]] released in [[Europe]], [[Australia]] and [[Japan]]. The [[North America|North American]] version is called the '''Sega CD'''.

The device will allow the user to both play CD audio discs and specially designed game CDs. It can also play [[CD plus G|CD+G]] discs.

(contracted; show full)

The Sega CD had been announced at the [[Chicago]] CES on November [[1992]].

In the end, the Sega CD failed to convice American gamers, mostly due to the cost of the console. There just was not enough value for the price. Moreover, the game experience was little improved. 

Sound was likely to be better if it included some CD audio tracks, but on the average, conventional games looked the same.
 Sega wanted to showcase the power of the Sega CD, and so focused on the "FMV" games rather than importing "extended" games that only expanded ordinary games by taking advantage of the extra storage space of the CD media. Sega insisted on licensing and producing primarily "full motion video" games similar to earlier laserdisc games, that were universally panned by game reviewers.

The single speed CD drive added load times to all games, and the 64-color graphics and underpowered processor (for video rendering) made these full-motion games look terrible. Owing to these design flaws, people did not buy any games as they felt that they were not fun.

Sega wanted to showcase the power of the Sega CD, and so focused on the "FMV" games rather than importing "extended" games that only expanded ordinary games by taking advantage of the extra storage space of the CD media. They looked nice on the FMV, but bored people due to limited interaction between the game and the gamer. Had people felt that the quality of the motion video games was better, this plan might had succeeded.

For all this chain of events, the downhill path started in [[1993]], and ended with the console's death in [[1996]].

===Europe===
In Europe the Mega-CD was overpriced. It was released in [[April]] [[1993]] in the [[United Kingdom]] for £270 (over €400 now). Only 4% of European Mega Drive owners bought a Mega-CD because of its price.
Unlike The [[Mega Drive]], which was a very successful console in Europe, only 60,000 of the 70,000 Mega-CD's shipped to Europe were sold by August 1993. 

(contracted; show full)*[http://www.consoledatabase.com/consoleinfo/segamegacd/index.html Console Database] - Sega Mega-CD/Sega CD

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[[Category:Video game consoles]]
[[Category:Sega]]