Sega
| Company type | Subsidiary of Sega Sammy |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games, Former video game console manufacturer |
| Founded | Standard Games (1940); Service Games (1951) |
| Headquarters |  Ōta, Tokyo, JapanInternational:  San Francisco, California,US Chiswick, London, UK |
Key people | Hajime Satomi, CEO Sega Corp, Naoya Tsurumi, CEO SOA and SE; Simon Jeffery, COO and President SOA; Mike Hayes, COO and President SE; Yu Suzuki, Yuji Naka notable game designers |
| Revenue | 93.129 billion Yen (2004) |
Number of employees | 10,760 |
| Website | Sega Corporation (Japan) Sega of America Sega Europe Sega Mobile |
Sega Corporation (株式会社セガ, Kabushiki-gaisha Sega) is a Japanese multinational video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. The company has had success in both arcades and the home console market, but in early 2001, they left the consumer console business and began concentrating on software development for multiple platforms. Sega was Nintendo’s greatest rival in the 8 bit and 16 bit console wars.
Sega's main offices, as well as the main offices of its domestic division, Sega Corporation (Japan), are located in Ota, Tokyo, Japan. Sega's European division, Sega Europe Ltd., is headquartered in the Chiswick area of London. Sega's North American division, Sega of America Inc., is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The North American division moved from Redwood City, California in 1999. Until 2000, Sega's official corporate name was Sega Enterprises Ltd..
History
1940–1988
Sega was originally founded in 1940 as Standard Games (later Service Games) in Honolulu, Hawaii [1], by Martin Bromely, Irving Bromberg, and James Humpert to provide coin-operated amusements for American servicemen on military bases. Bromely suggested that the company move to Tokyo, Japan in 1951 and in May 1952 "SErvice GAmes of Japan" was registered.
In 1954, another American businessman David Rosen fell in love with Tokyo and established his own company, Rosen Enterprises, Inc., in Japan to export art. When the company imported coin-operated instant photo booths, it stumbled on a surprise hit: The booths were very popular in Japan. Business was booming, and Rosen Enterprises expanded by importing coin-operated electro-mechanical games.
Rosen Enterprises and Service Games merged in 1965 to make Sega Enterprises. Within a year, the new company released a submarine-simulator game called "Periscope" that became a smash-hit worldwide.
In 1969, Gulf+Western purchased Sega, and Rosen was allowed to remain CEO of the Sega division. Under Rosen's leadership, Sega continued to grow and prosper.
In the videogame arcades, Sega was known for producing Frogger and creating Zaxxon.
Sega's revenues would hit $214 million by 1982 and in 1983, Sega would release their first video game console, the SG-1000, the first 3D arcade video game, Subroc-3D, which used a special periscope viewer to deliver individual images to each eye, and the first action-based laserdisc arcade game, Astron Belt.
In the same year, Sega was hit hard by the American video game crash. Hemorrhaging money, Gulf+Western sold the U.S. assets of Sega to famous pinball manufacturer Bally Manufacturing Corporation. The Japanese assets of Sega were purchased for $38 million by a group of investors led by Rosen and Hayao Nakayama, a Japanese businessman who owned a distribution company that had been acquired by Rosen in 1979. Nakayama became the new CEO of Sega, and Rosen became head of its subsidiary in the United States.
In 1984, the multi-billion dollar Japanese conglomerate CSK bought Sega, renamed it to Sega Enterprises Ltd., headquartered it in Japan, and two years later, shares of its stock were being traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. David Rosen's friend, Isao Okawa, the chairman of CSK, became chairman of Sega.
In 1986, Sega of America was established to take advantage of the expanding video game market in the United States.
Sega would also release the Sega Master System and the first Alex Kidd game, who would be their mascot until 1991 when Sonic the Hedgehog took over.
1989–2001
With the introduction of the Sega Mega Drive (known as Sega Genesis in North America), and to carry the momentum to the 2nd generation of games, Sega of America launched a direct anti-Nintendo campaign with slogans such as "You can't do this on Nintendo" and "Genesis does what Nintendon't"; however, when Nintendo launched its Super Nintendo Entertainment System, these slogans no longer remained true, so in 1992, Sega changed its slogan to "Welcome to the next level".
