In the annals of Video Game History, there have been numerous failed consoles, but one of the most well known is the first of two add-ons developed for the legendary Sega Genesis: The Sega CD. Much like the Jaguar, the Sega CD, while a bad console, or add-on in this case, is a tragic console. Like the Jaguar the Sega CD had lots of potential to make a killing, but it was ultimatally done in on account of bad management and a game library that was flooded with enough Z-Grade FMV games that you'd think Sega was channeling the spirit of Ed Wood when it came to the Sega CD.

Unlike it's 32X counterpart the Sega CD is actually the better of the two Genesis add-ons. There are two specific models, the Model 1, which is a frontloader and fits nicely on the bottom of a Model 1 Genesis. The Model 2 is the more common of the two Sega CDs, and is a top-loader similar to the Sega Saturn and Playstation 1, and attaches to the sides of a Model 2 Genesis. The Sega CD also had a first, that many consoles would later copy, an internal hard drive to which games could be saved. The add-on's black finish and rounded design fit rather nicely with the Genesis's own sleak design. The CDs are fairly easy to insert, however they tend to be rather loose, once placed in the console, but this also makes the disks easy to remove. The Sega CD does have a very flimsy feel to it, but despite that it can hold up rather well, but like all disk base consoles, the Sega CD is sucepitble to Disk Read Errors brought about by dirt or damaged disks.

However, the biggest drawback to the Sega CD, and one of the primary reasons for it's downfall, is that it's an Add-on vs. a stand alone console. The result of this is that the Sega CD is acutally very expensive, since it requires the purcheus of a Genesis console, and from what I'm awhare of, the CD model 1 will only work with the Genesis Model 1 and the CD Model 2 will only work with the Genesis Model 2.

The Sega CD's Game Library however, is one of the worst ever put out. For a console that was capable of producing gems like Sonic CD and Sol Fece, having a library that is made up of almost entierly of interactive movies and FMV based games is inexcusable. With the exception of games like Sonic CD, which use in-game graphics engines, the Sega CD's FMV/Interactive Movie based games are nightmares, with many cut scenes long enough to warrent an intermission and a trip to the refreshment counter, and offer very little in the way of actual game play, much of which is simply point, click, and then fall asleep while watching some of the worst acting in history, and the FMV graphics are down right attrocious, with the footage taking up about 25% of the screen, and is so badly pixilated it's almost unplayable.

Despite it's flaws, the Sega CD has it's place in history as the first commercially successful CD-based game console, as well as being the console that introduced internal memory to consoles, and when compared to the 32X, the Sega CD actually has a decent sized game libary. However with a game library that is flooded with some of the worst games ever produced, the Sega CD is a console that should be given some thought too before deciding wheather or not to buy it.