Genesis Vs Megadrive

Reserved for classic gaming discussions.
User avatar
VideoGameCritic
Site Admin
Posts: 18102
Joined: April 1st, 2015, 7:23 pm

Genesis Vs Megadrive

Postby VideoGameCritic » September 14th, 2021, 6:19 pm

One strangest things I've come to learn about old game consoles is how they went by different names depending on what part of the world they were released. For example in Japan, the NES is the Famicom.

That example makes sense, but the Sega Genesis is a weird case. As far as I can tell, it was only known as the Genesis in North America. What the hell is that all about?? I mean, "Megadrive" sounds pretty bad ass. Did some executive say "that name isn't going to cut it in the USA - we need something Biblical"

Does this make any sense to you?

User avatar
Gentlegamer
Posts: 787
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 1:01 am

Re: Genesis Vs Megadrive

Postby Gentlegamer » September 14th, 2021, 11:00 pm

Mega Drive was already trademarked in NA for electronics.

Genesis is a far superior name. Mega Drive sounds utterly generic.

I am always amused how euros try to correct everyone to refer to "Mega Drive," when they should be calling their region's version Slow Motion Drive.

User avatar
Stalvern
Posts: 1952
Joined: June 18th, 2016, 7:15 pm

Re: Genesis Vs Megadrive

Postby Stalvern » September 15th, 2021, 2:23 am

Agreed that "Genesis" is a much better name than "Mega Drive", not least because it really was a genesis for Sega, a new beginning in a market that had all but ignored the Master System. It also heralded a new era for home consoles in the coming decade, and while it wasn't strictly the genesis of that (it followed the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, a system whose American name was mediocre but still an improvement over the awful Japanese one), it certainly set the stage.

I really don't get those '80s Japanese-market console names' fixation on home computing. A "family computer" or "PC engine" is something that I should be able to type up my résumé on, saving it to my "mega drive" with the rest of my documents. If any of the marketing teams involved had been at Sony in the '90s, their console would have been the WorkStation.

User avatar
Retro STrife
Posts: 2531
Joined: August 3rd, 2015, 7:40 pm

Re: Genesis Vs Megadrive

Postby Retro STrife » September 15th, 2021, 2:42 am

I have to agree that Genesis is a much better name; one of the best system names ever IMO. I’ve always thought Mega Drive sounded weird. Mega Drive sounds like Mega Race on the 3DO and Club Drive on the Jaguar mated and made another terrible generic racing game for the CD-i.

strat
Posts: 212
Joined: May 14th, 2015, 1:12 am

Re: Genesis Vs Megadrive

Postby strat » September 15th, 2021, 4:29 am

Nintendo tried to justify that "Famicom" name with a modem (you could buy stocks and bet on horses) and a "Family BASIC" cart with keyboard (the Famicom Disk System was merely the Sega CD of that time and offers nothing useful for computing). Later on, Atari Games/Tengen tried to claim the NES was a computer in that infamous suit over Tetris (see David Sheff, "Game Over").

User avatar
Matchstick
Posts: 977
Joined: October 26th, 2017, 6:45 am

Re: Genesis Vs Megadrive

Postby Matchstick » September 15th, 2021, 4:32 am

I honestly think Mega Drive sounds pretty rad! But I live in the US, so I call it the Genesis. Done.

To be honest, though, I think this is one console where the proper name just doesn't matter. Most people I know simply refer to it as "The Sega," much like how many people will refer to the Nintendo Entertainment System as just "Nintendo," or the Atari 2600 as "Atari." I'm not sure if it's the same situation in Japan, Europe, or South America, but in my own life, I've rarely hear anyone refer to the console as "Genesis."

Stalvern makes an excellent point about the console being the "Genesis" of so many things to come. The beginning of arcade ports that were nearly 1:1 with their coin-op counterparts. The beginning of "console wars" between companies with actual competition for market share - Atari vs. Intellivison / Colecovision not withstanding. The beginning of video gaming becoming a "cool" hobby, not just something for nerds and kids. The beginning of yearly sports games with often-minor updates over the previous year's release. And so on.

Sega's marketing was pervasive and in-your-face, and "Genesis" just rolled off the tougue so much better than "Mega Drive." At least, that's what I tell myself. I still remember an early ad featuring Sonic The Hedgehog, with the singer in the background telling me, "Gotta get... GEN-E-SIS!!"

Besides, what sounds better: "Genesis... DOES," or, "Mega Drive... DOES!" I'll let you be the judge :P

Best of all, it's the only game console I've ever owned that makes me think of Invisible Touch.