Sega also rebranded themselves with a new mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, and implied that Sonic, given his attitude-focus and fluid gameplay, was cooler than Mario, Nintendo's mascot. This shift led to a wider success for the Mega Drive and would eventually propel Sega to 65% of the market in North America.
However, Sega’s share of the market would plummet in 1994 to 35% after Nintendo released key franchise titles for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System such as Donkey Kong Country and Super Metroid, as well as bad public reaction in Sega's eventual business decisions when releasing poorly sold add-on features to the console such as the Sega 32X and the Sega CD.
An add-on feature, Sega Channel, was released in 1994. Sega Channel was a subscription gaming service delivered by local cable companies affiliated with Time-Warner Cable or TCI; subscribers received a special cartridge adaptor that connected to the cable connection. At its peak, the Sega Channel had approximately 250,000 subscribers.
In 1995 Sega released the Sega Saturn with Virtua Fighter which utilized a 32 bit processor and preceded both the PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. However, poor sales led to the console being abandoned within 3 years.
Those products failed to captivate the North American audience and thus led to a long decline in the console market for Sega.
In 1997 Sega entered into a short-lived merger with Bandai. However it was later called off, citing "cultural differences" between the two companies.
With one last effort for Sega to redeem themselves from overwhelming debt, the Sega Dreamcast was launched in Japan in 1998 and in North America on September 9, 1999 (with the marketing ploy 9/9/99). The Dreamcast, at the time, became the fastest-selling video game console until the 2000 launch of Sony's PlayStation 2. [citation needed]
Although the Dreamcast had a successful release, it failed to gather a foothold in the market against the Sony PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. The release of the PlayStation 2 sealed the fate of the Dreamcast.
In 2000, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. was renamed Sega Corporation. In 2001, Sega discontinued the Dreamcast and ended its run as a video game hardware manufacturer.
2001 and beyond
2001 would see a major shift in focus for Sega as they would move out of the home console market.
The company has since evolved primarily into a platform-agnostic software company, known as a "third-party publisher", that creates games that will work on a variety of game consoles produced by other companies, including Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, and Wii; Sony's PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 3; and Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360.
Arcade units were still being produced under the Sega NAOMI name, with subsequent manufacturation of arcade hardware including Sega NAOMI 2, Sega HIKARU, Sega Chihiro, Triforce (in collaboration with Nintendo and Namco) and the Sega Lindbergh.
In 2003, Sega fell on extremely hard times, and after the death of CSK founder Isao Okawa in 2001, who spent over US$40 billion to help Sega, CSK put Sega on the auction block. The first suitor was Japan's Sammy who discussed a merger, but plans fell through. Discussions also took place with Namco, Bandai, Electronic Arts and Microsoft.
In August 2003, Sammy bought the outstanding 22% of shares that CSK had, and Sammy chairman Hajime Satomi became CEO of Sega. With the Sammy chairman at the helm of Sega, it has been stated that Sega's activity will focus on its profit-making arcade business rather than its loss-making home software development.
During the middle of 2004, Sammy bought a controlling share in Sega Corporation at a cost of $1.1 billion, creating the new company Sega Sammy Holdings, one of the biggest games companies in the world.
Sega recently bought the rights to all output from Sports Interactive, makers of Football Manager, the old Championship Manager.
On January 25, 2005, Sega sold Visual Concepts, a studio Sega dubbed a "1.5" developer (to Sega, a wholly owned studio that would otherwise be known as a first-party developer, but due to being outside of internal development teams Sega used the parlance "1.5" as a mid-point of sorts between first-party and second-party developer status). Visual Concepts was known for many Sega Sports games including the ESPN NFL Football series, formerly NFL2K, to Take Two Interactive for $24 million. The sale also came with Visual Concept's wholly owned subsidiary Kush Games. Take Two subsequently announced the start of the publishing label 2K Games because of this purchase.
