It’s always interesting to get a close look at the inner workings of Sega during its heyday. We’ve spoken to management before, but there’s always plenty more going on behind the scenes that the suits won’t reveal. A great source for this juicy info can be found among game testers, the worker ants of most software publishers. Known as “Game Analysts” at Sega, testers saw all kinds of interesting things happen during the Genesis era, and Sega-16 recently spoke to Tom Byrne, a third party tester during the early ’90s. A big fan of strategy titles, Mr. Byrne gave us some great details on the quality control process for third party titles, and he shares his experiences in our latest interview.

Ever want to be a video game tester? It seems much easier now, with all the special training and courses being offered nationwide, but back during the 16-bit era, getting into the business wasn’t so easy. Sega-16 recently sat down for some Q & A with Jennifer Brozek, a former Genesis game tester, and she gave us some great insight about what it was like to work on some of our favorite games!