TradeMark Security System

TradeMark Security System
Developer: Sega Publisher: Sega Platform: Genesis This game has unused graphics. This game has revisional differences.

The TradeMark Security System (TMSS) was developed in order to prevent piracy, as it only allows games with the word "SEGA" in a certain part of the game's code to boot up. This did not prevent unlicensed games from being released on the Genesis/Mega Drive, however and the lockout prompted a major court case that ultimately decided use of Sega's trademark to bypass the lockout did not violate US trademark law. Additionally, several older licensed games will also fail to boot on models supporting TMSS, while certain games (mainly those developed with Psy-Q development kit) proved the word testing was not exactly a whole word search.

Unused Logo

This logo, including its palette entry, is loaded into the pattern table but is never shown at any point during the screen for some reason. It would have likely been used for the "SEGA" part of the disclaimer.

Revisional Differences

Original Model

The original Genesis model lacked the TMSS screen at boot-up. It was added in the next variation of the console.

Sega TeraDrive

The Japan-exclusive TeraDrive, which is a 286 PC and a Mega Drive in a single unit, has a unique version of the TMSS ROM as part of its Mega Drive hardware. This version displays a very distinct screen.

Genesis/Mega Drive	TeraDrive