On March 9, 2005 Sega acquired developer Creative Assembly best known for their strategy games Medieval: Total War and Rome: Total War.
On September 12, 2005, it was announced that Sega would be working with Petroglyph to create a Modern Military/Sci-fi Real-time strategy game for PC. [2] On January 27, 2007, this title was announced to be Universe at War: Earth Assault.
On November 11, 2005, Sega, working with Monolith Studios (F.E.A.R) released Condemned: Criminal Origins for the Xbox 360 and the PC, a first person shooter, a hit title for the Xbox 360 Platform.
Late in 2006, Sega announced that they will produce several games based on the Alien series, including a platformer and an RPG.
In early 2007 SEGA announced they would make a sequel to the highly loved classic NiGHTS into Dreams from the SEGA Saturn. The Sequel is set for a release in fall. It is being named "NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams", developed for the Nintendo Wii.
Also for the Nintendo Wii in 2007 SEGA and Nintendo announced they would make a Mario and Sonic game called Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.[3]
A sequel to Condemned: Criminal Origins entitled Condemned 2: Bloodshot was announced by Sega on May 10, 2007. It's scheduled to be released in 2008 for Xbox 360 and PS3.
Recognized directors/producers
In alphabetical order:
- Mie Kumagai joined Sega back in 1993, and when the previous boss of the AM3/Hitmaker development studio Hisao Oguchi was promoted to president of the whole company, Kumagai became the new studio head and the first ever female president within Sega's development structure. Virtua On, Crazy Taxi & Virtua Tennis are some of the series she has worked on.
- Rieko Kodama: In an industry dominated by men, Rieko Kodama is a woman who has managed to make it all the way to the top, becoming one of the most respected designers of the last two decades. You may have seen her credited in a slew of titles as "Phoenix or Phenix Rie," as she used that as her credit name until 1993. She is commonly referred to as "the First Lady of RPGs." Through out the 80's to the 90's Kodama has been involved in several Sega games, Alex Kidd, Sonic The Hedgehog, Phantasy Star, Altered Beast, Shinobi and several other games however the first game she acted as producer was the critically acclaimed Skies Of Arcadia and then the critically panned Altered Beast.
- Toshihiro Nagoshi: Headed up Amusement Vision and is head of the Sega Creative Control centre. Mainly famed for arcade titles, his credits include Daytona USA, Spikeout and Super Monkey Ball. In 2003, he served as the producer for the Nintendo and Sega collaborative GameCube effort F-Zero GX alongside Shigeru Miyamoto. He has been a regular columnist for Edge Magazine in the UK.
- Yuji Naka: Previously the head of Sonic Team and was responsible for internal QA procedures. Naka made a name for himself in 1991 as lead programmer of Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit) which would become Sega's new mascot. His previous work also includes Phantasy Star, Space Harrier and Fist of The North Star / Hokuto no Ken (released on Sega Mark III in 1986) renamed Black Belt on Master System and re-released as Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol.11 on PlayStation 2 in 2004. His titles since include NiGHTS Into Dreams, Phantasy Star Online and Samba de Amigo. In 2004, his team was merged with United Game Artists, giving the team control over Rez and Space Channel 5. In 2006, Yuji Naka left Sonic Team to create his own studio, Prope (funded by Sega).
- Yu Suzuki: Previously the head of AM2, and is attributed with being behind numerous arcade classics including Hang-On, Out Run, Space Harrier, After Burner II, and Virtua Fighter, just to name a few. In 1999, his first ever console-specific title, Shenmue, launched in Japan, and was the most expensive game ever produced. In 2003's internal restructure, he formed a new internal studio named Digitalrex, which was reintegrated into Sega before finishing any games.
Formerly with Sega
- Tetsuya Mizuguchi: Headed United Game Artists and created critically acclaimed games such as Sega Rally Championship, Space Channel 5, and Rez. He first worked with AM3 and during his time there, they released Sega Rally and Manx TT. In 1996, he left AM3 to create AM Annex (which would later be called AM9 and finally United Game Artists). AM9 would go on to develop Sega Touring Car Championship, Sega Rally 2, Space Channel 5 and Space Channel 5: Part 2, and Rez. After the Sega-Sammy merge, he left Sega to head Q Entertainment, which has now released Meteos and Lumines for the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable, respectively.
