ARCADE NANO SEGA PLUG N PLAY Virtua Fighter 2 Alien Storm Shinobi 3 Golden Axe

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Seller: sidewaysstairsco ✉️ (1,180) 100%, Location: Santa Ana, California, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 204689206348 ARCADE NANO SEGA PLUG N PLAY Virtua Fighter 2 Alien Storm Shinobi 3 Golden Axe. Check out our store for more great new, vintage, and used items! FOR SALE: An awesome mini Plug N Play console featuring Sega classics 2010 ATGAMES "SEGA GENESIS" ARCADE NANO DETAILS: Features five Sega games worth their weight in gold! Dive into a world of retro gaming nostalgia with the 2010 AtGames "Sega Genesis" Arcade Nano - a compact Plug N Play video game console that delivers hours of entertainment for gamers of all ages. Featuring 10 built-in video games, this tiny console is a powerhouse of fun. The mini controller is equipped with a genuine arcade-style joystick, providing you an authentic gaming experience as you play through a selection of classic Sega titles. The AtGames Arcade Nano includes 5 official Sega video games that originally debuted on either the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive or Sega Master System, bringing classic favorites right to your fingertips. Embark on epic adventures with Sega classics Alien Storm, Golden Axe, Golden Axe III, Shinobi III, and the 2D remake version of Virtua Fighter 2. In addition to the Sega classics, the console also includes a selection of non-Sega games, including Snake, Spider, Bottle Taps Race, Bomber, and Hexagonos. Fans of classic gaming will appreciate the inclusion of "Bomber," a thrilling title reminiscent of Bomberman from the NES/Famicom era. While the Arcade Nano is designed for single-player use, its collection of timeless and valuable Sega games makes it a must-have for any gaming enthusiast and collector. Whether you're a die-hard Sega fan or lover of retro games, this compact console from AtGames is sure to bring a smile to your face with its treasure trove of games that are worth their weight in gold. Setting up the AtGames "Sega Genesis" Arcade Nano is a breeze - simply plug it into your television using the included yellow/white RCA cable. A single 1.5V AAA battery (not included) powers up the console for tons of gaming fun. Retired AtGames product! In 2010 AtGames released a few versions of the Arcade Nano and all would become retired (no longer manufactured) soon after release - making them a collectible that has become harder and harder to find today. RCA cable included! Requires 1.5V AAA battery for operation. Battery is not included. For single-player use only. CONDITION: New in package. Please see photos. To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out. THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK. *ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.* "Alien Storm (エイリアンストーム) is a beat 'em up shooter released as an arcade video game by Sega in 1990.[3] It was ported to the Genesis/Mega Drive and Master System. The Mega Drive version was re-released on Wii's Virtual Console in 2007 and was also included on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.[citation needed] The game was also re-released on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack in 2022. Plot A homicidal alien race is invading Earth, and the only thing that stands between them and world domination are a special forces team known as the "Alien Busters", composed of Karen (absent in the Master System version, named "Karla" in some versions), Garth (named "Gordon" in some versions) and Scooter (the robot, named "Slammer" in Master System and PAL versions). Gameplay Alien Storm is a side-scrolling beat 'em up.[4] The game resembles Golden Axe, with a similar artistic style, three playable characters (a man, a woman, and a novelty character) and pick-up or power-up special attacks. The player (one player only on the Master System version, up to two players on the Mega Drive version, three on the arcade version) selects from the three different characters to embark upon a quest to save the Earth from an alien invasion. All of the Busters are playable from the beginning of the game. There are six missions to complete (eight in the Mega Drive version) with several stages, and each mission has the player blasting aliens, from the streets to the mother ship, where the mother of all aliens can be found. This task becomes increasingly difficult with each new mission, and the aliens are capable of hiding inside objects such as plants, post boxes, trash cans, drums, and other items. Each mission has an objective such as rescuing people or destroying a UFO. After defeating certain aliens, flying skulls will appear, which can be shot to collect life or energy. Energy is used specifically to power the energy-based attacks of the player's weapon (such as flames or electricity) and to use the much more powerful special weapons. In a similar format as other early Sega arcade games, each character has unlimited usage of various short-range attacks, i.e. punches, kicks. Along with these standard attacks, each character has their own individual weapon (Garth's weapon that shoots lightning is replaced with a flame weapon in the Master System version). Special attacks are also included, and vary depending on the character chosen at the start of the game. For instance, Garth summons a U.S. Air Force starship that drops bombs across the street (in the Master System version he has Karen's special, a ballistic missile strike). Scooter will teleport out of his present location and leave a series of bombs that will blow up on the appearance of aliens, after which he will re-appear (in the Mega Drive and arcade versions he just explodes, leaving his head, which his new body returns to retrieve). Karen calls down a nuclear missile, which incinerates every foe on the screen. However, a large amount of energy is depleted by using each character's special attack, and cannot be used if the energy of the player's character is too low. There are few bosses in the game. The arcade original features an alien spaceship, an alien brain and a single boss in the middle of the game that has three distinct forms. This boss is repeated as a common enemy near the end of the last mission. The Mega Drive port has two of these forms as three separate bosses. At the end of each mission, the side-scrolling gameplay shifts to either a shooting gallery perspective where the player must take out the aliens that pop out of various locations, similar to the bonus stages of Shinobi and Shadow Dancer, both by Sega, or a running section that is similar to the side-scrolling mode but plays like a horizontal shooter instead with projectile weapons. Release In October 1993,[5] Atari Corporation filed a lawsuit against Sega for an alleged infringement of a patent originally created by Atari Corp. in the 1980s,[6] with the former seeking a preliminary injunction to stop manufacturing, usage and sales of hardware and software for both Sega Genesis and Game Gear.[7] On September 28, 1994,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] both parties reached a settlement in which it involved a cross-licensing agreement to publish up to five titles each year across their systems until 2001.[15][16][17][18][19][20] The Master System version of Alien Storm was one of the first five titles approved from the deal by Sega in order to be converted for the Atari Jaguar,[7] but it was never released. Reception In Japan, Game Machine listed Alien Storm on their June 15, 1990 issue as being the most-successful table arcade unit of the month.