The Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) was an amazing system. Aside from being a great gaming system, it also proved to be a rather versatile system as well. Sega offered so many different versions of the system at various times… it was insane. Unlike the 3D), which I touched on recently, these systems weren’t all reinventions of the wheel; these various consoles all (for the most part) had different priority functions. This week though, I have discovered another version that I never knew existed, and I want one, BADLY…

I think that most people are extremely familiar with the three standard version of the Genesis (Genesis I, II, and III), as well as the Nomad. There are even quite a few people who remember the wonderfully designed Sega Nomad, the portable Genesis that could be played on the go as well as hooked to a television. If you take it one step further, you will find people familiar with the elusive Sega CDX. For those who aren’t in the know, the CDX was a portable discman that played, aside from music CD’s, Genesis and Sega CD games when it was connected to a television. Very cool indeed… but this thing, this is the Holy Grail of Genesis’.

Behold the (Sega) Aiwa CSD-G1M Mega CD! No, this isn’t a joke… this thing is for real. Manufactured by Aiwa and released only in Japan (in very limited quantities) in September of 1994. The system consisted of an Aiwa bookshelf audio system and an attachable base which added Mega Drive and Mega CD support. The audio of the games was handled by the radio portion which there was a video connection on the game-base. The two portions were connected by a massive parallel-style cable that made the system look completely dated. Why the two didn’t connect electronically in the same place that they connected physically is beyond me.

I don’t know what else to say aside from the fact this this thing is very, very cool. I would love to get a hold of one of these but they go for ridiculous amounts of money on the used market. When it was released, the MSRP was $450 USD, so you can imagine what it sells for now days (I couldn’t find any for sale online at the moment). One of these days I hope to eventually track one of these down and add it to my (or iTatton’s) collection… some day…


I suggest following the link One of the coolest consoles you have never seen…
for some pictures that go along with the article