Genesis Model 2 Box Variations

[retrospiel]

It was a great time to be a new Genesis owner in 1994-1996 with all of these bundles. Too bad my pops bought me a used Model 1 in '95.

The best years were 1990, 1991, 1992, and to a degree 1993, from then on it things went downhill. And I guess you can be glad to have owned a model 1 seeing as the model 2 has HORRIBLE sound. (I just yesterday did another comparison myself just for shits and giggles)

[Aarzak]

Prior to the $150 price drop/Sonic 1 bundle, the Genny wasn't much of a good buy IMO. The library was still sparse and the console was selling for $180-$190 with Altered Beast packed-in.

Video/sound quality of the hardware is one thing, price and pack-in is another. I doubt most people could tell the difference between revisions and audiovisual quality back then, as most had crappy setups to begin with. I know that I didn't adopt composite cables until 1999. Before that, it was all RF baby.

Off-topic, but there was a Genny 3, which I bought in the Spring of '99, that even with just Composite looked and sounded amazing compared to the Model 2 I had at the time.

[chrisbid]

Prior to the $150 price drop/Sonic 1 bundle, the Genny wasn't much of a good buy IMO. The library was still sparse and the console was selling for $180-$190 with Altered Beast packed-in.

.

it was the high end system the cool kids owned. the lineup was sparse compared to modern systems, but the sports and arcade games were absolutely killer. my cousin had a system and rented (japanese) bare knuckles one weekend. wow, it blew away everything i had on the nes. same could be said for strider and golden axe.

[kool kitty89]

The best years were 1990, 1991, 1992, and to a degree 1993, from then on it things went downhill. And I guess you can be glad to have owned a model 1 seeing as the model 2 has HORRIBLE sound. (I just yesterday did another comparison myself just for shits and giggles)

Umm, but you had a larger, more diverse library by then, possibly Sonic 3 or S&K as a pack-in (with Sonic 1/2 pretty common elsewhere, including used), and prices lower in general, particularly if you were interested in used and budget releases. (and we were/are big on that, so I can't ignore it)

If he got a late model 1 (VA7) the sound would likely be as bad or worse than a VA0/1.x model 2, though video might be better. (even the CXA1145 seems to have been implemented better, brighter, less saturated, an slightly sharper than in a stock model 2, though perhaps the VA7 is just as bad -or they've aged worse than the early model 1s)

Plus, if you got a late model 2 (VA3/4) you'd likely have good sound and possibly great video. (for RGB it wouldn't matter)

[retrospiel]

Umm, but you had a larger, more diverse library by then

It didn't really matter. People did not have had internet access back then, so most rarely bought stuff from the back catalogue - even less than today.

I doubt most people could tell the difference between revisions and audiovisual quality back then

That's certainly possible.

However, I am pretty sure they could tell the difference in audiovisual quality of a Model 2 with its grainy, colorless RF picture and horribly distorted mono farts vs a SNES and its awesome composite signal producing bright vibrant colors and full stereo sound - or a MS-DOS PC via VGA and its built-in sound blaster card.

[kool kitty89]

It didn't really matter. People did not have had internet access back then, so most rarely bought stuff from the back catalogue - even less than today.

What about used game retailers? (not to mention local garage sales, friends, etc)
We may not have been typical gamers, but we weren't really hardcore either and my family often opted for used and/or budget games.

Most of our SNES games either came with the used unit we got from our neighbor, or we got from Funcoland.

It may be an anomaly, but many of my freinds and later, my little brothers friends seemed to have kept using their old consoles alongside newer ones for a LONG time. We still just had the NES in the early/mid 90s, so I'd have my friend bring over his NES games or go to his house to play on his NES-2, but at the same time he has a SNES, Genesis, and was one of the first I knew to have an N64.

We may have been among the less common group to get into the 4th generation at the end (1996 with a SNES), but almost everyone I knew still played their old consoles along with anything new. (unless they didn't have any older consoles -or had sold them)

I don't think we got any of our games from department stores or toy stores: almost always electronics/game stores. (mainly funcoland from the mid 90s onward -and game stop for a good while after) Both New and used games.

However, I am pretty sure they could tell the difference in audiovisual quality of a Model 2 with its grainy, colorless RF picture and horribly distorted mono farts vs a SNES and its awesome composite signal producing bright vibrant colors and full stereo sound - or a MS-DOS PC via VGA and its built-in sound blaster card.

I'm sure lots of people could see the audio/video difference from the "good" model genesis and "bad" ones.
Still, from what I've seen of model 2s, they're not that bad, just a bit muffled and a tad hissy (sometimes a little distorted). On common TV speakers, it's not that easy to hear the difference. (if you're not trying)
Likewise the RF for model 2s I've seen is no worse than model 1s, in fact it's better in some cases.