[28] Megatech reviewed the Sega Genesis version and gave an overall score of 78%, they praised the game for being an outstanding conversion of the arcade version and praised the graphics and saying the gameplay is highly enjoyable. The only criticism they had was the game being too easy.[29] Mega Play's four reviewers gave above average reviews and praising the game’s graphics, animation and felt the game was a near perfect port from the arcade version and being similar to Golden Axe. The criticisms they had was the gameplay being too easy and repetitive.[30] In 2023, Time Extension included the arcade version on their top 25 "Best Beat 'Em Ups of All Time" list." (wikipedia.org) "Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, released in Japan as The Super Shinobi II,[a] is a 1993 hack-and-slash platform game developed and published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis. It is the direct sequel to the previous The Revenge of Shinobi. The game was intended to be released in 1992 and to be very different from the final version of the game in terms of levels and storyline. Shinobi III received critical acclaim. It's been ranked among the greatest Mega Drive/Genesis games. Gameplay Compared to its predecessor, the action is considerably smoother, with less emphasis on difficulty and more on speed. In addition to the ability to run from place to place, the player character comes equipped with a new array of moves and techniques, including a mid-air dashkick, the ability to jump-scale walls and a powerful running slash that renders him temporarily invincible to projectiles. Besides his regular assortment of moves and attacks, the player has the ability to perform four special ninjitsu techniques. Only one can be used in each level, unless the Shinobi finds additional ninjitsu bonuses throughout hidden spots in most levels. The four ninjitsu techniques involve engulfing lightning as a temporary shield, summon fire-dragons, boosting his vertical leap and self-sacrificing, the latter costing one life to destroy common enemies or damage bosses. Plot Neo Zeed is threatening the world once more. The evil crime syndicate - thought to have been vanquished two years earlier - has returned, headed by a man known only as the Shadow Master. Joe Musashi has felt their presence, and descends from the lonely mountaintops of Japan to face his nemesis once more. Development and release     This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Shinobi III was originally set to be released in 1992.[2] Several gaming magazines (including GamePro, Mean Machines SEGA and Computer & Video Games) gave previews and even reviews of the game, showing pictures of levels, enemies, artwork and special moves which were not seen in the final version at all. Because of being dissatisfied with the result, Sega had put the game back into development to heavily improve it and delayed its release until 1993. When Shinobi III was finally released, many game features seen earlier were missing, with new ones taking their place. A beta-version of the original version of the game has been leaked and is now widely available as a ROM image. Shinobi III is included on the Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable and Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It was also released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in 2007,[3] for the PC on the download service Steam in 2010, on the iPhone in 2011,[4] for the Nintendo 3DS eShop in 2013, and on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack in 2021.[5][6] The game also appears on the Sega Genesis Classics (released as Sega Mega Drive Classics in PAL regions) for Windows, Linux, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch[7] Reception Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master received critical acclaim. MegaTech magazine praised the game's new attacks and moves, but criticised that it was "not as hard as The Revenge of Shinobi".[16] Mega said that "beyond the tricky bosses, this is far too easy".[18] An IGN review by Levi Buchanan called it "a legit Genesis great, one of the better action games for the 16-bit console of yesteryear", even if the iPhone version was deemed just "okay".[15] Complex rated it the third best game on the Sega Genesis, stating: "The only drawback? The last level was freaking impossible!"[19] Retro Gamer included it among their top ten Mega Drive games.[20] In 2023, both Nintendo Life and GameSpot ranked the game among top 15 Mega Drive/Genesis games." (wikipedia.org) "Shinobi (忍) is a side-scrolling hack and slash video game produced by Sega, originally released for arcades on the Sega System 16 board in 1987. The player controls ninja Joe Musashi, to stop the Zeed terrorist organization from kidnapping students of his clan. Shinobi was a commercial success in arcades; it topped the monthly Japanese table arcade charts in December 1987, and became a blockbuster arcade hit in the United States, where it was the highest-grossing conversion kit of 1988 and one of the top five conversion kits of 1989. It was adapted by Sega to its Master System game console, followed by conversions to the Nintendo Entertainment System, PC Engine, and home computers. It was re-released as downloadable emulated versions of the original arcade game for the Wii and Xbox 360. The arcade game joined the Nintendo Switch in January 2020 through the Sega Ages series. Shinobi's success inspired various sequels and spin-offs of the Shinobi series. Gameplay The controls of Shinobi consist of an eight-way joystick and three action buttons for attacking, jumping, and using ninjutsu techniques called "ninja magic". The player can walk, or perform a crouching walk by pressing the joystick diagonally downward. The player can jump to higher or lower floors by pressing the jump button while holding the joystick up or down. The protagonist Joe Musashi's standard weapons are an unlimited supply of shurikens, and punches and kicks. Rescuing certain hostages in each stage will grant him an attack upgrade replacing throwing stars with a gun, and his close-range attack becomes a katana slash. Musashi's ninjutsu techniques can only be used once per stage and will clear the screen of all enemies, or greatly damage a boss. Depending on the stage, the three ninjutsu techniques are a thunderstorm, a tornado, and a doppelganger attack. Enemies include punks, mercenaries, ninjas, and the Mongolian swordsmen guarding each hostage. Musashi can bump into most enemies without harm and can only be killed if he gets struck by an enemy's attack, gets hit by a projectile, or falls into a bottomless hole. Then, the stage restarts but retains any saved hostages. When the player runs out of lives, additional coins will continue the game except the final mission. The time limit is three minutes per stage and bonus points are awarded for time, with additional bonuses for refraining from ninjutsu technique (except on the fifth level) or using only melee attacks. Extra lives are awarded for achieving certain scores, completing the bonus round, or rescuing a special hostage. A bonus round has a first-person perspective of throwing shurikens at incoming enemy ninjas, for an extra life.