Infrastructure
Although the teams were separate there was a healthy sense of competition between the various teams which had resulted in some of the most remarkable and innovative gaming events. In 2003 United Game Artists was merged with Sonic Team.
Restructure
- The Plan
Sega Sammy plans to increase software sales through a reorganized software development structure. As previously announced, the company will be reducing its current cast of 9 development studios to five. The company at last revealed definite plans for this reorganization.
The new development studios will take the following form. Sonic Team (Sonic the Hedgehog, Phantasy Star Online) and United Game Artists (Rez, Space Channel 5) will combine to develop games for light users. Hit Maker (Virtua Tennis, Crazy Taxi) and Sega Rosso (Initial D) will combine and develop new types of games. Wow Entertainment (House of the Dead, Sega GT) and Overworks (Skies of Arcadia, Sakura Wars) will team up and make next generation games for all ages. Smilebit (Panzer Dragoon, Jet Set Radio) and Amusement Vision (F-Zero, Daytona, Super Monkey Ball) will team up to make games that make use of multimedia elements such as movies. Finally, Sega-AM2 will be the only surviving company of the bunch. It will make games devoted to users, including fighting games.
No mention was made of Wave Master, the subsidiary which produces the music and sound for most Sega titles.
In addition to these five studios, Sega will also be creating two new subsidiaries. One of the subsidiaries will be formed in part from members of Amusement Vision and Smilebit and will focus on the development of sports games. The other studio will be headed up by former AM2 head Yu Suzuki and will focus on the exclusive development of hit titles. Citation : http://ps2.ign.com/articles/430/430008p1.html
- Implementaton
2004 - XXXX Restructure after merger with Sammy. AM teams were merged into three Inhouse groups, with several new 2nd Party Studios.
New Entertainment R&D, which is led by each department head. "NE" currently focus' on the development of new content for the arcade and home console markets.
| Department | Members From | Headed By | Notable Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| NE.1 R&D | Amusement Vision, Ltd.
+ Smilebit |
Toshihiro Nagoshi | |
| AMPlus R&D | Digitalrex | Yu Suzuki |
Amusement Software R&D, which was led by Hiroshi Kataoka until 2006. "AM" currently focus' on the development of games for amusement machines.
| Department | Members From | Headed By | Notable Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| AM.1 R&D | WOW Entertainment | Atsushi Seimiya | |
| AM.2 R&D | Sega-AM2 | Hiroshi Kataoka | |
| AM.2 R&D | Hitmaker + Sega Rosso | Mie Kumagai |
- Racing Games R&D Dept., headed by Kenji Arai
- Sports Design R&D Dept., headed by Takayuki Kawagoe
- Family Entertainment, headed by Hiroshi Uemura
Global Entertainment Software R&D, which was led by Yuji Naka until 2006. "GE" currently focuses on developing video games for home consoles.
- Dept. #1, headed by Akinori Nishiyama
- Dept. #2, headed by Akira Nishino
- Mobile Content R&D Dept, headed by Kazunari Tsukamoto
- Sega Studio U.S.A. R&D, headed by Takashi Iizuka
- Sega Studio China R&D, headed by Makoto Uchida
Subsidary studios
In recent years, Sega have been concentrating some efforts in purchasing and creating western development houses.
| Date Of Purchase | Country | Studio | Games |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2005 | British Based | Creative Assembly | Total War |
| March 2006 | San Francisco | Secret Level | America's Army: Rise of a Soldier |
| April 2006 | British Based | Sports Interactive | Championship Manager series |
| May 2006 | Japan Based | Prope | None as of 2007 |
Franchises
Sega developed several well-known game franchises over the last twenty five years:
Active franchises
Active Franchises are those that continue to have sequels, updates or ports.
