Sega Genesis emulators
| |
| |
| Top: Original Japanese Mega Drive Bottom: Genesis Model 2 | |
| Developer | Sega |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Sega |
| Type | Home video game console |
| Generation | Fourth |
| Release date | JP: October 29, 1988 NA: August 1989 KOR: August 1990 PAL: September 1990 BRA: September 1, 1990 IND: April 1994 |
| Discontinued | WW: 1997 (Sega) NA: 1999 (Majesco) |
| Predecessor | Master System |
| Successor | Sega Saturn |
| Emulated | ✓ |
- For emulators that run on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, see Emulators on Sega Genesis.
The Sega Genesis (Mega Drive outside North America and parts of South America) is a 16-bit, fourth-generation console released by Sega in Japan on October 29, 1988 and in the US on August 14, 1989, where it retailed for $189.99 ($494 in 2026). It had a Motorola 68000 CPU at 7.6 MHz and a Zilog Z80 at 3.58 MHz. It had several add-ons, including a CD add-on called the Sega CD (alternatively Mega CD) and the 32X (a 32-bit, cartridge-based add-on).
The Sega CD was released in Japan on December 12, 1991, and in the US on October 15, 1992 and retailed for $299.99 ($689 in 2026) and had a Motorola 68000 CPU at 12.5 MHz and 6 Mbit of RAM. The Sega 32X was released on November 21, 1994 for $159.99 ($348 in 2026). It had 2 SH-2 RISC CPUs at 23 MHz with 256KB of RAM and 256KB of VRAM.
Genesis/Mega Drive emulation is very good, with a high degree of game compatibility (many of them claim nearly 100% compatibility with commercial games, including Virtua Racing). They are available on many platforms. Many Genesis/Mega Drive emulators also feature compatibility with the Sega Master System (SMS), and the Game Gear (GG) as well as earlier Sega consoles. However, Genesis/Mega Drive-based arcade boards and the Sega Pico are still sketchy.
- Remember, certain titles for Sega/Mega CD, 32X and CD + 32X games are dependent on those add-ons. Make sure your chosen emulator supports those add-ons if you want to play them.
Emulators
- ↑ Recommended for using with Firecore clone titles. See Hardware variations section for more info.
- ↑ CI-Windows CI-Linux CI-Macos
- ↑ Superseded by ares
- ↑ DS version uses an open-source license.
- ↑ DS/3DS version uses an open-source license.
Comparisons
- BlastEm
- Aims for cycle accuracy but unlike Exodus, aims for lower system requirements and has substantially higher compatibility. Latest stable release is quite old, use nightly or libretro core. BlastEm's own sound implementation is solid, however it's still a bit less accurate than Nuked core. Differences between them are mostly inaudible though and both are way more accurate than the old MAME sound emulation core. System requirements are so low that there is really no reason to use anything less accurate on any reasonably modern PC. Its biggest downside is poor support for accessories or Sega 8-bit consoles and its poor UI in the standalone version.
- Genesis Plus GX
- A solid emulator for the Sega Genesis / Sega Master System / Sega CD / Game Gear. Made primarily for the Gamecube, it also has a Wii version and a cross-platform libretro core. The only things it lacks are 32X and Pico support, and a native desktop port. The only way to get this emulator on the desktop is to use the aforementioned libretro core, which allows for all the benefits of libretro like EmuVR support, shader presets, dynamic sync, and other enhancements. The version used in BizHawk adds features for speedrunners but only the version used in RetroArch supports Nuked OPN2 cycle-accurate Yamaha YM3438(YM2612). The default option for sound emulation, available in all versions, is the old MAME core, because it's very fast.
- Custom fork of Genesis Plus GX available as a libretro core, it includes experimental widescreen options. Sega CD/Mega CD games are currently unsupported.
- Custom fork of Genesis Plus GX available as a libretro core, it includes support for games with enhanced graphics designed for the Firecore system-on-a-chip made by Digital Media Cartridge Ltd.
- higan/ares
- Also developing cycle-accurate Genesis emulation, akin to its own SNES emulator core. v130 version brings "YM2612 improvement" and support for "Mega Mouse". v131 version of ares boasts 95% compatibility with 32X games, while there are still minor glitches, this is leaps and bounds better than other emulators as of late December 2022. v132 version of ares brings every single Sega Mega CD game at least boots; with an estimated 86% of the library playable to completion.