[6] Plot A ninja named Joe Musashi must stop a criminal organization called Zeed from kidnapping the children of his ninja clan. Five missions consist of three stages in the first mission and four stages each in the rest, where Musashi approaches Zeed's headquarters and frees all the hostages in the first two or three stages with a boss at the final stage of each mission. At the start of each mission, the player is shown the objective, with a file containing a photograph of the enemy boss and a map display pinpointing the location of the next stage. Ports Master System Sega converted Shinobi to its Master System game console. It was released in Japan on June 19, 1988, and in North America and Europe. Some of the play mechanics were altered. Instead of one-hit kills, the player now has a health gauge before losing a life. Hostage rescue is now an optional task but provides upgrades to the close and long-range weapons, and restores or expands the health gauge. Rescuing certain hostages is a requirement to access the game's bonus stages, which now occur after the regular stages instead of each boss fight. Bonus rounds provide the ninjutsu skills. In October 1993,[7] Atari Corporation filed a lawsuit against Sega for an alleged infringement of a patent originally created by Atari Corp. in the 1980s,[8] and Atari sought a preliminary injunction to stop manufacturing, usage, and sales of hardware and software for the Genesis and Game Gear.[9] On September 28, 1994,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] both parties reached a settlement involving a cross-licensing agreement to publish up to five games each year across their systems until 2001.[17][18][19][20][21][22] The Master System version is one of the first five games approved from the deal by Sega in order to be converted for the Atari Jaguar, but it was never released.[9] Home computers In 1989, conversions of Shinobi were released for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum. All five were developed by The Sales Curve and published by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe and by Sega in North America except the Amstrad and Spectrum versions. An IBM PC version was developed by Micromosaics Inc. and released in North America by Sega. PC Engine A PC Engine version was released exclusively in Japan by Asmik on December 8, 1989. The graphics and play mechanics of the PC Engine version are similar to the arcade version's, but the close-range attacks and power-ups are missing and there are extra lives for points instead of bonus rounds. There is no life gauge, time limit, or Mission 2. Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System version of Shinobi was released by Tengen exclusively in North America as an unlicensed release in 1989. The play mechanics are based on the Master System's version, but without close-range weapons and grenades. All the vertical-scrolling stages (such as Mission 2-2 and Mission 3-2) were redesigned into horizontal-scrolling stages. Wii and Xbox 360 The arcade version was published on the Wii's Virtual Console and Xbox 360's Live Arcade services, with slight graphical modifications due to licensing issues over one character's resemblance to Spider-Man. Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection Shinobi is unlockable in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 after the first round of Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master without using a continue. Reception In Japan, Game Machine listed Shinobi in its December 15, 1987, issue as the most successful table arcade unit of the month.[31] In the United States, Shinobi became a blockbuster hit.[32] It became America's highest-grossing arcade conversion kit of 1988,[33] and again one of America's top five highest-grossing conversion kits of 1989.[34] The arcade game received critical acclaim. Clare Edgeley of Computer and Video Games noted it as one of several popular "martial arts simulation" games at London's Amusement Trades Exhibition International (ATEI) show in January 1988, along with Taito's Ninja Warriors and Data East's Vigilante; she said it plays similarly to Ninja Warriors, but that Shinobi also has elements from Namco's run and gun video game Rolling Thunder (1986), introduces bonus stages, and is more challenging overall. She praised the "clean colourful graphics" with large "well defined" sprites, and the action gameplay for being fast-paced and challenging, concluding that the game is "well worth playing".[23] Nick Kelly of Commodore User rated it 8 out of 10, also noting similarities to Rolling Thunder but said Shinobi looks good, "plays brilliantly", and "combines several kinds of shoot'em and beat'em up action in one well-thought-out, well-executed game."[28] Sinclair User also compared it to Rolling Thunder and other martial arts games, but considers Shinobi "sufficiently different to be familiar without being boring."[27] Retrospectively, Black Belt magazine in 2003 called Shinobi "one of the best martial arts arcade games of the 1980s".[35] Sega's conversion for the Master System received critical acclaim. Computer and Video Games praised the "well defined" graphics, good sound, and "excellent" gameplay.[4] It was awarded 4 out of 5 stars in Dragon.[25] Classic Game Room's retrospective review reflected that the game is a classic, though less so than the 16-bit sequel The Revenge of Shinobi.[36] Zach Gass of Screen Rant included Shinobi and its sequels in his list of ten "awesome" hack-and-slash games in 2020.[37] Legacy According to Den of Geek, "Shinobi is arguably the most ‘important’ and influential ninja game, as well as kicking off the genre’s longest running franchise."[38] Sequels and related games Further information: Shinobi (series) In 1989, Sega released a sequel called The Revenge of Shinobi (The Super Shinobi in Japan) as one of the first games for its new Mega Drive game console. An arcade sequel called Shadow Dancer was also released in 1989. Shadow Dancer retains the original gameplay, adding a canine companion. Other sequels were released for the Game Gear, Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, the PlayStation 2, and the Nintendo 3DS. Alex Kidd in Shinobi World is a parody of Shinobi starring former Sega mascot Alex Kidd, released for the Master System in 1990." (wikipedia.org) "Shinobi[a] is a series of hack-and-slash games created by Sega. The ninja (shinobi) Joe Musashi is the protagonist of the original series of games (Shinobi to Shinobi III).[3] The first Shinobi was released in 1987 as an arcade video game. Along with Alex Kidd and Sonic the Hedgehog, Joe Musashi has long been one of Sega's flagship characters, acting as a mascot for a short time in the late 1980s when ninjas were popular in mainstream media. The series' games are a showcase of Sega's technical accomplishment, noted for their high quality of graphics, gameplay and music, as well as their high level of difficulty. The Shinobi franchise sold more than 4.60 million copies.[3] Plot The main character of Shinobi (the original Japanese word for "ninja") is most commonly associated with that of Joe Musashi, the protagonist of the original arcade game and many of its sequels. His name is a combination of both an archetypical Western first name and Japanese last name, Musashi likely being derived from the legendary Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. In the manual of The Revenge of Shinobi, Musashi's backstory is told as that of a weak boy who first entered the dojo of the Oboro clan at a young age and gradually, through tireless practice and meditation, worked himself up to become the most skilled and respected ninja of his clan.