The year is 1991; Sega and Nintendo fight a raging battle. Nintendo is seldom releasing high quality software, while Sega continues to barrage the hardware front. Nintendo’s market share has been steadily dwindling, saved by its franchised cast of characters, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Kirby, Link and Donkey Kong. Sega is readying itself for ‘the final blow’ to Nintendo – its own mascot character – Sonic the Hedgehog is about to ship.
An 8bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog debuts in October, 1991, and quickly gains immense popularity among teenage youth, and consequently, their younger brothers. The game’s design itself is nothing out of the ordinary, following virtually all of the traditional platform genre’s conventions. All of the game’s mechanics had been heavily inspired by existing games, only marketed as ‘edgy.’ Someone decided that a slick, speedster Hedgehog should be painted blue, and made a mascot – and they were right.
Although Sega failed in its attempt to usurp Nintendo, Sonic the Hedgehog, as both a game, and a franchise, were highly successful. The fast paced play, coupled with proven mechanics and a blue rodent were so successful that Sega continue to develop the franchise (not that they have much else to develop these days.)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment