Sega Channel stickers
Sega (1997)
A video game service that was about a decade ahead of its time was officially launched thirty years ago today. The Sega Channel was a subscription that gamers could sign up for through their cable tv provider. A tech would come out to your home to run a second coax cable from the pole outside to wherever you had your Sega Genesis console. They would then provide you with a special cartridge with a coax input where the cable would be connected. Then, you'd just insert it into the Genesis like any other game cartridge and you'd have access to a library of over fifty different games, some of which could not be purchased in stores.
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| This letter came in the mail with stickers shortly after I subscribed. |
I didn't have The Sega Channel when it first came out, but I signed up for it in the summer of 1997. I was 17 years old at the time. I had already graduated from high school, had my first car, my first full-time job, and had my own apartment in Beaver Meadows, PA which I lied about my age to the landlord to get. All of that is a long story that I'm not going to get into here, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to add The Sega Channel while I still had the chance. I remember being kind of surprised to see that it was even an option. By this time, the Sony Playstation, Sega Saturn, and Nintendo 64 consoles had already been released, so the writing was on the wall that the old 16-bit Genesis and everything related to it was going to be discontinued.
Even though there were more advanced games available by the time I had it, I played the hell out of The Sega Channel. My friend Margie came over my house a lot that summer and fall and we spent hours playing Castlevania Bloodlines, Golden Axe 3, and countless other games that were available on the service. The Sega Channel lasted for about a year after I first subscribed and was cancelled on July 31st, 1998, roughly three and a half years after it was introduced.