[3] His peaceful existence in the mountains of Japan is shattered when the ninja crime syndicate Zeed rises to power and attempts to revert Japan into the Sengoku period of civil war when the ninja thrived. After being defeated by Musashi in the original Shinobi, Zeed reforms three years later as Neo Zeed and attacks the Oboro clan directly. With his master assassinated and his girlfriend Naoko kidnapped by the enemy, Musashi swears revenge, and in the ensuing battles through a series of locations in Japan and America, as chronicled in The Revenge of Shinobi, all but annihilates Neo Zeed. When Neo Zeed returns in Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, Musashi comes out of retirement one last time and destroys them for good.[3][4] In the arcade version of Shadow Dancer, Joe Musashi is replaced by a nameless new ninja and his canine companion as the game's protagonists. The ninja and his dog must disarm various time bombs spread across an unnamed metropolis that were planted by a terrorist group.[5] The game was remade for the Mega Drive/Genesis under the title Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi, with the protagonist's identity differing between regions. The Japanese version identifies him as Joe Musashi's estranged son Hayate (疾風),[6][7] while the English language manual identifies him as Joe Musashi himself coming out of retirement.[8] In the Master System game The Cyber Shinobi, Zeed has resurfaced once more, this time under the name of Cyber Zeed. A grandson of Joe Musashi must prevent them from threatening the world again. Shinobi Legions presents a different plotline. The shinobi is Sho, the youngest of two brothers raised by a lone ninja master. The elder brother becomes corrupted and abducts the master's daughter in search of the ultimate ninjitsu technique, and Sho has to prevent him from destroying the world. Neither Joe Musashi nor the Oboro clan are mentioned.[3] Following a seven-year hiatus in the series, the lead archetype returns in Shinobi for PlayStation 2 as Hotsuma, another member of the Oboro clan. In a similar theme to Shinobi Legions, the game starts with Hotsuma slaying his elder brother Moritsune during a full moon Oboro ritual. The main plot revolves around Hotsuma's battle to defeat a powerful sorcerer called Hiruko and put an end to anarchy in Tokyo. The game features Joe Musashi as a hidden character, as well as Moritsune himself (who appears in the game's storyline as an enemy named Aomizuchi).[3] In a break with tradition, Nightshade (Kunoichi in Japan) featured a female ninja named Hibana. Hotsuma appears as a hidden character, though it requires a completed Shinobi PS2 game save on the memory card to unlock him. Joe Musashi returns as he did in the PS2 Shinobi by completing 88 missions in the game.[3] The protagonist of the 3DS Shinobi 3D is Jiro Musashi, Joe's father. Gameplay The main weapons of Shinobi are the shuriken (or throwing knives), but over the course of the series the emphasis gradually shifted to a ninjato. One of the most important moves in the games is Shinobi's somersault, performed by tapping the jump-button a second time at the height of a jump. The somersault is used to leap onto high-places, perform trick jumps and use the hedgehog shuriken attack to wipe out several opponents at once. The ability to run was introduced in Shinobi III.[3] Another staple of the series are the four magical ninjitsu attacks Shinobi can use to kill their foes, or improve their own abilities. The four ninjitsu techniques are: Ikazuchi, Fushin, Kariu and Mijin. Another common feature of the early Shinobi games is the enemy AI, where enemies could duck behind boxes to reload their weapons after firing at Musashi, or hide behind boxes or shields to block Musashi's shurikens.[9][10] Each level in Shinobi is usually divided into two or three scenes, and the final scene is a battle against a powerful boss character. Standard Shinobi stages include bamboo forests, dojos, docksides, and industrial complexes filled with biological monstrosities. Timeline The following is a timeline of releases in the Shinobi series. Listed are the name of each game, the corresponding release date and the consoles for which they were developed/ported. Further below is a brief discussion of each release. For a more detailed examination of each game, click on the corresponding link in the timetable. No.     International title     Japanese title     Year     Game system 1.     Shinobi     Shinobi     1987     Arcade 1988     Master System 1989     Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MSX, IBM PC, PC Engine, NES 2009     Wii (Virtual Console), Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade) 2.     Shadow Dancer     Shadow Dancer     1989     Arcade 1991     Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Master System, ZX Spectrum 3.     The Revenge of Shinobi     The Super Shinobi     1989     Mega Drive/Genesis 2009     Wii (Virtual Console) 2012     PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Network), Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade), Windows (Steam) 4.     Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi     Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi     1990     Mega Drive/Genesis 2006     PlayStation 2, PSP (Sega Genesis Collection [A]) 2010     Windows (Steam) 5.     The Cyber Shinobi         1990     Master System 6.     Shinobi     The G.G. Shinobi     1991     Game Gear 2012     Nintendo 3DS (Virtual Console) 7.     Shinobi II: The Silent Fury     The G.G. Shinobi II     1992     Game Gear 8.     Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master     The Super Shinobi II     1993     Mega Drive/Genesis 2006     PlayStation 2, PSP (Sega Genesis Collection) 2007     Wii (Virtual Console) 2009     PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection) 2010     Windows (Steam) 2013     Nintendo 3DS (Virtual Console) 9.     Shinobi Legions [B]     Shin Shinobi Den     1995     Sega Saturn 10.     Shinobi     Shinobi     2002     PlayStation 2 2012     PlayStation Network 11.     Nightshade     Kunoichi     2003     PlayStation 2 12.     Shinobi     Shinobi 3D     2011     Nintendo 3DS 13.     Untitled Shinobi game     TBA     TBA     TBA Notes     A^ Unavailable in PAL regions.     B^ Released as Shinobi X in PAL regions. Series Shinobi (1987) Main article: Shinobi (1987 video game) Shinobi, the first game in the series, was released in 1987 for the arcades and ran on Sega's System 16 arcade hardware. Sega released a home conversion for the Master System, followed by licensed ports for the IBM PC, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and MSX, as well as the PC Engine (via Asmik) in Japan, and an unlicensed port by Tengen for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America. Shinobi introduced several novelties to traditional platform mechanics, such as sophisticated enemy AI and multiple layers in each level. Shadow Dancer (1989) Main article: Shadow Dancer (1989 video game) Shadow Dancer is the 1989 arcade sequel to the original Shinobi. It runs on Sega's System 18 arcade hardware. The plot follows an unnamed ninja and his canine companion who must disarm various bombs spread across a city and defeat the terrorist group responsible for planting them.