Amstrad Mega PC - Console Gaming in an IBM-PC Compatible | Trash to Treasure (1/4)

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The Amstrad Mega PC is a curious thing, a 386 IBM PC compatible with a Mega Drive inside it released in 1993. I picked this one up for £100 sight unseen and today I'll see if it can be salvaged. Let's open it up and see what we find.

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All To Me - Wave Saver
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Resting Quality - Brookii

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[RMCRetro]

Thanks for watching. Did you own an Amstrad MegaPC? Do you know if the 486 version made it to market or have you upgraded your own? Was a hybrid PC/MegaDrive ever a good idea? Leave your comments!

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Neil - RMC

[SyphistPrime]

"So do you have a PC or a console for games?"
"Yes"

[RockstarRunner]

I had one of these, bought from some store, maybe it was Tandys, I don't fully remember. It was really neat for someone who was predominately a console gamer, for getting in to some PC gaming too. I remember I upgraded it with 4MB Ram and a Soundblaster 2 Pro. One of the really cool things was getting to play MegaDrive games on that monitor, way better than a MD looked on a TV. I recall one time, my PC gamer friend was teaching me how to play Dune II, and he had to go home for lunch, so I just slid the front panel over, and played some Sega while he was gone, and when he got back, slid it back again, and the game was waiting right where we left it. I don't think it was mentioned, but the panel below the cartridge port pops off, to reveal a connector for a MegaCD, provided you could get the special cable for it... I think that may have also required some special cart to jump start that too.

[creechrfeechr]

It's a pity Alan never thought to release his closing monologue over the end credits music as a dance track in the 90s. He'd have made a fortune!

[fluxflaw]

This was my first PC when I was a child, absolutely loved it. Always thought my old man had left it in his loft so I started searching for it this year so I could refurbish it and get it working again but it looks as though he must of chucked it out along with the monitor at some point :(


Have been searching for one on eBay all year so pretty jealous you managed to find one

[MarkyShaw]

This has to be the raddest computer I've ever seen. The Genesis played a huge part in my gaming youth, as did the 386. To have them in one unit would have been incredible. Never knew this existed. Gorgeous! Thanks so much for another great lesson RMC!!!

[AndySmallbone]

At Amstrad we also had a teradrive and we worked close with sega Japan and I spoke to them personally few times due to issues with some games crapping out during gameplay which we eventually fixed and I went out to a few customers to patch them.

[DevilishDesign]

A Silicon Graphics keyboard on an Amstrad. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. :)

[ChrisArmstrong]

I worked for Amstrad from 91 till they sold the PC division to Viglen. I don’t remember a 486 version hit retail. I assume it would have used the 486SLC chip so allow the use of the same 386 board. Just like the PC7486.

[mymidschoollife]

If you wanted some more history. I worked for a company who bought all of the Amstrad rights and stock after Sugar wanted rid. It was then called Edcom and was based in Streatham. We used to mainly do floppy conversions to 3.5 and so on. I left the company in 2000 to go off to the USA but yes, we had a lot of Amstrad stuff. You would be surprised just how many older folk wanted these things repaired and working. We did a butt load of printers too, which was usually sanding and "fluffing up" the rubber paper feeders (which was what used to go on them).

[dfactotum]

I bought my first PC in 1993, and it was a 40MHz 386SX, total cost about £500. How Amstrad thought they'd sell a machine half the speed for twice the price, even with a MegaDrive bolted on, is beyond me.

[Mattyuk]

The first PC I used to play games was an Amstrad Mega PC. It must have been late 1993. I wasn't very technically minded back then, I just remember that it played X-Wing like a dream. Also, The Mega Drive graphics looked super sharp on the VGA monitor. Much sharper than on the usual 14 - 15" TV's that sat in most UK kids bedrooms of that era. I was quite jealous of my friend at the time!


Awesome video!

[electronash]

Nice repair job. ;)

I remember seeing a Mega PC sat taking pride-of-place in my local Tandy shop in the 90s.

I don't think they sold very many. lol

(we already owned a couple of PCs and a Mega Drive back then, but I still thought the Mega PC looked awesome.)

Still a great collector's piece, so it's great to see one restored.

[poppasteve]

"Will it blend?" I haven't laughed that hard at a youtube video in a long time! Thank you! Always looking forward to your next video.

[TaswcmT]

This channel is brilliant. I've never really understood why it has only 1/3 the subscribers of Nostalgia Nerd - similar channels, similar content. If anything, I feel this channel goes deeper into the matter at hand.

[stephen_graham]

Wow I remember a friend buying one of these brand new, and thinking to myself why didn't he buy a better PC and a separate mega drive lol

[richaw]

Love the Alan sugar Yorkshire/cockney accent. Lol

[VaporZone]

This really caught my interest. Enough to comment. I was aware of the TeraDrive but not an Amstrad version, much less that the sound chip would be adlib compatible. I would love to see everything in action in PT 2.

[drdoomslab]

I used to have one of these as a kid. Grate memory's. With respect of the 15khz screen you could look for a NEC Accusync 71v as this has a 15khz mode that should work grate with this. Cheers for the Vid.

[daverees]

I used one of these in the early 90s, I thought it was pretty mad at the time, cool old machine 😎