Sega Mega Drive/genesis: Ultimate Works

The official retrospective of the iconic, world-conquering '90s videogame console, now fully revised and updated.

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Ultimate Works is the ultimate retrospective of the console, featuring development and concept illustrations for Sega’s best-loved game franchises, original developer interviews and previously unseen hardware production plans. Much of the visual material – drawn from the Sega of Japan archives – has never been released before.

Alongside the illustrated history is ‘Arcade Perfect’, a written history of the console and its legacy by Guardian Games Editor Keith Stuart, which features the voices of Sega executives and industry luminaries – including the company’s founder David Rosen, its president Hayao Nakayama, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske and many more. The book opens with a foreword by legendary developer David Perry, on the console that catalysed his career.

Concluding the book are 28 specially conducted interviews with original Sega developers and team members, including Naoto Ohshima (Sonic The Hedgehog), Yu Suzuki (Space Harrier), Greg Johnson & Mark Voorsanger (ToeJam & Earl), Makoto Uchida (Golden Axe) and Yuji Naka (Sonic The Hedgehog).

New to this expanded edition are a raft of newly discovered box art paintings, including Alien Soldier, Kid Chameleon, The Super Shinobi II, Sonic The Hedgehog, Phantasy Star: The End of the Millennium and many more. Also new to the book are the original design documents for iconic brawler Streets of Rage 2/Bare Knuckle II and Treasure's unique platformer Dynamite Headdy, both translated from the original Japanese.

Keith Stuart is a veteran technology, arts and media writer with over 20 years experience covering videogames and game culture. He started out on industry bible Edge magazine as features editor, covering the dawn of the PlayStation era; he has since written for GamesMaster, PC Gamer, T3, PlayStation Magazine, Eurogamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Stuart is the author of the bestselling novel A Boy Made of Blocks and is games editor at the Guardian.