Genesis Nomad was launched in North America in 1995. It was a handheld console with a 16-bit portable, LCD and capable of playing Genesis cartridges. Sega’s Hiroyuki Miyazaki showed off the prototype of the hardware for the first time in a YouTube clip.
Here is the final product version of Nomad. The design is compatible with the home console, which makes sense as it is a Genesis portable.
The nomad could also be hooked up to TVs for big-screen action, which was a novelty back then.
The prototype looked different. Note that the hardware is decorated with the code name “Venus”.
While Sega hoped to surpass Nintendo’s handheld dominance with the Nomad, the 16-bit portable ultimately failed and was discontinued in 1999.