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The Sega Nomad (also known as Sega Genesis Nomad) is a handheld game console by Sega released in North America in October 1995. The Nomad is a portable variation of Sega's home console, the Sega Genesis (known as the Mega Drive outside of North America). Designed from the Mega Jet, a portable version of the home console designed for use on airline flights in Japan, Nomad served to succeed the Sega Game Gear and was the last handheld console released by Sega. Unique about the Nomad is its additional functionality as a home console through a video port designed to be used with a television set. Released late in the Genesis era, the Nomad had a short lifespan. Sold exclusively in North America, the Nomad was never officially released worldwide, and employs regional lockout. Because of the timing of Nomad's release in October 1995, Nomad released to an active game library of over 500 Genesis titles, but did not include any pack-in titles itself. Sega's focus on the Sega Saturn left the Nomad undersupported, and the handheld itself was incompatible with several Genesis peripherals, including the Power Base Converter, the Sega CD, and the Sega 32X. ==History== The Genesis was Sega's entry into the 16-bit era of video game consoles. In Japan, Sega released the Mega Jet, a portable version of the Mega Drive designed for use on Japan Airlines flights. As a condensed version, the Mega Jet required a connection to a television screen and a power source, and so outside of airline flights it was only useful in cars equipped with a television set and cigarette lighter receptacle. Planning to release a new handheld console as a successor to the Sega Game Gear, Sega originally intended to produce a system which was to feature a touchscreen interface, released two years before the Game.com handheld by Tiger Electronics. However, such technology was very expensive at the time, and the handheld itself was estimated to have a high cost. Instead, Sega chose to suspend the idea and instead release the Sega Nomad, a handheld version of the Genesis. The codename used during development was "Project Venus."〔 The Nomad was released in October 1995 in North America only.〔 The release was five years into the market span of the Genesis, with an existing library of more than 500 Genesis games. According to former Sega of America research and development head Joe Miller, the Nomad was not intended to be the Game Gear's replacement and believes that there was little planning from Sega of Japan for the new handheld. Sega was supporting five different consoles: Saturn, Genesis, Game Gear, Pico, and the Master System, as well as the Sega CD and Sega 32X add-ons. In Japan, the Mega Drive had never been successful and the Saturn was more successful than Sony's PlayStation, so Sega Enterprises CEO Hayao Nakayama decided to focus on the Saturn. With the Nomad's late release several months after the launch of the Saturn, combined with the 1996 release of Pokémon for Nintendo's Game Boy, the Nomad is said to have suffered from its poorly timed launch. Sega decided to stop focusing on the Genesis in 1999, by which time the Nomad was being sold at less than a third of its original price.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sega Nomad」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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