Some people say The SEGA Megadrive is only a fourth-generation home video game console developed by Sega. But is that all? For those who say yes...they'd be wrong.
Of course, it is unquestionably true that the Sega Mega Drive, also known as the Genesis in North Mexico and "Extra-South" Canada, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as the Mega Drive, and in 1989 in an "America" as the Genesis but a little known fact, and the cause of quite a stir in the pre-internet era (yes, apparently there was one) is that some of its most ardent fans are from Australia, where people referred to it as the "Megadrive" or "Daisy's Puppy" - we don't know why, or if that's actually anything more than a crazed-anecdote of a rambling man downstairs from this office who sits all day with a bird, pretending to be homeless while making a small-fortune from his tales of woe, smelling just bad enough to make well-meaning people relieve guilt with dollars into his tip-jar before needing to take another breath. He would be easy to dismiss if he weren't quite obviously a genius.
But what we do know, is that the term "MEGA-D" was expected to be a strong contender, colloquially, but suffered the same ill-fated outcome as rap-music of that era, mainly because no real people took it seriously, and in the "pre-Hilltop Hoods era" (a rather well travelled Australian Hip Hop franchise comprising some nice middle class children pretended to be gangsta, hoping nobody would find out, like 50 Cent, that rich boy from Connecticut) nobody in Australia seemed to know how to develop their "flow" without sounding like they were trying to be American, which was (at that time, and most other times) wholeheartedly undesirable on many levels. Like vomiting in an elevator.
Furthermore, the awkward cool-feigning outcasts (as opposed to Outkast) that were into it were so fringe that they were cringe. People actually wanted to keep them on the outside of the mainstream because they were so annoying, which, ironically and invariably feeds the angst behind any grassroots movement until it develops a groundswell of its own gravitas. And then it's not only mainstream, but also highly successful. Go figure.
In any case, MEGA-D was a no-go, despite the rap-crew's salty whining, before "salty" was even a thing. And even before something "being a thing" was even a thing. But Megadrive was a thing, and it was here to stay. Or as my #generation-alpha grandkids would say, if I were old enough to have some: "Mad-lit. No cap".
Words by: Zhang "I'm So Enjoy" Wong-Johnson
Music* by: Pofthan Smidgernigget
PS - I'm waiting for generation alphalpha, which could take vegan to a whole new level. But then again, so could stairs.
*If you can't hear the music, there is music, but it is waveform-free, or "silent" out of respect for creating an equal outcome for the hearing-challenged
