Sega Mega CD development unit arrives

[ASSEMbler]

The latest addition to the ASSEMbler collection and museum arrived last week. After about ten years of searching, I finally found one of my most wanted systems. So in brief until the museum is up, I'll share some of the pics and info about the item:

ASSEMBLER PROUDLY PRESENTS
SEGA MEGA CD DEVELOPMENT UNIT
1992 CROSS PRODUCTS


http://www.assemblergames.com/images/news/megacd1.jpg

The cross systems mega cd development unit consists of a highly modified retail mega cd and megadrive in a custom metal housing. Sandwiched in between the boards for the megadrive and mega cd is a custom scsi /drive emulation board / bios board.The scsi board is quite complex, with the bios board on the mega cd seemingly completely missing. Several functions are laid out along the face:

http://www.assemblergames.com/images/news/megacd3.jpg


http://www.assemblergames.com/images/news/megacd2.jpg

The two DIP switch banks control both of the processors in the mega cd and megadrive, they also control the region and emulation functions. The unit is region free and can play any sega cd, mega cd, megadrive and genesis cartridge games.

http://www.assemblergames.com/images/news/megacd4.jpg


http://www.assemblergames.com/images/news/megacd5.jpg

The rear of the unit has two seperate connections for emulation of the cd drive, and the scsi control interface for the mega cd. The units hook up to a large cross systems emu box at the emu port, which in turn is connected to a pc. Up to three seperate dev boxes can be hooked up to the unit at once making it FOUR units plus a PC neccessary for megacd development.(CD emu box, Ram cart emu, ICE box)

The cross systems mega cd dev unit is one of the highlights of my collection. It's one of the last pieces of dev hardware I haven't been able to find. With it easier to find an M2 unit, this device ranks very high on my scale or rarity.

COOLNESS FACTOR: 9/10 (one being a dirty game.com, ten being a super nintendo cd with game.)

PRICE FACTOR: 4/10 (one being relatively free/cheap, ten approaching or exceeding the $10,000 range.)

RARITY: 9/10 (one being as common as gameboy, ten being an item that is singular in existance or one of a very, very few)



Discuss in forum (http://assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3765)

[Blur2040]

I gotta say...that's one sexy system. Ever since I first saw one, I've considered it the most interesting piece of dev hardware I've seen.

[Calpis]

Funny, when I see it I see an obsolete 1992 Cross product (lol) I'm most interested in the Cross board, and what MCD BIOS it's using and in how they made the case, I'd like to make something similar I like the idea of the two systems bound...

Has anyone spotted the software for it? Anyone know what WRPR stands for? I presume ACT is active. So the "main CPU" is the MD's 68K while the "sub" is the MCD's? I don't think the DIPs control the regions, more likely they're to set the CPU flags or something since they're identical on each side. How does it play every MD/MCD/SCD game? It has to be set to a specific region, can't be all. Are you sure it plays all MCD??

[Blur2040]

Sure, it's useless...but it's neato.

[Calpis]

I like it's case, it looks like a bomb or something; just wish Cross products, specifically the older ones weren't so shitty, a debugger however might prove usefull.

[ASSEMbler]

I have the instructions and the three emu boxes. Yes, it's all region.

[bigsexyolli]

Yeah the case is really sexy! Wasn't tht on ebay? I prefer that over any xbox debug or test ps2.

[Yakumo]

That's one sexy beast. that would be great to have even as a regeion free Meag CD and Mega Drive combo.

Yakumo

[xdaniel]

Maybe i'm pointing out the obvious but, besides being interesting because it's a dev unit, it's also interesting to see that it's a Sega CD branded unit together with a Mega Drive and not MCD & MD or SCD & Genesis like one could assume. Ok, nothing too interesting but kinda nice to see or something...

[gamergary]

Looks nice. Congrats on actually acquiring one of those beasts.

[djb1986]

Maybe i'm pointing out the obvious but, besides being interesting because it's a dev unit, it's also interesting to see that it's a Sega CD branded unit together with a Mega Drive and not MCD & MD or SCD & Genesis like one could assume. Ok, nothing too interesting but kinda nice to see or something...
I didn't even notice that. I guess they did it to let you know it was all region?

[Johnny]

Wow, that's cool!

