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- 30 Aug 2005
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I couldnt head to bed until I did a write-up on Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games. Seeing these two together marks quite a day in gaming history. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this thought as much as I did writing it. I will catch you guys in a few hours with Wednesday morning updates. Take care, and have a great morning!
Well today brought about a surreal moment in my gaming life. I am pretty sure there are a handful of gamers that feel the same way. Nintendo and Sega jointly announced Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. A game that will bring together the worlds of Mario and Sonic, and put them into an Olympic setting. Sure, the game idea sounds great, but what it represents is much bigger. Sega has been working closely with Nintendo for quite some time now. They are right alongside Nintendo with the idea of the Wii, and have supported the platform since launch. We have been seeing great Sega support for awhile now, seeing their work on the Cube, GBA, DS, and Wii with more to come I am sure. I cant tell you how cool I think it is that these two companies are sharing a great respect for each other. This newest game shows just how close the two companies are. Regardless of how you feel about the game idea, just the announcement of it makes for a huge event. Back in the 16-bit days, this is something that no one could ever picture happening.
Back in the days of the SNES and Genesis, the gaming scene was a completely different place. To start off with the most glaring difference, there were only two major platforms on the market. There were other companies that popped up from time to time, but the real battle was going on between Nintendo and Sega. Sega was getting serious, looking for a way to really get the Genesis noticed. Back then gaming mascots sold platforms. Nintendo was sitting pretty with a handful of mascots, Mario being the biggest at the time (and today as well!) Segas Hirokazu Yasuhara, Yuji Naka, and Naoto Ohshima took on the task of building Sega a mascot. From their hard work, Sonic the Hedgehog was born. I know that Sonic caught my eye back in the day, and was the reason I wanted to pick up a Genesis. The speed, sound, and graphics all looked amazing; it was a game I had to have! From that point on Nintendo and Sega would butt heads for many years to come.
Sega was known for their particularly vicious attacks against Nintendo, especially in their TV commercials. It seemed that every chance they got, Sega would badmouth the SNES. One of the most famous campaigns was the Genesis Does commercials. I personally began to dislike Sega because of these outright attacks. You can check out one of the commercials in this series below.
Direct link here
Things only got worse from there. Sega ran a commercial comparing the power of the SNES to the Genesis, claiming that Genesis had blast processing. Blast processing was supposedly something that the Genesis used to make their games so fast. Later on we came to find out that blast processing was just a marketing term. You can read more about what blast processing really was HERE. The commercial that really pushed me over the edge was actually for the Sega Saturn. Sega attacked both Playstation and Nintendo 64 in a set of commercials, claiming that the Saturn was far superior. In one commercial, a Nintendo 64 was launched in the air and shot down with a gun. Sega was absolutely ruthless in their ad campaigns, which pulled in a lot of people, but turned away some.
While I wasnt a fan of Segas advertising, I still enjoyed their games. I wasnt going to neglect all the software heading to their systems because of their advertising tactics. Regardless of what Sega or Nintendo wanted earlier on, my household was a happy Nintendo/Sega place. I can remember having discussions with friends many years ago about Sega and Nintendo. Arguments about which one was better came up. Which characters had better games, what platforms had better graphics, and so on. I think weve all had our fair share of these conversations back in our earlier days. As time moved on the discussion switched to Nintendo and Sega working together. We all laughed at the idea, it was so absurd. Sega and Nintendo were bitter enemies, fighting tooth and nail over their platforms. Still though, we couldnt deny that it would be great to see the two companies work on something together. Mario and Sonic together in a game that would never happen.
As Sega transitioned from the Saturn into the Dreamcast, they were in rough shape. The Saturn didnt sell anywhere near what Sega was hoping for, which is why the Dreamcast was going to be extremely important for them. When I first saw the Dreamcast I was blown away. The graphics looked amazing, Sonic looked more real than ever before. The system even had a built in modem, which showed that Sega was dedicated to online play. Sega needed this system to sell well to repair their negative image that they gained from the SegaCD and on. At first things were going great. North America really responded to the system, but the sales in Europe and Japan were never quite the same. I remember seeing a magazine cover in 2001 that had a Dreamcast in a hospital, Eggman with a stethoscope, and the title read Is the Dreamcast dead?. I thought to myself, this system only came out in 99, how could it be dead already? As much as I didnt want to believe it, the Dreamcast was indeed on the way out. Production of the Dreamcast stopped in January 2001, with the last game being release February 2002. Sega announced that they would not be making another gaming platform, and would be entering the race as a third party software developer.
After so many years of intense battles, the Sega we knew was dead. There were no more Sega Vs. Nintendo console wars it was Nintendo versus Sony, and eventually Microsoft. The console world just didnt feel right without Sega around, and in my opinion it still doesnt. We all waited to see what would come of Sega and its properties. Eventually we would learn that Sega would be supporting all three major consoles at the time; PS2, Cube, and Xbox. Ill never forget the first time I saw a Sega logo on another platform. It felt really strange, almost dirty in a way. With all of Segas advertising, I felt like I was doing something wrong by playing a Sega game on another platform. Perhaps it is because of my long time spent playing games, but to this day I still feel strange seeing a Sega logo on another system.
