The Sega SG-1000/MK II/MK III/SK-1100/SC-3000/SC-3000H Thread

[Takumaji]

Lately I've been playing SG-1000 games using a SD cart that I bought from Aliexpress which lets you play them on a Master System. As a Sega fan, I always wanted a real SG-1000 but other priorities pushed it back over the years and now they have become quite expensive, specially the original SG-1000 and the SC-3000/H computer.

After some research, it seems that a SG-1000 MK II with card catcher is the way to go, at least at the current price level. Systems with controllers and cables usually go for between 180 and 250 bucks, card catchers cost around 40 to 50-ish, maybe cheaper.

If you own a SG-1000 or want to get one, please feel free to add your thoughts and experiences here.

 

[The Chief]

I once had it in mind to get all the variants of the SG-1000 but ended up settling for a nice boxed Japanese Master System. It plays the entire catalog of 8 bit games and has the FM module built in.

A number of years ago I managed to piece together a decent collection of SG-1000 games. Before YouTubers started talking about it there was very little known about the early games and prices even complete on YouTube were quite low. I haven’t been collecting games for years now so I’m not up on the current market but I’d feel pretty confident it would be a pain in the balls to source them today.

 

[Takumaji]

I once had it in mind to get all the variants of the SG-1000 but ended up settling for a nice boxed Japanese Master System. It plays the entire catalog of 8 bit games and has the FM module built in.

A number of years ago I managed to piece together a decent collection of SG-1000 games. Before YouTubers started talking about it there was very little known about the early games and prices even complete on YouTube were quite low. I haven’t been collecting games for years now so I’m not up on the current market but I’d feel pretty confident it would be a pain in the balls to source them today.

There are some differences between the SG-1000 MK III and the Japanese Master System that I still haven't fully figured out it seems.

After my understanding, the Japanese Master System plays SG-1000 carts, MK III carts and Sega Cards, as well as 50-pin Master System carts using an adaptor, right?

However, there is no adaptor which lets you play Japanese MK III-style carts on a EU/US Master System, right?

Does the SK-1100 keyboard add-on work with the MK III or the Japanese Master System?

So many questions...

 

[herb]

What are some sg1000 games to check out, tak? Thing always interested me but I never dove into it on an emulator.

 

[Tw3ek]

Does the SK-1100 keyboard add-on work with the MK III or the Japanese Master System?

This one, I actually do know. It will work with the MK III

 

[Takumaji]

What are some sg1000 games to check out, tak? Thing always interested me but I never dove into it on an emulator.

Some of my favs:

Congo Bongo (it's nowhere near the arcade version for which it got heavy flak from reviewers but if you can look past that, it's actually a nice single-screen platform game)

Star Jacker (vertical shmup, very challenging, not the best on the platform but I like it, afaik it was a release title)

Golgo 13 (side-scrolling shooter with a secret agent theme)

Monaco GP (the original version with small cars and top-down view, it was an arcade fav of mine. Also works with the steering wheel add-on)

Sega Galaga (a good version of the game, enemy sprites are single colour but move swiftly and smoothly, gameplay is great, sound is ace)

Lode Runner (classic game, always been a fan, the SG-1000 version plays very good)

Girls Garden (you play a girl and gotta make some guy take interest in you. While this may sound like a kinda sorta gay topic for a game, it plays really great and is among the best-looking titles on the platform. It also was the first game where Yuji Naka (of Sonic fame) and Hiroshi Kawaguchi (musician who later on composed the music for OutRun, Space Harrier, After Burner, etc.) worked on.

The Castle (loved to play it and the sequel on MSX. You have to escape from a castle and collect all sorts of stuff. Competent platformer with some mean jumping parts)

Zaxxon (great version all things considered)

Drol (race through a horizontally segmented level and rescue people and animals while avoiding traps and baddies, fast gameplay, good graphics and sound)

Elevator Action (good port, scrolling is a bit choppy but that's hardly a prob in a game like that)

Bomb Jack (another good port, the essence is there, sparkling bombs are difficult to see, tho)

H.E.R.O. (the hero has a jetpack in this version!!!!111!!)

