title: Alison Pill

text: Pill decided to become an actor when she was 10 years old. As a member of the Toronto Children's Chorus, she was chosen to narrate one of their performances. Her mother tried to discourage Pill by getting her a job as a background performer on the series "". By the time she was 11, she had played a guest role on an episode of the children's series "The New Ghostwriter Mysteries". At 12, she landed roles in two TV movies and a mini-series, a guest appearance on the TV series "Psi Factor" and voiced the character "Cornflower" on the animated series "Redwall" (1999–2001). After roles in two more television movies, she landed her first feature film role, a small-budget Canadian movie called "The Life Before This" in 1999, followed by the role of Jacob's older sister Marfa in "Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang". Pill played roles in four more TV movies before the age of fourteen. The next year, she landed a small role in "Skipped Parts" in 2000 starring Drew Barrymore and Mischa Barton, then appeared in four more TV movies and features that year, including playing Farrah Fawcett's daughter in the TNT network movie "Baby" and a lead role in the Canadian film "The Dinosaur Hunter", which was originally intended to be shown at a dinosaur museum and on a provincial education channel, but which made its way to the Burbank International Film Festival, winning Pill an award for Best Child Actress. She landed the role of young Lorna in the ABC-TV biopic "" in 2001, based on the memoir by Garland's daughter, Lorna Luft. That year, Pill also played Sissy Spacek's daughter in the TV flick "Midwives".


title: Alison Pill

text: In 2003, she played Katie Holmes's sister in the indie feature "Pieces of April". Pill won the lead in the CTV-TV movie "Fast Food High", about a teenager who gets a job at a fast food restaurant and tries to set up a union. She also landed a supporting role in "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" in 2003, starring Lindsay Lohan. Pill ventured off into stage acting, with the New York City staging of "None of the Above" as the first item in her theatre credentials. This was followed by "The Distance From Here", "On the Mountain", "Blackbird", and "Mauritius". In 2006, she starred as Grace Webster in the short-lived NBC drama "The Book of Daniel". That same year, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance as Mairead in Martin McDonagh's "The Lieutenant of Inishmore". Because of her busy work schedule, Pill's schooling was done through a program for youngsters in the business. Since graduating from high school, Pill moved to New York to pursue a career in theatre, but continued to work in movies such as "Dan in Real Life" in 2007.


title: Alison Pill

text: Pill had a major supporting role as campaign manager Anne Kronenberg in the 2008 film "Milk". In 2009, she performed with Erin Hill & her Psychedelic Harp playing the "Twilight Zone"-inspired "Meredith Moon" and "The Real North Pole" sci-fi Christmas Harp. Pill was cast as April on "In Treatment". In 2009 she replaced Elliot Page in a role in "Jack & Diane" but due to postponement of the project neither ended up in it by the time it ran in 2012.


title: Alison Pill

text: She later played Kim Pine in the movie "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World", as well as in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the Animation". She portrayed Empress Maud in the miniseries "The Pillars of the Earth". In theatre, Pill starred with Abigail Breslin in Broadway's "The Miracle Worker". She has worked with Woody Allen twice, as Zelda Fitzgerald in "Midnight in Paris" and as Hayley in "To Rome with Love".


title: Alison Pill

text: She has starred in short films including "Denise" in 2012 with Chris Messina and "Santa Baby;" she sang and danced in "Santa Baby". In 2016, she appeared in "Cover Up" by Satya Bhabha with Jason Ritter, to be released at the LA Shorts Fest, and "Woman in Deep", where she played a woman who calls a suicide prevention hot line and is put on hold, directed by Janicza Bravo. In a new theatre production of "Wait Until Dark", Pill starred as a blind woman who must fend for her life. She also starred in Bong Joon-ho's post-apocalyptic film "Snowpiercer", alongside Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton, which was released in 2013.


title: Alison Pill

text: From 2012 until its ending in 2014, she appeared in Aaron Sorkin's HBO series "The Newsroom" as Maggie Jordan. Pill appeared in "Cooties" starring Elijah Wood. In "Zoom", Pill played Emma, an aspiring comic book artist. She had a part in "Hail, Caesar!" as Eddie Mannix's wife. Pill starred in "" as Eva Glatt, Glatt's love interest in first movie "Goon", now married to Glatt. Pill was part of the cast of "The Family" as Willa Warren. In 2016, Pill co-starred with Jessica Chastain in the EuropaCorp thriller "Miss Sloane". In 2017, she joined "", starring as Ivy Mayfair-Richards, one of the main characters of the storyline. In 2018 she played former Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter Mary in the Oscar-nominated film "Vice".


title: Alison Pill

text: In 2020, she was part of the TV series "Devs" directed by Alex Garland on FX on Hulu, playing Katie, the chief designer of the Devs system.


title: Alison Pill

text: In 2021, she starred in the film "All My Puny Sorrows" with Sarah Gadon, as two Mennonite sisters who leave their religious lives behind. Alison won Best Actress in a Canadian Film by Vancouver Film Critics Circle for her role in the movie.


title: Alison Pill

text: Since 2020, Pill has played Dr. Agnes Jurati in CBS All Access's Star Trek series, "", centered on an older Jean-Luc Picard, the Starfleet captain from "".


title: Alison Pill

text: Pill was engaged to actor Jay Baruchel from 2011 to 2013. Baruchel made their engagement public when he thanked Pill as his fiancée during an acceptance speech at the Genie Awards in Ottawa, Ontario. Baruchel alluded to their break-up in a Twitter posting on February 16, 2013.


title: Alison Pill

text: Pill married actor Joshua Leonard May 24, 2015, having become engaged that January. They have a daughter, Wilder, born November 19, 2016.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Girls is an American comedy-drama television series created by and starring Lena Dunham, executive-produced by Judd Apatow. The series depicts four young women living in New York City. The show's premise was drawn from Dunham's own life, as were major aspects of the main character, including financial isolation from her parents, becoming a writer, and making unfortunate decisions.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: The first season of "Girls" was filmed between April and August 2011. The first three episodes were screened at the 2012 SXSW Festival and the series premiered on HBO on April 15, 2012. The second season ran on HBO from January 13, 2013, to March 17, 2013. The third season, which contained 12 episodes (the previous seasons had 10 episodes) ran from January 12, 2014, to March 23, 2014. The fourth season of the series started filming in April 2014 and premiered on January 11, 2015. The fifth season premiered on February 21, 2016. "Girls" sixth and final season concluded on April 16, 2017. There were a total of 62 episodes.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: The show has received critical praise and awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and the British Academy Television Award for Best International Programme.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Aspiring writer Hannah is shocked when her parents, visiting from East Lansing, Michigan, announce that they will no longer financially support her as they had done since her graduation from Oberlin College two years earlier. Left to her own devices in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Hannah navigates her twenties, "one mistake at a time." Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver, and Alex Karpovsky co-star as Hannah's circle of friends.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Lena Dunham's 2010 second feature, "Tiny Furniture"—which she wrote, directed and starred in—received positive reviews at festivals as well as awards attention, including Best Narrative Feature at South by Southwest and Best First Screenplay at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards. The independent film's success earned her the opportunity to collaborate with Judd Apatow for an HBO pilot. Judd Apatow said he was drawn to Dunham's imagination after watching "Tiny Furniture", and added that "Girls" would provide men with an insight into "realistic females."


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Some of the struggles facing Dunham's character Hannah—including being cut off financially from her parents, becoming a writer and making unfortunate decisions—are inspired by Dunham's real-life experiences. The show's look is achieved by furnishings at a number of vintage boutiques in New York, including Brooklyn Flea and Geminola owned by Jemima Kirke's mother.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Dunham said "Girls" reflects a part of the population not portrayed in the 1998 HBO series "Sex and the City". ""Gossip Girl" was teens duking it out on the Upper East Side and "Sex and the City" was women who [had] figured out work and friends and now want to nail romance and family life. There was this 'hole-in-between' space that hadn't really been addressed," she said. The pilot intentionally references "Sex and the City" as producers wanted to make it clear that the driving force behind "Girls" is that the characters were inspired by the former HBO series and moved to New York to pursue their dreams. Dunham herself says she "revere[s] that show just as much as any girl of my generation".


title: Girls (TV series)

text: As executive producer, Dunham and Jennifer Konner are both showrunners of the series while Dunham is also the head writer. Apatow is also executive producer, under his Apatow Productions label. Dunham wrote or co-wrote all ten episodes of the first season and directed five, including the pilot. Season one was filmed between April and August 2011 and consisted of 10 episodes. The second season ran on HBO from January 13, 2013, to March 17, 2013, and also consisted of 10 episodes.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: On April 4, 2013, Christopher Abbott left the series after sources reported he and Dunham had differences with the direction that his reoccurring character Charlie was taking as the third season entered production. Dunham announced via Instagram on September 6, 2013, that production for the third season had concluded. Season 3, which contained 12 episodes as opposed to the previous 10-episode seasons, ran from January 12, 2014, to March 23, 2014. The fourth season of the series started filming in April 2014. On January 5, 2016, HBO announced that the series' sixth season would be its last, allowing the writers to create a proper finale.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: The first season of "Girls" received universal acclaim from television critics. On review aggregation website Metacritic, the first season of the series holds an average of 87 based on 29 reviews. The website also lists the show as the highest-rated fictional series debut of 2012.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: James Poniewozik from "Time" reserved high praise for the series, calling it "raw, audacious, nuanced and richly, often excruciatingly funny". Tim Goodman of "The Hollywood Reporter" called "Girls" "one of the most original, spot-on, no-missed-steps series in recent memory". Reviewing the first three episodes at the 2012 SXSW Festival, he said the series conveys "real female friendships, the angst of emerging adulthood, nuanced relationships, sexuality, self-esteem, body image, intimacy in a tech-savvy world that promotes distance, the bloodlust of surviving New York on very little money and the modern parenting of entitled children, among many other things—all laced together with humor and poignancy". "The New York Times" also applauded the series and said: ""Girls" may be the millennial generation's rebuttal to "Sex and the City", but the first season was at times as cruelly insightful and bleakly funny as "Louie" on FX or "Curb Your Enthusiasm" on HBO."