[5] The Revenge of Shinobi (1989) Main article: The Revenge of Shinobi (1989 video game) In Japan it is known as The Super Shinobi. The debut of the ninja on the Mega Drive console, The Revenge of Shinobi was widely praised at the time of its release and long one of the most popular games on the Mega Drive and is regarded as the best entry in the series by many.[who?] Its soundtrack was written by composer Yuzo Koshiro.[3][11] Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi (1990) Main article: Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi The Mega Drive version of Shadow Dancer, titled Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi and is different game from the arcade original. The backstory differs between regional releases, giving the unnamed protagonist from the arcade version an identity - the Japanese version establishes him as Hayate, the estranged son of Joe Musashi; while the manuals for the English language versions claims that he is Joe Musashi himself. Although the basic gameplay is similar to the arcade version, little of the actual game content — from levels to character art — is the same.[12] The Cyber Shinobi (1990) Main article: The Cyber Shinobi The Cyber Shinobi was a Master System exclusive title, released as a follow-up to the Master System port of the original Shinobi. The Cyber Shinobi is notorious for being one of the worst games in the series. Since it is mentioned in the manual that the hero's grandfather defeated Neo Zeed, the Joe Musashi-character in this game appears to be the grandson of the original Joe Musashi.[3] The G.G. Shinobi (1991) Main article: The G.G. Shinobi The debut of Shinobi on the Game Gear system was titled Shinobi, though in Japan it was known as The GG Shinobi (The Game Gear Shinobi) and the game still carries this name internally in all regions. Its gameplay is largely reminiscent of The Revenge of Shinobi. In a take on the Japanese Super Sentai series, Shinobi revolves around the quest of five coloured ninjas (red, pink, blue, yellow and green) to bring down a powerful crime organization. The game starts with the player just controlling the red ninja and then freeing more and more of his compatriots as he progresses through each level. The soundtrack was once again composed by Yuzo Koshiro.[11][3] The G.G. Shinobi II: The Silent Fury (1992) Main article: The G.G. Shinobi II: The Silent Fury The Silent Fury (also The G.G. Shinobi II) is a direct sequel to the original The G.G. Shinobi game on Game Gear, and features much of the same gameplay mechanics as its predecessor. Both The G.G. Shinobi and The Silent Fury were Game Gear exclusive games. It was scored by Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima.[3][11] Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (1993) Main article: Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master Known as The Super Shinobi II in Japan, Shinobi III is regarded by many as the high point of the series[who?]. It introduced a much smoother, faster style of gameplay while keeping the series' familiar trademarks firmly intact. The game marked Musashi's last appearance in a Shinobi game until Shinobi was released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2. At least two known beta versions of Shinobi III are currently in circulation, featuring almost completely different levels from the final game. Shinobi Legions (1995) Main article: Shinobi Legions Shinobi Legions was the only Shinobi game developed for Sega Saturn, and the last sidescrolling title in the series until The Revenge of Shinobi on the Game Boy Advance. The gameplay is similar to that of Shinobi III but with many tweaks. The plot represented a break with the traditional storyline of the previous games, as it focuses on an entirely new character named Sho. Shinobi Legions uses live-action cutsequences between each round and digitized live actors in game sequences. Shinobi (2002) Main article: Shinobi (2002 video game) Shinobi debuted in the world of 3D gaming with Shinobi, only for PlayStation 2. It is the third game in the series to simply be called Shinobi. The story introduces a new member of Oboro clan called Hotsuma. Shinobi's gameplay is based upon a combo system called the tate-system, which produces a very fast and smooth style of play. However, even more so than other Shinobi titles, Shinobi is also noted for its extreme difficulty. Whenever Hotsuma dies, the player has to start the level all over again. Although this reboot of the franchise was generally well received by critics and fans alike, some of the bigger complaints waged against the game were for its average graphics, somewhat repetitive gameplay, and (as noted earlier) steep difficulty. Joe Musashi can be unlocked as a playable character after finishing the game. Nightshade (2003) Main article: Nightshade (2003 video game) The first game of the Shinobi series to feature a female lead, Nightshade is a continuation of 2002's Shinobi with differences to the gameplay. In Japan, the game is known as Kunoichi, the Japanese term to denote the female equivalent of Shinobi. Shinobi 3D (2011) Main article: Shinobi 3D Shinobi 3D was developed by Griptonite Games for the Nintendo 3DS. The game returned to the side-scrolling nature of earlier games and was released in November 2011.[13] It is the twelfth title in the series since the 1987 original arcade games.[14] Shinobi (TBD) A new Shinobi game featuring hand-drawn 2D animation was announced during The Game Awards presentation on December 7, 2023. No developer, platforms or release date were announced at the time.[15] Spin-off games In 1990, Sega released Alex Kidd in Shinobi World on Master System, a spoof of the original Shinobi game in which Alex Kidd takes the position of Joe Musashi. In the game, Alex Kidd has to rescue his girlfriend, a native of Shinobi World, from an evil ninja named Hanzo. A good ninja fuses into him and gives him his powers. Often related to the series is the handheld The Revenge of Shinobi game for Game Boy Advance, however, this game shares only the name and basic premise (ninja action) with other Shinobi titles. In other media A comic book series based on the game, written by Alan McKenzie and illustrated by Jon Haward, was published in the UK publication Sonic the Comic between 1993 and 1995, with four stories printed during its run.[16] In 2014, Sega and Hakuhodo DY formed the production company Stories International for feature film and TV projects based on their Shinobi games.[17] In April 2016, Marc Platt was assigned to produce a live action Shinobi movie through his production banner Marc Platt Productions along with Adam Siegel & Stories President and CEO, Tomoya Suzuki." (wikipedia.org) "Virtua Fighter 2 (Japanese: バーチャファイター2, Hepburn: Bācha Faitā Tsū) is a 1994 fighting video game developed by Sega. It is the sequel to Virtua Fighter (1993), and the second game in the Virtua Fighter series. It was created by Sega's Yu Suzuki-headed AM2 and was released for arcades in 1994. Ports were released for the Sega Saturn in 1995 and Microsoft Windows in 1997. Virtua Fighter 2 was critically acclaimed for its gameplay and breakthrough graphics; it introduced the use of texture-mapped 3D characters,[8] and was one of the first video games to use motion capture animation technology.[9] It became a major arcade hit, selling more than 40,000 arcade units worldwide,[10] and becoming one of Sega's best-selling arcade games of all time.[11] The Sega Saturn version was also well-received for its graphics and gameplay. It became a blockbuster hit in Japan and sold relatively well in other markets, selling more than 2 million units.