Bank Panic (good fast version of the game, more challenging than the SMS version)

Gulkave (nice hori shmup with powerups, classic non-stop action)

Ninja Princess (vertically scrolling Ninja action game, got remade as The Ninja on SMS)

 

[The Chief]

After my understanding, the Japanese Master System plays SG-1000 carts, MK III carts and Sega Cards, as well as 50-pin Master System carts using an adaptor, right?

However, there is no adaptor which lets you play Japanese MK III-style carts on a EU/US Master System, right?
So many questions...

The Japanese MS plays all the Japanese releases, not sure about a converter to play US MS games though. Was never concerned with that as my US Genesis can handle the task.

In addition to the nice list that Tak put together I like N-Sub and Safari Race.

 

[skate323k137]

Solid list @Takumaji

I have a sc-3000H and I made a couple EPROM Carts for it. I think I've posted about it, but here's a link to some photos.

https://imgur.com/a/w7cOSE5

 

[Takumaji]

Solid list @Takumaji

I have a sc-3000H and I made a couple EPROM Carts for it. I think I've posted about it, but here's a link to some photos.

https://imgur.com/a/w7cOSE5

Man, I always wanted one of those. I'm not only a Sega fan but also love micro computers, and a micro with Sega on it? Mind = blown!

Of course its practical use is very limited in this day and age to say the least, it's just a great piece of kit and has a few quirks that make it interesting from a technical point of view. It had a small but quite active fan scene, those people created a lot of programs for the system which are still floating around.

Do you need a BASIC cart to use the language or is there anything built into it? What kinda carts did you make for it?

Having a more or less complete SH-3000 setup is right up there for me with a IMSAI 8080 setup from War Games

 

[zaneiken]

After my understanding, the Japanese Master System plays SG-1000 carts, MK III carts and Sega Cards, as well as 50-pin Master System carts using an adaptor, right?

I have a Japanese Master System with a rear-mounted adapter for EU/US carts. It won't work at all with the light phaser though.

 

[Takumaji]

I have a Japanese Master System with a rear-mounted adapter for EU/US carts. It won't work at all with the light phaser though.

Thanks, good to hear. I'm not planning to use the light phaser so that wouldn't be a problem.

 

[skate323k137]

Do you need a BASIC cart to use the language or is there anything built into it? What kinda carts did you make for it?

You do, the system itself has like 2K RAM and that's about it.

What I did was take the PCB available for the BASIC cart, and prepared a bunch of the other ROMS for it. I have them stacked in machine pin sockets for now for pretty quick swapping, and at some point I'll solder a few more PCBs to create a few other games permanently. Your list of games is a lot of what I ended up making, to be honest. There's a multi-cart but of course it's not super popular and only gets manufactured once in a while, so I took it into my own hands.

This picture if you zoom in you can see a bunch of the EPROMS that I can swap onto the PCB with a quick rom puller.

Man, I always wanted one of those. I'm not only a Sega fan but also love micro computers, and a micro with Sega on it? Mind = blown!

Same RE: Sega fan and microcomputers. This one came up untested on eBay. I ended up having to replace a chip or two on the main board, but that was about it. With the mechanical keyboard it was worth the risk and I know just enough about Z80 builds (maybe an understatement with my RC2014 but I digress). What's even nicer, is the passive common pin joystick adapters I made to use neo-geo style sticks on a commodore 64/128 also work on the SC-3000.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

So essentially, the SC-3000 is a fully realized competitor to the Famicom's Family BASIC package (keyboard, software and I/O for tape recorder).

I'm happy to know my old Amiga 600 went to a serious vintage computer enthusiast.

Also on a Sega Mark III note, I have a yellowed paddle controller and did submersion retrobrite on it. It seriously took a week of sunlight and refreshing of the hydrogen peroxide to get the back cover to a white color again.