- PicoDrive
- Strongly prioritizes performance over accuracy. Compatibility and accuracy historically wasn't as good as Genesis Plus GX but it's useful on very underpowered systems like the Raspberry Pi Zero. Currently the first and only cross-platform option for Pico games. Since recent years, a fork of it by irixxxx managed to greatly improve the accuracy of this emulator, as of version 2.00 PicoDrive can run Overdrive 2 demo from start to end without major noticeable glitches. 32X and SMS accuracy has also improved, and Game Gear support has been added.
- BizHawk
- "Just works out of the box" solution for Genesis/Mega Drive, CD & 32X, bundled with two cores (Genplus-GX/Genesis Plus GX without Nuked OPN2 support and PicoDrive), ensuring both excellent compatibility and good speed.
- Kega Fusion
- The project of an employee with previous experience at Sega. Kega Fusion has high compatibility, is easy to use, and has plugin-based filter support but it is no longer updated. It has been surpassed by better emulators and also has some issues on newer versions of Windows which can be solved with compatibility settings.
- Exodus
- Exodus is one of the first emulators to attempt cycle accuracy at the high cost of system requirements.
- Regen
- A focus on accuracy has earned its high compatibility with games, but it does not emulate the Sega CD and 32X. It also allows overclocking.
- MAME
- Runs most games fine. Some don't work that well, but it's got about a 95% compatibility rate. Almost all of the C/C-2 arcade games work well in MAME - only the Print Club games don't work. CD emulation not that good, the extra processors throw in more timing problems and 32X emulation has lots of timing issues. There are also suspected SH2 core bugs that come up more frequently on the 32X due to most games being programmed in assembly instead of C like most other SH2 platforms.
- mednafen
- Mednafen's Sega Genesis/Megadrive emulation is based off of Genesis Plus and information and code from Genesis Plus GX (old GPL-licensed version). The GPL-incompatible CPU and sound emulation cores in the aforementioned projects have been replaced with GPLed or GPL-compatible alternatives; heavily modified and improved YM2612 emulation from Gens, and Z80 emulation core from FUSE. In its time, it was one of the only Genesis emulators not under a strict non-commercial license.
- Sega Genesis/Megadrive emulation should still be considered experimental; there are still likely timing bugs in the 68K emulation code, the YM2612 emulation code is not particularly accurate, and the VDP code has timing-related issues.
- GENS
- Close to Kega Fusion in features and compatibility but has largely been surpassed by better emulators. There are many different forks and iterations of Gens, so your experience will differ quite a lot depending on which version you use.
- Nuked-MD
- Emulates the Mega Drive hardware at the gate-level and is thus extremely accurate, but this accuracy comes at the cost of very low performance. A more practical FPGA port is also available.
- ClownMDEmu
- Debugging emulator, to assist with the development of homebrew and ROM-hacks. A libretro core is available for general use. Aims to be as accurate as possible whilst maintaining low system requirements. Also supports the Sega CD.
- Nintendo Switch Online (m2engage)
- Genesis support was added to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack in September 2021, alongside N64 games;
- Users are limited to the selection of games Nintendo chooses to make available on the service;
- Game lineup recycles pretty much everything from Sega Genesis Mini 1 and/or 2 minus the licensed IP (anime, manga, Disney, etc.) and Sega CD games;
- Supports online and Local Play (up to 2 players);
- Different games between regions (Japan and International)
Sound emulation
There are several options to emulate the sound hardware of the Genesis, some of them are shared by more than one emulator.
- ymfm - Originally written during the summer and fall of 2020 as part of the MAME project, which currently uses it. It aims for audibly indistinguishable accuracy with a reasonable performance.
- Nuked - Cycle-accurate core, aiming for the highest accuracy while still being usable in actual games. A go-to option for modern machines.
There are also emulator-specific sound emulation codes of varying accuracy, performance and general quality.