[12] Gameplay Virtua Fighter 2 is a 3D 1v1 fighting game, similar in concept to other games of the series. Players select a character, and attempt to use that character to overcome a series of opponents. This can be done by simply knocking the other character out (by dealing enough damage), or by knocking them out of the square "ring" in which the fights take place. Each fight takes place over a number of rounds; typically 3 rounds in a best-of-3 approach (though this can be varied). The game is played with an eight-way stick to control character movement, and three buttons (guard, punch and kick), which are used in various motions to pull off a character's signature attacks. The arena size could be adjusted up to a very small platform or all the way to 82 meters (269 feet). This is the only game in the series—other than Virtua Fighter Remix—that could have such size adjustments. The physical energy meter could also be adjusted to infinity, giving the player the advantage when beating opponents or practicing moves against the computer player. Adjusting the arena to a smaller size and giving the characters infinite health could lead to mock sumo matches, wherein victory is achieved by knocking the other player's character out of the ring. Each character has their own fighting style, loosely based on various real-world fighting methods, such as wrestling or eastern styles. Characters each have many unique moves; however, like in the original Virtua Fighter, many of the characters share a number of moves with another character (for instance, Lau Chan and Pai Chan each practice similar forms of Kung Fu). In addition, the entire roster of characters shares certain moves and functions; for instance, every character has a basic throw that can be executed by pressing the guard and punch buttons simultaneously. The number and variety of attacks possessed by each character has also been expanded, including the addition of counter-attacks and the ability to prevent throws (with very quick reactions required on part of the player). All nine characters from the original Virtua Fighter are once again playable in Virtua Fighter 2. The sequel also adds two new characters: Shun Di, an old drunken fist master from China, and Lion Rafale, the French son of a rich businessman who uses praying mantis style kung fu. Additionally, Shun and Lion possess the unique ability to perform "axis strikes" in which they would move around the attacks of other characters, accentuating the game's 3D nature. Plot Virtua Fighter 2 presents no narrative in-game; there is no story-based intro sequence, no narrative character endings and very little text to supply much of a plot. However, the game was given a story in its supporting material, such as the manual for the Sega Saturn version. Virtua Fighter 2 hinges around a fighting tournament, where the greatest fighters in the world seek to compete for fame and glory. However, the tournament is organised by the sinister "J6" syndicate, who intend to use the information gathered to perfect their fighting cyborg "Dural" (the game's boss, who uses a move-set made up of other character's moves). Development Arcade version The game took Sega AM2 roughly 12 months to develop.[13] The game's head developer was Yu Suzuki. For Virtua Fighter 2, he wanted to introduce texture mapping to the characters, who lacked textures in the original game. However, the Sega Model 1 arcade system lacked texture mapping hardware, so the Sega Model 2 system was developed for the game. To render the game's texture-mapped characters, it cost $2 million ($4.1 million adjusted for inflation) to purchase a texture-mapping graphics processor from the military flight simulation firm Lockheed Martin. Suzuki convinced Sega to purchase the chip, which his team then adapted into a much cheaper processor for video game use in the Model 2 hardware.[14] The game made use of advanced motion capture animation, with similar technology to what was used in the healthcare and military industries, capable of magnetic motion capture to track head movements.[9] Other improvements over its predecessor include a framerate of 60 frames per second, new fighting arenas, two new characters, 500 new moves, and 1,200 motion patterns (compared to 700 patterns in the original).[15] In a 1995 interview, Suzuki said Virtua Fighter 2 was his favorite of all the games he had made, elaborating that he was particularly pleased with the way the polygonal graphics "added a sense of reality" to the characters' motions, and the addition of counterattacks.[16] The developers designed four new characters, only two of which, Lion and Shun, made it into the final game.[13] Saturn version At the beginning of 1995, Sega AM2's Sega Saturn division was split into three sub-departments, each one charged with porting a different arcade game to the Saturn: Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop, and Daytona USA. Due to unexpectedly slow progress in the Daytona USA port, a number of members of the Virtua Fighter 2 team were reassigned to Daytona USA. In March, AM2 Research completed the Sega Graphics Library, a Saturn operating system which made it feasible to create a near-arcade perfect port of Virtua Fighter 2 for the Saturn.[17][18] After completing the Daytona USA port in April, the team took a short holiday before beginning work on the Virtua Fighter 2 conversion in earnest.[18] In June, AM2 gave the first public demonstration of Saturn Virtua Fighter 2 at the Tokyo Toy Show. To increase confidence in the accuracy of the port, they displayed non-playable demos of the characters Lion, Shun, Pai and Lau running on the Saturn hardware at 60 frames per second - the same speed as the arcade version.[17] However, AM2 continued to face problems in creating an accurate port for the Saturn. Due to the high number of moves in Virtua Fighter 2, months had to be spent on developing compression techniques in order to fit all of the game's moves onto a single CD.[17] Also, in order to maintain the 60 frames per second, the Saturn version could not use nearly as many polygons as the arcade version. To make this difference less apparent, the programming team made use of texture mapping for the characters, taking advantage of the fact that the Saturn could map 16 different colors to each polygon, whereas the Model 2 arcade hardware could map only one color per polygon. In addition, the polygon background objects of the arcade version were replaced with parallax scrolling playfields with selective scaling.[17] The AM2 team also used data from Virtua Fighter Remix as a reference for some elements.[19] In an interview during development, Keiji Okayasu discussed the team's struggles with getting the Saturn version to run at 60 frames per second:     If we didn't have to consider the speed, we could do the conversion very quickly. But with so much data, we can only move slowly. With Virtua Fighter 1 we could use the arcade data for each technique with just a few changes, but with 2 there's just too much data. But we have done well, although how is a secret... I think we couldn't have made 2 if we hadn't made the first conversion - but it's just as tough! We owe a lot to the new SGL OS [Sega Graphics Library Operating System] software.[20] By the end of September, hit detection had been enabled, and the now fully playable conversion was displayed at the JAMMA show.