GTV Japan | Sega's Genesis Nomad Portable System From 1995 Gave Handheld 16-Bits to Go! @GTV-Japan | Uploaded June 2024 | Updated October 2024, 6 hours ago.
In 1995, Sega made a handheld Genesis! The story goes back a bit before that and ties into Sega's hardware re-vamping legacy... (Chapter Markers and more below…)
Episode information
GTV 173 “The More You Know Gaming: Sega Genesis Nomad" Season 9 Episode 13
Original Airdate: June 28, 2024
Produced June 24-27, 2024
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Photoshop and Final Cut Pro, all paid for with Gainful Employment™ while riding the train to work and home, back and forth, day after day, and lunch breaks too!
0:00 GTV ID: Hooks Up to the TV Where Available
0:03 Chapter 1: Back in the 90s, the Gap Closed
0:52 Chapter 2: Sega Always Recycles
1:36 Chapter 3: The Mega Jet
2:15 Chapter 4: The Nomad
4:52 Chapter 5: Sega Got It Right With Game Gear
Here are all previous episodes of The More You Know Gaming!
TurboDuo youtu.be/eCsIJqQP8NY
Cassette Vision youtu.be/MaNbvyCluDw
Game Gear youtu.be/K3bvA41DY4I
PC-FX youtu.be/3mIY2BTLd5w
Atari Lynx youtu.be/qOE5IsK7t88
PC Engine GT youtu.be/OJaIjtr0oaw
Other great SEGA videos by GTV!
For The Record: Altered Beast youtu.be/oHRp6jsn_3E
Phantasy Star 30th Anniversary youtu.be/FZcij7XPdzI
Sega SG-1000 Story youtu.be/qBDx83UZ1nw
Sega Mega Drive Perfect Guides youtu.be/w37sJi4PU_Q
Meet Mr. Sega! youtu.be/bkOsNYAx90I
Phantasy Star II 30th Anniversary youtu.be/4F3LnKYEv-8
Mega Drive Mini Unboxing youtu.be/SJ9ec844sh0
Segata Sanshiro youtu.be/NBPNcI9OMbk
Phantasy Star III 30th Anniversary youtu.be/wrQbXEXlabo
The More You Know: Game Gear youtu.be/K3bvA41DY4I
Sega Solar System youtu.be/nwRy3i1VgMk
The American MegaDrive (aka The Origin of Genesis) youtu.be/wta-wGtyuq4
Sonic the Hedgehog 30th Anniversary youtu.be/I2MYvgNf9lU
Sonic the 8-Bit youtu.be/ct1YjTtd8bE
The Zillion Story youtu.be/GV65rKJmlag
A Sonic Adventure youtu.be/51cwcqcKiFA
Sonic 2’s Day youtu.be/GX6cqZJMEfo
Phantasy Star 35 youtu.be/IPSZ6LvQe8g
Magical Hat is not Zillion 3 youtu.be/1ruKUk3GGyE
Sonic Mania Day youtu.be/DV3K3Coz1RA
Phantasy Star IV The End of the Millennium: youtu.be/5JucGW9iFU8
Sonic 3 & Hedgehog Day youtu.be/1x8Sbi0pScs
Partial Transcript
Back in the early 90s, the 16-Bit era provided us some great times and good memories. I loved the era because it felt like for the first time, the gap between arcade and home had finally closed. Not perfectly, but close enough!
However a divide still existed between games you could play at home and on the go. Things always felt like a step down when you went “off TV” Just look at the Game Gear versus the Genesis! Sure, The Turbo express proved the technology was possible, just far too expensive!
Sega, to their credit did once try to give us the same experience in the living room and in our hands with the Genesis Nomad! A portable Genesis!! Released in October 1995 for $179 this nifty little machine came and went without much impact, but the story of Nomad is still interesting regardless.
Sega has never been shy about recycling hardware, whether for profitability, efficiency or portability, nearly every single machine Sega has ever made received revisions, “model 2s” or got reworked into something else. Case in point the Game Gear is the Master System, with some minor tweaks. The Master System and SG-1000 before it were shrunk down over time, and the Genesis received the same treatment with a Slim model, to use a modern parlance, first arriving in April 1993!
The Smaller “Genesis 2” was important in curbing Sega’s losses when fighting Nintendo in the early 90s price wars: Less parts means less expenses. But in the Genesis 2, the engineers at Sega learned a few things and were able to shrink things down a bit more, creating the Mega Jet, also in 1993! This device found its way into some Japan Air Lines flights, where customers could use the Mega Jet in a pay to play set up. A few games were on hand, or you could bring your own! The Mega Jet was installed into the armrest, which helped avoid cable clutter.
Everyone and their mother who thinks they know everything about Sega, will drone on and on about Sega’s lack of popularity in Japan, but the Mega Jet sparked enough interest to bring the machine to retail. Debuting in March 1994 in Japan.
The consumer Mega Jet was the same as the kind you’d find on an airplane, only with free flowing cables, which you need! It took no batteries and had no screen!