As Sega ventured more into the third party realm, we would start to see a lot of support going Nintendos way. I couldnt believe that we were seeing so many Sega franchises (both old and new) heading to Nintendo. It boggled my mind that these two were working together. It almost showed that even with all the attacks, Sega had a deep respect for their old rival. The same goes for Nintendo, which was more than willing to work alongside Sega. As the years went on, Sonic would appear many times on the Cube. Sales of multiplatform Sonic games would always be highest on Nintendo consoles, showing that Nintendos market was more interested in their work. I believe a lot of Nintendo fans had been along for the ride since the early days, and therefore were part of Segas early days as well. Regardless of your console allegiance back in the day (if you had one), we couldnt deny a respect for Segas platforms, and software in general. Nintendo fans were welcoming Sega with very open arms.
Now that Sega and Nintendo were working together, the thoughts from years ago ran through my mind once again. Sega and Nintendo were playing nice with each other to great success. Would we actually see Sonic and Mario appear in a game together? I saw this event as an official burying of the hatchet. You take two of the gaming worlds most recognizable characters, and put them together in a game. It would be a final showing of respect from both parties, truly stating that the days of fighting were over. Yes, Sega bringing their work to Nintendo platforms more than showed that the two were friends, but an event like this would really settle things for all the old school gamers. Theres no doubt that we wanted to see something like this happen. With the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee, the rumors of Sonic and Tales in the game were huge. EGM ran a story on this, which actually turned out to be an April Fools joke. To this day people are still clamoring for Sonic to be in Smash Bros. With Brawl heading to the Wii, everyone has been keeping an eye out for Sega news. We have seen Sega say that they would love to have Sonic in the game, and Nintendo saying they would love to work with the Sega. Still we have no confirmation, but many people hold out hope.
I thought that Sonic in Brawl, if it were to happen, would be the first time we would see Sonic and Mario together in a game. This is something I had been hoping for for years. Sonic may end up in Brawl, but I would be getting my wish a little sooner. I opened up my email this morning, and couldnt believe my eyes. I was met with the press release we posted earlier, as well as an image of Sonic and Mario together. I couldnt believe what I was seeing. It was finally happening, Nintendo and Sega were bringing the two iconic characters together. Not only that, but their worlds and supporting casts would be joining the fun as well. I am sitting here looking at the image of these two together, and it still amazes me. This is a feeling I know I will keep up until the games release, and long after. This is truly the result of years of battling. From bitter enemies to close friends, and now to a final recognition of each others work. Sega and Nintendo may have been friends for awhile now, but in my mind this is the true showing of their support for each other. I honestly dont even care if the game is horrible, its the idea behind it that matters to me. I get chills every time I think of a CG intro showing these two characters side by side. Sega, Nintendo do me a favor and show me Mario and Sonic shaking hands. For me, that would be the most defining moment in video game history.
Yes, I am a giant nerd, and yes I love my video game history. I was a part of the Sega/Nintendo battle from day one. I was one of the consumers that fully enjoyed both platforms back in the 16 bit days. Sure I got into my fair share of arguments, but I was truly a multi-platform supporter (and still am). I respect the work that all game companies put into their software, regardless of how they approach the competition. I know that we will most likely never see all the console developers being friendly with each other, but at least we can have the two companies that really started console wars working together. I know there has to be some other readers that are as deeply rooted as I am in this stuff. How do you feel about the announcement of this game? What were you like back during the 16-bit wars? Where do you stand now? Let me know, this is the kind of discussion I love!
Einen Artikel, den ich grad auf Gonintendo gelesen habe. Will ich echt keinen vorenthalten! Mag zwar etwas lang sein, passt aber imo perfekt.
Wird Sega von nun an vermehrt mit Nintendo zusammenarbeiten? Früher waren sie harte Rivalen! Nun sind sie richtig dicke "Freunde" geworden. Anders kann ich mir die Ankündigung von diesem Olympiaspiel (was mich net sehr anspricht) nicht erklären.
Hier dann noch Aussagen der "hohen Tiere" zu dem neuen Game:
"Wir sind hocherfreut über die Kooperation mit Nintendo und ISM, um diesen bahnbrechenden Titel zu ermöglichen," erklärt Hisao Oguchi, Präsident und Chief Operating Officer der SEGA Corporation. "Zum ersten Mal treffen zwei der beliebtesten Videospielfiguren der Welt aufeinander, um im größten Sportereignis der Welt anzutreten das ist wirklich einmalig!"
"Mario und Sonic sind schon seit den frühesten Zeiten der Videospiele ehrfürchtige Rivalen, so Shigeru Miyamoto, Senior Managing Director und General Manager, Entertainment Analysis und Development Division, bei Nintendo Co. Ltd. "Die Diskussion, beide Charaktere in einem gemeinsamen Spiel gegeneinander antreten zu lassen, existiert schon seit längerem. Und jetzt, da sich beiden im Rahmen der Olympischen Spiele die perfekte Gelegenheit für ein Aufeinandertreffen bietet, dürfen wir endlich erfahren, wer von ihnen der Schnellere ist: Mario oder Sonic?"
Hoffe der Thread passt hier rein und es entwickelt sich ne vernünftige Diskussion zum Thema Sega - Nintendo.
Sega und Nintendo,im geist vereeeeeeeeint 