Enhancements
| Name | Genesis Plus GX | ares | PicoDrive | BlastEm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controls | Input lag-mitigating technique | ✓ | ? | ? | ? |
| Turbo button | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ~[lower-alpha 1] | |
| Graphics | Remove sprite limit The Sega Genesis can handle up to 80 on-screen sprites, 20 sprites per scanline.* – this limitation is indirectly responsible for some of the flickering seen in games at times and different strategies must be used to achieve certain game design elements. When this option is enabled, the limit is disabled, allowing more sprites to be drawn on the same line. |
✓ | ✗ | ? | ✓ |
| Resizable internal resolution | For emulation of 2D systems, the resolution can only be upscaled, making the pixels more apparent. | ||||
| Sprite replacement | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Widescreen hack | ~[lower-alpha 1] | ? | ? | ? | |
| Performance | Internal frame rate hack | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Overclock | ? | ? | ? | ✓ | |
| Post-processing | AI-powered filter compatible (Freestyle) |
? | ? | ? | ? |
| Filters | ✓ | ✓ | ? | ?[lower-alpha 2] | |
| Inverse tone mapping compatible | ✓* | ? | ? | ? | |
| Shader chain | ✓ | ✓* | ? | ? | |
| Quality of life | Automatic emulated controller connect/disconnect Automatically connects or disconnects emulated controllers when a new or current controller is connected or disconnected. |
✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Automatic updater | ✓ | ? | ? | ? | |
| Big Picture Mode | ✓ | ? | ? | ? | |
| Built-in cheat manager | ✓ | ✓* | ? | ? | |
| Built-in custom resolution/CRTSwitchRes For using this on Windows OS you need CRT Emudriver. Another option is using EDID editor tool such as "Custom Resolution Utility". |
Exclusive to libretro cores and GroovyMAME at the moment. Also there is a project for achieving software emulators like libretro cores and GroovyMAME send the raw RGB data over a network to a core running on MiSTer, it basically turns the MiSTer into a GPU for the emulator allowing for easy setup and use with CRT TVs/Arcade monitors. | ||||
| Built-in mod editor and manager | ✗ | ? | ? | ? | |
| Built-in patch manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Command-line options | ✓ | ? | ? | ? | |
| Pause/Resume emulation | ✓ | ✓ | ? | ? | |
| Per-game profiles | ✓ | ? | ? | ? | |
| Portable and stealth Useful enhancement feature for non-personal computer use or plug-and-play scenarios. However, the software may still require the necessary prerequisites and dependencies for your operating system if it is not statically linked. |
✓ | ? | ? | ? | |
| Streamable compression format | ✓ | ? | ? | ? | |
| TAS features | Fast forward/Turbo speed | ? | ✓ | ? | ✓ |
| Frame step (forwards and backwards) |
? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Macros/Scripts/Lua | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Movie recording/playback | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Rewind | ? | ✓ | ? | ? | |
| Save states | ✓ | ✓ | ? | ✓ | |
| Misc. | Ambient sounds simulation Simulation of audio from original hardware and environments, such as mechanical hard drive, floppy diskette, and optical drive noises (e.g., head seeks, spin-up/down, tray loading, disc spinning, and clicking), variable CRT flyback transformer whine (the classic high-pitched "coil whine" that dynamically changes pitch based on screen brightness and content), arcade cabinet effects (e.g., fan hum or button rattles), and other background ambient noises. |
✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Audio filters and presets Simulation of characteristic playback limitations and coloration of vintage consumer audio hardware, such as CRT television speakers, arcade cabinets, handheld consoles, early PC sound outputs, and low-fidelity integrated speakers. These filters are not intended to be perfectly accurate recreations, but rather to evoke the tonal qualities, distortion, bandwidth limits, resonance, and compression associated with 8-bit and 16-bit era devices. Examples include mono or narrow stereo output, reduced frequency response, speaker cone distortion, mild saturation, aliasing, and preset lo-fi profiles inspired by classic TVs, portable game systems, radios, and retro multimedia hardware. |
Exclusive to libretro cores at the moment. | ||||
| Debug features | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| EmuVR support | Exclusive to libretro cores at the moment. | ||||
| Netplay | ~[lower-alpha 1] | ✗ | ~[lower-alpha 1] | ✗ | |
| RetroAchievements | ~[lower-alpha 1] | roadmap | ~[lower-alpha 1] | ~[lower-alpha 1] | |
| Rich Presence (RPC) Allows the emulator to share real-time game session details (e.g., current game title, level, boss, playtime, or custom status) with external applications. This enables features such as displaying what you're playing on your profile, inviting friends to spectate, or triggering join-in-progress functionality where supported. |