Sega went back to the drawing board, adding battery power a speaker and a screen to the Mega Jet. In that, the Nomad was born!
In 1995, Sega made a handheld Genesis! The story goes back a bit before that and ties into Sega's hardware re-vamping legacy... (Chapter Markers and more below…)
Episode information
GTV 173 “The More You Know Gaming: Sega Genesis Nomad" Season 9 Episode 13
Original Airdate: June 28, 2024
Produced June 24-27, 2024
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Photoshop and Final Cut Pro, all paid for with Gainful Employment™ while riding the train to work and home, back and forth, day after day, and lunch breaks too!
0:00 GTV ID: Hooks Up to the TV Where Available
0:03 Chapter 1: Back in the 90s, the Gap Closed
0:52 Chapter 2: Sega Always Recycles
1:36 Chapter 3: The Mega Jet
2:15 Chapter 4: The Nomad
4:52 Chapter 5: Sega Got It Right With Game Gear
Here are all previous episodes of The More You Know Gaming!
TurboDuo youtu.be/eCsIJqQP8NY
Cassette Vision youtu.be/MaNbvyCluDw
Game Gear youtu.be/K3bvA41DY4I
PC-FX youtu.be/3mIY2BTLd5w
Atari Lynx youtu.be/qOE5IsK7t88
PC Engine GT youtu.be/OJaIjtr0oaw
Other great SEGA videos by GTV!
For The Record: Altered Beast youtu.be/oHRp6jsn_3E
Phantasy Star 30th Anniversary youtu.be/FZcij7XPdzI
Sega SG-1000 Story youtu.be/qBDx83UZ1nw
Sega Mega Drive Perfect Guides youtu.be/w37sJi4PU_Q
Meet Mr. Sega! youtu.be/bkOsNYAx90I
Phantasy Star II 30th Anniversary youtu.be/4F3LnKYEv-8
Mega Drive Mini Unboxing youtu.be/SJ9ec844sh0
Segata Sanshiro youtu.be/NBPNcI9OMbk
Phantasy Star III 30th Anniversary youtu.be/wrQbXEXlabo
The More You Know: Game Gear youtu.be/K3bvA41DY4I
Sega Solar System youtu.be/nwRy3i1VgMk
The American MegaDrive (aka The Origin of Genesis) youtu.be/wta-wGtyuq4
Sonic the Hedgehog 30th Anniversary youtu.be/I2MYvgNf9lU
Sonic the 8-Bit youtu.be/ct1YjTtd8bE
The Zillion Story youtu.be/GV65rKJmlag
A Sonic Adventure youtu.be/51cwcqcKiFA
Sonic 2’s Day youtu.be/GX6cqZJMEfo
Phantasy Star 35 youtu.be/IPSZ6LvQe8g
Magical Hat is not Zillion 3 youtu.be/1ruKUk3GGyE
Sonic Mania Day youtu.be/DV3K3Coz1RA
Phantasy Star IV The End of the Millennium: youtu.be/5JucGW9iFU8
Sonic 3 & Hedgehog Day youtu.be/1x8Sbi0pScs
Partial Transcript
Back in the early 90s, the 16-Bit era provided us some great times and good memories. I loved the era because it felt like for the first time, the gap between arcade and home had finally closed. Not perfectly, but close enough!
However a divide still existed between games you could play at home and on the go. Things always felt like a step down when you went “off TV” Just look at the Game Gear versus the Genesis! Sure, The Turbo express proved the technology was possible, just far too expensive!
Sega, to their credit did once try to give us the same experience in the living room and in our hands with the Genesis Nomad! A portable Genesis!! Released in October 1995 for $179 this nifty little machine came and went without much impact, but the story of Nomad is still interesting regardless.
Sega has never been shy about recycling hardware, whether for profitability, efficiency or portability, nearly every single machine Sega has ever made received revisions, “model 2s” or got reworked into something else. Case in point the Game Gear is the Master System, with some minor tweaks. The Master System and SG-1000 before it were shrunk down over time, and the Genesis received the same treatment with a Slim model, to use a modern parlance, first arriving in April 1993!
The Smaller “Genesis 2” was important in curbing Sega’s losses when fighting Nintendo in the early 90s price wars: Less parts means less expenses. But in the Genesis 2, the engineers at Sega learned a few things and were able to shrink things down a bit more, creating the Mega Jet, also in 1993! This device found its way into some Japan Air Lines flights, where customers could use the Mega Jet in a pay to play set up. A few games were on hand, or you could bring your own! The Mega Jet was installed into the armrest, which helped avoid cable clutter.
Everyone and their mother who thinks they know everything about Sega, will drone on and on about Sega’s lack of popularity in Japan, but the Mega Jet sparked enough interest to bring the machine to retail. Debuting in March 1994 in Japan.
The consumer Mega Jet was the same as the kind you’d find on an airplane, only with free flowing cables, which you need! It took no batteries and had no screen!
Sega went back to the drawing board, adding battery power a speaker and a screen to the Mega Jet. In that, the Nomad was born!
