From deep deep caverns of forgotten dev hardware comes the SPROBE. Without a doubt the biggest sega genesis ever made, it even makes the obscenely large laseractive seem small by comparison! Check out this week's article from the home of the obscure.
( Yes.. That is an actual 32 plugged into it. The SPROBE is that big. ) Coming out of the days when dev hardware was large, manly, and could possibly kill you if it fell on you comes the SPROBE. Made in-house by electronic arts , the SPROBE is a full feature dev unit that allows a large amount data to be collected from a genesis machine. Bypass of the cartridge slot is possible with the built in 2MB (16mbit) emulation board, and also allows for real time analysis with the rear connector hooked to a PC. The large emulation and debug board is nearly the size of the box and requires quite a bit of power. This quite sophisticated tool explains the prowess that EA had with megadrive games. Few in number and held close, these units are what made EA shine in the 90's The unit powers up and plays games like a normal genesis, however when switched into the bypass mode a variety of software options let you do all sorts of fun things to the genny. The 386 machine I got with the unit is nearly twice the size of the SPROBE, and the 5 1/4 inch disks fondly bring back memories of simpler times. Sadly, there were no games onthe machine. I'll close it out with these nice pics of SPROBE. The unit is robust and heavy. It came with a 32 screwed to the top of the boards. Don't ask me how I got one. Shoo.
man.. that's some hardware! so this was some in-house thing made by EA? You couldn't please take some pics of it when in 'bypass mode'? would be interesting to see what they used for the NES
So, since this was made by EA and not SEGA, I have to ask.... Is this a clone built by EA...or an official Genesis hacked to bits?
Amazing pics! Maybe was using this monster EA did the reverse engineering of Genesis games in the earl days, so they could released unlicensed games?
Kinda ironic, how EA did release unlicensed games back in the Genesis heyday, while in the DC (when SEGA was in trouble) they just gave them the finger and went to develop in the PS2 How "honorable" huh EA?......
To be fair, it's not like SegaCD, 32x, and Saturn were runaway success stories. Yes EA made their name on the Genesis, but no one can deny that the PSX was a lot easier to program for than the Saturn. So when it came to PS2 vs. Dreamcast, EA did what any smart business would do.
I've just noticed... Rev E?!? Jesus! How big were the Rev A's? Were they prob the same size... or much bigger?
