www.Jap-Sai.com - Sega SG-1000

In the early days of home videogaming, Sega kept to the practice of licensing out their most popular titles to third parties, who would in turn convert them onto the various formats of the day.
Following the massive success of conversion titles like Monaco GP, Carnival, Turbo and Zaxxon on home computers and Atari, Coleco and Mattel consoles, Sega decided to go it alone and develop their own hardware.
Sega's plan was to tak on both markets by releasing a games console and a home computer simultaneously, and attempt to impose themselves in both markets by means of inter-changeable cartridges.
This is how the SG-1000 hardware was born - story has it that the hardware's specifications were finalised as early as 1981 but remained 'on test' for close to two years, primarily due to R&D difficulties with the SC-3000's utility software. The two machines eventually hit Japanese shelves in July 1983.
The only problem was that the Nintendo Famicom appeared that exact same month.

Borderline (1983)

Congo Bongo (1983)

When compared to most of the other game consoles of 1983, the SG-1000 isn't a bad machine by any means. It sold quite well even, and went on to establish itself all around Asia - as well as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Italy and Spain.
In Japan, it was the only machine to even vaguely survive the Famicom's onslaught. Consoles by Tomy, Takara, Bandai and Casio were completely blown out of the water, vanishing off the shelves within the space of a few months. But yet the SG-1000 managed to keep a small pocket of the marketplace for itself, thanks in great part to Sega's brand name, arcade catalogue, and extensive SC-3000 computer range.
Sega would fully support the hardware until 1987, until it was fully replaced by the vastly superior Sega Mark III / Master System.

Girl's Garden (1984)

Zaxxon (1985)

SC-3000H with SF-7000 Control Station

Touted as a 'computer for beginners', the SC-3000 was released in three different colours, and was ever so slightly superior to its console counterpart, benefiting from a little extra RAM and an increased resolution. Its rubber keyboard enabled the use of dedicated BASIC, music, and educational software, all available on standard SG-1000 cartridges (see SG-3000 'Basic' and 'Study' lists, opposite).
A second model, known as the SC-3000H, featured a new keyboard and even more RAM; and the SF-7000 external upgrade unit added a further 74kB of RAM and 8kB of ROM, a 3" floppy disk drive, a Centronics parallel port, and an RS232 serial port.
By the turn of 1984 Sega began pushing the hardware with an aggressive advertising campaign, releasing numerous Sega-branded accessories as a part of the range. The all-inclusive SC-5000 was the third and final SC model; and also Sega's last attempt at piercing the home computer market. The machine just simply wasn't powerful or versatile enough to make that much of a dent in the market, and thus remained first and foremost a games platform.
And a damn fast one at that: a lot of SG-1000 games are extraordinarily quick, and surprisingly challenging... The only immediate problem being its awkward joysticks (below right), and the presence of near-unbeatable competition in the form of the Nintendo Famicom, who by 1984 had also released its own keyboard and BASIC cartridge.

Printer (SP-400)

Tape Deck (SR-1000)

Joystick (SJ-200)

The controller problem turned out to be a minor one: in July 1984, exactly one year after the launch of the original SG-1000, Sega re-vamped their entire range with the SG-1000 II, also known as the 'Mark II'. But although it featured a a much slicker exterior design and vastly improved game pads, the machine's innards remained exactly the same as its predecessor, bar a slightly increased resolution for compatibility with the SC-3000 computer range: the unit features a large connection port at the front of the machine for an optional keyboard.
But it was all too little too late by this point. Sega seemed to be stalling, spinning on their own heads with flawed hardware and over-zealous accessories and gizmos - a stark contrast to the elegant simplicity of the Famicom, who in the meantime was moving on by leaps and bounds.
The final SG-1000 format appeared in 1985: a cartridge-sized 'Card Catcher' device that allowed the machine to play games released on the 'Sega My Card' cartridges (left). Technically these card games remain exactly the same as their cartridge counterparts, but sold for a little less.
By late 1986 it was all over for the SG-1000. No surprise: the machine never had what it took to compete - Sega would offer a lot more to players with the far superior Mark III.

Doki Doki Penguin Land (1985)

Wonder Boy (1986)

Guzzler (1983)

As a final side note in the history of the SG-1000 is the 1983 Othello Multivision, an officially licensed and fully compatible SG-1000 'clone' released in Japan by home electronics company Tsukada Original.
At ¥19,800 the machine sold for a little more than Sega's version, manily because it had its own built-in Othello game and keypad on the face of the machine. Besides from that, it is also worthy of note because it had a handful of original productions made for it (see list, right).
Q*Bert makes a half-decent appearance, while Guzzler (left) is the only other title of interest: a half-interesting maze game involving a plastic bag -like character that must carry water around to extiguish fires.
Not bad in terms of vintage 1983 gaming, but still - nothing much to write home about here.