It’s easy to think of online console gaming as an invention of the 2000s. Microsoft made waves when Xbox Live dropped in 2002, with Nintendo and Sony scrambling to catch up with their own offerings that were neither as sleek or well-integrated.
However, if you were around a decade earlier, you might have experienced online console gaming much closer to the dawn of the Internet era. As far back as 1990, you could jump online with your Sega Mega Drive. But what did an online console feel like in the dial-up era?
Mega
The Sega Mega Drive was launched in Japan in October 1988. The company was in a tough battle with Nintendo for gaming dominance, and the new 16-bit console was intended to best its rival’s offerings across the board. With a forward-looking attitude, Sega quickly developed an online offering for the console, which went under a few different names. It was known as Mega Net, or alternatively, the Sega Net Work System.
The system hit the market on November 3 1990, exclusively for the Japanese market, with Sega talking up a future launch in the US under the “Tele-Genesis” name. The initial Mega Net kit cost ¥12,800, which included the Mega Modem accessory—a simple 1,200 bps dial-up modem which plugged into the “EXT” DE-9 port on the back of the Model 1 Mega Drive. Access to Mega Net service came at a cost of ¥800 a month. Users got a copy of Nikkan Sports Pro Baseball VAN, which provided live updates and statistics on baseball matches when connected to the service.
The Mega Net pack also included the “Game Library” cartridge. This allowed users to dial up to Mega Net and play a variety of downloadable games. These titles had to be incredibly compact, usually under 128 KB. This was both because of the glacially slow 1,200 bps modem, and because the Mega Drive had no real storage capability to speak of. 42 games were released on the system, and titles would take about 5 to 8 minutes to download. The vast majority were single player experiences. However, two games – Tel-Tel Stadium and Tel-Tel Mahjong – featured online play via Mega Net. Perhaps unsurprisingly, both games were turn-based—a practical necessity given the limited speeds and latency achievable with the slow Mega Modem. A handful of games from Mega Net would later see cartridge releases of their own.
Users could also engage in multiplayer gaming with certain cartridge-based titles. However, this was not using a server-based online system. Instead, this merely consisted of point-to-point dial-up play between two consoles equipped with the Mega Modem.
Mega Net wasn’t just limited to gaming, however. Sega explored more utilitarian uses for the Mega Drive with the release of Mega Anser. This came as a package that included the Mega Modem, the Mega Anser software, and a numeric keypad controller called the Ten Key Pad. There was also an optional printer that plugged into one of the controller ports. The most notable use of the Mega Anser was for online banking. Depending on your bank, you could manage your funds with the Naisu-kun Mini, Osaka Ginkou no Home Banking Service My Line, or Sumisei Home Tanmatsu.
Unfortunately, the technology wasn’t quite there in 1990 to support a fully-vibrant online gaming service. By 1992, Sega realised there wasn’t a large market for Mega Net and Mega Anser services, and the hardware started turning up in bargain bins for drastically reduced prices. By 1993, Sega had released a remodelled Mega Drive which eliminated the EXT port required for the Mega Modem, making it clear that there was no interest in taking the service any further.
The end of Mega Net in Japan was swift, but the name would live once more. That time came in 1995, when a similar service saw a last gasp release in Brazil, of all places. Supported by local distributor Tectoy, it ran using a unique modem accessory that plugged into the cartridge slot. The range of services on offer was quite different—users could access emails, fax messages, and read an electronic magazine called Revista Eletrônica. The system was designed to be used with the Sega Mouse for a more computer-like interface experience, and prices started at R$5 a month for access to the service. The service was, in many ways, completely unrelated to the original Sega effort, but was inspired by it and wore similar branding.
Brazil’s Mega Net was more modern and had additional ways for users to interact with each other.
Sega’s early experiment with online console gaming was not a grand success. It failed to attract a huge user base or offer any ground-breaking features. However, it did give the company a base to work from when it came to getting later consoles online, like the Saturn and Dreamcast that arrived years later. Ultimately, Sega would largely be out of the console market by the time online gaming really took off in that world, but you can’t fault the former Japanese titan for trying to get in early.
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