SEGA Mega Modem: Ahead of Its Time

In 1989, Sunsoft came to SEGA with a proposal: What if people could play Mega Drive games online? Wanting to make a splash in the market, the two companies teamed up and created the Mega Modem. The device brought online gaming, downloadable games, news, contests, and even financial transactions to the SEGA Mega Drive.

CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:17 - Development History
12:55 - Games & Software
21:59 - Legacy

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[GamingHistorian]

Really don't know what to say except thanks for watching and see you next time!

[eddiecarrion]

I never get tired of learning about these strange but extremely interesting pieces of hardware that I had no idea existed around the time I was just simply playing and enjoying my Genesis and SNES

[JonGon]

You've got to admire the timeline of online gaming. We've gone from the days of using a modem and getting charged by the minute, on top of the uncertainty of how long these modem services would last, to today where matchmaking with over 100 players through broadband/fiber optic servers are expected these days.

It's nice to know that SEGA really dove headfirst into this industry back in the 90s and paved the way for online gaming to explode exponentially in the early 2000s to what it is now!

[Animenji]

"SEGA's Mega Modem was not a success, but it was ahead of it's time." Man...I think that statement kind of sums up most of SEGA's home console history.

[SynGirl]

No matter how obscure these are, I'm still thoroughly entertained.

[DarthCrust]

“People complained about lag during gameplay” looks like not much has changed

[WrestlingWithGaming]

I think this may be one of your best videos, Norm. Thanks for letting me have a small part in it. Somewhere, Toad is looking down on you with a smile on his face.

[RedTsarOldChannel-INACTIVE]

Norman, additional info:
The Mega-Net would not die with the Mega-Modem. Brazil's Tectoy would revive it in '95, selling a cartridge that allowed you to send E-Mails to your friends. The second (and very rare) model, the Mega-Net 2 allowed you to even play with your friends.
It worked the same as the previous Mega-Modem, via telephone cables.

[coreymyers]

This channel is way better than History channel. Keep it up Gaming Historian!

[sneakyskunk]

Something I always respected about Sega was how forward thinking their leadership was. It seems like they would embrace trends that failed for them, but then became industry standard later on. Thank you for this video. It was very informative.

[Grindhead_Jim]

I submit that the longest part of this production involved trying to find a phone wall jack that appeared functional.

[Luschan]

I don’t know why, but I find Sega and their consoles so fascinating. I wasn’t even a Sega kid growing up, but my Sega-CD, Saturn, and Dreamcast are some of my most prized possessions.
There’s just something about their products that have such a powerful energy and design to me, especially the weirder things like the 32x.

[andrethegiant]

Sega was always ahead when it came to internet play. I remember using Sega Channel for ages when I was younger. And then playing Phantasy Star online and Quake 3 Arena with Sega Dreamcast Online.

[MrAxelStone]

One of the only YT creators where I don't flinch if I see a long video time. Love GH's mini-docs.

[JessP]

In an alternate universe, the year is 2021 and we have cracked thru playing at 9600 BPS and videogaming life is good.

[whatupz]

The fact that online gaming concept came from the beginning of time of video game console development is pretty wild

[Absolutely_Nobody]

I would love to see a collaboration between Gaming Historian, GVMERS, and strafefox.

Their down to earth, genuine documentry styles would mesh really wll.

[lowscoreboy]

Fun fact 1: In the begging, Advanced Daisenryaku is developing with 4Mbit of the ROM, but suddenly the data was just too large to fit in 4Mbit. The developers came with an idea, they told the company they want to add the Mega Modem support, so they need more amount of ROM. The company agreed. The ROM size of the game became 8Mbit. But actually, the online function only uses tiny storage space, developers just use the rest of ROM to make the game better.
Fun fact 2: Most of the games from Sega Game Library, later released as "Game no Kanzume"(Sega Game Can) for MEGA-CD and Sega Channel in Japan. "Game no Kanzume" is also included in the Japanese/Asian version of Mega Drive Mini.

[NuFrontierVS]

This is some incredible information, as someone who grew up in the 90s with all of these consoles! I'm 33 and not once in my entire existence have I ever heard of, or even come across the Sega Mega Modem! Now I live in Japan and so my next mission is to track this down just for collection purposes! Thank you for all the years you've made wonderful content Norman!

[MattBorchert]

All of your content is so thoughtful and well produced. Appreciate what you do!