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Despite many positive reviews, several critics criticized the characters themselves. Gawker's John Cook strongly criticised "Girls", saying it was "a television program about the children of wealthy famous people and shitty music and Facebook and how hard it is to know who you are and Thought Catalog and sexually transmitted diseases and the exhaustion of ceaselessly dramatizing your own life while posing as someone who understands the fundamental emptiness and narcissism of that very self-dramatization."


title: Girls (TV series)

text: The second season of "Girls" continued to receive critical acclaim. On Metacritic, the second season of the series holds an average of 84 based on 19 reviews.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Tim Goodman of "The Hollywood Reporter" stated that ""Girls" kicks off its second season even more assured of itself, able to deftly work strands of hard-earned drama into the free-flowing comedic moments of four postcollege girls trying to find their way in life". David Wiegland of the "San Francisco Chronicle" said that "The entire constellation of impetuous, ambitious, determined and insecure young urbanites in "Girls" is realigning in the new season, but at no point in the four episodes sent to critics for review do you feel that any of it is artificial". Verne Gay of "Newsday" said it is "Sharper, smarter, more richly layered, detailed and acted". Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly" felt that "As bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as it was in its first season, "Girls" may now be even spunkier, funnier, and riskier". In reference to the series' growth, Willa Paskin of "Salon" thought that "Girls" "has matured by leaps and bounds, comedically and structurally, but it has jettisoned some of its ambiguity, its sweetness, its own affection for its characters. It's more coherent, but it's also safer."


title: Girls (TV series)

text: The third season of "Girls" received generally positive reviews. On Metacritic, the third season of the series holds an average of 76 based on 18 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports an 89% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from critics, based on 27 reviews with an average score of 7.8/10. The consensus states: "Still rife with shock value, Season 3 of "Girls" also benefits from an increasingly mature tone."


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Tim Goodman of "The Hollywood Reporter" lauded the first two episodes, and commented: "Going into its third season, Girls is as refreshing and audacious as ever and one of the few half-hour dramedies where you can feel its heart pounding and see its belly ripple with laughter." In addition, "The New York Times", "Entertainment Weekly" and "PopMatters" praised the comedic portrayal of its lead female characters.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: The fourth season of "Girls" received generally positive reviews. On Metacritic, the fourth season of the series holds an average of 75 based on 16 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports an 83% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from critics, based on 24 reviews with an average score of 7.5/10. The consensus states: ""Girls" is familiar after four seasons, but its convoluted-yet-comical depiction of young women dealing with the real world still manages to impress."


title: Girls (TV series)

text: The fifth season of "Girls" received generally positive reviews. On Metacritic, the fifth season of the series holds an average of 73 based on 13 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports an 85% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from critics, based on 20 reviews with an average score of 8.14/10. The consensus states: "Though some characters have devolved into caricatures, watching them struggle in "Girls" is more fun in season five, with sharper humor and narrative consistency than prior seasons."


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Daniel Fienberg of "The Hollywood Reporter" gave the season a positive review writing: ""Girls" had only a niche audience. It's possible that being freed from the responsibility of the zeitgeist is what has kept "Girls" so watchable. The start of the fifth season won't launch an armada of think pieces, but if you still get pleasure from watching these flawed, often awful characters make flawed, often funny choices, "Girls" is still "Girls"."


title: Girls (TV series)

text: The sixth season of "Girls" received highly positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the sixth season of the series holds an average of 79 based on 15 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports an 89% approval rating from critics, based on 35 reviews with an average score of 8.01/10. The consensus states, "In its final season, "Girls" remains uncompromising, intelligent, character driven, compassionate – and at times consciously aggravating."


title: Girls (TV series)

text: The broadcast of the season's third episode "American Bitch" in Australia on showcase had to be edited, due to a scene which breached the maximum MA15+ classification of the broadcaster.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: The premiere of the pilot was also met with criticism regarding the all-white main cast in the otherwise culturally diverse setting of New York City (the only black actors in the pilot were a homeless man and a taxi driver, and the only Asian actress had the sole trait of being good at Photoshop).


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Writing at "The Hairpin", Jenna Wortham rebuked the show for its lack of a main black character. "It feels alienating, a party of four engineered to appeal to a very specific subset of the television viewing audience, when the show has the potential to be so much bigger than that. And that is a huge fucking disappointment."


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Lesley Arfin, a writer for the show, responded to the controversy with the tweeted comment: "What really bothered me most about "Precious" was that there was no representation of ME". Arfin later deleted the comment following the uproar. Lena Dunham has given interviews where she talks about the diversity question with the series, stating that with HBO's renewal of the series for a second season, "these issues will be addressed". Donald Glover guest starred as Sandy, a black Republican and Hannah's love interest, in the first two episodes of season two.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: Agreeing that there is a lack of racial diversity on "Girls", Maureen Ryan from "The Huffington Post" argues that the issue is the industry as a whole. "Where are the think pieces taking networks to task for the millionth procedural about a troubled male cop or the millionth comedy about a guy who has problems with women? Why are we holding Lena Dunham's feet to the fire, instead of the heads of networks and studios? That troubles me, not least because it's easier (and lazier) to attack a 25-year-old woman who's just starting out than to attack the men twice her age who actually control the industry. ...I have to say that I'm absolutely astonished that, of all shows, this is the one that is being attacked for being too white. I could list the shows on television with all-white casts, but then we'd be here all day." Dunham has publicly said, "I really wrote the show from a gut-level place, and each character was a piece of me or based on someone close to me". She adds that she wanted to avoid tokenism in casting. The experience of a black character would involve a certain specificity, a type she could not speak to.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: "Girls" has prompted debate about its treatment of feminism. It has been praised for its portrayal of women and female friendship but criticized as classist, racist, transphobic and misguided. In an online review for "Ms Magazine", Kerensa Cadenas argues, "Despite its lack of a serious class and race consciousness, "Girls" does address other feminist issues currently in play, among them body image, abortion, relationships within a social media age, and street harassment. In another series, these issues might be the focus of one episode (e.g., the abortion episode of "SATC"), but in "Girls" they become everyday topics."


title: Girls (TV series)

text: On the other hand, Catherine Scott of "The Independent," writing about season one in 2012, asked, "What's there to celebrate for feminism when black, Hispanic or Asian women are totally written out of a series that's supposedly set in one of the most diverse cities on earth? But also, what's there to celebrate for feminism when a show depicts four entirely self-interested young women and a lead character having the most depressing, disempowered sexual relationships imaginable?"


title: Girls (TV series)

text: "Girls" premiered on April 15, 2012, on HBO in the United States. The first three episodes were screened at the 2012 SXSW Festival on March 12.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: On January 7, 2014, the premiere of the third season of "Girls" was shown at the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City. Models Karlie Kloss, Karen Elson, and Hilary Rhoda; designers Nicole Miller, Cynthia Rowley, and Zac Posen; and editors Anna Wintour, Joanna Coles, and Amy Astley were all in attendance. The after party was at the Allen Room and "hosted by HBO and the Cinema Society".


title: Girls (TV series)

text: "Girls" premiered on OSN in the Middle East on September 7, 2012. In Australia, it premiered on Showcase on May 28, 2012. The series began airing on HBO Canada on April 15, 2012. In New Zealand, the SoHo channel premiered "Girls" in May 2012.


title: Girls (TV series)

text: In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series premiered on Sky Atlantic on October 22, 2012. The second season premiered on January 14, 2013, and the third season began airing on January 20, 2014. The fourth season premiered on January 12, 2015.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, 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 North America as the Genesis. In 1990, it was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, Ozisoft in Australasia, and Tec Toy in Brazil. In South Korea, it was distributed by Samsung as the Super Gam*Boy and later the Super Aladdin Boy.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Designed by an R&D team supervised by Hideki Sato and Masami Ishikawa, the Genesis was adapted from Sega's System 16 arcade board, centered on a Motorola 68000 processor as the CPU, a Zilog Z80 as a sound controller, and a video system supporting hardware sprites, tiles, and scrolling. It plays a library of more than 900 games on ROM-based cartridges. Several add-ons were released, including a Power Base Converter to play Master System games. It was released in several different versions, some created by third parties. Sega created two network services to support the Genesis: Sega Meganet and Sega Channel.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In Japan, the Mega Drive fared poorly against its two main competitors, Nintendo's Super Famicom and NEC's PC Engine, but it achieved considerable success in North America, Brazil, and Europe. Contributing to its success was its library of arcade game ports, the popularity of Sega's "Sonic the Hedgehog" series, several popular sports franchises, and aggressive youth marketing that positioned it as the cool console for adolescents. The 1991 North American release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System triggered a fierce battle for market share in the United States and Europe known as the "console war". This drew attention to the video game industry, and the Genesis and several of its games attracted legal scrutiny on matters involving reverse engineering and video game violence. Controversy surrounding violent games such as "Night Trap" and "Mortal Kombat" led Sega to create the Videogame Rating Council, a predecessor to the Entertainment Software Rating Board.


