The Sega Pico was an educational game console based on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive hardware with the addition of a hardwired digital pen and touch-sensitive surface. It resembled a laptop and could fold closed. The Pico was released in June 1993 in Japan, followed by a release in the US and Europe in 1994, and Brazil and South Korea in 1995. The console used book-like cartridges with multiple pages called "storyware". The digital pen was able to detect where on the pages was touched along with large touch area below it. Optical sensors placed behind the cartridge could detect when a page was turned. While the Pico used a Motorola 68000 CPU like the Genesis/Mega Drive and the same VDP (Video Display Processor), it lacked a Z80 CPU and the YM2612 FM audio chip, using only the VDP's built-in PSG and an additional PCM audio chip for sound.
While there were only 20 titles released in the US, it was wildly successful in Japan with over 200 games released. Some of these games included accessories that would connect to the cartridge or placed on top of the touch surface. Some of these included steering wheels, levers, and a hospital playset. A rare version of the Pico called the Copera was sold by Yamaha in Japan, which had numerous additional features such as a microphone input, stereo output, an OPL3 FM sound chip, and both MIDI in and out. The Copera also used special software to utilize these extra features.
In 2005, Sega Toys released a successor to the Pico in Japan called the Advanced Pico Beena, which was similar function to the original but had updated hardware which was not backward compatible.