Nix McRetro
A second first look at the Sega Channel adapter. Two first-look videos? They can’t both be first! Never mind, we’ve got two Japanese adapters to investigate, and there are a few differences worth having a closer look at.
Both units were sent over by someone from the internet, and I’m hoping we’ll eventually be able to dump their BIOS chips. The older adapter has a serial number ending in 2456, but there’s no part number listed on its label. The newer one has a noticeably different label and a much higher serial number. Interesting little differences between two otherwise similar-looking devices!
When powered on, the adapter brings up a Japanese screen that appears to be searching for information on a particular cable channel. Unfortunately, I don’t have a suitable cable television connection, so there’s not much chance of it finding anything!
After waiting for around five minutes, the adapter eventually gives up and displays another screen. Presumably it’s complaining about the lack of a signal, although my Japanese isn’t particularly helpful here.
There’s also a MENU button on the adapter itself, which made me wonder whether I could access some additional settings. I tried pressing it, holding it down and even starting the system while holding the button. Unfortunately, none of those combinations got me where I wanted to go.
I did manage to change the channel settings at one point, but couldn’t work out how to repeat it. Wonderful! So we’re still learning our way around the Japanese Sega Channel hardware. Next up, we’ll investigate the BIOS chips and see whether we can preserve their contents.