(Chapter markers and more below…)
0:00 GTV ID: An Early Spring Where Available
0:04 Intro: More in ’94!
1:00 Act 1: Three’s a Crowd
10:16 CM 1: Sonic 3 Is Coming (U.S., 1994)
10:33 Act 2: Hedgehog Day
20:13 CM 2: Sonic 3 From Mega Drive (Japan 1994)
20:30 Act 3: Casting a Long Shadow
25:22 Coming This October! Sonic & Knuckles VS. Donkey Kong Country!!
Episode Information
GTV 161 /”The Story of Sonic 3/” Season 9 Episode 1
Original Airdate: January 29, 2024
Produced January 10-27, 2024
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and Topaz AI. All paid for with Gainful Employment
Videoclips furnished by Vampire Robot, Digital Neo Human, Videogame Epherema and RGTV.
Gameplay assistance by Blugenesi
Other great SEGA videos by GTV!
For The Record: Altered Beast https://youtu.be/cIIw-ypy8Tc
Phantasy Star 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/FZcij7XPdzI
Sega SG-1000 Story https://youtu.be/qBDx83UZ1nw
Sega Mega Drive Perfect Guides https://youtu.be/w37sJi4PU_Q
Meet Mr. Sega! https://youtu.be/bkOsNYAx90I
Phantasy Star II 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/4F3LnKYEv-8
Mega Drive Mini Unboxing https://youtu.be/SJ9ec844sh0
Segata Sanshiro https://youtu.be/NBPNcI9OMbk
Phantasy Star III 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/wrQbXEXlabo
The More You Know: Game Gear https://youtu.be/K3bvA41DY4I
Sega Solar System https://youtu.be/nwRy3i1VgMk
The American MegaDrive (aka The Origin of Genesis) https://youtu.be/wta-wGtyuq4
Sonic the Hedgehog 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/I2MYvgNf9lU
Sonic the 8-Bit https://youtu.be/ct1YjTtd8bE
The Zillion Story https://youtu.be/GV65rKJmlag
A Sonic Adventure https://youtu.be/51cwcqcKiFA
Sonic 2’s Day https://youtu.be/GX6cqZJMEfo
Phantasy Star 35 https://youtu.be/IPSZ6LvQe8g
Magical Hat is not Zillion 3 https://youtu.be/1ruKUk3GGyE
Sonic Mania Day https://youtu.be/DV3K3Coz1RA
Phantasy Star IV The End of the Millennium: https://youtu.be/5JucGW9iFU8
Partial transcript
In January 1994, when the dust had settled from the ’93 Christmas season, Sega found itself on top again, ahead of their main rival Nintendo. Most figures from that era will estimate a 60/40 split. In hard numbers The Sega Genesis reached lifetime sales of 13.5 million units, while The Super Nintendo Entertainment System reached 11.3 Million. In one year Sega, almost sold 6,000,000 units, about 1 and a half million more than Nintendo. Sega had moved from profits of a few million dollars only a few years before, to 3.6 Billion at the end of 1993. “The Rise of Sega,” led by CEO Tom Kalinske was documented throughout the media.
Nintendo was no slouch during this period, with quality software and aggressive pricing, but fell short for the last three years, the entire lifetime of the Super NES.
The battles of Sega and Nintendo, which later came to be known as the “Console Wars” were a boom for everyone. Hundreds of great 16-bit games, on hardware that cost 99. There was much to be excited about, wether you owned a Genesis or SNES – and by 1994, more than few had both.
The origin of Sega’s 90s success came from Sonic the Hedgehog. The character was placed front and center as the face of the company, offering a more exciting alternative to Mario. The games were fast-paced, exciting and colorful, showing off the best graphics the Genesis could pull off. Sonic also made it to the portable Game Gear and in some areas the 8-Bit Master System.
Sonic reached maximum exposure on November 24th 1992, with a historic first for video games: A simultaneous worldwide launch for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – Sonic 2sDay.
Sega followed up the next year with Sonic Mania Day, on November 23rd, 1993. Rather than “Sonic 3” the public was given “three Sonics” with Sonic CD on the Sega CD, Sonic Spinball on the Genesis and Sonic Chaos on the Game Gear. Despite the quality offerings of Sonic Mania Day, the demand for Sonic 3 was intense and only grew over time.
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