Sega has been in the videogaming market for longer than you think. They were around before Nintendo and Atari. At that time the company wasn't known as Sega Enterprises Ltd., also Sega was actually formed by two different companies. The founder of Sega isn't even Japanese, the founder David Rosen was a American.
Rosen Enterprises Ltd. - before the days of Sega Enterprises Ltd.
      David Rosen was a young American in 1955, after fighting in World War II with the U.S. Air Force, he goes to Tokyo. In Tokyo, David Rosen sees a bright future, he starts Rosen Enterprises Ltd. The company began out exporting art, later, the company moved on to importing instant photo booths. The photo booths charged 200 yen and dispense photographs within two mintues. The instant photo booths were a big success in Japan. After a few years in the instant photo booth business, Rosen moves on to bring coin-up games to Japan. By this time, Rosen Enterprises Ltd. was a very famous entertainment company in Japan. With fame in Japan came fortune, Rosen Enterprises Ltd. bought a Japanese jukebox company, the merged together to form Sega Enterprises Ltd.
Sega Enterprises Ltd. - before making videogames
      Where did they get the name Sega? Well Sega means coin-ups in Japanese......... just joking. Sega came from the company Rosen Enterprises Ltd. bought Service Games. Just put the first two letters from the company's name and you get Sega. Service Games was a very large jukebox company, much larger than Rosen Enterprises Ltd. Service Games had around 6000 manufacturing plants around Japan. David Rosen used the manufacturing plants and started making electro-mechanical games. David Rosen started exporting them to America and all over Japan. David Rosen's first game was Periscope it was released in 1967, attack-submarine simulation. In the game, players scan teh seas with a periscope looking for enemies, then firing torpedoes at the enemies. The game was a big hit, even though at the time, it was mostly peace and love and not shooting your enemies down with torpedoes.
Early years of Sega - making games for consoles like Atari 2600
      In 1970, Sega Enterprises Ltd. was bought by Gulf & Western, and started making coin-up arcades and software through the 1970's and 1980's. In the 70's Sega would make a new game every year for arcades and home consoles. When Sega entered the videogaming market, they weren't the powerhouse, they were a small company compared to others. But they had some hits like "Turbo" which came with the Colecovision driving wheel. Then came other hits like Frogger, Monaco GP, SubRoc 3D, Tac Scan, and Space Fury. It wasn't until Zaxxon that Sega got noticed, the first evem shoot'em up game was a big success. With the success of their games, Sega opened a North America division called Sega Enterprises Ltd. and renamed their Japanese division to Sega of Japan.
Sega enters the videogaming market - Sega SG1000 to Sega Master System
      The next few years, Sega saw itself developing games for the Atari 2600 and Sega's first home console, the SG 1000. The SG 1000 never came to North America, and it was a failure in Japan and Sega's attempt to be known as a home console maker failed. Sega also tried entering computer market with the SC 1000, a computer made specially for games, which came to North America. The SC 3000 did a bit better than the SG 1000, but still didn't give Sega the attention. In 1983, Sega Enterprises Ltd. the North American division was sold to Bally, a large pinball and arcade company. Soon, Gulf & Western sold Sega of Japan to a group of Japanese investor. The group of Japanese investors officially named the company to Sega Enterprises Ltd. The investors started making some very smart changes around Sega Enterprises Ltd., including hiring Yu Suzuki and Yuji Naka in 1983 and 1985. At this time, gamers had dumped the videogame industry since better videogames can be found on computers. Videogaming industry leaders like Intellivision, Atari, Coleco and others were in big trouble. You all know what happened next, Intellivision and Coleco go bankrupt, Atari tries desperatly to survive. Atari later gave one last shot with the Jaguar in the early 1990's and failed like hell. Atari was letter bought by Hasbro and makes cheesy games like Centipede. The mid 80's was also the time for newer companies to enter the videogaming industry. Companies like Sega and Nintendo were the future, in 1985, Sega releases the Mark III which was later known as the Master System in North America. Master System was a bit of success and got the word out about Sega. The Mark III was to compete head on with a more famous Nintendo Famicom. When Nintendo announced bring the Famicom to North American, and Sega followed. The Famicom was renamed NES and the Mark III was renamed Master System in North America. The Master System's hardware was more powerful than the NES, but Nintendo signed deals with third-party developers not allowing them to make games for other systems. But still the Master System had Sega, Activision, and Parker Brothers developing games. With this, NES had 90% of the videogaming industry. While Sega and other companies owned the other 10%. Even if it was 10%, the Master System was very famous in North America with great games like Yu Suzuki's classic Hang On, and Yuji Naka's original Phantasy Star.
King of the hill - the glory years of the Genesis
      In 1988, Sega gave another crack at the home console market, and by this time, government pressure forced Nintendo to allow third-party developers to make games for other systems. This was the right time to release the Mega Drive which was later known as the Genesis in North America. The Genesis was next-generation system compared to the NES, and at launch was sold for $189 American. But still, Nintendo own 90% of the market, and Genesis sales were slow at the start. Also because Nintendo released the Gameboy in the same year. When games like Out Run, Shinobi, Golden Axe were released, Genesis sales started to rise. In 1990, EA Sports releases Madden Football, sales sky rocket. This put pressure on Nintendo to respond, soon Nintendo releases SNES. Sega replies to that with Sonic the Hedgehog and the release of an 8-bit color hand held system, Game Gear. In 1991, Sega's Genesis had 55% of sales beating SNES. But the Game Gear didn't have the same luck, even though it had great games like Sonic the Hedgehog and it was in color, it failed. Mostly to fact that Game Gear had a low battery life. In 1992, Sega CD is released, making it the first ever CD based home console. But the Sega CD failed to help the Genesis because of the lack of good games. The same year was also the beginning of Yu Suzuki and AM2's famous Virtua series with Virtua Racing. Two years later, Virtua Fighter arrives on the Genesis, it was a instant success. The first ever 3D fighting game, the game a beginning of 3D gaming, a copy of the Virtua Fighter is kept Smithsonian museum in Washington D.C.
Trouble in paradise - road to disaster
      In 1993, the talk of 32-bit systems began to appear in Japan, so Sega began making the 32X. It was a add-on to the Genesis giving it 32-bit, it was released in 1994. Sales of the 32X were high during the launch of the 32X, but it didn't last long. Mostly due to fact of limited games, and that the 32X was piece of crap. Sega is starting to lose grip in the market, but since the release of the 32X, Sega's been working on a totally new system. In November 22, 1994, the Sega Saturn was released. Even though Virtua Fighter was the only game and it came with the system, by Christmas, 500,000 Saturns were sold in Japan. But that wasn't the same thing at the North American release in May 1995. The Saturn was sold for $400 American with Virtua Fighter inside, it was considered way to expensive. Fall of 1995 saw Sony sticks its ugly face in the videogaming market with the release of the Playstation. But neither systems sold well, until E3 in 1996. Both companies announced they'll be dropping the price of their systems to $200. Later that year, Sony updated the Playstation. Next thing you know, everybodies buying a Playstation. Even though 5 million Saturns were sold in Japan, Sega is in deep trouble. Sega was having finacial trouble, almost going bankrupt at one point.
Down, but not out - Dreamcast comes alive
      Since the release of the N64 in 1997, rumors have said Sega has been working on a 128-bit system. Well, on some time in early 1998, it became true. Sega announces the Dreamcast, at that time call