The Sega Model 3 is an arcade platform produced by Sega. It is a successor to the Sega Model 2 platform, and was released in 1996.

The Model 3 was succeeded by the Sega NAOMI in 1998, followed by the Sega Hikaru in 1999 and Sega NAOMI 2 in 2000.

Hardware

The Model 3 hardware is very different to the Sega Model 1 and Model 2 boards which preceded it. The Model 3 utilized Real3D Pro-1000 graphics processing units, designed by Real3D in partnership with Mitsubishi. The Model 3 was designed to push as many textured polygons as possible in real-time, along with the most advanced graphical techniques available at the time, such as multisample anti-aliasing, motion blur, facial animation, specular highlighting/reflection/shading, and multiple light sources.

Upon release, the Model 3 board was more powerful than any other arcade platform on the market, as well as any home console or computer at the time; it took several years for home systems to catch-up to the Model 3.

History

The Model 3 board went through a series of delays which frustrated Sega. Following their success with the Model 2's texture-mapping chip, Real3D (a spin-off company from Lockheed Martin) were unable to finalise the specifications of the Model 3's GPU, the Real3D Pro-1000 graphics processors, until late 1995 or early 1996. By this time, Real3D had partnered with Mitsubishi, which provided the ALU and graphics memory for the Pro-1000.[13] Sega had planned to release the Model 3 board in late 1995 along with three games, one of which, Indy 500, was reportedly downgraded to Model 2 hardware thanks to the troubles. In late 1995, Yu Suzuki promised the Model 3 would deliver "the best 3D graphics". When the Model 3 specification was finalized, it used two Real3D Pro-1000 processors, including four Mitsubishi 3D-RAM ALU chips. The Model 3 eventually debuted, with Virtua Fighter 3 as its first game, at the AOU Show 1996 in February 1996, and was followed by Scud Race later that year. The board was officially supported until 1999, to make room for the Sega NAOMI and its successors, the Sega Hikaru and NAOMI 2.

The Model 3 went through a number of revisions (steps) in which improvements were made the system and board architecture was changed. These "steppings" mainly increased the clock speed of the CPU and the speed of the 3D engine, as well as minor changes to the board architecture.[2] Step 1.0 and Step 1.5 released in 1996, Step 2.0 in 1997, and Step 2.1 in 1998. Though there was much talk of Model 3 games being ported to the Sega Saturn, all home ports of Model 3 games were seen on the Sega Dreamcast, including the likes of Sega Rally 2, Virtua Fighter 3tb, Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram and Virtua Striker 2.

It was the most powerful game system in its time, an order of magnitude more powerful than PC graphics cards from 1998, which were still producing Model 2 quality graphics, two years years after the Model 3's release. By 2000, the Sega Model 2 & 3 had sold over 200,000 *arcade systems worldwide, making them some of the best-selling arcade game boards of all time. At around $15,000 each (for the Model 2, with the Model 3 costing higher), this amounts to at least over $3 billion revenue from cabinet sales, equivalent to over $5 billion as of 2017.

From the early 1970s, arcades had been at the forefront of graphical technology in video games. The Model 3 hardware as well as competitors from this era were also leading the industry from a graphical perspective at the time, compared to PCs which were still producing Model 2 quality graphics in 1998, but the gap began to slowly narrow after that, as PCs would begin to benefit from hardware accelerated graphics towards the end of the decade. Beginning with the co-development of the Sega Dreamcast console and Sega NAOMI arcade system, both released in 1998, consoles and later PCs would slowly become the basis for arcade systems, rather than the reverse as it had been up until this point. The last proprietary Sega arcade systems would be the Sega Hikaru and Sega NAOMI 2, after which PCs would overtake arcade systems as the forefront of graphical technology. Today, arcade games are built primarily around controls and the experience one gets from a game as opposed to graphical potential. Complex motion cabinets, and large, unique forms of control unsuitable for households is what drives the arcade industry in the present day.