- Phantasy Star series: Phantasy Star (Japanese: ファンタシースター) is the most famous RPG series by Sega. It has had many incarnations, including an online version. Unlike most other RPGs, it has a futuristic/fantasy setting where the player battles monsters using a variety of guns in addition to the usual staple of melee weapons and magic that are found in similar games
- Sonic the Hedgehog: The Sonic the Hedgehog series is a franchise of video games released by Sega starring their mascot character Sonic the Hedgehog. The series began in 1991 with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. An 8-bit version of the game was also released for the Master System and Game Gear formats. Sonic was responsible for single-handedly turning the tide of the 16-bit console wars, and his first game soon replaced Altered Beast as the default pack-in game for the Genesis in North America and Europe.[1] As of May 2006, the franchise has sold more than 44 million units, with more games appearing in 2007, and will continue to appear.[2]
Games in the series are developed by Sonic Team, with the exception of some spinoffs that were independently developed by Sega of America. The main programmer for the first game was Yuji Naka, who would later become head of the Sonic Team division, and the game planner was Hirokazu Yasuhara. The music of the first two Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Mega Drive (aka Sega Genesis) was composed by Masato Nakamura of the Japanese band Dreams Come True.
- Shining Force: Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention, more commonly referred to as Shining Force, is a 1992 turn-based strategy role-playing video game for the Mega Drive/Genesis console. While primarily a traditional fantasy-themed game, it contains some steampunk elements. Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon, is a 2004 remake of the game for the Game Boy Advance console. It includes a significant amount of changes (see below).
- Virtua Fighter: Virtua Fighter is a series of versus fighting games created by Sega studio AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki.
In 1998 the series was recognized by the Smithsonian Institution for contributions in the field of Art and Entertainment, and became a part of the Smithsonian Institution's Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology Innovation. The arcade cabinets are currently kept at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
- The House of the Dead: The House of the Dead is a first-person, light gun rail shooter arcade game released in 1996 by Sega, where the player assumes the role of a government agent who must shoot his or her way through an army of recently resurrected zombies and other undead mutants.
- OutRun: Driving Series where you race around the world nonstop, choosing the path you will follow as the game goes on.
- Total War (video game series): Total War is the name of a strategy game series developed by The Creative Assembly. Its games combine turn-based strategy and resource management on a Risk-like map, with real-time tactical control of battles. The series has become notable for being the first to feature control of very large armies without serious performance issues. On 30 June 2006 a box set of all three Total War and their expansion packs was released called Total War: Eras. This box set also included several extra features and the Rome: Total War expansion Alexander, previously only available via download.
- Sega Rally: Sega Rally Championship is a 1995 arcade racing game developed by AM5 (also known as Sega Rosso) on the Sega Model 2 board. It was later ported over to the Sega Saturn (by AM3) and PC. The unique selling point of Sega Rally was the ability to drive on different surfaces (including asphalt, gravel and mud), with different friction properties, with the car's handling changing accordingly. The player can enter a "World Championship" mode consisting of three stages where their finishing position at the end of one course is carried through to the starting position of the next course. In this mode, it is impossible to reach first place position by the end of the first track, thus the player must try to overtake as many opponent cars as possible on each track, and gain the lead over several tracks.
Three cars are featured in the game: the Toyota Celica GT-Four, the Lancia Delta HF Integrale and Lancia Stratos. Codemasters have cited Sega Rally as a strong influence on the first Colin McRae Rally game.
- Golden Axe: Golden Axe is a side-scrolling arcade fighting game released in 1989 by Sega. Makoto Uchida was the primary developer of the game and also was responsible for the creation of Altered Beast. The game places the player in control of one of three warriors each bent on revenge against the vile dictator Death Adder. Death Adder has taken over the once peaceful land of Yuria and murdered their friend and partner, Alex. According to the Killer List of Videogames, Golden Axe is the most important arcade game of the year 1989. Several ports of the game were created, most notably for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Sega Master System. Several sequels followed.
