No, the original versions of the Mega Drive had no built-in games. They will display nothing but a black screen if a) there is no cartridge inserted or b) the console can’t read the cartridge.

another Macon County sufferer?

look up youtube videos about the Retrotink 4k and the OSSC, there’s a whole world of technology designed to fix this exact problem

A secure, configurable file-sharing and URL shortening web app written in Rust.

Now I’m not saying I recommend it, but Q-Squared by Peter David discusses exactly this.

my brother in christ, you’re the tech industry