Sega's Genesis, sold as the Mega Drive outside North America, was a 16-bit home console released in Japan in 1988 and in North America in 1989. Built around a Motorola 68000 processor and a Zilog Z80 for sound, it ran more than 800 cartridge games. It lost badly in Japan to Nintendo's Super Famicom but did well in North America, Brazil, Australia and Europe. Its arcade-port library, Sonic the Hedgehog and aggressive youth marketing helped it win the 'console war' of the early 1990s.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.