The game focuses on three heroes. One of them is a battle axe-wielding dwarf, Gilius Thunderhead, from the mines of Wolud whose twin brother was killed by the soldiers of Death Adder. Another is a male barbarian, Ax Battler, wielding a two handed broadsword looking for revenge for the murder of his mother. The last is a long-sword wielding Tyris Flare, a female amazon, whose parents were killed by Death Adder.
- Panzer Dragoon: Panzer Dragoon is a series of video games by Sega, created first by its internal Team Andromeda and later, the Smilebit development team. Aside from the RPG Panzer Dragoon Saga, the games are of the rail shooter genre. All games follow the story of a lone hero or heroine fighting an evil empire in a post apocalyptic world, while riding a Dragon. The games are notable for using their own language — "Panzerese", consisting of a mixture of Ancient Greek, Latin and Russian language words as those languages were a hobby of Yukio Futatsugi, one of the core designers of the first game. This pseudo language is used during cutscenes in a manner similar to the 'Cityspeak' in the film Blade Runner.
- Shinobi: Shinobi (忍, Shinobi?) is an umbrella term for the central character in a series of video games developed by Sega commonly referred to as the Shinobi series. The name Shinobi is used as a code-name throughout the series to hide the true identity of its bearer. It has been adopted by various characters, most prominently Joe Musashi, the protagonist of the original series of games Shinobi -- Shinobi III.
Shinobi debuted in 1987, in the arcade title Shinobi, and has since featured in eleven other official Shinobi titles and one spin-off game. Nightshade is currently the last game in line. Along with Alex Kidd and Sonic the Hedgehog, the Shinobi ninja has long been one of Sega's flagship characters, acting as a mascot for a short time in the late 1980s when the ninja boom was in full force. Its games are a showcase of Sega's technical accomplishment. Today the games are still noted for their high quality of graphics, gameplay and music, as well as their high level of difficulty.
- Shenmue: Shenmue (シェンムー, Shenmue?) (IPA: [ʃɜnmu]) (2000) is an Action-adventure/RPG/FREE for the Sega Dreamcast, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki of Sega-AM2. Suzuki coined a new genre title, FREE (Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment), for the game, based on its unparalleled interactivity and freedom, as well as the innovative real-time and weather systems. Shenmue covers the first chapter of an epic story which continues into Shenmue II and has yet to see completion. When it was first released it was considered the most expensive video game ever produced, at a cost of over $20,000,000. [1]
- Crazy Taxi: Crazy Taxi was first released in arcades in 1999 and was ported to the Dreamcast in 2000. Subsequently, it has been brought to the PlayStation 2, and GameCube in 2001; and then PC and Game Boy Advance in 2002. It is the first game in the Crazy Taxi series.
Crazy Taxi has not seen a true sequel since 2003's Crazy Taxi 3 however a compilation of Crazy Taxi 1 & 2 with some new features is being released for PSP. Crazy Taxi: Fare WarsReleased in 2007.
- Dynamite Deka 2 or Dynamite Cop in English, is a series of 3D beat em ups produced for Arcade systems, Dynamite Deka 2 was ported to the Dreamcast has Dynamite Cop. The newest game in the series is Dynamite Deka EX, which may be ported to the Dreamcast [4]
Absent franchises
Franchises that have not seen updates, sequels or even ports for several years. These games may or may not have been permanently discontinued.
- Sega Sports: Football, basketball, hockey, and tennis games formerly published under the ESPN label. This label was forced into discontinuation after EA signed a deal with the NFL. This deal forbid any company besides EA to develop football games with official NFL rosters.
Last Appeared On: The Japanese edition of the Sonic Gems Collection for the PS2 and GameCube – 2005
- Streets of Rage: The Streets of Rage series (original name in Japan ベア・ナックル Bare Knuckle series) is a well-known beat 'em up series developed by Sega. The series centers around the efforts of several heroes, including series mainstays Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding, to rid a troubled city from the rule of crime boss Mr. X and his syndicate. However, in March of 07 Sega put up a poll on their site asking which franchise they want to see make a return. The choices were NiGHTS, Streets of Rage, Flicky, and Virtua Cop.