 

[Takumaji]

...and the Bromine compounds will strike back in a year or two and slowly take it back to yellowland again. Personally I'm not a fan of retrobriting but that's prolly just me.

Yes, there is a keyboard add-on for the SG-1000 called SK-1100. However, the SC-3000 is a standalone home computer which is compatible to the SG-1000 but does not need the game console itself to run so you could say that this was Sega's answer to micros like the PC88, the early MSX machines and Western computers like C64 and Spectrum, etc. There also is an expansion unit which provides disk drive(s) and centronics ports for connecting printers to the system but it's very hard to find.

The SC-3000 is more comparable to Coleco's ADAM. Overall, the Sega computer and add-ons are the best of the lot in my opinion, and I'm not saying that as a Sega fan but with my micro computer user hat on. Its BASIC is quite powerful and there was a lot of software and hardware released for it in its lifetime like disk drives, printers, graphic tablets, modems and software tools like word processors, spreadsheets, database programs and more. It just was not powerful enough to compete with the big players in the market and was never officially sold outside of Japan.

 

[smokey]

Don't forget there is a french version of the the SEGA SC 3000 from YENO. It is not common like other home computers but you still can find them in the wild.

 

[Takumaji]

Don't forget there is a french version of the the SEGA SC 3000 from YENO. It is not common like other home computers but you still can find them in the wild.

Wow, didn't know that, that's nice, gonna check it out!

Edit:

Currently there's one for sale on Ebay for 730 Eurobucks, guess I'm gonna pass on that one

The seller is from Egypt, I've actually dealt with him before when I bought some ZX Printer spares from him. The transaction wasn't very smooth to say the least and some of the parts ended up broken... ebay, eh.

 

[smokey]

Wow, didn't know that, that's nice, gonna check it out!

SC 3000 / SC 3000H Yeno

The Yeno SC-3000 is the same computer as the Sega SC-3000. It was only rebadged YENO and sold in some european countries through a deal with Sega. Same with second version SC-3000 H (pictured here) which only ...

www.old-computers.com

I got one but it's colors are a bit wrong. Might be my home made scart cable. I remember repairing some traces when I first got it.

I got a lot of games for it back around 2018 . They were always like 5 bucks on Auctions Yahoo boxed. Spent more on shipping and fees then on the acutal games....
The version of Hero is indeed pretty awesome.

 

[Takumaji]

SC 3000 / SC 3000H Yeno

The Yeno SC-3000 is the same computer as the Sega SC-3000. It was only rebadged YENO and sold in some european countries through a deal with Sega. Same with second version SC-3000 H (pictured here) which only ...

www.old-computers.com

I got one but it's colors are a bit wrong. Might be my home made scart cable. I remember repairing some traces when I first got it.

I got a lot of games for it back around 2018 . They were always like 5 bucks on Auctions Yahoo boxed. Spent more on shipping and fees then on the acutal games....
The version of Hero is indeed pretty awesome.

If it's French it may support SECAM instead of PAL or NTSC which may lead to wrong colours if your TV or monitor doesn't support it. Nice machine, tho, the keyboard definitely is a big improvement over the SC-3000's rubber keys.

I found that many games are still quite affordable, with a few exceptions of course.

H.E.R.O. on SG-1000 is great because it has a slightly different inertia than the other versions on MSX, 2600 and various home computers, hovering is easier so a number of difficult spots can be overcome with ease. However, the character takes a fraction of a second longer to drop down if you let the stick go which took me a while to get used to.

 

[smokey]

If it's French it may support SECAM instead of PAL or NTSC which may lead to wrong colours if your TV or monitor doesn't support it. Nice machine, tho, the keyboard definitely is a big improvement over the SC-3000's rubber keys.

I found that many games are still quite affordable, with a few exceptions of course.

