The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation

History of video game consoles (fourth generation)

In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation began on October 30, 1987 with the Japanese release of Nippon Electric Company's PC Engine...

 video game console

Video game console

A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...

 developed and produced by Sega

Sega

, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL region

PAL region

The PAL region is a television publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe...

s in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that Sega was unable to secure legal rights to the Mega Drive name in North America. The Sega Genesis is Sega's third console and the successor to the Sega Master System

Sega Master System

The is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....

 with which it has backward compatibility

Backward compatibility

In the context of telecommunications and computing, a device or technology is said to be backward or downward compatible if it can work with input generated by an older device...

.

The controversy over games like Mortal Kombat in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 forced Sega to create the first content rating system for video games

Video game content rating system

A video game content rating system is a system used for the classification of video games into suitability-related groups. Most of these systems are associated with and/or sponsored by a government, and are sometimes part of the local motion picture rating system...

, the Videogame Rating Council

Videogame Rating Council

The Videogame Rating Council was introduced by Sega of America in 1993 to rate all video games that were released for sale in the United States on the Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Sega CD, and rarely, some computer games...

, rather than have the games heavily censored.