title: Sega Genesis

text: 30.75 million first-party Genesis units were sold worldwide. In addition, Tec Toy sold an estimated three million licensed variants in Brazil, Majesco projected it would sell 1.5 million licensed variants of the system in the United States and smaller numbers were sold by Samsung in South Korea. By the mid-2010s, licensed third-party Genesis rereleases were still being sold by AtGames in North America and Europe. Many games have been re-released in compilations or on online services such as the Nintendo Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam. The Genesis was succeeded in 1994 by the Sega Saturn.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In the early 1980s, Sega Enterprises, Inc. – then a subsidiary of Gulf+Western – was one of the top five arcade game manufacturers active in the United States, as company revenues surpassed $200 million between July 1981 and June 1982. A downturn in the arcade business starting in 1982 seriously hurt the company, leading Gulf+Western to sell its North American arcade manufacturing organization and the licensing rights for its arcade games to Bally Manufacturing. The company retained Sega's North American R&D operation, as well as its Japanese subsidiary, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. With its arcade business in decline, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. president Hayao Nakayama advocated that the company leverage its hardware expertise to move into the home console market in Japan, which was in its infancy at the time.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Nakayama received permission to proceed with this project, leading to the release of Sega's first home video game system, the SG-1000, in July 1983. While it had sold 160,000 units in Japan, far exceeding Sega's expectations, sales at stores were dominated by Nintendo's Famicom which had been released the same day. Sega estimated that the Famicom outsold the SG-1000 by a 10-to-1 margin. The SG-1000 was replaced by the Sega Mark III within two years. In the meantime, Gulf+Western began to divest itself of its non-core businesses after the death of company founder Charles Bluhdorn, so Nakayama and former Sega CEO David Rosen arranged a management buyout of the Japanese subsidiary in 1984 with financial backing from CSK Corporation, a prominent Japanese software company. Nakayama was then installed as CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In 1986, Sega redesigned the Mark III for release in North America as the Master System. This was followed by a European release the next year. Although the Master System was a success in Europe, and later in Brazil, it failed to ignite significant interest in the Japanese or North American markets, which, by the mid-to-late 1980s, were both dominated by Nintendo. With Sega continuing to have difficulty penetrating the home market, Sega's console R&D team, led by Masami Ishikawa and supervised by Hideki Sato, began work on a successor to the Master System almost immediately after that console launched.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In 1987, Sega faced another threat to its console business when Japanese computer giant NEC released the PC Engine amid great publicity. To remain competitive against the two more established consumer electronics companies, Ishikawa and his team decided they needed to incorporate a 16-bit microprocessor into their new system to make an impact in the marketplace and once again turned to Sega's strengths in the arcade industry to adapt the successful Sega System 16 arcade board into architecture for a home console. The decision to use a Motorola 68000 as the system's main CPU was made late in development, while a Zilog Z80 was used as a secondary CPU to handle the sound due to fears that the load to the main CPU would be too great if it handled both the visuals and the audio. The 68000 chip was expensive and would have driven the retail price of the console up greatly, but Sega was able to negotiate with a distributor for a tenth of its price on an up-front volume order with the promise of more orders pending the console's future success.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The appearance of the Mega Drive was designed by a team led by Mitsushige Shiraiwa that drew inspiration from audiophile equipment and automobiles. Shiraiwa said this more mature look helped to target the Mega Drive to all ages, unlike the Famicom, which was aimed primarily at children. According to Sato, the Japanese design for the Mega Drive was based on the appearance of an audio player, with "16-bit" embossed in a golden metallic veneer to create an impression of power.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The console was announced in the June 1988 issue of Japanese gaming magazine "Beep!" as the Mark V, but Sega management wanted a stronger name. After reviewing more than 300 proposals, the company settled on "Mega Drive". In North America, the name was changed to "Genesis". Rosen said he insisted on the name as he disliked "Mega Drive" and wanted to represent "a new beginning" for Sega. Sato said some design elements changed, such as the gold-colored "16-bit" wording, because it was believed that the color would be mistaken for yellow. He believes that the changes in design are representative of the differences in values between Japanese and American culture.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Sega released the Mega Drive in Japan on October 29, 1988, though the launch was overshadowed by Nintendo's release of "Super Mario Bros. 3" a week earlier. Positive coverage from magazines "Famitsu" and "Beep!" helped to establish a following. Within two days of release, the console's initial production run sold out. However, Sega only managed to ship 400,000 units in the first year. In order to increase sales, Sega released various peripherals and games, including an online banking system and answering machine called the Sega Mega Anser. Nevertheless, the Mega Drive was unable to overtake the venerable Famicom and remained a distant third in Japan behind Nintendo's Super Famicom and NEC's PC Engine throughout the 16-bit era.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Sega announced a North American release date for the system on January 9, 1989. At the time, Sega did not possess a North American sales and marketing organization and was distributing its Master System through Tonka. Dissatisfied with Tonka's performance, Sega looked for a new partner to market the Genesis in North America and offered the rights to Atari Corporation, which did not yet have a 16-bit system. David Rosen made the proposal to Atari CEO Jack Tramiel and the president of Atari's Entertainment Electronics Division, Michael Katz. Tramiel declined to acquire the new console, deeming it too expensive, and instead opted to focus on the Atari ST. Sega decided to launch the console through its own Sega of America subsidiary, which executed a limited launch on August 14, 1989, in New York City and Los Angeles. The Genesis was released in the rest of North America later that year.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The European version of the Mega Drive was released in September 1990, at a price of , i.e. . The release was handled by Virgin Mastertronic, which was later purchased by Sega in 1991 and became Sega of Europe. Games like "Space Harrier II", "Ghouls 'n Ghosts", "Golden Axe", "Super Thunder Blade", and "The Revenge of Shinobi" were available in stores at launch. The console was also bundled with "Altered Beast". The Mega Drive and its first batch of games were shown at the 1990 European Computer Entertainment Show (ECES) in Earl's Court. Between July and August 1990, Virgin initially placed their order for 20,000 Mega Drive units. However, the company increased the order by 10,000 units when advanced orders had exceeded expectations, and another 10,000 units was later added following the console's success at the ECES event. The projected number of units to be sold between September and December 1990 had eventually increased to 40,000 units in the United Kingdom alone.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Other companies assisted in distributing the console to various countries worldwide. Ozisoft handled the Mega Drive's launch and marketing in Australia, as it had done before with the Master System. In Brazil, the Mega Drive was released by Tectoy in 1990, only a year after the Brazilian release of the Master System. Tectoy produced games exclusively for the Brazilian market and brought the Sega Meganet online service there in 1995. Samsung handled sales and distribution in Korea, where it was named Super Gam*Boy and retained the Mega Drive logo alongside the Samsung name. It was later renamed Super Aladdin Boy. In India, Sega entered a distribution deal with Shaw Wallace in April 1994 in order to circumvent an 80% import tariff, with each unit selling for INR₹18,000.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In Russia, Sega officially licensed the console to local distributor Forrus in 1994, replaced in 1996 by Bitman. That year, the video game console market generated between and in Russia, with Sega accounting for half of all console sales in the country. However, only about 15% of the sales were official Sega units distributed by Bitman, while the rest were unofficial counterfeit clones.


title: Sega Genesis

text: For the North American market, former Atari Corporation Entertainment Electronics Division president and new Sega of America CEO Michael Katz instituted a two-part approach to build sales. The first part involved a marketing campaign to challenge Nintendo head-on and emphasize the more arcade-like experience available on the Genesis, with slogans including "Genesis does what Nintendon't". Since Nintendo owned the console rights to most arcade games of the time, the second part involved creating a library of recognizable games which used the names and likenesses of celebrities and athletes, such as "Pat Riley Basketball", "Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf", "James 'Buster' Douglas Knockout Boxing", "Joe Montana Football", "Tommy Lasorda Baseball", "Mario Lemieux Hockey", and "Michael Jackson's Moonwalker". Nonetheless, Sega struggled to overcome Nintendo's presence in consumers' homes. Tasked by Nakayama to sell one million units within the first year, Katz and Sega of America sold only 500,000. At the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (Winter CES) in January 1990, the Sega Genesis demonstrated a strong line-up of games which received a positive reception for approaching arcade-quality graphics and gameplay as well as for providing non-arcade experiences such as "Phantasy Star II".


title: Sega Genesis

text: In mid-1990, Nakayama hired Tom Kalinske to replace Katz as CEO of Sega of America. Although Kalinske knew little about the video game market, he surrounded himself with industry-savvy advisors. A believer in the razor and blades model, he developed a four-point plan: cut the price of the console, create an American team to develop games targeted at the American market, expand the aggressive advertising campaigns, and replace the bundled game "Altered Beast" with a new game, "Sonic the Hedgehog". The Japanese board of directors initially disapproved of the plan, but all four points were approved by Nakayama, who told Kalinske, "I hired you to make the decisions for Europe and the Americas, so go ahead and do it." Critics praised "Sonic" as one of the greatest games yet made, and Genesis sales increased as customers who had been waiting for the release of the international version of Nintendo's Super Famicom, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), decided to purchase a Genesis instead. The SNES debuted against an established competitor, while NEC's TurboGrafx-16 failed to gain traction, and NEC soon pulled out of the market. In large part due to the popularity of "Sonic the Hedgehog", the Genesis outsold the SNES in the United States nearly two to one during the 1991 holiday season. Sega controlled 65% of the 16-bit console market in January 1992, the first time Nintendo had not been the console leader since 1985.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The Genesis outsold the SNES for four consecutive Christmas seasons due to its two-year lead, lower price point, and larger game library compared to the SNES at its release. Sega had ten games for every game on SNES, and while the SNES had an exclusive version of "Final Fight", one of Sega's internal development teams created "Streets of Rage", which had bigger levels, tougher enemies, and a well-regarded soundtrack. ASCII Entertainment reported in early 1993 that Genesis had 250 games versus 75 for the SNES, but limited shelf space meant that stores typically offered 100 Genesis and 50 SNES games. The NES was still the leader, with 300 games and 100 on shelves.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Sega's advertising positioned the Genesis as the cooler console, and coined the term "blast processing", an obscure and unused graphics programming method, to suggest that its processing capabilities were far greater than those of the SNES. A Sony focus group found that teenage boys would not admit to owning an SNES rather than a Genesis. With the Genesis often outselling the SNES at a ratio of 2:1, Nintendo and Sega focused heavily on impression management of the market, even going to the point of deception; Nintendo claimed it had sold more consoles in 1991 than it actually had, and forecasted it would sell 6 million consoles by the end of 1992, while its actual U.S. install base at the end of 1992 was only just more than 4 million units. Due to these tactics, it was difficult to ascertain a clear leader in market share for several years at a time, with Nintendo's dollar share of the U.S. 16-bit market dipping down from 60% at the end of 1992 to 37% at the end of 1993, Sega claiming 55% of all 16-bit hardware sales during 1994, and "Donkey Kong Country" helping the SNES to outsell the Genesis from 1995 through 1997. According to a 2004 study of NPD sales data, the Genesis maintained its lead over the Super NES in the American 16-bit console market. However, according to a 2014 Wedbush Securities report based on revised NPD sales data, the SNES outsold the Sega Genesis in the U.S. market by units.


