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Thoughts and opinions? Did you own one back in the day?
I was lucky enough to have one for a short period of time. I still remember the groovy intro screen and music, lol. I think it's one of the coolest things Sega has done and shows how unique and ahead of it's time the company was. I was just a kid when I had it, but I was so amazed at what it could do.
I wish we could recreate this, but mainly for online multi player games.
Sega Channel was my JAM! Whenever I talk about the Sega Genesis to people who are unacquainted (I know right?) with the system its the first thing I bring up. I remember I got to play Pulseman too back in the day. I had no idea it never got a proper release in the US until I joined up here. I was like most kids in the fact that I got a couple of games a year for Christmas and my birthday and maybe one for good grades, so Sega Channel really allowed me to enjoy a lot more games than I would have.
I think way back in '04 or '05 when I began to seriously get back into the Genesis I only had like 3 physical games for it left (one was Madden '93 :|) so I would have had a REALLY limited view of the Genesis library without Sega Channel.
I didn't have it, but one of my best friends did. I went over there to play it so much that he eventually refused to let me play it because he said I was using him for his Sega Channel. I had my own Genny with probably 15-20 games, so I wasn't starved for some action, the Sega Channel was just that awesome. Our favorite games to play on it were Light Crusader and General Chaos. I also remember playing Mega Man once and not liking it (though my opinion has since changed), and previewing Vector Man before it was available - that's the game I came over to play when he finally refused my access.
Never even knew it existed as a kid. It wouldn't surprise me if it was never available in my area.
I would not be surprised if it was only available in the lower 48.
i remember a relative telling me about it and me begging my parents for it....they didn't think it existed and thought I had just made it up. The whole thing sounded like SciFi to them. XD
My mom knew better. :(
I vaguely remember pitching the idea to my dad. To make a story short, it didn't go well.
What was so hard about selling this to the parents? What did it cost, like $9 a month? Just offer to pay for it out of lawn mowing money...
It was about $15 a month and also had a $25 activation fee.Quote:
Originally Posted by tz101
Yep that. I got yelled at.Quote:
Originally Posted by QuickSciFi
It wasn't the money so much as it was the seemingly endless stream of video games it offered. I don't think I would have left my TV and they knew it.Quote:
Originally Posted by tz101
When I was a kid I saw an documentary on a German channel about the video games in the US.
I remember they where talking about 'online gaming' and 'downloading games' ... and then showed Sega Channel :huh:
Man... i could almost cry, because I KNEW we would never see it over here...
http://images.mylot.com/userImages/i...os/2544073.jpg
I didn't have it but I wish I had. Add me as another member of the "Parents knew better" club. My parents knew I'd never leave the TV and that's why they said no. I was pissed then, but now I can actually laugh about it because they would've been right. Damn....parents can't be right.....can they? :p
EDIT: Check this:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hPy7y3wdo-...egachannel.jpg
I tried the "Pennies a day" line Sega, didn't work. But thanks for including key points to tell parents in your ad! :p
I never owned this, but I played it at a hotel. What a cool hotel, right?
This happened in the UK, I read about it in magazines and stuff but never had it - I don't think it was offered in my area (or if it was, my parents pretended it wasn't :) ). I have one of those Sega Channel carts though, I plugged it in when I got it and went "ooh, animations and music" and then put it away since.
Damn only 2 people?! :( I wish more could have experienced it.
me too.
My friend had it for a month and it was spotty as hell. It was cool when it worked though
It was sadly only ever something where a friend's cousin knew the brother of someone who's step father played squash with a guy who's nephew's illegitimate son had one.
Never even seen one in the flesh.
3 person with sega channel right here. I subscribed when it first was offered, and kept the service until it was discontinued.
Sega channel was the greatest invention ever when I got it. It was lightyears ahead of its time.
I guess this is the thread to reveal that I've been working on a sega channel front end here lately. I've been writing the frontend using SDL, which comes with a complete TOSEC genesis rom pack. Every 30 days, it randomizes its selections, and displays 50 to play. I've been redrawing the graphics from scratch using old screenshots and videos floating around youtube. I've been looking for someone to write music based off of the original, but I'm not quite at that stage yet.
When I told my dad about it, he thought it was the coolest idea he had ever heard of. We split the cost of the monthly bill.Quote:
Originally Posted by QuickSciFi
I rented a shitload of games prior to getting sega channel, and the service is pretty much what weaned me off that habit. There are so many genesis games I would have never tried without sega channel. I remember I was pissed to high hell when they took beyond oasis off after 2 months just as I reached the final dungeon. Which actually caused me to go out and buy the game (and later, the prequel on the saturn).
