 Near the time of its release , the Sega CD was awarded Best New Peripheral of 1992 by Electronic Gaming Monthly . Four separate reviews scored the add @-@ on 8 , 9 , 8 , and 8 out of 10 ; reviewers cited its upgrades to the Genesis as well as its high @-@ quality and expanding library of games . Later reception in 1995 by Electronic Gaming Monthly showed a more mixed response to the peripheral , with four reviewers scoring it 5 out of 10 , citing its game library issues and substandard video quality . GamePro also criticized the weak games library and substandard video quality , noting that many of the games were simple ports of cartridge games with minimal enhancements and commenting that " The Sega CD could have been an upgrade , but it 's essentially a big memory device with CD sound . " They gave it a " thumbs sideways " and recommended that Genesis fans buy an SNES before even considering a Sega CD . Likewise , in a special Game Machine Cross Review in May 1995 , Famicom Tsūshin scored the Japanese Mega @-@ CD 2 a 17 out of 40 . 