✓ | ? | ? | ? | |
| Screen translator Using optical character recognition (OCR) and other techniques, this feature can provide live translation of in-game text, text-to-speech for visually impaired users, and more — either on demand or automatically. |
You can use RetroArch's AI Service or the standalone offline bquenin's Interpreter. | ||||
Hardware features and peripherals
| Name | Genesis Plus GX | ares | PicoDrive | BlastEm | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware features | Soft & hard reset This is mandatory for X-Men. |
✓ | ? | ? | ? | ||
| Peripherals | Console add-ons | 32X | ✗* | ✓ | ✓ | ✗* | |
| Sega CD | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~[lower-alpha 1] | |||
| Sega CD 32X | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | |||
| Controllers | Activator | ✓ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | ||
| BatterUp baseball bat | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Handle Controller & Bike Handle | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Keyboard | Mega Drive Keyboard | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | ||
| Saturn Keyboard | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✓ | |||
| XBAND Keyboard Known in brazil as Teclado para Mega Net, even though it only worked on the Mega Net 2. |
✗ | ✗ | ? | ✓ | |||
| Light gun | Konami Justifier | ✓ | ✗* | ? | WIP | ||
| Menacer | ✓ | ✗* | ? | WIP | |||
| MIDI Keyboard | ✗ | ✗ | ? | WIP | |||
| Mouse | ✓ | ✓* | ? | ✓ | |||
| NordicQuest ski-exerciser | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Sega Graphic Board | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
| Six Button Control Pad | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| TeeVGolf | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Ten Key Pad | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| XE-1 AP | ✓ | ✗ | ? | WIP | |||
| HeartBeat Catalyst Notable for having a production run of only 1,000 units, and sold with the exclusive pack-in game Outback Joey, both are considered some of the rarest pieces of Mega Drive history in existence. |
✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | |||
| Link-up cable | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Modem | Mega Modem | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ||
| Mega Terminal | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
| Sega Mega Anser | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
| Multitaps | 4 Way Play | ✓ | ✗ | ? | ✓ | ||
| J-Cart | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Team Player | ✓ | ✗ | ? | ✓ | |||
| Pri Fun While the Pri Fun does not directly connect to any video game system, only composite video inputs. two Sega Pico games were designed with it in mind, Petapeta Chokkin Asoberu Zukan: Doubutsu and Sanrio Festival Tanoshii Card-dzukuri, which can render “printer friendly” graphics on-screen (in Sanrio Festival's case, greeting card templates). Neither game technically requires the Pri Fun to function. |
? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Sega CD only | CD Backup RAM Cart Official cart=1MB, Maximum allowed by the system=4MB, Some RPGs used this for memory, as there was often not enough space for the save files in the internal backup RAM. In the case of Shining Force CD, this cartridge allows the player to unlock the last story segment of the game, inaccessible without the backup cart due to the Sega CD's internal memory limitations. |
✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ||
| Mega-CD Karaoke | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
| Special cartridges | Mega Net | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ||
| Mega Net 2 Merely a brazilian portugese version of the XBAND Modem, but it is still worth mentioning. |
✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
| Power Base Converter System Converter in Europe. |
~ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Sega Channel | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
| Sonic & Knuckles Lock-On | ✓ | ? | ? | ✓ | |||
| TeleBradesco Residência | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
| XBAND Modem | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
| StuntMaster | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Unlicensed/unreleased | Action Replay | ✓ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | ||
| B16 Dance Mat | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Edge 16[lower-alpha 2] | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
| Floppy Disk Drive | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
| Game Genie | ✓ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Game Wizard | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Genipak | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Magicard | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Mega Play 1010 | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Sega VR | Only possible with SegaVR-DGenSDL emulator. | ||||||
