A blog dedicated to Sega’s 8-bit consoles may seem like a weird topic to have for a blog. They’ve never been the most popular pieces of hardware and the homebrew scene for them is quite scarce. It would have been easier to have a blog dedicated to more popular platforms like the Nintendo Entertainment System or even the Commodore 64. Ever since I was a kid though, I have had a love for Sega and so I created 8-bit Service Games with the intention of bringing more attention to their 8-bit consoles.
I love retro gaming, and I have for a long time. I've never been one who could invest any amount of time into a Xbox 360 or PS4 game, but a game on my Sega Dreamcast or my Sega Genesis? Those I could pour hours into! One thing I love about the retro gaming scene is when new games come out for these old systems. It's really interesting to see what a creator can do with these ancient pieces of tech. That's exactly the case here with Tobu Tobu Girl Deluxe for the original Gameboy, and I love it!
The Colecovision is a console I've been wanting to get my hands on for a while now. However, thanks to the work of SMS Power user Apocalypse, I'm in no rush to get one.
Retro gaming has taken off in a big way the past decade, and only looks to continue to grow. With big companies like Nintendo, Sony and Sega releasing miniature retro console clones over the past few years, interest continues to grow and what was once considered niche has become mainstream. With the advent of the Raspberry Pi and other single board computers, as well as emulation handhelds like the RG 350 and Retroid Pocket 2, emulation for those retro systems has also become a lot more affordable, and easy to set up. Despite these advancements, there are those of us who prefer to play on actual hardware, faults and all.
Sega was living large as one of the United States top arcade game manufacturers of the early 1980’s with hits such as Zaxxon. Despite their successes, 1982 saw the arcade market experience an economic downturn. With their arcade business in decline, Sega decided to use their hardware expertise to move into the home consumer market in Japan. What would come from this decision would go on to shape the entire video game industry as we know it. While their future console endeavors would prove to be more successful, Sega would enter the home console market with a set of twins.