So I guess many gamers would know by now that Sega's 16-bit console was originally released in Japan as the Mega Drive. It retained this branding in most other countries around the world, but for North America, it was renamed to the Genesis. I've already covered in detail the story surrounding the rename in a previous list (look up my list "The Top 10 Video Game Title Changes Around The World - Part 2" if you want a detailed explanation), but this is the short version: While no official reasoning from Sega has ever been provided, it's commonly believed that another company in the USA had already trademarked the name "Mega Drive". In addition to this, Sega of America co-founder David Rosen was apparently also not a fan of the name, as "mega" and "drive" were both words that were usually used in the context of personal computers - and the console was not a PC. They apparently chose the name "Genesis" to reflect that it was a new beginning for them.



However, this wasn't the only case of the console being renamed! The other name some readers may be familiar with, particularly if you hail from a South American country, is the "Super Mega Drive". While this seems like only a subtle rename on the surface, the console itself was marketed and distributed by TecToy, who put their own branding on it and even eventually released their own custom primarily white-coloured design for it.



From there - it gets somewhat weirder. Japan and South Korea for a long time in history were in conflict, and while the relations have been repaired these days, there was still some tension in the late 80s and early 90s. The South Korean public would not have taken kindly to an influx of Japanese products showing up on store shelves, so Japanese companies generally needed to partner with a South Korean company to sell their wares in the country. Sega in particular teamed up with Samsung, and when they released the original Master System, it was renamed to the "Samsung Gam*Boy". So, when the Mega Drive hit the market, they called it the "Samsung Super Gam*Boy". Hmmm. Perhaps Sega and Samsung eventually realised this was a confusing name given Nintendo (who themselves had partnered with Hyundai, as weird as that sounds) had a very similarly named product, because they decided another change of moniker was necessary a couple of years later. They renamed the Gam*Boy to "Aladdin Boy" and the Super Gam*Boy to "Super Aladdin Boy". Nice work guys, that's much better.