| Smash Controller | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Teleplay System[lower-alpha 3] | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
| Video Jukebox | ? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Misc. | YM2612/ASIC YM3438/GOAC YM3438 audio chip switch[lower-alpha 4] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
| Cartridge hot swapping It was sometimes possible to apply cheats (such as a player having infinite lives) and other temporary software alterations to games by hot swapping cartridges, even though the cartridges were not designed to be hot swappable. |
? | ? | ? | ? | |||
| Cartridge tilting Cartridge tilting is an action performed on cartridge-based systems to create otherwise impossible glitches. Cartridge tilting is not a glitch, but rather the process which creates glitches.[lower-alpha 5] |
There is no emulator currently includes built-in cartridge tilting simulation. As a workaround, you can try the external Real-Time Corruptor (RTCV) tool. It is a real-time memory/data corruption tool for inducing glitches during emulation, which might mimic some effects of cartridge tilting (e.g., visual/audio artifacts or crashes). However, it is not a true "cartridge tilting" simulator, as it works on live memory rather than simulating cartridge read errors. | ||||||
| Demo System DS-16 | ? | ? | ? | ? | |||
| Homebrew cartridge mappers | Paprium mapper | ✓[lower-alpha 6] | ✗ | ? | ✗ | ||
| Pier Solar mapper | ✓ | ? | ? | ? | |||
| Homebrew modes | Extended VRAM | ? | ? | ? | ~ | ||
| MSU | ✓ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Hybrid processing A title designed for use in the Teradrive, Puzzle Construction allows uses to “construct” their own puzzles. Construction uses the IBM PC side of the system, but playing the game activates the Mega Drive side. |
? | ✗ | ? | ✗ | |||
| Sega Virtua Processor | ✓ | ? | ? | WIP | |||
- ↑ Experimental support in nightly builds only.
- ↑ This modem was going to support cross-play between 3DO and Sega Genesis.
- ↑ This modem was going to support cross-play between NES, SNES and Sega Genesis.
- ↑ See this
- ↑
Cart Tilt Showcase Playlist
- ↑ Requires the RetroArch core.
Lock-On
Lock-On Technology is a unique feature found on Sonic & Knuckles cartridges for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis that allows a player to connect an older game to the cartridge's pass-through port for extended or altered gameplay.
- With Sonic 3: Completes the game, and adds the Sonic and Knuckles levels as intended. This was the original usage.
- With Sonic 2: Unlocks an alternate version of Sonic 2 with playable Knuckles.
- With Sonic 1: Unlocks the Blue Sphere minigame with a level select for all possible levels.
The Sonic & Knuckles cartridge can lock-on to other cartridges:
- Smaller than 2MB: Will play a single random level from the Blue Sphere minigame generated from data in the header.
- Bigger than 2MB: Will boot to Sonic & Knuckles.
- Has Battery Pack: All saved data will be wiped out.
Most emulators don't support Lock-On save for Genesis Plus GX, but there are pre-combined ROMs for the Sonic trilogy available online that can be played as a regular Megadrive ROM on any emulator and still work. The Sonic 3 Complete romhack also achieves the same purpose.
Genesis Plus GX's RetroArch core includes true Lock-On emulation. From the Core Options menu, you can enable the Lock-On feature for either Sonic & Knuckles, Game Genie, or the Action Replay (Pro) -- the latter two using a different technology but with similar effects. Setting this option to anything other than "Off" will enable Lock-on to the cartridge you're currently playing as. After resetting, the game will boot in Lock-On mode.
The following files need to be under the directory for BIOS files (usually "system"):
- sk.bin (Sonic & Knuckles (2 MiB) ROM)
- sk2chip.bin (Sonic & Knuckles UPMEM (256 KiB) ROM): If you can't find it online, extract it with a hex editor from a pre-combined Sonic 2 & Knuckles ROM from offset 00300000 to the end of the ROM.
For GG/AR, the files needed are areplay.bin and ggenie.bin, but most emulators support cheat codes from these natively.
BlastEm also supports the Lock-On Technology for Sonic 3, except when combined with Sonic 2, as it does not support lock-on with the sk2chip.bin.
MIDI Keyboard
MIDI keyboards are used in two special cartridges: Miracle Piano Teaching System, released only in the US, and Wonder MIDI, released only in Japan and requires a Model 1 Wondermega (either RG-M1 or HWM-5000) to operate. While MIDI keyboards can be operated with MPTS as usual, Wonder MIDI also requires a special disc from the CD-MIDI standard to be inserted, as the software itself is not capable to do interactions with the soundchips of both Mega Drive and Mega-CD.