title: Sega Genesis

text: To compete with Nintendo, Sega was more open to new types of games, but still tightly controlled the approval process for third-party games and charged high prices for cartridge manufacturing. American third-party publisher Electronic Arts (EA) sought a better deal, but had met resistance from Sega. They decided to reverse-engineer the Genesis, using a clean-room method similar to the method Phoenix Technologies had used to reverse-engineer the IBM Personal Computer BIOS around 1984.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The process began in 1989, led by Steve Hayes and Jim Nitchals. They created a controlled room in EA headquarters nicknamed "Chernobyl", to which only one person was allowed access, Mike Schwartz. Schwartz reviewed Sega's copyrighted development manuals and tools, studied the Genesis hardware and games, and wrote original documentation that summarized his findings. The process took him about a month. His work was reviewed by EA's lawyers before being disseminated to Hayes and Nitchals to verify its originality, and subsequently to the rest of the developers to let them build games. After a few months, EA began developing for the Genesis in earnest. EA founder Trip Hawkins confronted Nakayama the day before the 1990 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), informing him that EA had the ability to run its own licensing program if Sega refused to meet its demands. Sega relented, and the next day EA's upcoming Genesis games were showcased at CES.


title: Sega Genesis

text: EA signed what Hawkins described as "a very unusual and much more enlightened license agreement" with Sega in June 1990: "Among other things, we had the right to make as many titles as we wanted. We could approve our own titles ... the royalty rates were a lot more reasonable. We also had more direct control over manufacturing." After the deal was in place, EA chief creative officer Bing Gordon learned that "we hadn't figured out all the workarounds" and "Sega still had the ability to lock us out ... It just would have been a public relations fiasco." EA released its first Genesis games, "Populous" and "", within the month. The first Genesis version of EA's "John Madden Football" arrived before the end of 1990, and became what Gordon called a "killer app". Taking advantage of the licensing agreement, Gordon and EA's vice president of marketing services Nancy Fong created a visual identifier for EA's Genesis cartridges: a yellow tab molded into the cartridge casing.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Sega held a company-wide contest to create a mascot character to compete with Nintendo's "Mario" series. The winning submission was a blue hedgehog with red shoes, Sonic, created by Naoto Ohshima, spawning one of the best-selling video game franchises in history. The gameplay of "Sonic the Hedgehog" originated with a tech demo created by Yuji Naka, who had developed a prototype platform game that involved a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a long winding tube. This concept was developed with Ohshima's character design and levels conceived by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Although Katz and Sega of America's marketing experts disliked "Sonic", certain that it would not catch on with American children, Kalinske's strategy to place "Sonic the Hedgehog" as the pack-in game paid off. "Sonic the Hedgehog" greatly increased the popularity of the Genesis in North America, and the bundle is credited with helping Sega gain 65% of the market share against Nintendo. Similarly, in Europe, Sega captured a 65% share of the European console market, where the Mega Drive maintained its lead over the SNES through 1994. "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" set records for the fastest-selling game, selling copies worldwide within two weeks, and "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" and "Sonic & Knuckles" selling a combined copies worldwide.


title: Sega Genesis

text: After the release of the Genesis in 1989, video game publisher Accolade began exploring options to release some of their PC games on the console. At the time, Sega had a licensing deal in place for third-party developers that increased the costs to the developer. According to Accolade co-founder Alan Miller, "One pays them between $10 and $15 per cartridge on top of the real hardware manufacturing costs, so it about doubles the cost of goods to the independent publisher." To get around licensing, Accolade chose to seek an alternative way to bring their games to the Genesis. It did so by purchasing one in order to decompile the executable code of three Genesis games. Such information was used to program their new Genesis cartridges in a way that would allow them to disable the security lockouts on the Genesis that prevented unlicensed games from being played. This strategy was used successfully to bring "" to the Genesis in 1990. To do so, Accolade had copied Sega's copyrighted game code multiple times in order to reverse engineer the software of Sega's licensed Genesis games.


title: Sega Genesis

text: As a result of piracy in some countries and unlicensed development issues, Sega incorporated a technical protection mechanism into a new edition of the Genesis released in 1990, referred to as the Genesis III. This new variation of the Genesis included a code known as the Trademark Security System (TMSS), which, when a game cartridge was inserted, would check for the presence of the string "SEGA" at a particular point in the memory contained in the cartridge. If the string was present, the console would run the game, and would briefly display the message: "" This system had a twofold effect: it added extra protection against unlicensed developers and software piracy and forced the Sega trademark to display when the game was powered up, making a lawsuit for trademark infringement possible if unlicensed software were to be developed. Accolade learned of this development at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1991, where Sega showed the new Genesis III and demonstrated it screening and rejecting an "Ishido" game cartridge. With more games planned for the following year, Accolade successfully identified the TMSS file. It later added this file to the games "HardBall!", "Star Control", "Mike Ditka Power Football", and "Turrican".


title: Sega Genesis

text: In response to the creation of these unlicensed games, Sega filed suit against Accolade in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, on charges of trademark infringement, unfair competition, and copyright infringement. In response, Accolade filed a counterclaim for falsifying the source of its games by displaying the Sega trademark when the game was powered up. Although the district court initially ruled for Sega and issued an injunction preventing Accolade from continuing to reverse engineer the Genesis, Accolade appealed the verdict to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.


title: Sega Genesis

text: As a result of the appeal, the Ninth Circuit overturned the district court's verdict and ruled that Accolade's decompilation of the Sega software constituted fair use. The court's written opinion followed on October 20, 1992, and noted that the use of the software was non-exploitative, although commercial. Further, the court found that the trademark infringement, being required by the TMSS for a Genesis game to run on the system, had been inadvertently triggered by a fair use act and was the fault of Sega for having caused false labeling. Ultimately, Sega and Accolade settled the case on April 30, 1993. As a part of this settlement, Accolade became an official licensee of Sega, and later developed and released "Barkley Shut Up and Jam!" while under license. The terms of the licensing, including whether or not any special arrangements or discounts were made to Accolade, were not released to the public. The financial terms of the settlement were also not disclosed, although both companies agreed to pay their own legal costs.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In 1993, the American media began to focus on the mature content of certain video games. Games such as "Night Trap" for the Sega CD, an add-on, received unprecedented scrutiny. Issues about "Night Trap" were brought up in the United Kingdom, with former Sega of Europe development director Mike Brogan noting that ""Night Trap" got Sega an awful lot of publicity ... it was also cited in UK Parliament for being classified as '15' due to its use of real actors." This came at a time when Sega was capitalizing on its image as an edgy company with attitude, and this only reinforced that image. By far the year's most controversial game was Midway's "Mortal Kombat", ported to the Genesis and SNES by Acclaim Entertainment. In response to public outcry over the game's graphic violence, Nintendo decided to replace the blood in the game with "sweat" and the arcade's gruesome "fatalities" with less violent finishing moves. Sega took a different approach, instituting America's first video game ratings system, the Videogame Rating Council (VRC), for all its current systems. Ratings ranged from the family-friendly GA rating to the more mature rating of MA-13, and the adults-only rating of MA-17. With the rating system in place, Sega released its version of "Mortal Kombat", appearing to have removed all the blood and sweat effects and toning down the finishing moves even more than in the SNES version. However, all the arcade's blood and uncensored finishing moves could be enabled by entering a "Blood Code". This technicality allowed Sega to release the game with a relatively low MA-13 rating. Meanwhile, the tamer SNES version shipped without a rating.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The Genesis version of "Mortal Kombat" was well-received by gaming press, as well as fans, outselling the SNES version three- or four-to-one, while Nintendo was criticized for censoring the SNES version. Executive vice president of Nintendo of America Howard Lincoln was quick to point out at the hearings that "Night Trap" had no such rating, saying to Senator Joe Lieberman:


title: Sega Genesis

text: In response, Sega of America vice president Bill White showed a videotape of violent video games on the SNES and stressed the importance of rating video games. At the end of the hearing, Lieberman called for another hearing in February 1994 to check on progress toward a rating system for video game violence.


title: Sega Genesis

text: As a result of the congressional hearings, "Night Trap" started to generate more sales and released ports to the PC, Sega 32X, and 3DO. According to Digital Pictures founder Tom Zito, "You know, I sold 50,000 units of "Night Trap" a week after those hearings." Although experiencing increased sales, Sega decided to recall "Night Trap" and re-release it with revisions in 1994 due to the congressional hearings. After the close of these hearings, video game manufacturers came together to establish the rating system that Lieberman had called for. Initially, Sega proposed the universal adoption of its system, but after objections by Nintendo and others, Sega took a role in forming a new one. This became the Entertainment Software Rating Board, an independent organization that received praise from Lieberman. With this new rating system in place for the 1994 holiday season, Nintendo decided its censorship policies were no longer needed, and the SNES port of "Mortal Kombat II" was released uncensored.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Sega released two add-ons to increase the Genesis capabilities: a CD peripheral, the Sega CD (Mega-CD outside North America and Brazil), and a 32-bit peripheral, the Sega 32X. Worldwide, Sega sold 2.24 million Sega CD units and 800,000 32X units.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Following the launch of the next-generation 32-bit Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn, sales of 16-bit hardware and software continued to account for 64% of the video game market in 1995. Sega underestimated the continued popularity of the Genesis and did not have the inventory to meet demand. Sega captured 43% of the dollar share of the U.S. video game market and claimed to have sold more than two million Genesis units in 1995, while Genesis software such as "Vectorman" remained successful, but Kalinske estimated that "we could have sold another 300,000 Genesis systems in the November/December timeframe". Nakayama's decision to focus on the Saturn, based on the systems' relative performance in Japan, has been cited as the major contributing factor in this miscalculation. By contrast, Nintendo concentrated on the 16-bit home console market, as well as its successful handheld, the Game Boy, and took in 42% of the video game market dollar share without launching a 32-bit console. Following tensions with Sega Enterprises, Ltd. over its focus on the Saturn, Kalinske, who oversaw the rise of the Genesis in 1991, grew uninterested in the business and resigned in mid-1996.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Sega sold 30.75 million Genesis units worldwide. Of these, 3.58 million were sold in Japan, and sales in Europe and the U.S. are roughly estimated at 8 million and 18–18.5 million as of June 1997 (at which time Sega was no longer manufacturing the system) respectively. In 1998, Sega licensed the Genesis to Majesco Entertainment to rerelease it in North America. Majesco began reselling millions of unsold cartridges at a budget price, together with 150,000 units of the second model of the Genesis. It released the Genesis 3, projecting to sell 1.5 million units of the console by the end of 1998. Tectoy continues to sell variants of the original hardware (including emulated variants) and has sold an estimated 3 million units in Brazil .


