Sega Genesis

The Sega Genesis, known as the Mega Drive outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as the Mega Drive, and in 1989 in North America as the Genesis.

The console’s internal hardware was a mashup of an Apple Macintosh and a Game Boy. Sega wanted the Genesis to be easy to develop for and port games to, so it was built out of the most common chips and components possible. The system’s main processor was a Motorola 68000, the same chip that powered the original Apple Macintosh five years earlier, and its sound chip was a Zilog Z80, the ancient chip (it first hit the market in 1976) that powered the Game Boy.