Sega originally launched Pico in Japan in 1993. The HPC-0008 appeared in 1998 as a later, lower-cost Japanese revision. One of its main internal differences was the use of the Yamaha 315-6123 ASIC, which integrates much of the Mega Drive-derived architecture into a single chip, reducing the size and complexity of the circuit board. It retained compatibility with Storyware cartridges and the characteristic interaction system using pages, a drawing surface and stylus.