title: Sega Genesis

text: The main microprocessor is a 16/32-bit Motorola 68000 CPU clocked at 7.6 MHz. An 8-bit Zilog Z80 processor controls the sound hardware and provides backward compatibility with the Master System. The Genesis has 64 KB of RAM, 64 KB of video RAM and 8 KB of audio RAM. It can display up to 61 colors at once from a palette of 512. The games are in ROM cartridge format and inserted in the top.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The Genesis produces sound using a Texas Instruments SN76489 PSG, integrated with the Video Display Processor (VDP), and a Yamaha YM2612 FM synthesizer chip. The Z80 processor is primarily used to control both sound chips to produce stereo music and sound effects. Most revisions of the original Genesis contain a discrete YM2612 and a separate YM7101 VDP; in a later revision, the chips were integrated into a single custom ASIC (FC1004).


title: Sega Genesis

text: The back of the model 1 console provides a radio frequency output port (designed for use with antenna and cable systems) and a specialized 8-pin DIN port, which both provide video and audio output. Both outputs produce monophonic sound; a headphone jack on the front of the console produces stereo sound. On the model 2, the DIN port, radio frequency output port, and headphone jack are replaced by a 9-pin mini-DIN port on the back for composite video, RGB and stereo sound, and the standard RF switch. Earlier model 1 consoles have a 9-pin extension port. An edge connector on the bottom right of the console can be connected to a peripheral.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The standard controller features a rounded shape, a directional pad, three main buttons, and a "start" button. In 1993, Sega released a slightly smaller pad with three additional face buttons, similar to the design of buttons on some popular arcade fighting games such as "Street Fighter II". Sega also released a wireless revision of the six-button controller, the Remote Arcade Pad.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The system is backward compatible with the Master System. The first peripheral released, the Power Base Converter (Master System Converter in Europe), allows Master System games to be played. It's designed for the Model 1. It will work with the Model 2, but the shell does block the power and AC ports, so the converter will either to have its shell modified or a pass thru adaptor needs to be used. The converter doesn't work with the Model 3 or the Nomad A second model, the Master System Converter 2, was released only in Europe for use with the Mega Drive II. It will still work with NTSC and PAL Model 1 and 2 consoles, though the Model 3 and Nomad still don't work with it.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Other peripherals were released to add functionality. The Menacer is a wireless, infrared light gun peripheral used with compatible games. Other third parties created light gun peripherals for the Genesis, such as the American Laser Games Pistol and the Konami Justifier. Released for art creation software, the Sega Mega Mouse features three buttons and is only compatible with a few games, such as "Eye of the Beholder". A foam-covered bat called the BatterUP and the TeeVGolf golf club were released for both the Genesis and SNES.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In November 1993, Sega released the Sega Activator, an octagonal device that lies flat on the floor and was designed to translate the player's physical movements into game inputs; it was first shown at the January 1993 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where it was demonstrated with "Streets of Rage 2". Several high-profile games, including "Mortal Kombat" and "", were adapted to support the peripheral. The device was a commercial failure, due mainly to its inaccuracy and its high price point. IGN editor Craig Harris ranked the Sega Activator the third worst video game controller ever made.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Both EA and Sega released multitaps to allow more than the standard two players to play at once. Initially, EA's version, the 4 Way Play, and Sega's adapter, the Team Player, only supported each publisher's games. In response to complaints about this, Sega publicly stated, "We have been working hard to resolve this problem since we learned of it", and that a new Team Player which would work with all multitap games for the console would be released shortly. Later games were created to work on both the 4 Way Play and Team Player. Codemasters also developed the J-Cart system, providing two extra ports on the cartridge itself, although the technology came late in the console's life and is only featured on a few games. Sega planned to release a steering wheel peripheral in 1994, and the Genesis version of "Virtua Racing" was advertised as being "steering wheel compatible", but the peripheral was cancelled.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In its first foray into online gaming, Sega created Sega Meganet, which debuted in Japan on November 3, 1990. Operating through a cartridge and a peripheral called the "Mega Modem", this allowed Mega Drive players to play a total of seventeen games online. A North American version, dubbed "Tele-Genesis", was announced at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (Winter CES) in January 1990 but never released, though a version was operated in Brazil starting in 1995. Another phone-based system, the Mega Anser, turned the Japanese Mega Drive into an online banking terminal.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In 1994, Sega started the Sega Channel, a game distribution system using cable television services Time Warner Cable and TCI. Using a special peripheral, Genesis players could download a game from a library of fifty each month and demos for upcoming releases. Games were downloaded to internal memory and deleted when the console was powered off. The Sega Channel reached 250,000 subscribers at its peak and ran until July 31, 1998, well past the release of the Sega Saturn.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In an effort to compete with Sega, third-party developer Catapult Entertainment created the XBAND, a peripheral which allowed Genesis players to engage in online competitive gaming. Using telephone services to share data, XBAND was initially offered in five U.S. cities in November 1994. The following year, the service was extended to the SNES, and Catapult teamed up with Blockbuster Video to market the service, but as interest in the service waned, it was discontinued in April 1997.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The Genesis library was initially modest, but eventually grew to contain games to appeal to all types of players. The initial pack-in game was "Altered Beast", which was later replaced with "Sonic the Hedgehog" in 1991. Top sellers included "Sonic the Hedgehog", its sequel "Sonic the Hedgehog 2", and "Disney's Aladdin". During development for the console, Sega Enterprises focused on developing action games, while Sega of America was tasked with developing sports games. A large part of the appeal of the Genesis library during the console's lifetime was the arcade-based experience of its games, as well as more difficult entries such as "Ecco the Dolphin", and sports games such as "Joe Montana Football". Compared to its competition, Sega advertised to an older audience by hosting more mature games, including the uncensored version of "Mortal Kombat".


title: Sega Genesis

text: Notably, the arcade hit "Street Fighter II" by Capcom initially skipped the Genesis, instead only being released on the SNES. However, as the Genesis continued to grow in popularity, Capcom eventually ported a version of "Street Fighter II" to the system known as "", that would go on to sell over a million copies. One of the biggest third-party companies to support the Genesis early on was Electronic Arts. Trip Hawkins, founder and then president of EA, believed the faster drawing speed of the Genesis made it more suitable for sport games than the SNES, and credits EA's success on the Genesis for helping catapult the EA Sports brand. Another third-party blockbuster for the system was the port of the original "Mortal Kombat". Although the arcade game was released on the SNES and Genesis simultaneously, the two ports were not identical. The SNES version looked closer to the arcade game, but the Genesis version allowed players to bypass censorship, helping make it more popular. In 1997, Sega of America claimed the Genesis had a software attach rate of 16 games sold per console, double that of the SNES.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The Super NES can have enhancement chips inside each cartridge to produce more advanced graphics; for example, the launch game "Pilotwings" (1990) contains a digital signal processor. Later, the Super FX chip was designed to offload complex rendering tasks from the main CPU. It was first used in "Star Fox" (1993) for real-time 3D polygons, and "" (1995) demonstrates rotation, scaling, and stretching of individual sprites and manipulates large areas of the screen.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Sega had produced such effects on its arcade platforms, and adapted some to the home console by developing the Sega Virtua Processor (SVP). Based on a digital signal processor core by Samsung Electronics, this chip enables the Genesis to render polygons in real time and provides an "Axis Transformation" unit that handles scaling and rotation. "Virtua Racing" (1992) is the only game released with this chip and the only Genesis cartridge with any enhancement chip, running at a significantly higher and more stable frame rate than filled polygon games on the SNES. The chip drastically increased the cost of the cartridge, and at , "Virtua Racing" is the most expensive Genesis cartridge ever produced. Two other games, "Virtua Fighter" and "Daytona USA", were planned for the SVP chip, but were instead moved into the Saturn's launch line-up. Sega planned to sell the SVP chip as a separate upgrade module for the Genesis, but it was canceled, in order to focus its efforts on more powerful 32X add-on.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In addition to accessories such as the Power Base Converter, the Genesis supports two add-ons that each support their own game libraries. The first is the Sega CD (known as the Mega-CD in all regions except for North America), a compact disc-based peripheral that can play its library of games in CD-ROM format. The second is the Sega 32X, a 32-bit peripheral which uses ROM cartridges and serves as a pass-through for Genesis games. Sega produced a custom power strip to fit the peripherals' large AC adapters. Both add-ons were officially discontinued in 1996.