Remember the test drive section which had MK3 up in 2 parts like 4 months before it was released? Or the Garfield: Caught in the Act lost levels (which hasn't been re-released since, either digitally or physically) made up entirely of levels cut from the main game? Remember how the version of Megaman: The Wily Wars they had on there had a bug which prevented saving? Remember when they put the E3 Sonic 3D Blast demo up?
Someone else brought up pulseman - I also didn't know it wasn't released in the US until years later. I remember spending hours fiddling around with stuff like the creative workshop, or Ecco Jr... stuff I would have never bought, but dicked around with just because it was there.
For the other 2 people who got to experience sega channel, drink up the nostalgia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMRLZcBiN-k
I could have sworn is was available in Ontario but maybe I am just remembering U.S. commercials for it. I never had it but I definitely knew about it and wanted it, just wasn't possible financially at that time.
Sega Channel was available in several other countries, but in extremely limited quantities and usually through tiny cable providers. Only the US saw a real strong, wide-spread release through major providers.Quote:
Originally Posted by cowboyscowboys
I never played the sega channel in the 90's but I saw it quite alot in advertisements and I think there were a few tv commercials for it.
the one commercial I remember seeing the most:Quote:
Originally Posted by Hidden_Darkness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO4CZ8aCql8
there were several commercials, though.
We have the long informercial on our YouTube channel. It was so '90s!
I don't ever remember any television advertisement for the SEGA channel here in Toronto. Similarly, I never saw an advertisement for the SEGA modem either. The one thing that bothered me for so many years was that the SEGA modem appeared on the original SEGA Genesis box (Altered Beast edition). It looked sleak and very modern ... And I wanted it badly! The only problem: I never found the item being sold in stores!
Do you mean the X-band, or the actual Sega modem? Because I don't think the actual Sega modem ever got released outside of japan.Quote:
Originally Posted by SEGA.GENESIS1989
It was the actual SEGA modem that was only released in Japan. When I first got my console, the image on the box clearly showed the SEGA modem. As a kid, I thought to myself,"wow, this gaming console has the ability to play games online". Think about how amazing this was back in the day. We were at the cusp of entering the digital age and we had the possibility of doing it (or so I thought) on the SEGA Genesis. Ah well! Those were just pipe dreams I suppose! Even though there is really no use for the modem, I still want it! :pQuote:
Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard
Well, the X-band actually realized what you were dreaming about. Too bad pay per minute killed it before it could really take off.Quote:
Originally Posted by SEGA.GENESIS1989
I dunno. Later, when I discovered SEGA Genesis X-Band, it really did not have that lasting appeal compared to it's Japanese counterpart. It probably had to do with the aesthetics of the device. Looking at the X-band today, it looked so clunky. The SEGA Genesis had a sleek casing and this thing looked like something from the early 80s. The SEGA modem released in Japan was compact and preserved the sleek look of the console.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard
Yeah, but they did fundamentally different things. I think, through the combination of X-band and sega channel, the west got a far, far more interesting vision of the future than what was seen in japan through the Mega Modem and the Super Famicom's Satellaview.Quote:
Originally Posted by SEGA.GENESIS1989
I never had the Sega Channel. I expected it to fail because it was released so late in the system's life and I wasn't sure if I supported the idea anyway. It gave them an excuse to release games exclusively on it instead of making retail versions.
Since my wife (new girlfriend at the time) worked at Rogers cable (the Sega Channel provider in the Vancouver area), I did get some Sega Channel fridge magnets. ;)
I'm a bit confused, are you writing a rom to be used on a flashcart that emulates the look/feel of the Sega Channel, or something that actually works via a phone connection?Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard
One of the 4 that votes YES. I remember playing Wiley Wars on it. I was amazed at the speed which it downloaded games at. (Remember this was the time of 33.6, and 56k modems).
Must have been Sega Heaven...
Yeah it was cool. But it's better now that Genesis games are 5 dollars and not 50.
That's because it didn't download games. It worked like pay-per-view, where a continuous loop of data was sent to the box, one game after the other, and when you selected a game, the box waited until the game selected showed up on the feed.Quote:
Originally Posted by oldskool
Thats why sometimes you'd choose a game and it'd boot up instantly, and other times you'd choose a game and have to wait up to 2 minutes to play. It all depended on where the feed was at that exact moment.