[Paulo]

Very cool... never seen one before!

[Calpis]

Need more pictures then, especially inside and of the peripherals. How do you change the region of the system and Mega CD? I want scans of the manual ;)

[sh3-rg]

Very cool... never seen one before!

Then you didn't look in my collection bits & pieces :P

[Taemos]

I'd have to say that's one of the more interesting development-related items I've seen.

[link343]

Man, I saw that on ebay. You got it?

[retro]

Useless? If I'm not mistaken, it is multi-region. Even if assembler doesn't have the software to dev with it, that makes it damn cool in my opinion.

I also believe that it is a COMPLETELY custom board inside, it is an all-in-one unit. It isn't just a MegaDrive and Mega CD.

Incidentally, I think this is the third one I've seen. I'd say that makes it pretty rare, indeed!

[sh3-rg]

There's a MD board at the top, an MCD board at the bottom and a snasm board sandwiched between the two.

[ASSEMbler]

Man, I saw that on ebay. You got it?

Yeah, cost me a ton in the end with the three emu boxes.
$650...

:smt096

[sh3-rg]

Yeah, cost me a ton in the end with the three emu boxes.
$650...

:smt096

worth every penny and more of what you paid for the unit though, but i thought i saw the boxes go to someone else. Did you get some kind of card for the PC end? I don't have a manual for it, just the manuals for the normal md & snes bits... I'm looking forward to scans of yours should you do them


:ramen

[TheDeathcoaster]

Thats no dev. machine, Its a Space Station.....

[sayin999]

I give hats off to you, ive been waiting so long to see what a sega.mega cd unit looks like in detail, even then i consider it one of the holy grails to own, i was wondering if you were going to post pictures of the rest of the dev kit?

[retro]

sh3-rg posted pics of his not that long ago, ya know ;)

[AntiPasta]

btw, I'm pretty sure WRPR stands for Write Protect, which most likely write protects the CD being emulated by the SCSI HDD.

[Calpis]

I don't think it's write protect because there are two LEDs, one for each CPU and write protecting a CPU doesn't make sense.

I have a feeling this is going to be one of those consoles I'll buy in X years and find out everyone was completely wrong about it.

Assem, need manual scans, "sandwich" board scans/pics and pics of the CD emulator.

Also did Cross make the In circuit emulator/RAM cart?

[ASSEMbler]

I'm not going to take it apart and risk breaking it. I'm looking in through the vents on the sides, and it has the big crazy board with masses of chips all over it, and having opened a sega cd and a genesis, can tell you it's not part of either.

[Calpis]

Ahh but thats no good, you could be careful. That board hasn't been revealed, you could be the first on the 'net and it could spark some more technical discussion.

[sayin999]

I cant blame assembler though, it is very hard to find one of these developmetn kits, and the fact is is that there is no replacement readily avalible if he breaks it, i myself could only dream of owning one of these things (also due to the fact that it is region free, and this can be confirmed by reading the ultimate history of videogames by steven l kent as he talks about how how developers that were translating games had sepcial sega cds that were region free(which im guess he is talking about the dev kit). I also belive that sega of america still has some sega cd dev kits lying around as i belive the guy who use to own and run sonic cult mentioned that he had saw one at work (when he was a member of the first board), though it might have been another assembler member who saw this. I wish nintendo was a bit more laid back about letting its dev and beta stuff get out, i can only imagine the types of games they canceled or how they were different in dev(this is most evident in the first shots and ad for mario 64, star fox 64, and infamously zelda oot.

[Calpis]

Well heres the thing, there CANT be a region free Sega/Mega CD. The BIOS can support one single region. It's very possible for Cross to have modified a few BIOS to make a bankswitching ROM, but it's not very possible for Cross being a third party developer to create and be licensed an entirely new "region free" BIOS. Also this is a Cross unit, it's make by Cross/Psygnosis/SN Systems in the UK, it's only but one of several licensed development systems, it's not SOA's inhouse prized hardware (which likely is bankswitched as well) It's very well Pachuka (that's who you are talking about right?) saw one of these at Sega when they were back in San Fran but a multi (key word) system is pretty common.