title: Sega Genesis

text: By 1991, compact discs had gained in popularity as a data storage device for music and software. PCs and video game companies had started to make use of this technology. NEC had been the first to include CD technology in a game console with the release of the TurboGrafx-CD add-on, and Nintendo was making plans to develop its own CD peripheral as well. Seeing the opportunity to gain an advantage over its rivals, Sega partnered with JVC to develop a CD-ROM add-on for the Genesis. Sega launched the Mega-CD in Japan on December 1, 1991, initially retailing at JP¥49,800. The CD add-on was launched in North America on October 15, 1992, as the Sega CD, with a retail price of US$299; it was released in Europe as the Mega-CD in 1993. In addition to greatly expanding the potential size of its games, this add-on unit upgraded the graphics and sound capabilities by adding a second, more powerful processor, more system memory, and hardware-based scaling and rotation similar to that found in Sega's arcade games. It provided battery-backed storage RAM to allow games to save high scores, configuration data, and game progress.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Shortly after its launch in North America, Sega began shipping the Sega CD with the pack-in game "Sewer Shark", a full motion video (FMV) game developed by Digital Pictures, a company that became an important partner for Sega. Touting the benefits of the CD's comparatively vast storage space, Sega and its third-party developers produced a number of games for the add-on that include digital video in their gameplay or as bonus content, as well as re-releasing several cartridge-based games with high-fidelity audio tracks. In 1993, Sega released the Sega CD 2, a smaller and lighter version of the add-on designed for the Genesis II, at a reduced price compared to the original. A limited number of games were later developed that use both the Sega CD and the Sega 32X add-ons.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The Mega-CD sold only 100,000 units during its first year in Japan, falling well below expectations. Although many consumers blamed its high launch price, it also suffered from a tiny software library; only two games were available at launch. This was due in part to the long delay before Sega made its software development kit available to third-party developers. Sales were higher in North America and Europe, although the novelty of FMV and CD-enhanced games quickly wore off, as many later games were met with lukewarm or negative reviews. In 1995, Sega announced a shift in focus to its new console, the Saturn, and discontinued advertising for Genesis hardware. The Sega CD sold 2.24 million units worldwide.


title: Sega Genesis

text: With the release of the Saturn scheduled for 1995, Sega began developing a stopgap to bridge the gap between the Genesis and Saturn and serve as a less expensive entry into the 32-bit era. At the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1994, Sega of America research and development head Joe Miller took a phone call from Nakayama, in which Nakayama stressed the importance of a quick response to the Atari Jaguar. One idea came from a concept from Sega Enterprises, "Project Jupiter," a new standalone console. Project Jupiter was initially planned as a new version of the Genesis, with an upgraded color palette and a lower cost than the Saturn, and limited 3D capabilities thanks to integration of ideas from the development of the Sega Virtua Processor chip. Miller suggested an alternative strategy, citing concerns with releasing a new console with no previous design specifications within six to nine months. At the suggestion from Miller and his team, Sega designed the 32X as a peripheral for the existing Genesis, expanding its power with two 32-bit SuperH-2 processors. The SH-2 had been developed in 1993 as a joint venture between Sega and Japanese electronics company Hitachi. At the end of the Consumer Electronics show, with the basic design of the 32X in place, Sega Enterprises invited Sega of America to assist in development of the new add-on.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Although the new unit was a stronger console than originally proposed, it was not compatible with Saturn games. Before the 32X could be launched, the release date of the Saturn was announced for November 1994 in Japan, coinciding with the 32X's target launch date in North America. Sega of America now was faced with trying to market the 32X with the Saturn's Japan release occurring simultaneously. Their answer was to call the 32X a "transitional device" between the Genesis and the Saturn. This was justified by Sega's statement that both platforms would run at the same time and that the 32X would be aimed at players who could not afford the more expensive Saturn.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The 32X was released in November 1994, in time for the holiday season. Demand among retailers was high, and Sega could not keep up orders for the system. More than 1,000,000 orders had been placed for 32X units, but Sega had only managed to ship 600,000 units by January 1995. Launching at about the same price as a Genesis console, the price of the 32X was less than half of what the Saturn's price would be at launch. Though positioning the console as an inexpensive entry into 32-bit gaming, Sega had a difficult time convincing third-party developers to create games for the new system. After an early run on the peripheral, news soon spread to the public of the upcoming release of the Sega Saturn, which would not support the 32X's games. The Saturn was released on May 11, 1995, four months earlier than its originally intended release date of September 2, 1995. The Saturn, in turn, caused developers to further shy away from the console and created doubt about the library for the 32X, even with Sega's assurances that there would be a large number of games developed for the system. In early 1996, Sega conceded that it had promised too much out of the 32X and decided to stop producing the system in order to focus on the Saturn. Prices for the 32X dropped to and cleared out of stores at .


title: Sega Genesis

text: More than a dozen licensed variations of the Genesis/Mega Drive have been released. In addition to models made by Sega, alternate models were made by other companies, such as Majesco Entertainment, AtGames, JVC, Pioneer Corporation, Amstrad, and Aiwa. A number of bootleg clones were created during its lifespan.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In 1993, Sega introduced a smaller, lighter version of the console, known as the Mega Drive II in Japan, Europe, and Australia and sold as Genesis (without the Sega prefix) in North America. This version omits the headphone jack, replaces the A/V-Out connector with a smaller version that supports stereo sound, and provides a simpler, less expensive mainboard that requires less power.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Sega released a combined, semi-portable Genesis/Sega CD unit, the Genesis CDX (marketed as the Multi-Mega in Europe). This unit retailed at ; this was roughly more than the individual Genesis and Sega CD units put together, as the Sega CD had been reduced to half a year before. The CDX was bundled with "Sonic CD", "Sega Classics Arcade Collection", and the Sega CD version of "Ecco the Dolphin". The CDX features a small LCD screen that, when the unit is used to play audio CDs, displays the current track being played. With this feature and the system's lightweight build (weighing two pounds), Sega marketed it in part as a portable CD player.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Late in the 16-bit era, Sega released a handheld version of the Genesis, the Genesis Nomad. Its design was based on the Mega Jet, a Mega Drive portable unit featured on airplane flights in Japan. As the only successor to the Game Gear, the Nomad operates on 6 AA batteries, displaying its graphics on a 3.25-inch (8.25-mm) LCD screen. The Nomad supports the entire Genesis library (save for one game that requires the use of the reset button, which the Nomad lacks), but cannot be used with the Sega 32X, the Sega CD, or the Power Base Converter.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Exclusive to the Japanese market was the TeraDrive, a Mega Drive combined with an IBM PC compatible computer. Sega also produced three arcade system boards based on the Mega Drive: the System C-2, the MegaTech, and the MegaPlay, which support approximately 80 games combined.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Working with Sega Enterprises, JVC released the Wondermega on April 1, 1992, in Japan. The system was later redesigned by JVC and released as the X'Eye in North America in September 1994. Designed by JVC to be a Genesis and Sega CD combination with high quality audio, the Wondermega's high price ($500 at launch) kept it out of the hands of average consumers. The same was true of the Pioneer LaserActive, which requires an add-on known as the Mega-LD pack, developed by Sega, in order to play Genesis and Sega CD games. Although the LaserActive was lined up to compete with the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, the combined price of the system and the Mega-LD pack made it a prohibitively expensive option for Sega players. Aiwa released the CSD-GM1, a combination Genesis/Sega CD unit built into a boombox. Several companies added the Mega Drive to personal computers, mimicking the design of Sega's TeraDrive; these include the MSX models AX-330 and AX-990, distributed in Kuwait and Yemen, and the Amstrad Mega PC, distributed in Europe and Australia.


title: Sega Genesis

text: After the Genesis was discontinued, Majesco Entertainment released the Genesis 3 as a budget version in 1998. A similar thing happened in Portugal, where Ecofilmes, Sega's distributor in the country, obtained a license to sell the Mega Game II. This version was more akin to the second first-party model, being noteworthy the inclusion of six-button controllers and a switch to alternate between different game regions, enabling this version to play all games without the need for any device or modification to bypass region locking. In 2009, AtGames began producing two new variations: the Firecore, which can play original Genesis cartridges as well as preloaded games, and a handheld console preloaded with 20 Genesis games. Companies such as Radica Games have released various compilations of Genesis and Mega Drive games in "plug-and-play" packages resembling the system's controller.


title: Sega Genesis

text: A number of Genesis and Mega Drive emulators have been produced, including GenEM, KGen, Genecyst, VGen, Gens, and Kega Fusion. The GameTap subscription gaming service included a Genesis emulator and had several dozen licensed Genesis games in its catalog. The Console Classix subscription gaming service includes an emulator and has several hundred Genesis games in its catalog.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Compilations of Genesis games have been released for other consoles. These include "Sonic Mega Collection" and "Sonic Gems Collection" for PS2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube; "Sega Genesis Collection" for PS2 and PSP; and "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" (known as the "Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection" in PAL territories) for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.


title: Sega Genesis

text: During his keynote speech at the 2006 Game Developers Conference, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced that Sega would make a number of Genesis/Mega Drive games available to download on the Wii's Virtual Console. There are select Genesis games available on the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade, such as "Sonic the Hedgehog" and "Sonic 2", as well as games available via the PlayStation Network and Steam.


title: Sega Genesis

text: On May 22, 2006, North American company Super Fighter Team released "Beggar Prince", a game translated from a 1996 Chinese original. It was released worldwide and was the first commercial Genesis game release in North America since 1998. Super Fighter Team would later go on to release two more games for the system, "Legend of Wukong" and "Star Odyssey". In December 2010, WaterMelon, an American company, released "Pier Solar and the Great Architects", the first commercial role-playing video game specifically developed for the console since 1996, and was the biggest 16-bit game ever produced for the console at the time at 64 Mb (roughly 8 Megabytes). "Pier Solar" is the only cartridge-based game which can optionally use the Sega CD to play an enhanced soundtrack and sound effects disc. In 2013, independent programmer Future Driver, inspired by the Disney film "Wreck-It Ralph", developed "Fix-It Felix Jr." for the Genesis. In 2017, American company Mega Cat Games released Coffee Crisis, a Beat 'em up, for the Sega Genesis.