Image

User avatar
MSR1701
Posts: 1509
Joined: April 29th, 2019, 7:53 am

Re: Genesis Vs Megadrive

Postby MSR1701 » September 15th, 2021, 8:48 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:One strangest things I've come to learn about old game consoles is how they went by different names depending on what part of the world they were released. For example in Japan, the NES is the Famicom.

That example makes sense, but the Sega Genesis is a weird case. As far as I can tell, it was only known as the Genesis in North America. What the hell is that all about?? I mean, "Megadrive" sounds pretty bad ass. Did some executive say "that name isn't going to cut it in the USA - we need something Biblical"

Does this make any sense to you?


If memory serves, there was a copyright/trademark issue in the US at the time that Sega was to release the MD/Genesis in the US, and decided on a name change; Genesis as a name was said to imply a new start, potential, and other things that I forget from interviews long, long ago.

There are consoles where the name changes are done for marketing and/or regional lexicon reasons; a BIG example of this is the PC Engine, which had a name changed after NEC/Hudson had focus groups in the US respond that PC Engine sounded like an expensive computer, instead of a games console.

And while keeping the name the same worldwide has appeal and makes it easy to identify from region to region, there are times where a market area responds with a verbal backlash - the Wii is a GREAT example of this, as the change from the prototype "Revolution" name to Wii met with a LOT of hate back in 2006 (the name change was made to make the name universal worldwide, and several regions had troubles (be it language or meaning) with Revolution) in the US.

On a side note, the Mega Drive's successor was code-named Giga Drive early on, before the project moved to planet names, keeing in line with the ongoing projects that were in the works at the time, such as Project Mercury (Game Gear), Mars (32X), and Jupiter (early versions of an all-in-one Genesis/32X sales pitch, before the concept was renamed Neptune). Ironically, the only system to release in this series under its Project name met with a very sad fate... Poor Saturn...

CaptainCruch
Posts: 662
Joined: July 17th, 2015, 11:26 am

Re: Genesis Vs Megadrive

Postby CaptainCruch » September 16th, 2021, 2:32 am

As an European, I'm used to "Mega Drive". I always found "Genesis" a little weird, because it makes me think of the British rock band.

Kinda off-topic (Mega Drive? MegaDrive? Megadrive?), but I'm sort of fascinated with capitals... remember when people wrote "PlayStation" instead of "Playstation"? (or do they still do that? :P) Also, remember the day internet was something new and people wrote "the Internet". Is this silly?

User avatar
Retro STrife
Posts: 2531
Joined: August 3rd, 2015, 7:40 pm

Re: Genesis Vs Megadrive

Postby Retro STrife » September 16th, 2021, 10:11 am

CaptainCruch wrote:As an European, I'm used to "Mega Drive". I always found "Genesis" a little weird, because it makes me think of the British rock band.

Kinda off-topic (Mega Drive? MegaDrive? Megadrive?), but I'm sort of fascinated with capitals... remember when people wrote "PlayStation" instead of "Playstation"? (or do they still do that? :P) Also, remember the day internet was something new and people wrote "the Internet". Is this silly?


Fair point - as weird as "Mega Drive" sounds to us, I'm sure Genesis sounds just as weird elsewhere. We're just used to it. And true about "Internet", I always thought that too.. Microsoft Word still tells you it's a typo if you lowercase it!! Or at least it did for the longest time. Which is probably a main reason that the uppercase spelling still shows up decades later.

User avatar
Matchstick
Posts: 977
Joined: October 26th, 2017, 6:45 am

Re: Genesis Vs Megadrive

Postby Matchstick » September 16th, 2021, 1:11 pm

CaptainCruch wrote:I always found "Genesis" a little weird, because it makes me think of the British rock band.

Nice to know I'm not the only one :lol:

Also to your point, I love words with inter-cap spellings. PlayStation. ActRaiser. OutRun. They're just so fun to write. I think I'll always write the word "PlayStation" that way, just for kicks.

I'm sure it's a product of the era when I grew up, but I was taught that the word "Internet" is always capitalized. Therefore, I always capitalize it. But I'm also from an era where schools had dedicated Keyboarding classes, where the computer keys would be hidden by some sort of box or other covering, and you had to memorize where all the keys were and learn to type blind - and quickly and accurately on top of that!

What a useless skill these days, in the new age of touchscreens and speech-to-text. But it's a skill I'll always treasure. I'm still proud of my ability to accurately type between 70-90 words-per-minute, dag nabbit...


Return to “Classic Gaming”