“Genesis does what Nitendon’t,” does anyone remember those commercials? Yeah, those were the days when Sega was a firm believer in humiliating those who went the Nintendo route. But even with what many would see as fighting words people still didn’t seem to take notice of the company. Many people don’t remember the Master System here in the states and whenever they think of Sega they think of the Genesis, otherwise known every else as the Mega Drive.
Now I have sweet memories of getting a Genesis and how much fun I had with it, but the one reason I remember I got the Genesis for was because of Sonic the Hedgehog. If you don’t know who this guy is then you have either been in a coma for the past 2 decades or you simply don’t care. Sonic was made as a direct rival to Mario when the SNES came out and was designed to make the Italian plumber look “uncool”. While Mario was pudgy and slow Sonic was sleek and fast (also with pointy spikes as hair which is awesome.) Not many people know this but Sega did have another mascot before Sonic and HIS name was Alex Kidd. I myself didn’t know much about this because I was born toward the end of the NES era and I didn’t have a Master System so up until recently I had no idea who this Alex Kidd fellow was, but now I see why they decided to use Sonic as their ace in the hole when the Genesis came out.
Sonic would later become the tent pole for Sega with 3 direct sequels to the original game in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, 3, and Sonic and Knuckles. Eventually Sega caught up to Nintendo and at one point even took the majority of the market, similar to what Sony had done recently with the Playstation. However, this success was short lived as Nintendo would soon release hits such as Donkey Kong and Super Metroid causing Sega’s market dominance to go way down. This would remain the story until years later when Sega came up with a new console called the Dreamcast. This system would mark the return of Sonic the Hedgehog in a new title known as Sonic Adventure. The game and console was an instant success capturing the love that the Genesis once had years ago. A sequel to Sonic Adventure eventually was made and also grabbed fan’s attention but all that would soon slip away.
When Sony decided to release their newest console, the PS2, Sega was found themselves in a bind, a problem in which not even Sonic could save. People were now turning to Sony rather than Sega when deciding not to go the Nintendo route this time. This all came down to the Dreamcast being released too early and this mistake would cost Sega their hardware future. Once they became a 3rd party company they now had to decide which system they would make their games for and a one time enemy was now looking rather friendly.
After years of business rivalry and countless arguments between fanboys whether which company was best Nintendo and Sega were now partners. Various Sonic games were released on the Gameboy Advance, as well as the Gamecube, but fans were hit with a big surprise when Nintendo and Sega teamed up to make the upcoming Mario and Sonic Olympics title soon to hit this holiday season. The surprise wasn’t so much the partnership but the odd choice to put them in an Olympic style game. The question in everyone’s head when they were shown the trailer was “How the heck can Mario keep up with Sonic in a foot race?” This seemed strange, but Hey! Mario and Sonic were in a game at last and fans didn’t want to complain.
This chain of events soon had many in an uproar hoping that Sonic would find his way onto the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Brawl game on the Wii. When the title was first shown at E3 in ’06 it had revealed Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series as a character, announcing that more than just Nintendo characters would be allowed to come into the fray this time around. The game is set to come out in only a few months and there still hasn’t been word if Sonic would make a grand appearance in his rival’s game….until….today.
During Nintendo’s Fall Conference they have made fans across the world embrace each other with happiness. The rivalry has ended with a respectful handshake. The two mascots who battled long ago in yester-year have settled their differences and have decided to beat the living crap out of each other in one of Nintendo’s most successful franchises. The commercials that were shown in the earlier 90′s, the Dreamcast’s failure, and even all those crappy Sonic games were forgotten because Sega finally has made a great decision. Sega and Nintendo friends forever.