title: Sega Genesis

text: On December 5, 2007, Tectoy released a portable version of the Genesis/Mega Drive with twenty built-in games. Another version called "Mega Drive Guitar Idol" comes with two six-button joypads and a guitar controller with five fret buttons. The "Guitar Idol" game contains a mix of Brazilian and international songs. The console has 87 built-in games, including some from Electronic Arts based on the mobile phone versions. In 2016, Tectoy announced that they had developed a new Genesis console that not only looks almost identical to the original model of the Genesis, but also has a traditional cartridge slot and SD card reader, which was released in June 2017.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In 2009, Chinese company AtGames produced a Genesis/Mega Drive-compatible console, the Firecore. It features a top-loading cartridge slot and includes two controllers similar to the six-button controller for the original Genesis. The console has 15 games built-in and is region-free, allowing cartridge games to run regardless of their region. AtGames produced a handheld version of the console. Both machines have been released in Europe by distributing company Blaze Europe.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In 2018, Sega announced a dedicated console, the Genesis/Mega Drive Mini. The console includes 40 games, including "Gunstar Heroes" and "", with different games for different regions and a save-anywhere function. "Streets of Rage" composer Yuzo Koshiro provided the menu music. The console was released worldwide on September 19, 2019.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Crowdfunded Sega Genesis games have been released in recent years, with "Tanglewood", a puzzle platformer being released on August 14, 2018, and "Xeno Crisis" released on October 28, 2019. Both games were created by indie-game developers using actual Sega development hardware to ensure compatibility with the Genesis. On December 16, 2020, "Paprium", WaterMelon's follow up game to Pier Solar, was released after nearly a decade in development.


title: Sega Genesis

text: Reviewing the Genesis in 1995, "Game Players" noted that its rivalry with the Super NES was skewed by genre, with the Genesis having superior sports games and the Super NES superior RPGs. Commenting that the Genesis hardware was aging and the new software drying up, they recommended consumers buy a next-generation system or a Genesis Nomad instead, but also advised those who already owned a Genesis to not sell it. In a 1997 year-end review, a team of five "Electronic Gaming Monthly" editors gave the Genesis scores of 4.5, 5.0, 4.0, 4.5, and 7.5 - for all five editors, the lowest score they gave to any of the five consoles reviewed in the issue. While their chief criticisms were the lack of upcoming game releases and dated hardware, they also concurred that the Genesis was clearly inferior to the Super NES in terms of graphics capabilities, sound chip, and games library. John Ricciardi, in particular, considered the Genesis overrated, saying he had consistently found more enjoyment in both the Super NES and TurboGrafx-16, while Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer recommended it based on its selection of classic titles and the high value-for-money of the six pack-in games Sega was offering at the time.


title: Sega Genesis

text: The Genesis has often ranked among the best video game consoles. In 2009, IGN named it the fifth best video game console, citing its edge in sports games and better home version of "Mortal Kombat", and lauding "what some consider to be the greatest controller ever created: the six button". In 2007, GameTrailers named the Genesis as the sixth best console of all time in their list of top ten consoles that "left their mark on the history of gaming", noting its great games and solid controller, and writing of the "glory days" of "Sonic the Hedgehog". In January 2008, technology columnist Don Reisinger proclaimed that the Genesis "created the industry's best console war to date", citing "Sonic the Hedgehog", superior sports games, and backward compatibility with the Sega Master System. In 2008, GamingExcellence ranked it sixth of the 10 best consoles, declaring, "one can truly see the Genesis for the gaming milestone it was." At the same time, GameDaily rated it ninth of ten for its memorable games.


title: Sega Genesis

text: In 2014, USgamer's Jeremy Parish wrote, "If the Atari generation introduced video games as a short-lived '70s fad ... and the NES generation established it into an enduring obsession for the young, Sega's Genesis began pushing the medium toward something resembling its contemporary form", expounding that the system served as "the key incubator for modern sports franchises", made "consoles truly international" by providing Western third-parties previously put at a disadvantage by Nintendo's restrictive licensing policies with a more profitable alternative, created "an online subscription service" that foreshadowed "PlayStation Plus more than 15 years early" with the Sega Channel, and "played a key role in ensuring the vitality and future of the games industry by breaking Nintendo's near-monopolistic hold on the U.S. and awakening the U.K. to the merits of television gaming".


title: Sega Genesis

text: For his part, Kalinske highlighted Sega's role in developing games for an older demographic and pioneering "the concept of the 'street date with the simultaneous North American and European release of "Sonic the Hedgehog 2". John Sczepaniak of "Retro Gamer" noted, "It was a system where the allure was born not only of the hardware and games, but the magazines, playground arguments, climate, and politics of the time." Sega of America's marketing campaign for the Genesis was widely emulated, influencing marketing in the subsequent generation of consoles.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is a range of executive cars manufactured by German automaker Mercedes-Benz in various engine and body configurations. Produced since 1953, the E-Class falls midrange in the Mercedes line-up, and has been marketed worldwide across five generations.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: Before 1993, the E in Mercedes-Benz nomenclature was a suffix following a vehicle's model number which stood for Einspritzmotor (German for fuel injection engine). It began to appear in the early 1960s, when that feature began to be utilized broadly in the maker's product line, and not just in its upper tier luxury and sporting models. By the launch of the facelifted W124 in 1993 fuel-injection was ubiquitous in Mercedes engines, and the E was adopted as a prefix (i.e., E 220) and the model line referred to officially as the E-Class (or "E-Klasse"). All generations of the E-Class have offered either rear-wheel drive or Mercedes' 4Matic four-wheel drive system.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: Historically, the E-Class is Mercedes-Benz' best-selling model, with more than 13 million sold by 2015. The first E-Class series was originally available as four-door sedan, five-door station wagon, 2 door coupe and 2 door convertible. From 1997 to 2009, the equivalent coupe and convertible were sold under the Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class nameplate; which was actually based on the mechanical underpinnings of the smaller C-Class while borrowing the styling and some powertrains from the E-Class, a trend continued with the C207 E-Class coupe/convertible which was sold parallel to the W212 E-Class sedan/wagon. With the latest incarnation of the E-Class released for the 2017 model year, all body styles share the same W213 platform.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: Due to the E-Class's size and durability, it has filled many market segments, from personal cars to frequently serving as taxis in European countries, as well special-purpose vehicles (e.g., police or ambulance modifications) from the factory. In November 2020, the W213 E-Class was awarded the 2021 Motor Trend Car of the Year award, a first for Mercedes-Benz.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The first modern midsize Mercedes was the W120 'Ponton' 180 of 1953 and was produced until 1962. Sharing its engineering with the R121 190 SL of 1955, the Ponton was a stylish sedan with a four-cylinder engine. A larger-engined W121 190 appeared in 1958.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: Mercedes added tailfins to both the big S-Class and the new W110 'Fintail' 190 of 1962. In the 1965 230 model a Straight-6 engine appeared for the first time, and the four cylinder engine grew in displacement.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The midsize Mercedes was redesigned in 1968 as the W114/W115 'Stroke-8'. This time, the 6-cylinder models (The W114s) were most prevalent, with the W115 line making up the bottom of the company's offerings with four – and five-cylinder power. Diesel engines joined the line-up, as did a coupé body.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The popular W123 quickly became a best-seller on its launch in 1976. Especially in diesel powered 200D and 240D (also the five-cylinder 300D) guises, the cars enhanced the company's reputation for product quality. Over 2.6 million were produced until the end of production in 1986.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The W124 was presented in 1984 and introduced several new standards for a mid-size Mercedes. It was the third car to inherit the company's new design theme since the late 1970s, following the flagship W126 and compact W201.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: Similar to its predecessors, the W124 also offered a coupé and estate body styles. A new convertible (internally A124) was also available, making it the first mid-size Mercedes convertible.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The "E-Class" name first appeared with the facelifted W124 in 1993 for the model year 1994 (the W124 was introduced in 1984 but continued with the older naming convention until 1993, when all Mercedes-Benz models switched to a new system, e.g. E 320 instead of 300 E). The diesel versions continued to be the fuel economy option over the four and six-cylinder gasoline engines, and the gasoline V8 engines (available after 1992) increased gasoline power outputs further. Four-cylinder gasoline models were not marketed in the United States. The V8 powered sedans/saloons were named 400 E/500 E from 1992 to 1993, and E 420/E 500 after 1993. Likewise, the 3.0-litre cars (e.g. 300 E) were also re-badged to E 320 with the new 3.2-litre "M104" engines and naming rationalization of 1994. For the diesel models the name change was less elegant, with the 250 D becoming the E 250 Diesel for example.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The W210 E-Class, launched in 1995, brought the line firmly into the upper end of the mid-size luxury market.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The E-class made major changes compared to the earlier version of the E-class, including four large oval headlights, that gave Mercedes an updated image intended to attract more younger buyers and women. The new E-class was 1.6 inches longer and 2.3 inches wider and offered significantly more interior room but was still considered mid-size.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: In September 1999 the W210 E-class was facelifted. This included visual, mechanical and quality improvements over the earlier versions.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: While the W210 sedan was replaced by the W211 in 2002, the wagon version continued to be sold until March 2003 when the S211 wagon replaced the S210 wagon.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The W211-based C219 CLS-Class 4-door coupe was introduced as a niche model in 2005, primarily to attract a younger demographic.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The W211 E-Class was facelifted in June 2006 for the 2007 model year to address quality and technical issues raised by earlier models, Sensotronic was dropped, while Pre-Safe (w/o brake support) was made standard. The largest factory built engine in the E-class range is the E500, which had its engine size increased from 5 litres to 5.5 litres in 2006 (becoming the E550) along with the facelift. There are also AMG models badged E55 and E63, AMG as well as other tuning house installations.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The W212 replaced the W211 in 2009 (as a 2010 model). Official photos of the W212 were leaked on the internet on 9 December 2008 ahead of its 2009 Geneva Motor Show unveiling. Scans of a leaked brochure were posted onto the internet in January 2009, detailing the whole E-Class range including the new E 200 CGI and E 230 CGI with direct injected forced induction engines. New features included a blind spot monitor, Lane Keeping Assist, Pre-safe with Attention Assist and Night View Assist Plus. In the United States the E-Class was priced nearly US$4,600 less than the previous model. The W212 estate was also announced and available from November 2009.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: In 2013, the E-Class was comprehensively facelifted, featuring significant styling changes, fuel economy improvements and updated safety features. Daimler invested close to €1 billion into the development of the extensive refresh, making it likely the most expensive mid-life facelift in the history of the automobile. The biggest change was the singular front lights replacing the twin headlamp design (marking the end of Mercedes's dual headlamps use) with integrated LED DRLs. Although not an all-new model, the W212 facelift was the only mid-cycle refresh featured on a family portrait of several generations of the E-Class side by side by Mercedes-Benz for the unveiling of the W213 E-Class. While the factory has rated the E63S model at 577 hp/590 tq, there is significant real-world dynamometer testing that indicates the AMG-tuned S model exceeds 600 hp at the flywheel.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The coupé (C207) was first shown at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, while the convertible (A207) was unveiled at the 2010 North American International Auto Show. Both models replaced the previous C209/A209 CLK-Class models. The C207/A207 E-Class is based on the W204 C-Class platform, and are produced alongside each other in the Bremen plant.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The fifth generation E-Class was unveiled at the 2016 North American International Auto Show. The next generation E-Class has design cues from the larger W222 S-Class and the smaller W205 C-Class. While the W212 E-Class has tighter surface and harder edges, the new model is curvier and more flowing.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: Engine options for the W213 E-Class saw a major update, thanks to the switch to inline-6 cylinder engines from the previous V6 engines, along with a new generation of four-cylinder diesel engines, codenamed OM654, and existing four-cylinder petrol engines.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: The W213 E-Class is the second most technologically advanced Mercedes after the new S-Class. The E-Class received the latest in autonomous driving technology for use at highway speeds, capable of piloting itself up to speeds of for up to 2 minutes. The system uses a complex array of motion sensors, radars and cameras to scan the road ahead, and requires the driver's hands to be placed on the wheel at all times. This feature was also available on the 4th generation Mercedes-AMG E 63 model.


