The History of Sega
Life as a Genesis
The Genesis (known as the Mega Drive in PAL territories) was released in Japan along with the likes of Altered Beast, Golden Axe and Super Hang On. Almost a full year ahead of Nintendo's 16-bit console, the Genesis later that year was released in the US and Europe, and became a very stable and enjoyable console.
As was custom to the rivalry, Nintendo developed the answer. The Super Famicom (Super Nintendo) was released in 1991, and became another success story, thanks mainly to Super Mario World. Sega would lose some of their market share, but not for long. That same year, a new lead character would be created. One that would bring balance to the force, uh, I mean, the gaming industry. "No more Mario for me" cried many gaming fans, "I want Sonic".
Sonic the Hedgehog took on Mario head on, and in many ways succeeded. The gameplay was fast and furious, something that had been lacking in many past platform titles. And although Mario was an established character, Sonic soon became the in thing for many gamers. Debates on whether Sonic was better then Mario, and visa versa raged on for many years (and I'm sure they continue today). At this time, 3D technology was far from important to gamers compared to what it is today. Sure, certain games gave you the illusion of being in 3D worlds, thanks to the simple wire frame or bulky 3D graphics in certain space shooters. Sega were out to change that with Virtua Racing in 1992. Although far from the detail that is found in racers today, Virtua Racing helped to push 3D design into the mainstream.
It was here that Sega's track record with console systems began to dry up. Sega released the Mega CD, an attachment to the Genesis/Mega Drive system, allowing full-motion video, CD sound and sprite effects to be included in certain titles. Although the Mega CD wasn't a huge success, rival Nintendo co-developed with Sony a CD add-on for the SNES. Nintendo eventually pulled the plug after the Mega CD was pulled from shelves due to the lack of 3rd part support, and Sony took their designs and created what would soon become the Playstation. As well as the Mega CD, Sega released their first hand held system to tackle Nintendo's other success story, the Game Boy. Despite the fact that the Game Gear was a highly advanced machine compared to the Game Boy's capabilities, it too fell into the unknown.
With '92 behind them, Sega moved on into 1993 with higher hopes. At this time, Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat were going head-to-head in arcades and growing in popularity at a very fast rate. Sega dug deep and released Virtua Fighter, the first true 3D fighting game. Using a similar engine to that used in Virtua Racing, VF didn't take off straight away. With Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat to fight against, it was always going to be difficult. Little did Sega know that Virtua Fighter would give berth to a new genre, a genre that now holds the likes of Tekken, Dead or Alive and Soul Calibur in its cast of characters.
Sega continued to push on with the Genesis, releasing further titles for Sonic, as well as the first console 3D game, a conversion of Virtua Racing. Ecco the Dolphin also came into existence, pushing sales of the Genesis into stable areas.
'93 would not hold that much enjoyment for the company. Sony eventually announced its plans for the Playstation, and both Sega and Nintendo were in limbo on their next generation systems. And another console system, the CDX, joined the scrap heap for Sega.
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