When people think of “Sega”, chances are you think about things like the Genesis and Sonic The Hedgehog, or other things not as common these days such as the 32X or even The Sega Channel. But what many people in North America might not be aware of, is that in other countries, Sega was also the creator of a computer system in the early 1980s, called the “Sega Computer 3000”, or SC-3000. Like many other retro computers of the era, it sometimes can get rather difficult to find any software for these machines, due to the rarity of the software and hardware. Earlier this year, a group of fans of the machine called “The SC-3000 Survivors” had created a multicart for this unique system, but it was quickly sold out. However, it was announced recently that a brand new batch of cartridges are now available for pre-order, for those that may have missed it the first time. We have details about the cartridge itself, as well as ways of how to place an order.

Before we get to the cartridge itself, let’s take a quick look at the computer that Sega built. The SC-3000 was originally released in Japan in the summer of 1983, and sold for ¥29,800 (about $345 in the US.) It was an 8-bit home computer nearly 100% compatible with the SG-1000 video game system, but featured a built-in keyboard and support for additional hardware expansions. The SC-3000 was not released worldwide. By 1985, the SC-3000 had been pushed aside by more popular computer standards, especially by the popular MSX computer platform in Japan.

The Mk IIa Multicart can play all of the known SC-3000 or SG-1000 ROMs, and upon purchase, you will automatically get over 70 pieces of cassette tape based software built in. You get 8 tape games by Mike Boyd, 9 arcade packs by Stephen Coupe, 10 text/graphic adventure games, 22 commercially released games, 7 educational titles, 5 demo programs, 21 “type-in” programs from Sega Magazine, as well as a music player program with 8 songs included by some of your favorite 80s artists, plus an original demo programmed by The SC-3000 Survivors. You will have to add your own additional official SC-3000 or SG-1000 ROMs yourself, but dumps from the Korean Samsung Gam*boy and Taiwanese Aaronix SG-1000 II clone are included with the multicart.

The boot menu system is controlled by using either the joystick or the arrow keys on the SC-3000 keyboard. The menu also contains additional details about many of the games, as well as a few interesting tidbits of history of the console itself. As far as compatibility goes, the cartridge is fully compatible with the SC-3000 system, but does not work on the similar SG-1000 game console:

“The current design does not work on a SG-1000, SG-1000 II, or Mark III as the consoles do not pass out all the required signals to the cartridge port. We have looked at alternate designs which could work on all those systems, but we are unlikely to develop those further.”

It’s really a great thing to discover that fans of various video game systems and retro computers from all over the world still create new cartridges and original programs for these systems, keeping them very much alive way beyond their original lifespan. (Of course, we are quite fond of Revival Studios and all of their hard work and dedication!) In fact, Revival Studios just recently offered a new original title for the SG-1000 a few weeks ago, called “Astrododge”, which we reported to you a short while ago. If you pre-order this new multicart before January 20, 2013, the cost of the cartridge will be $99 plus shipping costs. If you purchase it after the pre-order date, the cost will go up an additional $10.

Details and complete game list: http://www.sc3000-multicart.com/section3.htm

Order page: http://www.sc3000-multicart.com/buy.htm