Sega SC-3000
A microcomputer? From Sega? John Knight investigates.
Before its famous consoles, Sega briefly experimented with home computing. Until the 1980s, Sega’s income came mostly from arcade machines, but the booming market in home gaming and home computing was simply too big to ignore, and it was time for Sega to test the market.
Sega was unsure whether to put its weight behind home computers or simple game consoles. The company decided to hedge its bets with both: a console, the SG-1000, and a microcomputer, the SC-3000. Each model is based on the same underlying hardware.
These machines provide an excellent way to explore Sega’s earlier software before its worldwide console-gaming success. And the SC-3000 provides a glimpse of what Sega would have been like had it continued down the path of home computing.
However, the SC-3000 never had a North American release, and even in its best markets, machines are rare nowadays. Emulation is now the only real option for most people, so allow us to show you the easiest ways to emulate the SC-3000 on your own PC after we take you through a brief tour of its history.
Release
Launching in July 1983, the SC-3000 had a limited release worldwide, shipping to Japan, France, Italy, Finland, Spain, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Its launch price of 29,800 Yen was substantially cheaper than the dominant Commodore 64, but with competitive levels of performance.
Hardware-wise, the SC-3000 is essentially just an SG-1000 console with a keyboard, and is entirely compatible with SG-1000 games. The CPU is an NEC D780C-1 (a clone of the Zilog Z80A) running at 3.58MHz, and its video coprocessor can display 32 single-colour sprites on screen.
The SC-3000 was built using off-the-shelf parts and is close to the MSX standard – many MSX titles were Sega ports. However, SC-3000 and MSX software is not cross-compatible. The Sega has a superior sound chip, no built-in operating system, and only 2KB of system RAM. Most memory was actually supplied on software cartridges, and the machine doesn’t function without a cartridge inserted.
Like the ZX Spectrum, initial models came with cheap rubber keyboards, and entire BASIC commands were assigned to single keys. The more expensive SC-3000H model soon followed with a proper keyboard.
Software
Most software comes on ROM cartridges, the Sega My Card format, or on cassette; 3.5-inch floppy support was available via the SF-7000 expansion box, which also added 64KB of RAM, but these were very expensive, and disk-based software isn’t common.
Beyond Sega’s official titles,
most other applications were tape-based releases from Australia and New Zealand.
Gaming-wise, the experience is similar to the MSX, with a slightly higher standard of presentation. The sound is also better, with a very distinctive crystal-like tone. Most games use a two-button joystick layout.
To pick some highlights, Star Jacker is an innovative vertical shooter; Elevator Action is a fan favorite; Girl’s Garden is a weird gem from the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog; and C-So! has a crazy platforming mechanic.
Legacy
Despite having a reputation as a commercial flop (Sega’s sales figures were only in the thousands, and were dwarfed by Nintendo’s Famicom), the SC-3000 and SG-1000 outsold Sega’s projected sales figures significantly. Between the SC-3000 and the SG-1000, the SC-3000 microcomputer sold more units than its console sibling.
While the SC-3000 had moderate sales in all of its launch countries, most sales were either in Japan, or Australia and New Zealand, where it still has a cult following today.
However, Sega recognised the machine’s weakness toward business applications and felt further machines wouldn’t compete in an already saturated home computer market, so pulled out in 1985.
Although Sega mostly abandoned home computing after the SC-3000, the successful production run inspired Sega to keep producing game consoles, leading to 1985’s Mark III console – or Sega Master System, outside Japan.
Emulation
If you only want to play SG-1000 console games, the easiest option is to use Kega Fusion (www. carpeludum.com/kega-fusion),
which supports Windows, Linux, and MacOS. The interface is intuitive and fairly selfexplanatory, but to load SG-1000 games, just act as though you are loading a Master System game by clicking “File > Load MasterSystem ROM.”
If you specifically want to emulate the SC-3000 – especially if you want to use keyboard inputs and BASIC – we recommend MEKA (www.smspower.org/meka).
MEKA also runs Taiwanese titles, while Kega Fusion does not. Officially, MEKA supports Windows and Linux, with older versions also running on DOS. However, the Linux version needs to be compiled from source.
The MEKA project is seeking a Linux maintainer to provide pre-made binaries (if you feel up to the task!), but for now, Linux users may want to use the Windows binary through Wine instead.
The website provides a ZIP file with Windows binaries. Download and extract the ZIP file, then open the new folder. The executable is called mekaw.exe, and may require you to allow Administrator privileges, depending on your installation. MEKA doesn’t come with a self-installer, so you may want to make a desktop shortcut to the executable.
Getting started
On your first run, there is a setup window where you can choose your video driver, resolution, and language settings. Click “OK” and you’re taken to MEKA’s main screen. To load a normal game ROM, you can either use the Load ROM window, which is enabled by default, or from the top menu, click “Main > Load ROM.” This opens a file browser. Select your ROM file and click “Load.”
Your game should now load within the MEKA window. Press Alt-Enter to switch to full-screen mode. Press Escape to switch between the full game window or a small window within the MEKA home screen.
By default, MEKA has its controls set to emulate a Master System controller on the keyboard. Player 1’s controls are set to the arrow keys for movement, Z and X for Button 1 and 2, Space for Pause/Start, and Backspace to reset the emulated machine.
Loading basic
Getting BASIC to function is slightly more difficult, however, because you need to enable keyboard emulation. You also need to find a BASIC cartridge ROM, because the Sega didn’t come with a built-in operating system.
To get started, enable keyboard emulation by either choosing “Inputs > Sega Keyboard” from the top menu, or by pressing Ctrl-F9. You’ll see a Japanese keyboard appear at the bottom of the screen. Now load the BASIC cartridge like any other ROM, and MEKA should accept keyboard inputs.
In the likely event that you can’t find the right key to press, you can press Escape to return to the home screen and examine the visual Japanese keyboard for keystroke references.