Modes
Extended VRAM
A 128KB VDP mode from TeraDrive, an IBM PC/Mega Drive combo used on several Teradrive-only software.[1]
BlastEm has partial support for this mode since version 0.5.0.
Mega Drive/Genesis Plus/MSU-MD
The Mega Drive/Genesis Plus (sometimes abbreviated as MD+) is a special mode for certain Genesis games that use enhanced CDDA tracks with a Sega CD. This was not used in any official games, however, the mode itself was first used in the first batch of Pier Solar releases. This feature was been documented to be used on Terraonion's Mega SD flash cartridge, to give similar effects for Genesis games in a way that MSU-1 does in patched SNES games. Another variant was been made for Mega Everdrive PRO, named MSU-MD.
Currently, only Genesis Plus GX supports both modes as mentioned here, while Kega Fusion supports games that can only run in MSU-MD mode. irixxxx's fork of PicoDrive is also starting to add support for MD+.
A variant called 32X Plus (abbreviated as 32X+) made exclusively for Sega 32X games also exists, but again, it is only used by homebrew software, such as Doom 32X Resurrection.
Sega CD, 32X, and Sega CD 32X
The Sega Mega CD, 32X, and Sega CD 32X were add-ons for the Sega Genesis that expanded its capabilities with Mega CD-ROM playback (It can also play Audio CDs and CD+G discs), enhanced processing power, and a limited library of CD-based games with 32X functionality.
- Ares supports CD+G images[2].
- See this dedicated page for more information about home media playback support for emulation softwares.
- See Ripping games.
Hardware variations
| Name | FinalBurn Neo | Genesis Plus GX | ares | PicoDrive | BlastEm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arcade | Mega Play | ? | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Mega-Tech | ? | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |
| System C-2 | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Firecore | ? | ~ | ? | ? | ? | |
| PAC (PAC-S10/PAC-S1) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Pico | Copera | ? | ? | ✗[lower-alpha 1] | ? | ~ |
| Pico | ? | ~[lower-alpha 2] | ~[lower-alpha 3] | ✓[lower-alpha 4] | ✓ | |
- ↑ Startup screen works, but when getting into the game, the emulator crashes.
- ↑ Basic emulation, and the drawing pad and magic pen (stylus) work, but storyware features and NEC μPD7759 are not yet implemented.
- ↑ Basic emulation works fine, but all inputs and NEC μPD7759 are not yet implemented.
- ↑ The magic pen (stylus) cannot be emulated using a mouse or touchscreen.
Firecore is a system-on-a-chip clone hardware based on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive system, originating in the late 2000s. Most emulators have not been tested with Firecore-enhanced titles, however it is unlikely that they are supported.
- Emulation of this clone is possible with the Genesis-Plus-GX-Cyclone fork.
- There is also preliminary MAME support but it currently has a "MACHINE_NOT_WORKING" flag.
Sega Nomad / Genesis Nomad
Placeholder Text
PicoDrive, KEGA Fusion and MAME support this hardware. There is a feature request for ares.
- See the dedicated page for more information.
The latest BlastEm emulator nightly builds introduce preliminary support for Yamaha Copera emulation. [3]
- See the dedicated page for more information.
Sega PAC (PAC-S10/PAC-S1)
- Main article: Pioneer LaserActive#Hardware features and peripherals
The attachable player addon to Pioneer LaserActive which lets it play standard cartridges, Sega Mega CDs and its own exclusive Sega Mega-LD games (LaserDisc format used for games featuring analog video background and digital in-game graphics; they need this special player hardware).
Arcade
Sega released three arcade boards based on Genesis/Mega Drive hardware:
In addition, several Genesis games were converted to standalone arcade machines, either with or without a license from Sega.
MAME supports these arcade boards.
0.289 version compatibility status: Mega Play, Mega-Tech, System C/C-2.
External links
- MegaDrive Development Wiki - A Wiki about every technical aspect of the SEGA MegaDrive hardware and software. It aims to provide the most detailed, accurate, and up-to-date information, to help homebrew development and repairs.
- Mega Drive emulators on Sega Retro
- ARCHIVE.ORG Console Library: Sega Genesis