H.E.R.O. on SG-1000 is great because it has a slightly different inertia than the other versions on MSX, 2600 and various home computers, hovering is easier so a number of difficult spots can be overcome with ease. However, the character takes a fraction of a second longer to drop down if you let the stick go which took me a while to get used to.

Basically I’m using the rgb out. So no secam. I don’t believe it even had the output. A lot of systems in France were rgb only because basically every tv had rgb from the get go.
Master System 2 is a good example. Everything country VHF only except for France. There it was rgb only.

 

[Takumaji]

Basically I’m using the rgb out. So no secam. I don’t believe it even had the output. A lot of systems in France were rgb only because basically every tv had rgb from the get go.
Master System 2 is a good example. Everything country VHF only except for France. There it was rgb only.

Yeah, the SMS 2 was a major step back from the first one in terms of connectivity, IMO Sega went a step too far with their cost-saving measures. I had a model 1 for many years which I gave to one of my nephews, later on I bought and modded a model 2 which I still use. The RGB mod was quite difficult for me to be honest but the result was well worth it, picture quality over RGB is awesome. I also added a 50/60Hz switch and power LED. Thinking of putting a FM boad in there but first I have to find a way to be able to switch between PSG and FM because I prefer the PSG music and sound in some games.

 

[skate323k137]

The seller is from Egypt, I've actually dealt with him before when I bought some ZX Printer spares from him. The transaction wasn't very smooth to say the least and some of the parts ended up broken... ebay, eh.

Interesting, the SC-3000H I have came from an ebay seller in Egypt too, "untested." No idea if the same seller of course. But, I took the chance, because the H = mechanical keyboard instead of chicklets. If I remember right it was the RAM IC I socketed and replaced on the mainboard to revive it. I may have socketed one or two other chips while I was in there, and then I made my own AV cable from a MIDI cable, and it uses a guitar pedal power supply IIRC (9V Center negative, but this is definitely off the top of my head).

 

[Takumaji]

Interesting, the SC-3000H I have came from an ebay seller in Egypt too, "untested." No idea if the same seller of course. But, I took the chance, because the H = mechanical keyboard instead of chicklets. If I remember right it was the RAM IC I socketed and replaced on the mainboard to revive it. I may have socketed one or two other chips while I was in there, and then I made my own AV cable from a MIDI cable, and it uses a guitar pedal power supply IIRC (9V Center negative, but this is definitely off the top of my head).

Communication was the most difficult part of the transaction, at first he did not react to my messages, then he replied two times to my questions and contradicted himself in the second reply. As I was just shopping for a few ZX Printer spares that were quite cheap I didn't bother and just PP'd him the monies, ended up halfway okay, even tho the printer belt he had advertisted as "like new" turned out to be old and rotten.

I've also bought some untested stuff here and there but I'm still learning how to repair things so my success rate isn't that great atm. Still, it's really cool to get a system back to life after a long struggle.

 

[smokey]

Here is my YENO sc-3000h as you can see the rf module has been removed . I think I paid 50 euro for it. Mind you, it looked like it had been in a crackheads drugs den for several years.

 

[skate323k137]

I've also bought some untested stuff here and there but I'm still learning how to repair things so my success rate isn't that great atm. Still, it's really cool to get a system back to life after a long struggle.

Yeah, I only buy 'untested' if it's something like an Apple II or Z80 based system that I know well. Otherwise, too much risk :/

 

[Takumaji]

smokey,

50 bucks, man, those were the days. I miss the times when people didn't automatically check ebay prices when they sell something.

skate,

yup, same here, I only buy untested if I know a thing or two about it, like Spectrums or Atari 2600s. Of course there's always the odd machine that looks good at first but turns out to be a tough nut to crack. Once a friend of mine asked me to take a closer look at a Speccy with broken voltage regulator. Got it working after three weeks of on-and-off inspection and repairs, it had a dead ULA, two dead lower RAM chips, several broken traces, a bloated cap and some other issues which got fixed. The voltage regulator was okay, btw.