The Naomi system was released under the name Naomi Multi System (also called Naomi Multiboard), an acronym for "New Arcade Operation Machine Idea" literally "new arcade machine idea"; Naomi also translates as "beauty" in Japanese.
The system has an architecture very close to that of the Dreamcast console: a Hitachi SH-4 microprocessor at 200 MHz, a PowerVR Series 2 GPU (PVR2DC) graphics processor and a Yamaha AICA sound processor; but with more RAM and video memory (i.e. twice as much as the Dreamcast). Games are stored on a cartridge (Naomi) or a GD-ROM (NaomiGD)**.
Produced by SEGA, leader of the arcade at the time, to compete with NAMCO's System 23, its commercialization starts in 1998 with The House of the Dead 2 as first game until 2006. More than 160 games will be released on this hardware (the world record of the number of games on an arcade hardware).
Sega announces that its Naomi 2 remains compatible with the cartridges and GD-Rom Naomi 1.