[mntmoss]

The way in which Sega ultimately approached its console hardware business was actually similar from start to finish; you just have to look at the pre-Mega Drive consoles to see that the Mega Drive itself was the shining exception within a strategy that was very "spray and pray".

First there was the SG-1000 and the SC-3000 computer in 1983. Then there was a mostly cosmetic update, the SG-1000 II. Then there was the Sega Mark III and Master System; the Mark III had a variant release with an FM sound chip. All of these releases happened within a span of four years, 1983-1987. Throughout these releases there was a heavy focus on arcade ports, and Sega struggled with marketing the console as its own kind of experience.

When the Mega Drive came out in 1988 it was a big enough leap to be a stable target for a few years, and then Sega reverted to their previous ways. To the extent that Sega "got" their console business, it was a case of a few teams in various departments and subsidiaries that bucked the trends.