Forums

A few years ago someone in Canada showed up with evidence of a prototype of the rumored Sega Graphic Board, developed by Sega Japan, that was mentioned in early magazine publications circa 1987. The hardware that appeared apparently passed hand to hands in a typical impossible-to-verify cross-country flea market story. Eventually the owner decided to sell it and the tablet was recently auctioned on eBay. I am happy to announce that I got hold of the hardware and software :)

Sega Graphic Board v2.0 Prototype for Master System, now available! The hardware prototype appears to be dated May 1987, the software prototype Ausugt 1987, that is, 27 years old. The tablet plug into regular controller port, has 3 buttons and an input resolution of about the Master System 256x192 resolution. According to a signature left in the ROM data, the software was created by Kazuo Wakihara also responsible for handful of early Sega classics including later hit Columns.

The Sega Graphic Board may have been apparently planned to be supporting hardware for the Megadrive, as pictured in early prototype pamphlet showcasing the Megadrive along with an unreleased floppy disk drive and the graphic board:

The software attempts to reproduce a fully editable 16 colors bitmap using the Master System character-based video mode. The drawing area is restricted to 176x144 pixels which is close to the maximum unique drawing surface given the Kilobytes of video memory. The software offers variety of drawing tools, including useful "copy" and "magnify" tool. Unfortunately no "line" or "undo".

More pictures of the hardware,

Picture from the original owner (the board is upside down!)

As of today the hardware is emulated by Meka Wip 2014-10-04 and will be shortly be supported by MESS and Emulicious among other emulators. The reverse engineering thread provides enough information if you want to implement support for the Sega Graphic Board in your emulator.

Thanks to kusfo, hang-on, Maraakate and SF for their donation toward acquiring the lot! Thanks to Maxim and jdg for help reverse engineering the hardware. Enjoy!

sega_graphic_board_01_728 - small.jpg (41.34 KB)

sega_graphic_board_02_105 - small.jpg (57.39 KB)

sega_graphic_board_03_287 - small.jpg (35.88 KB)

sega_graphic_board_05_121 - small.jpg (47.23 KB)

Md_proto_tablet.jpg (126.92 KB)

This message will auto destruct itself someday.

sega_graphic_board_v2-sms-proto.zip (10.72 KB)

Thanks a lot for the quick turn around on reverse engineering and releasing the ROM!

Thanks for news & sharing...

It was an honor to contibute to this! :-D

PD: My nick is kusfo, not kuskos :-P

kusfo wrote

It was an honor to contibute to this! :-P

Arghh, typing when so tired.. fixed, sorry :)

Amazing, now we just need to find that Mega Drive's FDD.

I'm a bit surprised they even announced that. By that point, FDD's were "old" and not cutting edge like CD was... and by that point they probably saw how much Ni****do got hit by piracy on theirs.

But you could save to a floppy, and they were cheap. The capacity was definitely more of an 8-bit era thing, though.

Bock wrote

The hardware that appeared apparently passed hand to hands in a typical impossible-to-verify cross-country flea market story.

Amazing find Bock!

But tell the story if you know it! I love that kind of stuff!

Interesting information, though it's not related to this nice discovery: according to this tweet, Ken Sugimori has recently confirmed that he made the comic strip included in the Terebi Oekaki Japanese manual.

B2kZgCGCQAAWL6-.jpg (35.26 KB)

B2kZgEqCQAEgKm7.jpg (35.59 KB)

Cyberquake wrote

Bock wrote

The hardware that appeared apparently passed hand to hands in a typical impossible-to-verify cross-country flea market story.

Amazing find Bock!

But tell the story if you know it! I love that kind of stuff!

On the flea market reference. Here's what the previous owner (from Chicoutimi, Canada) said. Not very useful, take it with a jar of salt Etc. but posting for the records.

"Got it from a contact in the USA who was collecting action figures (to whom I traded a huge lot of toys for it, I won't say how much ;) ) that got the item from a flea market. The guy was from NY state but I know he didn't get it there, I don't remember where though ... I think it was Minessotta? Apparently the flea market guy told him he got a few items from a guy working at Sega (was it a "flea market" story or something real, we'll never know)."

Can't say I've heard of a flea market in Minnesota, but maybe there is.
The most logical connection for it to end up there being Tonka.

The Sega Graphic Board was actually released in Taiwan.

ffaarrddaaa wrote

The Sega Graphic Board was actually released in Taiwan.

That isn't the same one, that is the "v1.0" てれびおえかき (Terebi Oekaki) that was released for SG-1000 in Japan, with SG-1000 era software:
https://www.smspower.org/Articles/TerebiOekaki
https://segaretro.org/Terebi_Oekaki