title: Mercedes-Benz E-Class

text: In the fall of 2022, camouflaged sixth generation E-Class models were spotted testing in sedan and wagon form. The unveiling of the new generation is expected to occur early in 2023 as a 2024 model.


title: Elagabalus

text: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, 204 – 11/12 March 222), better known by his nickname "Elagabalus" (, ), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short reign was conspicuous for sex scandals and religious controversy. A close relative to the Severan dynasty, he came from a prominent Arab family in Emesa (Homs), Syria, where since his early youth he served as head priest of the sun god Elagabal. After the death of his cousin, the emperor Caracalla, Elagabalus was raised to the principate at 14 years of age in an army revolt instigated by his grandmother Julia Maesa against Caracalla's short-lived successor, Macrinus. He only posthumously became known by the Latinised name of his god.


title: Elagabalus

text: Later historians suggest Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos. He replaced the traditional head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter, with the deity Elagabal, of whom he had been high priest. He forced leading members of Rome's government to participate in religious rites celebrating this deity, presiding over them in person. He married four women, including a Vestal Virgin, as well as lavished favours on male courtiers thought to have been his lovers. He was also reported to have prostituted himself. His behavior estranged the Praetorian Guard, the Senate and the common people alike. Amidst growing opposition, at just 18 years of age he was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander in March 222. The assassination plot against Elagabalus was devised by Julia Maesa and carried out by disaffected members of the Praetorian Guard.


title: Elagabalus

text: Elagabalus developed a reputation among his contemporaries for extreme eccentricity, decadence, zealotry and sexual promiscuity. This tradition has persisted; among writers of the early modern age he suffered one of the worst reputations among Roman emperors. Edward Gibbon, notably, wrote that Elagabalus "abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury". According to Barthold Georg Niebuhr, "the name Elagabalus is branded in history above all others" because of his "unspeakably disgusting life". An example of a modern historian's assessment is Adrian Goldsworthy's: "Elagabalus was not a tyrant, but he was an incompetent, probably the least able emperor Rome had ever had." Despite near-universal condemnation of his reign, some scholars write warmly about him, including the 6th-century Byzantine chronicler John Malalas, as well as Warwick Ball, a modern historian who described him as innovative and "a tragic enigma lost behind centuries of prejudice".


title: Elagabalus

text: Elagabalus was born in 203 or 204, to Sextus Varius Marcellus and Julia Soaemias Bassiana, who had probably married around the year 200 (and no later than 204). Elagabalus's full birth name was probably (Sextus) Varius Avitus Bassianus, the last name being apparently a cognomen of the Emesene dynasty. Marcellus was an equestrian, later elevated to a senatorial position. Julia Soaemias was a cousin of the emperor Caracalla, and there were rumors (which Soaemias later publicly supported) that Elagabalus was Caracalla's child. Marcellus's tombstone attests that Elagabalus had at least one brother, about whom nothing is known. Elagabalus's grandmother, Julia Maesa, was the widow of the consul Julius Avitus Alexianus, the sister of Julia Domna, and the sister-in-law of the emperor Septimius Severus. Other relatives included Elagabalus's aunt Julia Avita Mamaea and uncle Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus and their son Severus Alexander.


title: Elagabalus

text: Elagabalus's family held hereditary rights to the priesthood of the sun god Elagabal, of whom Elagabalus was the high priest at Emesa (modern Homs) in Roman Syria as part of the Arab Emesene dynasty. The deity's Latin name, "Elagabalus", is a Latinized version of the Arabic إِلٰهُ الْجَبَلِ "Ilāh al-Jabal", from "ilāh" ("god") and "jabal" ("mountain"), meaning "God of the Mountain", the Emesene manifestation of Ba'al. Initially venerated at Emesa, the deity's cult spread to other parts of the Roman Empire in the second century; a dedication has been found as far away as Woerden (in the Netherlands), near the Roman "limes". The god was later imported to Rome and assimilated with the sun god known as Sol Indiges in the era of the Roman Republic and as Sol Invictus during the late third century. In Greek, the sun god is Helios, hence Elagabal was later known as "Heliogabalus", a hybrid of "Helios" and "Elagabalus".


title: Elagabalus

text: Herodian writes that when the emperor Macrinus came to power, he suppressed the threat to his reign from the family of his assassinated predecessor, Caracalla, by exiling them—Julia Maesa, her two daughters, and her eldest grandson Elagabalus—to their estate at Emesa in Syria. Almost upon arrival in Syria, Maesa began a plot with her advisor and Elagabalus's tutor, Gannys, to overthrow Macrinus and elevate the fourteen-year-old Elagabalus to the imperial throne.


title: Elagabalus

text: Maesa spread a rumor, which Soaemias publicly supported, that Elagabalus was the illegitimate child of Caracalla and so deserved the loyalty of Roman soldiers and senators who had sworn allegiance to Caracalla. The soldiers of the Third Legion "Gallica" at Raphana, who had enjoyed greater privileges under Caracalla and resented Macrinus (and may have been impressed or bribed by Maesa's wealth), supported this claim. At sunrise on 16 May 218, Elagabalus was declared emperor by Publius Valerius Comazon, commander of the legion. To strengthen his legitimacy, Elagabalus adopted the same name Caracalla bore as emperor, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Cassius Dio states that some officers tried to keep the soldiers loyal to Macrinus, but they were unsuccessful.


title: Elagabalus

text: Praetorian prefect Ulpius Julianus responded by attacking the Third Legion, most likely on Macrinus's orders (though one account says he acted on his own before Macrinus knew of the rebellion). Herodian suggests Macrinus underestimated the threat, considering the rebellion inconsequential. During the fighting, Julianus's soldiers killed their officers and joined Elagabalus's forces.


title: Elagabalus

text: Macrinus asked the Roman Senate to denounce Elagabalus as "the False Antoninus", and they complied, declaring war on Elagabalus and his family. Macrinus made his son Diadumenian co-emperor, and attempted to secure the loyalty of the Second Legion with large cash payments. During a banquet to celebrate this at Apamea, however, a messenger presented Macrinus with the severed head of his defeated prefect Julianus. Macrinus therefore retreated to Antioch, after which the Second Legion shifted its loyalties to Elagabalus.


title: Elagabalus

text: Elagabalus's legionaries, commanded by Gannys, defeated Macrinus and Diadumenian and their Praetorian Guard at the Battle of Antioch on 8 June 218, prevailing when Macrinus's troops broke ranks after he fled the battlefield. Macrinus made for Italy, but was intercepted near Chalcedon and executed in Cappadocia, while Diadumenian was captured at Zeugma and executed.


title: Elagabalus

text: That month, Elagabalus wrote to the Senate, assuming the imperial titles without waiting for senatorial approval, which violated tradition but was a common practice among third-century emperors. Letters of reconciliation were dispatched to Rome extending amnesty to the Senate and recognizing its laws, while also condemning the administration of Macrinus and his son.


title: Elagabalus

text: The senators responded by acknowledging Elagabalus as emperor and accepting his claim to be the son of Caracalla. Elagabalus was made consul for the year 218 in the middle of June. Caracalla and Julia Domna were both deified by the Senate, both Julia Maesa and Julia Soaemias were elevated to the rank of Augustae, and the memory of Macrinus was expunged by the Senate. (Elagabalus's imperial artifacts assert that he succeeded Caracalla directly.) Comazon was appointed commander of the Praetorian Guard. Elagabalus was named "Pater Patriae" by the Senate before 13 July 218. On 14 July, Elagabalus was inducted into the colleges of all the Roman priesthoods, including the College of Pontiffs, of which he was named "pontifex maximus".


title: Elagabalus

text: Elagabalus stayed for a time at Antioch, apparently to quell various mutinies. Dio outlines several, which historian Fergus Millar places prior to the winter of 218–219. These included one by Gellius Maximus, who commanded the Fourth Legion and was executed, and one by Verus, who commanded the Third Legion "Gallica", which was disbanded once the revolt was put down.