Sega Genesis - Emulation

Emulation

Like many other game consoles, the Mega Drive has a strong following among gaming enthusiasts and fans, even following its decline in the marketplace. The console has enjoyed continued popularity in the second-hand market and through emulation projects.

The first known Mega Drive emulator was called "Megadrive," and was released in 1994. This emulator was only capable of playing Sonic the Hedgehog without sound and with numerous errors. In 1996, GenEM became the first fully functional Mega Drive emulator to be released.

In 1997, former Genesis developer Steve Snake began work on a new emulation project KGEN, that would eventually be known as Kega Fusion, with the goal of perfect emulation. Sega officially commissioned Snake in the following year to create a Windows-compatible version that could be used to market some classic Genesis games in the "Sega Smash Pack".

Another emulator, Gens, began development in 1999. This project achieved widespread popularity in the emulation community and inspired many derivative projects. However, the project ceased development in 2006 and never reached the same level of accuracy as Kega Fusion. Both emulators feature online play and can record videos of gaming sessions. A multi-system emulator, called RetroCopy, started emulating Mega Drive from version 0.666 (released Dec 12, 2009), and was the first emulator to emulate the Mega Drive VDP at a cycle accurate level.

Emulation of the Mega Drive/Genesis is also available on home consoles and handheld units such as Sega's Dreamcast; Nintendo's GameCube, Wii, and DS; GamePark Holdings' GP2X; Sony's PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable and Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360. Emulators have also been produced for smart phones, such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone as well as various PDAs.

In 2004, a trend emerged toward plug-and-play TV games and Radica Games released a licensed, self-contained, version of the Mega Drive in both North America (as the Play TV Legends Sega Genesis) and Europe (as the Mega Drive 6-in-1 Plug 'n' Play). It contains six popular games in a small control box with a permanently connected control pad. It does not have a cartridge slot and thus is a dedicated console.

The GameTap subscription gaming service included a Mega Drive emulator and had several dozen licensed Mega Drive games in its catalog. These games have since been removed after the sale of Gametap to Metaboli. The Console Classix subscription gaming service also includes an emulator and has several hundred Mega Drive games in its catalog.