Author	Message
Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8710 Location: Paris, France	Unreleased Sega Graphic Board v2.0 ! Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:50 pm Last edited by Bock on Mon Oct 06, 2014 8:33 am; edited 5 times in total
	A few years ago someone in Canada showed up with evidence of a prototype of the rumored Sega Graphic Board, developed by Sega Japan, that was mentioned in early magazine publications circa 1987. The hardware that appeared apparently passed hand to hands in a typical impossible-to-verify cross-country flea market story. Eventually the owner decided to sell it and the tablet was recently auctioned on eBay. I am happy to announce that I got hold of the hardware and software :) Sega Graphic Board v2.0 Prototype for Master System, now available! The hardware prototype appears to be dated May 1987, the software prototype Ausugt 1987, that is, 27 years old. The tablet plug into regular controller port, has 3 buttons and an input resolution of about the Master System 256x192 resolution. According to a signature left in the ROM data, the software was created by Kazuo Wakihara also responsible for handful of early Sega classics including later hit Columns. The Sega Graphic Board may have been apparently planned to be supporting hardware for the Megadrive, as pictured in early prototype pamphlet showcasing the Megadrive along with an unreleased floppy disk drive and the graphic board: The software attempts to reproduce a fully editable 16 colors bitmap using the Master System character-based video mode. The drawing area is restricted to 176x144 pixels which is close to the maximum unique drawing surface given the Kilobytes of video memory. The software offers variety of drawing tools, including useful "copy" and "magnify" tool. Unfortunately no "line" or "undo". More pictures of the hardware, Picture from the original owner (the board is upside down!) As of today the hardware is emulated by Meka Wip 2014-10-04 and will be shortly be supported by MESS and Emulicious among other emulators. The reverse engineering thread provides enough information if you want to implement support for the Sega Graphic Board in your emulator. Thanks to kusfo, hang-on, Maraakate and SF for their donation toward acquiring the lot! Thanks to Maxim and jdg for help reverse engineering the hardware. Enjoy! sega_graphic_board_01_728 - small.jpg (41.34 KB) sega_graphic_board_02_105 - small.jpg (57.39 KB) sega_graphic_board_03_287 - small.jpg (35.88 KB) sega_graphic_board_05_121 - small.jpg (47.23 KB) Md_proto_tablet.jpg (126.92 KB)

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8710 Location: Paris, France	Temporary Transitional Attachment Fairy Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:52 pm
	This message will auto destruct itself someday. sega_graphic_board_v2-sms-proto.zip (10.72 KB)

Maraakate Joined: 05 Jun 2010 Posts: 762 Location: Pennsylvania, USA	Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 1:07 pm
	Thanks a lot for the quick turn around on reverse engineering and releasing the ROM!

Depressor Joined: 18 Dec 2013 Posts: 15 Location: Russia	Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 3:43 pm
Depressor Joined: 18 Dec 2013 Posts: 15 Location: Russia	Thanks for news & sharing...

kusfo Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 902 Location: Spain	Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 7:45 am
kusfo Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 902 Location: Spain	It was an honor to contibute to this! :-D PD: My nick is kusfo, not kuskos :-P

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8710 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 8:34 am
	kusfo wrote It was an honor to contibute to this! :-P Arghh, typing when so tired.. fixed, sorry :)

PrOfUnD Darkness Joined: 29 Jun 1999 Posts: 389 Location: Brazil	Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 8:27 pm
	Amazing, now we just need to find that Mega Drive's FDD.

KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 533	Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 12:34 am
KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 533	I'm a bit surprised they even announced that. By that point, FDD's were "old" and not cutting edge like CD was... and by that point they probably saw how much Ni****do got hit by piracy on theirs.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14991 Location: London	Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 7:15 am
	But you could save to a floppy, and they were cheap. The capacity was definitely more of an 8-bit era thing, though.

Cyberquake Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 60 Location: Porto, Portugal	Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 11:13 am
	Bock wrote The hardware that appeared apparently passed hand to hands in a typical impossible-to-verify cross-country flea market story. Amazing find Bock! But tell the story if you know it! I love that kind of stuff!

Youloute Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 25	Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 2:41 pm
Youloute Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 25	Interesting information, though it's not related to this nice discovery: according to this tweet, Ken Sugimori has recently confirmed that he made the comic strip included in the Terebi Oekaki Japanese manual. B2kZgCGCQAAWL6-.jpg (35.26 KB) B2kZgEqCQAEgKm7.jpg (35.59 KB)

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8710 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 12:42 pm
	Cyberquake wrote Bock wrote The hardware that appeared apparently passed hand to hands in a typical impossible-to-verify cross-country flea market story. Amazing find Bock! But tell the story if you know it! I love that kind of stuff! On the flea market reference. Here's what the previous owner (from Chicoutimi, Canada) said. Not very useful, take it with a jar of salt Etc. but posting for the records. "Got it from a contact in the USA who was collecting action figures (to whom I traded a huge lot of toys for it, I won't say how much ;) ) that got the item from a flea market. The guy was from NY state but I know he didn't get it there, I don't remember where though ... I think it was Minessotta? Apparently the flea market guy told him he got a few items from a guy working at Sega (was it a "flea market" story or something real, we'll never know)."

KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 533	Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:13 pm
KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 533	Can't say I've heard of a flea market in Minnesota, but maybe there is. The most logical connection for it to end up there being Tonka.

ffaarrddaaa Joined: 11 Jan 2023 Posts: 1	https://consolevariations.com/variation/console/sega-mark-iii-taiwan Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2023 2:42 pm
ffaarrddaaa Joined: 11 Jan 2023 Posts: 1	The Sega Graphic Board was actually released in Taiwan.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8710 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2023 3:40 pm
	ffaarrddaaa wrote The Sega Graphic Board was actually released in Taiwan. That isn't the same one, that is the "v1.0" てれびおえかき (Terebi Oekaki) that was released for SG-1000 in Japan, with SG-1000 era software: https://www.smspower.org/Articles/TerebiOekaki https://segaretro.org/Terebi_Oekaki

Forums

View topic - Unreleased Sega Graphic Board v2.0 !