The year is 1988. We traveled through time and reached the video games producer’s headquarters in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The futuristic look of Tokyo, which could easily have skipped the 21st century and entered the 22nd directly, was also reflected in their appearance. For the sake of comparison – modern gaming companies are fighting for nuances, often invisible. The company’s success at the time would be equal to self-connection with the virtual world, as if we had a link to the brain and were as excited as Neo when he first virtually escaped with Morpheus.

Sega home consoles deserve a place in the gaming hall of fame, in the playroom and in the hearts of many. They dominated the gaming world in many niches – action, adventure, fighting, but there was a game or two where players can enjoy gambling too.

Sega Casino Games – Sega Master System Games

Developed by Compile and released in September 1989, this is a first-person casino simulation game in a single cartridge and comes with 3 playable categories. At the beginning, a player has a modest bankroll of $500 and must choose where to spend the money. Given the fact the year was also in the dawn of online casinos, budget and accounts were also introduced in home entertainment systems. Today, casinos use an array of methods to fund the wallet and withdraw your winnings. To inform better, read the Skrill casino Australia review and see how e-wallets work.

Here, you can build the bankroll by winning in virtual gambling rounds and if that happens, the system generates an account number and password to continue sessions. The general rule is that players gamble until they run out of money.

Card games are the first category and hold several popular titles. In poker, you play against one of the four opponents where Nancy is the easiest and Charly is a high roller.

Blackjack is the next choice and follows the standard set of rules, meaning that your objective is to reach the total cards value of 21, or get as close as possible. Beating a dealer is implied. Players can Hit or Stand and bet between $10 and $100 per hand. The same goes for baccarat where you are trying to beat the dealer by using only the last digit of the cards’ total.

In the Sega Slot Machine, players have a series of classic 3-reelers, each with 3 paying lines. You get to choose slots that accept bets of $1, $5, $25, $50, or $100 per token. Each line accepts a token, and you can increase the payout up to 9 tokens. The paytable starts from Cherries (1 token) going up to Lucky Sevens that pay 50 tokens.

Finally, there is a modest collection of pinball tables allowing players to pick between Gentle, Middle, or Steep ranging from the slowest to the fastest. There are drop-targets, rollovers, bumpers, and flippers of 2 levels. Still, this can be only played for fun.

Caesar’s Palace – Sega Genesis

Published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment and released in 1994, this is a casino video game that takes players to the heart of Las Vegas and one of the most iconic landmarks in Sin City.

The player starts by standing at an ATM from where it is possible to create a new account or to login with your existing credentials. Like in a landline casino, gamblers can move freely around the place and choose a game to play, but it is impossible to interact with other characters.

The lineup of playable games is still quite impressive. The floor is made of blackjack tables, Red Dog Poker, different slot machines, video poker, roulette tables, and horse racing. Another option is to get scratch cards at the ATM. Slots are fruity-themed and it’s understandable given the release date. Today, players can pick up many other slots including the best sci fi game currently offered on the market.

Poker Face Paul – Game Gear

Game Gear’s casino suite comes fully armed with card video games. As such, this collection of Sega Games offers the likes of Paul’s Pokers, Gin, Blackjack, and Paul’s Solitaire. For example, the latter has four solitaire versions including Monte Carlo, Klondike, Calculation, and Eleven. You can turn hints on or off and adjust or even disable time limits.

Video poker and their table game relatives also have a couple of versions where players compete against computer-generated opponents. Basically, all games rely on a standard 5-card stud and the main objective is to compile a stronger hand than the dealer’s.

Gin has three variations and difficulty levels. Jack is the easiest where a player gets the ropes, Jane is the medium-strong and suitable for recreational gamers, while Ming is recommended to seasoned players. The Gin game is customizable in many ways and has a strategic guide to help you win.

Pachinko Kunyan – Sega Mega Drive

This is an adventure-like video game with an interesting RPG-like approach and was released and sold exclusively in Japan. The story follows your character walking around a town with numerous buildings of different purposes, including pachinko parlours.

You can freely enter into a building and play any available game. It has a nice interface and a beautifully designed manga-styled heroine that wanders around pachinko halls to get a prize. The game ends whenever you want and there is no money to be scooped, unlike online casino games where winnings are withdrawable via different methods. Somehow it seems that online casino credit card (オンラインカジノ クレジットカード) is still the most popular and you can read a review where all steps are described in detail.

Tel Tel Mahjong

Another Japanese players’ exclusive, this is among a few video games casino niched that use the Mega Modem and enable two players to compete. The NetWork System is employed here to allow a maximum of three gamers to play with the host. Another option is to clash against computer-generated opponents and betting on your own. There is also a ranking system mode that can get you as close as possible to a proper casino experience.

Conclusion

Now Genesis and Mega Drive are gaining more and more importance today and after 32 years. Both are an important historical pillar and mark a turning point in gaming although in the first year of production, they were sold “only” in a half a million copies. However, like all good things, it took time for people to adapt for the better, and so far it has sold over 29.5 million copies. The legacy is growing from year to year and gaining more and more weight while certain collectors buy preserved consoles and games for the same at high prices.