The Mega Drive is a 16-bit video games console which loaded games supplied on cartridges. After the original launch of the Mega Drive, SEGA released the Mega Drive II, which had a square shape and was cheaper to produce. The Mega Drive II was completely compatible with the original Mega Drive, although there were a few minor differences. For instance, the Mega Drive II lacked the headphone jack present on the original console.

The Mega Drive was backwards compatible with games designed for SEGA's previous console, the Master System. Since the Mega Drive had a different shape of cartridge to the Master System, a converter was required to sit between the Mega Drive cartridge slot and the Master System game. Two controller ports were available on the front of the console. This allowed two players to play a game simultaneously.

The number of players could be increased using additional hardware, such as a multitap or J-Cart. The Mega Drive's CPU was a Motorola 68000, which ran at just over 7.6 MHz. The console also sported a Z80 processor which was used for both Master System compatibility and for audio in many Mega Drive games. The Mega Drive had dedicated graphics hardware. Its VDP (Video Display Processor) was backwards compatible with the Master System's graphics hardware.

For audio, it had two sound chips. A Yamaha YM2612 and a Texas Instruments SN76489 compatible device, which was required for Master System compatibility.