The wide variety of Genesis games brought with it a demand for various kinds of controllers and other peripherals. These are the accessories I've acquired.

Essential for playing games, the Genesis Control Pad comes with every version of the Sega Genesis. The first editions of the controllers featured snazzy red printing, but later editions lacked this awesomeness. Differing vastly from all other game controllers at the time of its launch, the Genesis controller features a curved surface with curved grips, with an inset area on the underside to improve gripping. The main buttons are angled in such a way as to follow the traversal sweep of the right thumb. Extreme durability comes with their shape, and if you saw the recent Batman movies, you may be tempted to treat them like batarangs. Don't do that.

With the rise of fighting games, three buttons just weren't cutting it anymore. In response, Sega released the 6 Button Arcade Pad, which not only made playing fighting games in a proper manner possible, but also opened up a wide range of control options for other kinds of games. The 6 button controller is the new standard for the Genesis, unless you're playing Sonic 2 or 3, and your little brother or sister wants to play, but the Atari controllers have been put away. They can use one of the three button pads!

With many RPGs and other kinds of games coming to the Genesis, a digital pad wasn't going to cut the muster. Since analog controllers were clunky and unreliable, as seen with the Atari 5200, the mouse was the only logical option.

Sega's own 6 button pad was great, but for those who wanted the familiarity of the SNES controller's layout, plus some frills, there's the asciiPad SG-6. Featuring a diamond button layout for A,B, X, with C and Z being on the shoulders, SNES fans should have few complaints after getting their heads stomped in in Street Fighter, Fatal Fury, or Mortal Kombat.

With a decent assortment of shooters available on the Genesis, there was of course going to be a market for turbo controllers. Featuring not only turbo fire on separate buttons for each of the three main buttons, but there's also a toggle switch on the back for (rapid-pause) slow-motion. Your results may vary with this function, as always, but if nothing else, the turbo fire will save wear and tear on your thumb and/or fingers.

The four player gaming arena for the Genesis was complete chaos for years, with some developers going so far as to put extra controller ports on the game cartridge itself! Sega's initial four player adapter worked fine, but didn't support the may EA sports titles that used EA's own multipler adapter. This revised edition of the Team Player also supports EA games, as well as all of the other kinds of multiplayer games. Additionally, this adapter allows you to connect multiple controllers for the first player, and switch between them on the fly. Now that's handy!

In order to get one over on Nintendo and their needlessly litigious behavior, Sega cooperated with Codemasters and Galoob, officially endorsing the product with their own Seal of Approval. The Genesis version of the Game Genie allows players to enter up to five codes to modify the gameplay of a game until the power has been interrupted. Codes can be used to change things like time limits, maximum jump height, player health, or just plain grant invulnerability and unlimited power. Of course, one should always play their games to completion without the use of cheat devices, as burning through a game as a walking god can suck all of the fun out of it in a hurry. It's best to use the Game Genie to add fun to a game that's already been finished, and is getting dull.

Not willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater, Sega released the Power Base Converter to allow owners of the new Sega Genesis to continue to play their classic Sega Master System games without having to daisy-chain RF switches together in some sort of unholy conga line behind the TV set. It supports both cartridge and Sega Card games, and any accessories that use these ports. You may wish to use a proper Master System controller, as the Genesis controller can exhibit issues with some games, but these are largely uncommon or even rare titles.

A CDROM upgrade for the Genesis, bringing the power of more than half of a gigabyte of memory for games. The Sega CD also brings full motion video to games, which could be the ultimate evolution of cinema scenes in games, or could instead be the gateway to the hell of low production values and terrible acting. Since you can't save your game progress on a read-only disc, and the internal memory is minimal at best, you will need a memory cartridge before too long. More than just a CD drive for the Genesis, the Sega CD packs some extra hardware of its own, bringing some rarely utilized sprite manipulation capabilities and extra sound channels.

A 32-bit upgrade for not only your Sega Genesis, but also your Sega CD. The 32X brings more sound channels, more colors, and even 3D hardware to the table. It remains backwards compatible with your existing Genesis games, so you won't need to remove it to play them. This upgrade brings a whole new library to your living room. Or at least it would, if the Sega Saturn hadn't been released in Japan literally the day after the 32X launched. Sega should really get some armored boots, because this affinity for shooting itself in the foot can only cause harm.