[sayin999]

Well heres the thing, there CANT be a region free Sega/Mega CD. The BIOS can support one single region. It's very possible for Cross to have modified a few BIOS to make a bankswitching ROM, but it's not very possible for Cross being a third party developer to create and be licensed an entirely new "region free" BIOS. Also this is a Cross unit, it's make by Cross/Psygnosis/SN Systems in the UK, it's only but one of several licensed development systems, it's not SOA's inhouse prized hardware (which likely is bankswitched as well) It's very well Pachuka (that's who you are talking about right?) saw one of these at Sega when they were back in San Fran but a multi (key word) system is pretty common.

Yes that is the member i am talking about( didnt bother mentioning name due to fact that he at one point changed his name for sonic cult) the thing is though is your right there is no such thing as a region free sega cd, what i forgot to mention was the fact that in the book he mentions how those bios for those kits were in fact modified bios and not standard ones, is the sega cd the only system(or add on i should say) that uses such an odd way of determining the region through boot code being mixed with regular code(if i have it wrong please correct me as im a bit confused on how the sega cd checks for region, i do know though it has to do something with the size of the boot code being bigger on american games and shorter on japanese games thus having the code off slightly and that is why scdconv doesnt work on all games).

[Calpis]

I'm not sure sure what other consoles use the same method, likely none. I've never used SCDConv, nor have I patched a game with another tool so I don't know. I've never had to convert a game :)

[sh3-rg]

Ahh but thats no good, you could be careful. That board hasn't been revealed, you could be the first on the 'net and it could spark some more technical discussion.

I took mine to bits & it went back together fairly easiy. I can do it again & take some pictures of the middle board if you think it's worth doing, but please don't slag me off for not being an expert photographer & having a cheapy camera http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Calpis]

I would really appreciate it! Any pics are better than none and I'm sure it's a highly easy disassembly/reassembly compared to a N64 analog stick.

[Rowny]

That's a lean mean Gaming machine! what is that about SNES? can it play snes too or something?

[sh3-rg]

Here's some big ugly pictures:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sh3-rg/stuph/mcdev/mcdev.html

All back together now ;)


I would really appreciate it! Any pics are better than none and I'm sure it's a highly easy disassembly/reassembly compared to a N64 analog stick.

[Calpis]

They're great pics though, some names are illegible but thats fine.

The first thing I noticed was that the BIOS, to my surprise, doesn't appear to be bankswitched (no wire visible from top). It's possible for it to be bankswitched from the bottom of the board. Unless there is a mod there, either the system isn't multiregion or it is and Cross managed to develop their own magic BIOS which I will be skeptical of until I get a copy of it.

One thing I'd like to know is which expansion devices ("boxes") are literally tied to this device? I understand that there is a CDROM emulator box, and it's clear that the system has
a DB25 port ("SCSI") but is that for computer connectivity or what? There is an incircuit emulator box right? Where does that connect to the unit? Assem, you mentioned a RAM cart? Is this specifically for this Cross unit or just a 68K SNASM ROM emulator?

[sayin999]

That definetly looks nice, but i could see why its a bit hard to open up, i meanlook it how the boards are stacked and all the chips, im also gusing that thats a U.S. dev kit since the top is a genesis casing. Im wondering what chip goes in the the empty slot for the 1st and 2nd board.

[retro]

I believe Sega were so impressed with Cross that they bought them and they then made the OFFICIAL sega dev units. I'm not sure at what stage this happened, though - I believed it was around 1996/97

[Riga]

Assembler,
Now I can actually reveal the company it is coming from. It is INTERPLAY. (as all my other dev items)
Actually it makes this beast even cooler when you know how many games were developed on it. I am happy that it arrived safe and sound.

[retro]

Aha! I guessed right, then :)

Do you have anything else left?

[Calpis]

I believe Sega were so impressed with Cross that they bought them and they then made the OFFICIAL sega dev units. I'm not sure at what stage this happened, though - I believed it was around 1996/97
If thats true that's far from 1992. This is the only SCD/MCD kit I've seen but I highly doubt that every developer at the time used this kit. Somewhere I have a list of all the licensed Genesis dev hardware developers circa 1993-4, there are around 10.

[Alchy]

As many as that? Do you have any info about the systems they created?

[Riga]

Aha! I guessed right, then :)

Do you have anything else left?