[18] Taking into account audience reactions at the JAMMA show, the team spent the next two months on final adjustments, play-testing, and the addition of Saturn-specific options. Development on the port was completed in November 1995.[18] Release The original arcade game released for the Japanese market in November 1994.[21] It then released overseas for Europe in December 1994,[22] and North America in January 1995.[23][24] Virtua Fighter 2.1 is a revised version featuring re-tweaked gameplay, slightly enhanced graphics and the ability to play as a revamped Dural.[25] Though it was never released outside Japan,[26] it is possible to switch to the 2.1 gameplay mechanics in the Saturn and PC ports, as well as to play as Dural with a cheat code. This version was also released in the Sega Ages 2500 series. The Saturn port was scheduled for a December 1995 release in Europe, in time for the crucial Christmas shopping season, but it did not appear until the end of the following January.[27] A 2D remake was released for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1996.[28] In addition, Virtua Fighter 2 was converted for the PlayStation 2 in 2004 as part of Sega's Ages 2500 series in Japan. The Mega Drive/Genesis port was re-released on the PS2 and PSP in 2006 as part of Sega Genesis Collection, on the Virtual Console for the Wii on March 20, 2007 (Japan) and April 16, 2007 (North America), on December 15, 2022 on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, and for iOS on January 20, 2011. A port of the arcade version was released digitally for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in November 2012.[29] In Japan, a Virtua Fighter 2 "CG Portrait Series" of discs were released for the Saturn. Each of the 11 discs (one for each playable character) contains a slideshow of high-resolution CG stills of the character engaged in non-fighting activities such as playing pool or eating ice cream, backed by a Japanese pop song, as well as a karaoke mode.[30] Reception Arcade version In Japan, Game Machine listed Virtua Fighter 2 on their January 1, 1995 issue as being the most-successful arcade game of the month.[55] It went on to become Japan's highest-grossing arcade game for two years in a row, in 1995[51][56] and 1996.[57] In the United States, the game also generated high earnings upon release,[58] and went on to become one of America's top ten best-selling arcade video games of 1995.[59] As of 1996, over 40,000 arcade units were sold worldwide.[10] Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 2 became Sega's best-selling arcade games of all time, surpassing Out Run (1986).[11] Virtua Fighter 2 was critically acclaimed upon release. It used the Sega Model 2 arcade hardware to run the game at 60 frames per second at a high resolution with no slowdown (by comparison, the original Virtua Fighter ran at 30 frames per second).[60] Computer and Video Games gave the arcade game a positive review, praising the "stunning visuals" as "quite possibly the best graphics ever seen in a fully-playable arcade title," the "quality of the animation" where "you can certainly feel each blow when they connect and the character reels back" and the "more accessible" combos which "opens up the opportunity for a number of new sequences."[22] The magazine later called it "the greatest arcade game ever made" in December 1995.[33] Sega Saturn version Sega reported pre-orders of 1.5 million units for the Sega Saturn version of Virtua Fighter 2 in Japan, which is nearly as many of the number of Sega Saturns that had been sold in Japan at that point.[61] Upon its Japanese release, 700,000 copies were sold within two days.[62] It was the third best-selling home video game of 1995 in Japan, below Dragon Quest VI and Chrono Trigger.[63] Virtua Fighter 2 also became the top-selling game worldwide for the Sega Saturn, and remains the highest-selling Sega Saturn game in Japan with 1.7 million copies sold.[64] In the United States, the game was bundled with various Sega Saturn consoles for a while alongside Daytona USA and Virtua Cop, which helped boost the Sega Saturn's sales.[65] Virtua Fighter 2 sold more than 500,000 bundled copies in the United States by December 1996,[66][67] bringing total sales to more than 2.2 million units sold in Japan and the United States. The Sega Saturn port was critically acclaimed upon release. Next Generation gave the game a perfect 5/5 stars, calling it "the ultimate arcade translation" and "the best fighting game ever."[44] The magazine cited its "accurate representation of 10 very distinct and realistic fighting styles", "remarkable AI", and "a general attention to detail that sets a new mark for quality game design."[68] Sega Saturn Magazine gave the Sega Saturn version a 98%, citing the smooth frame rate, the realistically varied reactions to blows, the huge variety of moves, and the addition of features such as Team Battle Mode.[48] Similarly praising the variety of moves and the accuracy of the port, Game Revolution gave the Sega Saturn version an A and concluded that "Virtua Fighter 2 for the Saturn looks better and smoother than any other polygonal fighting game for the next generation systems. This just might be the best home console fighting game ever."[40] GamePro called it "the game to own if you have a Saturn", citing the authentic fighting styles and moves, the new modes, the realistic animations with strong attention to detail, and the easy to master controls. They gave it a perfect score in all four categories (graphics, sound, control, and FunFactor).[69] The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly felt the port was not as arcade perfect as it could have been, but highly praised the wealth of options and modes, with two of their reviewers declaring it by far the best fighting game on the Sega Saturn thus far.[35] Game Informer's Andy, Reiner and Paul praised Virtua Fighter 2 for its depth and variety, but criticized inferior background details in the Sega Saturn port, while Paul also felt that the original Virtua Fighter required more strategy.[38] Maximum described the port as "remarkably similar to its coin-op parent - a game that's running on hardware that's 20 times more expensive than the Sega Saturn." They particularly praised the high-resolution graphics, smooth frame rate, "breathtaking" variety of moves, and the numerous Sega Saturn-exclusive modes and options. With their one criticism being the very vulnerable opponent AI,[46] they gave it their "Maximum Game of the Month" award.[70] Retrospective feedback on the Sega Saturn version has continued to gather praise. GamesRadar ranked it the third-best Sega Saturn game, stating that "with Sonic sitting much of this generation out, is there a franchise more synonymous with the Sega Saturn than Virtua Fighter?" [71] 1UP described the Sega Saturn port as featuring "crisp, fast visuals and deeply nuanced game mechanics." They also claimed the game had aged well, unlike other fighters released around the time, such as the original Tekken.[72] IGN also ranked it as the second-best Sega Saturn game, saying that the game "stands head and shoulders above all 32-bit fighters. All of them."[73] Accolades Gamest Awards gave Virtua Fighter 2 the top awards for Game of the Year, Best Fighting Game, Best Graphics, and Most Popular Game.[51] Game Players magazine also awarded it Game of the Year.[52] GamePro awarded it Best Saturn Game of 1995.[53] The AMOA Awards nominated it for Most Innovative New Technology.