The main benefit of CD technology at the time was greater storage CDs offered approximately 160 times more space than Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges. The Sega CD was redesigned several times by Sega and licensed third parties. Sega of America assembled parts from dummy units to obtain a functioning unit. Fearful of leaks, Sega refused to consult with Sega of America until the project was complete. They partnered with JVC to design the Sega CD. Sega sought to match the capabilities of the competing PC Engine CD-ROM² System, and added an additional CPU and custom graphics chip. It can also play audio CDs and CD+G discs. The Sega CD plays CD games and adds hardware functionality such as a faster CPU and graphic enhancements such as sprite scaling and rotation. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan, October 15, 1992, in North America, and April 2, 1993, in Europe. The Sega CD, known as Mega-CD in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles.
6 Mbit RAM (programs, pictures, and sounds), 128 Kbit RAM (CD-ROM cache), 64 kbit RAM (backup memory)