Last Original Release: Genesis/Sega CD – 1994
- Alex Kidd: Alex Kidd is a video game character who is a monkey-like boy with big ears in a red jumpsuit. He was Sega's mascot prior to Sonic the Hedgehog.
Last Original Release: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis – 1993
- Fantasy Zone: Fantasy Zone is a surreal arcade game created by Sega in 1986. It was later ported to a wide variety of consoles, including the Sega Master System and the Sega Game Gear. The player controls a sentient spaceship named Opa-opa who fights nonsensical enemies in settings atypical of the traditional scrolling shooter.
Last Original Release: Sega Master System – 1986
- Ecco the Dolphin: Ecco the Dolphin is the collective name given to a series of video games published by Sega which primarily take place underwater. They were originally developed for the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Dreamcast video game consoles, but have since been ported to numerous systems. The games are named after their main character, Ecco, a young bottlenose dolphin. They are known for being unique and highly challenging titles. Ecco was created by E. Ettore "Ed" Annunziata,[1] who also produced the Mega Drive game Chakan: The Forever Man. However, this game is now available on the Wii’s Virtual Console.
Last Original Release: Sega Dreamcast – 2000
- Wonder Boy: Wonder Boy was a series of video games published by SEGA and developed by Westone (formerly Escape).
Most of the games that were under the Wonder Boy name in North America and Europe were part of the Monster World series in Japan. Three of the six Wonder Boy/Monster World games belong in both series. There are five Wonder Boy games and four Monster World games.
Last Original Release:
- Virtual On: Cyber Troopers Virtual-On (電脳戦機バーチャロン, Dennō Senki Bācharon?, roughly "Computer Fighting Machine Virtual-ON") is a series of video games, created by Sega's AM3 (Amusement R&D Dept.#3) later renamed Hitmaker, and first published for the arcade in February 1995. The gameplay consists of a fast, action oriented gameplay, where quick reflexes are of the utmost importance. The game has seen 4 iterations, and has been ported to several consoles.
Last Original Release: Sony PlayStation 2 – 2003
- Daytona USA (arcade game): Daytona USA was a series of popular arcade racing games developed by Sega-AM2.
Last Original Release: Sega Model 3 - 1999
- Jet Grind Radio: Rollerblading and spraypainting game released for the Dreamcast. It had a sequel later released called Jet Set Radio Future or J.S.R.F. exclusively for Xbox in 2002. Both games utilized cell-shading to create highly stylized graphics.
Last Original Release: Microsoft XBOX - 2002
- Toe Jam and Earl: A funky alien duo exploring "earth" had success in an extremely original Genesis/Mega Drive game. It had a number of sequels including the side-scroller "Toe Jam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron", the Menacer light gun game Ready Aim Tomatoes, and an Xbox game Toe Jam and Earl 3.
Last Original Release: Microsoft XBOX - 2002
One-hit wonders
Any Sega game that did not receive a sequel. Updates and ports are not considered.
- Skies Of Arcadia: Skies of Arcadia is a console role-playing game developed by Overworks and published by Sega in 2000 for the Sega Dreamcast. It was released in Japan in October 2000, and subsequently in North America in November 2000 and in PAL territories in April 2001. An enhanced remake, Skies of Arcadia Legends, was released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2003. Known as Eternal Arcadia in Japan, the game’s story focuses around Vyse, a young pirate, and his friends as they attempt to stop the Valuan Empire from reviving ancient weapons which could destroy the world.
- Seaman: A virtual pet simulator for the Sega Dreamcast. Na by Leonard Nimoy, the player cared for a half-fish, half-human creature known as Seaman, and communicated with it through a microphone. SEGA has announced a sequel.
Hardware
Arcade boards
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Consoles
- Sega SG-1000: Available in limited markets
- Sega SG-1000 Mark II: Updated model now with a keyboard
- Sega SG-1000 Mark III: Only available in Japan
- Sega Master System: Essentially the SG-1000 Mark III only with a different name a few minor adjustments
- Sega Mega Drive: Known as the Sega Genesis in North America
- Sega Mega CD: Known simply as the Sega CD for the North American market, it allowed CD based games as well as Audio CDs to be played on the Mega Drive.
