Sega Genesis Amiga Connection

[trip6]

Did you guys know that the Sega Genesis used a 68000 processor identical to the A500? The A500 had different sound and video subsystems. The Genesis used the blast engine graphics chip and a Zilogic Z80 for sound. Maybe this is whay I always liked to Genesis versions of Amiga games like gods and wolfchild almost as much as the Amiga versions, but the amiga versions sound was always better...

[Lorraine]

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[Linde]

IMO crystal clear FM synthesis sounds way better than those lo-fi amiga samples, especially for sound effects. Of course there is good music for both, but it's like comparing oranges to apples...

[Piru]

@trip6

Did you guys know that the Sega Genesis used a 68000 processor identical to the A500?

Yes.

Neo Geo used it aswell.

IMO the CPU didn't make "amiga", the custom chips did. Amiga connection? Hardly.

[CaptChaos]

Besides the Megadrive and NeoGeo mentioned, the Atari ST, Mac and a whole host of arcade machines also used the 68000.

I was also told by a friend that some cars used the 68000 in their fuel injection computer.  :lol:

[B00tDisk]

Go to the KLOV (down at the moment) and look at the number of coinop games that use the bog standard "00" 68k - and a great deal of those predate the Amiga.

Having a 68k processor floating around on your mainboard doesn't make your system an Amiga (or even close to it).  I mean, look at some of the SCSI controllers for the Amiga - very clearly labeled AMD chips. Does that make the Amiga an AMD?

Bonus: at least a couple of coin-op games are nothing but Amigas - Mad Dog McCree and Periscope Up!, for example.

[orb85750]

Speaking of excellent sound, it's also interesting to note that the Kurzweil K2000 series professional music workstation keyboards/samplers used the 68000 as their CPU as well.  I'm surprised that Motorola exited the chip manufacturing business.  They certainly produced some great stuff back in the day!  (Why do there seem to be so many sad technology stories -- companies that could have and should have been at the forefront today?)

[darksun9210]

some raid controlers used 68040 chips,
some washing machines/dishwashers(?!!) used PLCC packaged 68EC020/030's,
some set top boxes used 68EC020's,
early sun unix workstations used the full 68020/68881/68851 combo.

the 680x0 has a wide install base...

rather irritating to think that my washingmachine could potentially run xtreme racing faster than a basic A1200 :lol:

[Ruud]

Talk of consoles with Amiga connections and washing machines got me thinking of the 3DO successor M2 that ended up going into a Panasonic washing machine after the console project was scrapped.

The 3DO has much more of a link to the Amiga than Genesis/Megadrive.  Sadly the good hardware only had terrible software to run on it.

[DonnyEMU]

Umm this is true that they both had 68000s but the comparison of the Genesis really ended there. The Genesis only had a palette of 512 colors (just like the original Atari ST) and it used the same FM synth chip that the original Atari ST did.. The Z80 chip wasn't used for sound it was used for emulation of the Sega Master System for games developed for that unit, which they were claiming backwards compatibility but not much was ever proven. The Master system adapter used the extra Z80.

The Amiga 500 had Paula which definitely had better sound. Many Genesis games including ones that you see on the a500 were ported from their ST versions..

Just thought I should set the record straight on this..

[xeron]

IIRC, the "official" Sega Genesis/Megadrive devkit hooked onto the side of an Amiga 500. That could have been a rumour, though, since I've never actually seen one myself.

[darksun9210]

the megadrive/genesis devkit - a500 sidecar expansion rumor is pretty strong, and i'd love to see one. if only for the sheer irony! :lol:

[BooBoo1200]

I dont know about the devkit but the Mega Drive backup unit had some tools for Amiga.

[trip6]

When I opened up the Genesis about a week ago... I saw that it had a Yamaha Sound Chipset...

[adolescent]

darksun9210 wrote:
the megadrive/genesis devkit - a500 sidecar expansion rumor is pretty strong, and i'd love to see one. if only for the sheer irony! :lol:

I don't think it exists.  Although, there's no doubt the Amiga was used, along with tools like SNASM and Deluxe Paint, for all kinds of console development.

The real irony is the Atari Lynx Development Kit which required an Amiga (!), not Atari's own ST.