Play Sega Channel (prototype) Online

Remember when getting new games meant begging your parents to drive you to the rental store? Sega Channel (prototype) was this wild, almost-too-good-to-be-true idea where Sega tried piping games straight to your Genesis every month. Like flipping through cable channels, but instead of bad daytime TV, you'd get Streets of Rage 3 a week early or weird little exclusives that never made it to cartridges.

The tech felt like actual wizardry back then—somehow downloading full games over cable lines in what felt like minutes (okay, maybe hours). I remember the menus had this cool blue grid aesthetic, and half the fun was discovering what hidden demos or oddball sports titles they'd included that month. Of course, the whole thing barely made it out of testing before disappearing, which honestly just makes it more fascinating now.

If you're into gaming's weird "almost futures," this prototype is like finding someone's time capsule stuffed with Sega's most optimistic (and slightly desperate) '90s dreams. You can practically smell the pizza rolls and hear the modem screeches.