- Sega 32X: Hardware update to the Mega Drive allowing 32 bit based games to be played
- Sega Multi-Mega: a portable CD player with the functionalities of a Sega Mega Drive and Sega Mega CD. Following the Mega ... brands, its name was Multi-Mega in the majority of the world and Genesis CDX in North America.
- Sega TeraDrive: A 16-bit PC with an integrated Mega Drive. Came with a Software Development Kit to allow creation of Mega Drive games. The system was only released in Japan.
- Amstrad Mega PC: TeraDrive for Europe & Australia
- Sega Neptune: A Sega Mega Drive/32X hybrid. It never passed the prototype stage. Only two empty cases are known to exist.
- Sega Saturn: True 32-bit console
- Sega Dreamcast: First 128 bit console, Sega's last console
- Sega Pico: an educational gaming system.
Handhelds
- Game Gear: Sega’s 8-bit handheld
- Sega Nomad: Sega’s Portable Genesis took its own identity
- Sega Mega Jet: Genesis on Air
Historic legal case
Sega lost the Sega v. Accolade case, which involved independently produced software for the Sega Genesis console that copied a small amount of Sega's code. The verdict set a precedent that copyrights do not extend to non-expressive content in software that is required by another system to be present in order for that system to run the software. The case in question stems from the nature of the console video game market. Hardware companies often sell their systems at or below cost, and rely on other revenue streams such as in this case, game licensing. Sega was attempting to "lock out" game companies from making Genesis games unless they paid Sega a fee (ostensibly to maintain a consistent level of quality of games for their system.) Their strategy was to make the hardware reject any cartridge that did not include a Sega trademark. If an unlicensed company included this trademark in their game, Sega could sue the company for trademark infringement. Though Sega lost this lawsuit, all later Sega systems seemed to incorporate a similar hardware requirement.
Content guidelines
During its status as both a hardware and software manufacturer, Sega had developed a Sega Seal of Quality, similar to the Nintendo Seal of Quality to avoid the pitfalls that were often seen as the causes for the Video Game Crash of 1983. Before a video game could be sold on any Sega system, it had to be reviewed by Sega to ensure that the game did not contain any bugs, and conformed to the company’s censorship guidelines.
Miscellaneous
- Sega also owns the entertainment fun center GameWorks, which was founded in 1997.
Advertisement campaigns
Sega has had a long history of different slogans and ad campaigns.
Arcade/Sega Master System
- The Arcade Experts. (early 80's)
- The challenge will always be there.
- Now, there are no limits.
- Hot hits today! More hits on the way!
Genesis/Mega Drive
- Genesis does what Nintendon't! (During the Sega/Nintendo console wars)
- Blast Processing
- The "SEGA!!! "scream.
- Welcome To The Next Level.
- Do me a favor, plug me into a Sega (talking TV).
- To be this good takes AGES, To be this good takes SEGA.
- Siga Sega! ("Follow Sega!", used in Brazil during the early 90's)
- Sega, c'est plus fort que toi ! ('Sega, it's stronger than you!', cult French TV slogan, early 90s)
- 16 bit arcade graphics!
Saturn
- Welcome to the Real World - Sega Saturn. (Early UK TV Slogan)
- Segata Sanshiro
- Sorry Plaything, you're not worthy.
Dreamcast
- It's Thinking. (promotion for Dreamcast)
- Up to 6 billion players. (Early Dreamcast tagline)
- The return of the SEGA!! Scream.
References
- Sega financial report
- Yahoo! Finance details for Sega Corporation
- Yahoo! Finance details for Sega of America
- Sega's entry into and growth in the American market is documented in Terry Sanders' film The Japan Project: Made in Japan.
External links
- Sega of America's official website
- Sega of Europe's Official Website
- Sega Sammy Holdings official website
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