Graphics
256×192
- Colors on screen
- 15
- Palette
- 16 colors
- Sprites
- 32
Below: Game Boy 4 colors · Above: Amstrad CPC 16 colors
Sega SG-1000
Also known as SG-1000 · SG-1000 II · SC-3000
- Sega
- Home console
- Third generation
24 Sega SG-1000 games, all playable free in your browser.
The SG-1000 was Sega's first home video game console. Proposed by Hayao Nakayama as the arcade business slowed in the early 1980s, it went on sale in Japan on July 15, 1983, the same day as Nintendo's Family Computer, together with the SC-3000, a home computer built on the same hardware. Sega sold it directly only in Japan, while rebranded versions reached Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, France, Italy and Spain.
- First released · Japan
- 1983
- Units sold
- 400,000
- CPU
- 8-bit
- Games in the library · all playable
- 24
TIMELINE
1983–1985
- JPJapan
- AUAustralia
- ENDDiscontinued (Japan)
Games per release year
| Year | Games |
|---|---|
| 1983 | 11 |
| 1984 | 5 |
| 1985 | 4 |
| 1986 | 3 |
| 1988 | 1 |
- ColecoColecoVision: Aug 1982 – 1985
- Atari 5200Atari 5200: Oct 1982 – May 21, 1984
- VectrexVectrex: Oct 1982 – Feb 1984
- NESNintendo Entertainment System: Jul 15, 1983 – Sep 25, 2003
- SG-1000Sega SG-1000: Jul 15, 1983 – Oct 1985
- MSXMSX: Oct 21, 1983 – 1993
- Amstrad CPCAmstrad CPC: Jun 21, 1984 – 1990
- Master SystemSega Master System: Oct 20, 1985 – 1996
- Atari 7800Atari 7800: May 1986 – 1992
All 36 systems
- Atari 2600Atari 2600: Sep 1977 – 1992
- SpectrumZX Spectrum: Apr 23, 1982 – 1992
- ColecoColecoVision: Aug 1982 – 1985
- Atari 5200Atari 5200: Oct 1982 – May 21, 1984
- VectrexVectrex: Oct 1982 – Feb 1984
- NESNintendo Entertainment System: Jul 15, 1983 – Sep 25, 2003
- SG-1000Sega SG-1000: Jul 15, 1983 – Oct 1985
- MSXMSX: Oct 21, 1983 – 1993
- Amstrad CPCAmstrad CPC: Jun 21, 1984 – 1990
- Master SystemSega Master System: Oct 20, 1985 – 1996
- Atari 7800Atari 7800: May 1986 – 1992
- X68000Sharp X68000: Mar 28, 1987 – end not recorded
- PC EnginePC Engine / TurboGrafx-16: Oct 30, 1987 – Dec 16, 1994
- CPS-1Capcom CPS-1: May 13, 1988 – May 11, 1995
- GenesisSega Genesis / Mega Drive: Oct 29, 1988 – 1997
- PCE CDPC Engine CD / TurboGrafx-CD: Dec 4, 1988 – end not recorded
- Game BoyGame Boy: Apr 21, 1989 – Mar 31, 2003
- LynxAtari Lynx: Sep 1, 1989 – 1995
- Neo GeoNeo Geo: Apr 16, 1990 – 2004
- Game GearSega Game Gear: Oct 6, 1990 – Apr 30, 1997
- SNESSuper Nintendo: Nov 21, 1990 – Sep 25, 2003
- Sega CDSega CD / Mega-CD: Dec 12, 1991 – 1996
- CPS-2Capcom CPS-2: Sep 10, 1993 – Dec 22, 2003
- Neo Geo CDNeo Geo CD: Sep 9, 1994 – 1997
- 32XSega 32X: Nov 1994 – 1996
- PS1PlayStation: Dec 3, 1994 – Mar 23, 2006
- N64Nintendo 64: Jun 23, 1996 – 2002
- CPS-3Capcom CPS-3: Nov 21, 1996 – end not recorded
- NAOMISega NAOMI: 1998 – end not recorded
- GBCGame Boy Color: Oct 21, 1998 – Mar 31, 2003
- NGPCNeo Geo Pocket Color: Mar 19, 1999 – Oct 30, 2001
- PS2PlayStation 2: Mar 4, 2000 – Jan 4, 2013
- WonderSwanWonderSwan Color: Dec 9, 2000 – 2003
- GBAGame Boy Advance: Mar 21, 2001 – 2010
- OpenBOROpenBOR: 2004 – today
- TIC-80TIC-80: Mar 22, 2017 – today
A bar that fades out means the end date is unknown. Fantasy consoles and game engines are still available.
UNDER THE HOOD
Technical specifications
Processor
3.58MHz
- CPU
- Zilog Z80A
- Core
- Zilog Z80
- Word size
- 8-bit
- Texas Instruments TMS9918A — video display processor
Below: Spectrum 3.5 MHz · Above: Amstrad CPC 4 MHz
3.58 MHz; chip rated for 4 MHz
Memory
1KB
- Main RAM
- 1 KB
- Video RAM
- 16 KB
Below: Atari 2600 128 bytes · Above: NES 2 KB
Sound
4channels
- Chip
- Texas Instruments SN76489AN
3 square-wave tone channels and 1 noise channel
Sales
400,000
- Scope
- Japan, original SG-1000 model (as of 1988)
Above: Neo Geo 410,000
Media
Cartridge
Launch price
¥15,000
- Japan
- ¥15,000
Family line
- This system
- Sega SG-1000
- After
- Sega Master System
THE STORY
About the SG-1000
To keep costs down it was assembled from off-the-shelf parts, pairing a Zilog Z80A processor with a Texas Instruments TMS9918A video chip. Games came on ROM cartridges and on credit-card-sized Sega My Cards, the latter played through the Card Catcher adapter. The SG-1000 II of 1984 replaced the hardwired joystick with detachable joypads.
Sales in its first year far exceeded Sega's forecast, and the original model reached 400,000 units in Japan, yet the Famicom soon pulled ahead. The line continued with the Sega Mark III in 1985, the basis of the Master System; the Mark III and the Japanese Master System both run SG-1000 games.
- Launched on July 15, 1983, the same day as Nintendo's Family Computer.
- Sold 160,000 units in 1983, against a Sega projection of 50,000.
- 256 × 192 pixels with up to 32 sprites, at most 4 on one scanline.
- The TMS9918A video chip uses a fixed palette of 15 colors plus transparent.
- The SG-1000 and SC-3000 share a library of 51 cartridge games and 29 Sega My Card titles.
- Girl's Garden was the first game programmed by Yuji Naka, later of Sonic the Hedgehog.
THE LIBRARY
24 SG-1000 games on Back2OldGames
24
games, all playable right in your browser
Release years 1983–1988
<p class="lib-span">3 developers</p>Genres
Top developers
Players
8 games with a known number of players.
Regions
THE GAMES
The SG-1000 library
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SG-1000 ARCHIVETITLE · CREATOR · PUBLISHER
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Sources
Specifications and history from the sources below (Wikipedia text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; facts summarized in our own words). Library numbers come from the Back2OldGames catalog.
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