As for color, I'm not sure what you mean, my friend's model 2 with a CXA145 is a bit dark and oversaturated (compared to the same encoder in my model 1s), not "colorless." And even for things like the samsung encoder it's not always the worst, the CXA1145 or even 1645 can be worse depending on some other issues. I'm not sure about PAL, but that's the case for everything I've seen in NTSC. (that's from 4 model 1s and 1 model 2 I've tinkered with, a couple model 2s over the years at freind's places, and plenty of screenshots)

All RF is mono, of course, though the Model 1 has the separate headphone jack, so one could still used headphones or output to a stereo system. (the latter probably unlikely for the average user)
Via a TV with nice speakers/amp (even via RF) the difference can be rather noticeable though, moreso with a decent stereo system. (and headphones are even more obvious, but that comparison only applies to the VA7 vs earlier models)


Though it doesn't change the fact that the composite video encoder and RF modulators used tended to be inferior to the SNES. (composite is almost always better than the NES though -nasty dot crawl there -RF is clean though)
RF is very variable and more sensitive to poor cables on sega stuff (for auto switchboxes it's usually OK, if you try to use a composite video RCA cable to run RF, it looks terrible, well shielded RCA cables are OK -best would be a coaxial cable -so use a male RCA to female coaxial and plug that into the console -similar for A2600 jr and 7800 -as those can't even use auto switches)

I initially used a composite cable with a coaxial adapter with my first genesis and the video was very noisy, many other systems looked little different using composite cables though (NES and SNES were barely noticeable). I later used an NES switchbox to discover that that particular genesis had very clean RF, almost composite quality, with proper cables.

[the_miker]

What I'd love to do is create a list of all these game pack-ins and sort them by release date. Then we could post up some educated guesses as to which motherboard revision is in which box. I'm pretty sure the Core and Sonic 2 boxes (the ones with the "new" thing in the top right and three banners at the top left) have the VA0 or VA1 motherboard as they were most likely the first model 2 boxes to come out. Using that same logic, the 6-Pak, Vectorman, and Comix Zone bundles most likely have a VA3 or VA4.

I actually found some release date info for the games listed in the first post so far but I got conflicting dates on quite a few of them. If any of you know for certain when these games came out, post the dates here and I'll fix up the list. This is what I have so far (note that some dates could be wrong):

Columns - 06/29/90
Sonic 2 - 11/20/92
Sonic Spinball - 11/14/93
NFL '94 - 12/31/93
Sub-Terrania - 1993
NFL '95 - 8/7/94
Sonic & Knuckles - 10/17/94
Lion King - 12/08/94
Comix Zone - 1/1/95
Vectorman - 10/24/95
6-Pak - late 1995/early 1996

The model 2 came out in early 1993, right? That would make sense, seeing how Sonic 2 was the first pack-in for it.

[xelement5x]

Necro bump for posterity! I've got pictures of the Sonic3+S&K Pack in the haul thread. Plus that very last one listed with the gray triangular sticker in the corner is a refurb I believe. I've got a SegaCD box with a similar gray sticker in the corner.

[Deo]

Here's some pics of what xelement's SK&3 one looks like.

Front



Back


Inside


Inserts


The 3 button controller with the dpad like the 6 Button's


Stickers




Model number

[xelement5x]

Nice! Does your S&K and Sonic 3 carts have not for resale stickers on them?

[Aarzak]

Both games were packed-in CIB, simply awesome. How good is that Model 2 revision?
Interesting to see that modified 3-button pad, wonder if late Model 2's had them like that.

I lusted for this bundle when I first saw it in Toys 'R Us back in 1996.

[cowboyscowboys]

I still think it's downright pathetic they didn't start bundling the 6-button pad in North America when it was released. Cool new sleek model and wtf a giant 3 button pad instead of a sleek new 6 button pad.

[ItellYaHuat]

I have a Super Sonic System box as well but f*ck. I most likely sold the console it came with since I had overstock on model 2s. It was a full mobo with the crap sound though. Plus no box inserts were there, it was just the box with the stuff thrown in there. Oh well.

[Deo]

Nice! Does your S&K and Sonic 3 carts have not for resale stickers on them?

Nope they don't have the resale stickers on them.

Both games were packed-in CIB, simply awesome. How good is that Model 2 revision?
Interesting to see that modified 3-button pad, wonder if late Model 2's had them like that.

Honestly I have no idea how good it is. I only have the crappy RF cable it came with and have no experience with Model 2s.
I shouldn't say it's exactly like the 6 Button's Dpad, that one's dpad has a bit rougher texture adding a nice bit of grip.

Pretty sure someone else here has the same one and can give a pretty good review of it.

[xelement5x]

Nope they don't have the resale stickers on them.

Interesting, I recently came across a S&K with the NFR sticker on it and assumed it was from this bundle. It's still quite probable since I've seen Sonic 3 ones like that, but I think they were cart/only when they were packed in, instead of the full box. You can even see on your inserts where the games also could have been just stuck in the cardboard instead of given a full release with box.

I've actually got a copy of Doom 32X with the same NFR sticker, which I'm guessing came with one of the the 32X bundles when they were clearanceing them.