Nov 23, 2023
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How is the A3X different from the Amstrad Mega PC or Sega Teradrive?
Easy. It's really more like an IBM PCJr.
The Mega PC and Teradrive were two pretty much separate systems in a single case (an IBM PC and a Megadrive), with a switch on the front to decide which of the two is on screen.
The PCJr was a single system that happened to have both a diskette drive and a cartridge slot.
The A3X also is a single system with both a diskette drive and a cartridge slot. It just also has a console-like tile graphics mode. And any program code running on the A3X, be it from cartridge or disk, can use it.
Amstrad's Sega Mega PC (1993)
off and on again
The Amstrad Mega PC, released in 1993, is a very unique European-only IBM PC compatible. With a 25MHz 80386 CPU and 1MB of RAM, this computer had a secondary mode to allow playing Mega Drive games on the special monitor that came with the computer! It even supported playing Japanese and American games as well, for region-free gaming!
Unlike the Teradrive, the Mega PC handled the Mega Drive hardware differently. Rather than be directly integrated with the mainboard, the 7.67MHz 68000 and 3.58MHz Z80 were relegated to an add-on card inside the computer, connected with a 16-bit ISA slot. The computer, outside of Mega Drive mode, couldn't utilize much of the hardware, but it could use the audio hardware as a SoundBlaster-type audio card.
The mainboard was designed by Western Design Center (the guys responsible for the 65816 used in the Apple IIGS and Super Nintendo), and Amstrad simply shoved a Mega Drive into it. There are a LOT of unpopulated ports and expansions that a do-it-yourselfer could go in and install extra functionality, such as a standard PC joystick port, and extra video RAM (it could be doubled to a max of 512KB). But, the system's underpoweredness (something shared with the Teradrive) and its high cost (£999.99) drove potential customers away. Amstrad tried to save the system by cutting the price down to £599.99, changing the CPU to a faster 80486, and upgrading the RAM up to 16MB, but by then it was too late. The system, along with the Teradrive, faded away into obscurity.