[ GEN 4 · Sega ]
Sega Pico (Kids Computer Pico)
Specifications
- Manufacturer
- Sega
- CPU
- Motorola 68000 @ 7.6 MHz (Mega Drive derivative)
- Display
- TV NTSC/PAL output
- RAM
- 64 KB Work + 64 KB VRAM
- Audio
- YM2612 FM + PSG (Mega Drive compatible)
- Media
- Storyware — book-shaped cartridges where flipping a page changes the game scene
- Controller
- Light pen + 6-button simplified gamepad
Release dates
- Japan
- 1993-06-26
- North America
- 1994-11-01
- Europe
- 1994-01-01
Lifetime sales
- Official figures
- Approximately 3.4 million units (1993-2005, global cumulative including Japan / North America / Europe / China)
Sega 1996-2005 annual reports
Hardware variants
Sega Pico (standard)
1993-06-26Children's educational console
Red/yellow/blue Japanese chassis colors (drawn from elementary school textbook palette). Light pen + Storyware. Mostly seen in Taiwan through specialty toy importers in the late 1990s.
Sega Beena (2005-2011 successor)
2005-08Pico successor
Sega upgraded Pico into a color dual-screen unit, still targeting Japanese children. Beena was discontinued in 2011, meaning the entire Pico/Beena line lived for six years after Sega formally ended its hardware business.
Curator Notes
What this machine stands for
Sega Pico is the most overlooked success story of the 1990s console wars. It did not fight PS1 or N64 — it specialized in 3-to-7-year-old educational gaming. Storyware cartridges shaped like physical picture books, paired with a light pen, gave kids an interface as intuitive as flipping a paper book. From 1993 to 2005 it shipped 3.4 million units and over 330 titles — surviving longer than Saturn and Dreamcast combined.
Turning point
Pico launched in 1993 directly targeting children's education, sidestepping the mainstream console war. North America and Europe followed in 1994 with weak response — Storyware depended too much on Japanese picture-book culture to translate. Pico was discontinued in 2005, but Sega immediately launched Beena (2005-2011) as a direct successor.
Regional memory
Almost invisible in the Chinese-speaking world — never released in mainland China, with only a few Taiwanese and Hong Kong specialty distributors handling it. For Japanese households it was the 'second console in the living room' (children on Pico, parents watching Saturn). For global retro collectors, it represents Sega quietly running a successful children's hardware line in parallel with their failing mainstream consoles.
Curated picks
- Doraemon no Pico
Pico's 1993 launch flagship. Doraemon's 'fourth-dimensional pocket' was implemented through Storyware page-flipping — turn a page, and the screen switches to a mini-game centered on a different gadget. The most complete demonstration of Storyware as a design concept.
- Studio Ghibli titles
Sega partnered with Studio Ghibli in the 1990s to bring Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service to Pico. Light-pen interaction combined with Ghibli's art style made this combination the platform's signature offering for Japanese parents.
- Anpanman to Asobou
Anpanman's status in Japanese children's media is unshakeable. This series is one of the longest-running on Pico, with 20+ titles released between 1994 and 2005.
On 26 June 1993, Sega launched Pico (Kids Computer Pico) — not a member of the mainstream console war, but a dedicated ‘electronic picture book’ for children aged 3 to 7. The platform had two signature design features: Storyware book-shaped cartridges (the cartridge looked like a thick cardboard picture book; flipping a page changed the game scene); and a light pen for direct pointing on the picture book that the TV display responded to in real time — far more intuitive than any SNES or Mega Drive gamepad.
The hardware was a Mega Drive derivative for kids: a 68000 CPU, YM2612 + PSG audio, 64 KB of RAM. But these specs were never aimed at gamers. Sega’s target was Japanese mothers. The Pico library accumulated first-tier children’s IP — Anpanman, Doraemon, Studio Ghibli (Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service), Disney — for a total of 330+ titles, almost all Japan-exclusive.
It is the most overlooked success story of the 1990s console wars. Saturn shipped 9.2 million units; Dreamcast shipped 9.13 million; Pico shipped 3.4 million. More importantly: when both Saturn and Dreamcast were discontinued around 2001 and Sega exited mainstream hardware, Pico kept shipping, and stayed alive until 2005.
North American and European launches followed in November 1994, but reception was muted. The Storyware concept depended on Japanese picture-book culture and lost most of its appeal in translation. Western Pico libraries reached only 1/5 of the Japanese catalog.
In 2005 Pico was discontinued, but Sega immediately launched Beena (2005-2011) as a direct successor — a color dual-screen revision still targeting Japanese children. The Pico/Beena line lived from 1993 to 2011, longer than Saturn and Dreamcast combined — the only Sega hardware product line that quietly walked the last mile after Sega’s official exit from console hardware.
Notable titles
- Doraemon no Pico (1993)
- Anpanman to Asobou
- Magical Tarurūto-kun
- Mickey Mouse no Pico
- Studio Ghibli titles (Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service)
Related exhibits
- Mega Drive
Hardware ancestor. Pico uses the Mega Drive's 68000 + YM2612 + VDP family, with a light pen and book-shaped cartridge interface added on top. It is the evidence of Mega Drive surviving in hidden form for ten years after Sega exited the mainstream console market.
- Sega Saturn
Sega's contemporary mainstream battlefield. Saturn launched in 1994 and ended in 2000 (9.2M global). Pico launched in 1993 and ended in 2005 (3.4M). One lost the console war; the other won the children's market.
- Dreamcast
Sega's final mainstream console, discontinued in 2001 with Sega exiting hardware. But Pico did not exit — it kept shipping for four more years after Sega became a software-only company. The last truly living thread of Sega hardware.