| Sega Nomad | |
|---|---|
 The Sega Nomad | |
| Developer(s) | Sega |
| Release Date(s) | October 13, 1995 |
| Price(s) | $179.99 USD |
| Units Shipped | 1 million |
The Sega Nomad is a portable gaming system developed by Sega and released in 1995. The system is capable of playing Sega Genesis cartridges. The nomad sports a 3.25 inch color LCD screen, alongside an external detachable battery pack.
History[]
Codenamed Project Venus, the Sega Nomad was developed as a successor to the Sega Mega Jet. The Nomad was released in only North America and Japanese markets. In addition, though, the Nomad was never officially released in PAL region territories however, it still retained its PAL/NTSC switch on the internal board.
The system featured a built-in color screen as well as had ports for home console play with the device. The Nomad's power for this, though, was not efficient enough to withstand long usage. The system's average lifespan on two hours made quick work of the system. In addition, rechargeable AA batteries were not recommended due to voltage problems. Due to this limited battery life, the Sega Nomad eventually suffered poor sales. After its $100 price drop, the system still couldn't repair its poor sales, and was taken off the market in the next year.
Technical specifications[]
- Processor: Motorola 68000 16 bit processor running at 7.67 MHz
- Co-processor (Sound Controller): Zilog Z80 8-bit at 3.58 MHz
- Memory: 156KB total - 64 KB Main RAM, 64KB VRAM, 8KB Sound RAM. 20 Kb ROM
- Display Palette: 512
- Onscreen colors: 64
- Maximum onscreen sprites: 80
- Resolution: 320 × 224
- Sound: Yamaha YM2612 6 channel FM, additional 4 channel PSG. Stereo sound. Also Texas Instruments SN76489 PSG (Programmable Sound Generator)
- Display: Integrated CSTN LCD at 320 x 224
- Power Rating: 9V 850mA (same as Genesis/Mega Drive model 2)