Yes. Actually my partner bought everything they had. I am just listing some (whatever I can get). Big part of it he already sold.
I have a lot of back up tapes , workstations and e.t.c.
I caught a cold and dont feel like listing , but I will as soon as I feel better.

[retro]

Your partner being Gavroche? I'm sure he was selling InterPlay stuff. I'm sure he said he got everything off them.

I offered to buy all the Saturn stuff he had, including any backup tapes, hard drives, betas etc. with data, any artwork, notes whatever. He laughed at me and told me that I'd need about $40,000 for that, and that the Saturn stuff alone fills a garage.

[Riga]

Your partner being Gavroche? I'm sure he was selling InterPlay stuff. I'm sure he said he got everything off them.

I offered to buy all the Saturn stuff he had, including any backup tapes, hard drives, betas etc. with data, any artwork, notes whatever. He laughed at me and told me that I'd need about $40,000 for that, and that the Saturn stuff alone fills a garage.


My business partner lives in Los Angeles.
I dont know the guy you are talking about. I doubt if he have any of Interplay stuff.

[Riga]

By the way all Interplay stuff has labels on it " Property of Interplay".
Can he provide photos with all the labels ?
I can.

PS. Of course I dont list items on ebay with the labels still attached.

[retro]

Actually, I have purchased the entire remaining assets of interplay, so yes, it cost me a fortune, but i am every-so-slowly getting my money back. Just another $xx,xxx to go....

From this (http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1925&highlight=interplay) thread. He also mentions Interplay in his sales thread here (http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2423&highlight=interplay).

[Riga]

I see that he had a lot of stuff.
We did not buy entire Interplay. We bought partially what was up for sale. Since Interplay have trouble right now. It is possible that this guy got some interplay deal going.
I will ask my partner since one of the main Interplay guys is his friend.

[ICEknight]

Have you tried dumping the BIOS from this device using MoD's cable and Transfer Suite (http://www.retrodev.com/transfer.html) program? It might be interesting to take a look at it...

[StarWolf]

Have you tried dumping the BIOS from this device using MoD's cable and Transfer Suite (http://www.retrodev.com/transfer.html) program? It might be interesting to take a look at it...

Yeah, I was gonna ask about this too. I'd be interested to see if it uses the same method as Aarakon's MultiBIOS (Jpn, US, UK Bios' with 2 switches to select) or is a truly region free BIOS. From what it sounds like with the Dip switches though I believe you are switching both the MD and MCD regions, so it probably is like the MultiBIOS. Still, it'd be interesting if it showed up an a certain FTP somewhere. I'd love a multiregion Mega CD.

[Calpis]

Read the entire thread, specficially my posts ;)

[sh3-rg]

A Mega CD 2 I got at the same time as my MCD dev has 'dev config' etched into the front of it. I've never tried using it, it's back stored away with other old junk... would it be worth digging it back out & having a look?

[Blur2040]

A Mega CD 2 I got at the same time as my MCD dev has 'dev config' etched into the front of it. I've never tried using it, it's back stored away with other old junk... would it be worth digging it back out & having a look?

Yes! Don't kill yourself, but I'm sure everyone would like to see it.

[Fonzie]

Umm, i'm pretty sure that a universal bios exists.
Cause, this special bios might check the region, and then copy the correct bios(according to the region) to the segacd ram...

I heard the segacd dev unit had a CDROM drive emulator that can be connected to a special computer (with a HDD).
So, the center board is certainely the "cdrom faker" that deals with the computer... Maybe some others features are availables like ram settings (there are many rams settings available), and some flags...

Very cool piece of hardware!

[Segafreak_NL]

I've found some stuff you might like; here's a scan from Sega Power issue 44
(July 1993). These kits were used during development of Jurassic Park (Mega-CD)
at Multimedia studios USA.

Http://www.watluljenou.nl/mcddev.jpg

Another quote from 'Gordon Habefelde' main programmer; 'There's a vast number of sub-programs running all the time -CD quality sound, PC and FM sound effects, artwork, animation routines - so I use two PC's running a 68000 Assembler which are hooked up to a special Mega-CD that's manufactured in England'.

[Mark30001]

Awesome link Segafreak_NL! :thumbsup:

It makes more wonder now if this unit was the same one in the picture (of course there were prolly thousands more...)