[54] Virtua Fighter 2 was ranked as the 19th-best arcade game of the 1990s by Complex.[74] In 1996, GamesMaster rated the Sega Saturn version 2nd on their "The GamesMaster Saturn Top 10."[75] In the same issue, they also listed the game 13th in its "Top 100 Games of All Time."[76] It has also been listed as one of the best games of all time by Next Generation in 1996[77] and 1999,[78] IGN in 2003,[79] Famitsu in 2006,[80] Stuff in 2008,[81] and Electronic Gaming Monthly in 1997,[82][83] 2001,[84] and 2006.[85] Other versions GameSpot praised the game's realism, depth, and opponent AI, and the PC version's inclusion of online multiplayer. They deemed it "unquestionably the best fighting game on the PC, and certainly one of the finest fighting games of all time", adding that the PC version "rivals even the excellent Sega Saturn console port."[90] The PlayStation 2 port of the game was criticized for failing to be faithful to the original arcade version." (wikipedia.org) "Virtua Fighter[nb 1] is a series of fighting games created by Sega-AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original Virtua Fighter was released in December 1993[1] and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential first Virtua Fighter game is widely recognized as the first 3D fighting game released. Gameplay [icon]    This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2016) Similar to most other fighting games, the default gameplay system of the Virtua Fighter series involves two combatants needing to win two of three rounds, with each round being 30 seconds long or more. Combatants utilize various attacks in an attempt to deplete the other fighter's stamina gauge and deal a knockout (K.O.), winning a round. If a character is knocked out (or falls out) of the ring, their opponent wins the round in a Ring Out. An extra round is necessary if a double knockout (both players knocking each other out at the same time) occurs in a previous round and the match is tied one round each. In this round, players fight on a small stage wherein one hit is enough to knock the other out and achieve victory. The basic control scheme is simple, using only an 8-way control stick and three buttons (Punch, Kick, Guard). Through various timings, positions, and button combinations, players input normal and special moves for each character. This allows extensive lists of moves to exist for a given character within the limited control scheme. Traditionally, in the single-player mode, the player runs a gauntlet of characters in the game (which may include one's doppelgänger) all the way to the final boss. Virtua Fighter also owes its simplistic game design to a notable lack of secondary game mechanics, such as any special meters or other emergent elements present in the vast majority of modern fighting games. In addition, every playable character introduced throughout the Virtua Fighter series utilizes a fighting style heavily based in real-world martial arts. Although some creative liberties are taken for the effective execution of certain techniques and styles, the series features no supernatural powers and scarce few superhuman feats, creating a grounded and semi-realistic system of combat. ...Arcade fighting games The brainchild of Sega AM2's Yu Suzuki, Virtua Fighter was released in 1993 as an arcade game using hardware jointly developed by aerospace simulation technology by the company that is now known as Lockheed Martin and Sega's most prominent and well known studio AM2, originally crafted for the arcade system dubbed the Model 1.[5] It is considered the first polygon-based fighting game. It introduced the eight initial fighters as well as the boss, Dural. Sony developers have confirmed that the game inspired Sony to create the first PlayStation console and to focus more on 3D games, more so than the main competitor in Japan, the Sega Saturn. Virtua Fighter 2 was released in November 1994, adding two new fighters: Shun Di and Lion Rafale. It was built using the Model 2 hardware, rendering characters and backgrounds with filtered texture mapping and motion capture.[6] A slightly-tweaked upgrade, Virtua Fighter 2.1, followed soon after. Virtua Fighter 3 came out in 1996, with the introduction of Taka-Arashi and Aoi Umenokoji. Aside from improving the graphics via use of the Model 3 (such as mipmapping, multi-layer anti-aliasing, trilinear filtering and specular highlighting), the game also introduced undulations in some stages and a fourth button, Dodge. Virtua Fighter 3tb in 1997 was the first major update in series history, implementing tournament battles featuring more than two characters (though not simultaneously as in Tekken Tag Tournament). Virtua Fighter 4, which introduced Vanessa Lewis and Lei-Fei and removed Taka-Arashi, was released on the NAOMI 2 hardware in 2001 instead of hardware from a joint collaboration with Lockheed Martin. The game also removed the uneven battlegrounds and the Dodge button from the previous game. The title is consistently popular in its home arcade market. Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, released in 2002, was the first update to add new characters, these being Brad Burns and Goh Hinogami. Virtua Fighter 4: Final Tuned, an upgrade to Evolution, was released in the arcades in 2004. In Japan, Virtua Fighter 4 was famous for spearheading and opening the market for internet functionality in arcades. VF.NET started in Japan in 2001, and since companies have created their own arcade networks, E-Amusement by Konami, NESiCAxLive by Taito and Square Enix, and ALL.Net by Sega. Virtua Fighter 5 was released in Japan on July 12, 2006 for Sega's Lindbergh arcade board and introduced yet two more new characters, Eileen and El Blaze. Similar to its predecessor, two revisions were later released. Virtua Fighter 5 R, released on July 24, 2008, saw the return of Taka-Arashi while introducing a new fighter, Jean Kujo. Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown was released in arcades on July 29, 2010. Console fighting games The first Virtua Fighter game was ported to the Saturn in 1994 (1995 outside Japan), just months before fellow 3D-fighter Tekken was released. The console port, which was nearly identical to the arcade game, sold at a nearly 1:1 ratio with the Saturn hardware at launch.[7] The port of Virtua Fighter 2 on the Saturn for Christmas 1995 was considered faithful to the arcade original. While the game's 3D backgrounds were now rendered in 2D, resulting in some scenery such as the bridge in Shun Di's river stage being removed, the remainder of the game was kept intact. It became the top-selling Saturn game in Japan. Ports of the original Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 2 with enhanced graphics were also released for the PC. Virtua Fighter 2 was remade as a 2D fighter for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1996, omitting the characters Shun and Lion, and later re-released on the PlayStation 2 as a part of the Sega Ages series. Yakuza 5 was released in 2012 in Japan and in 2015 worldwide and features Virtua Fighter 2 as a mini-game. The only port of Virtua Fighter 3 was for the Sega Dreamcast by Genki (instead of AM2) with Virtua Fighter 3tb in 1998 for the Japanese release of the console. In a reverse of the usual development cycle for the series, an update of the original Virtua Fighter called Virtua Fighter Remix was released for the Saturn and later ported to the arcade. Virtua Fighter Mini, based on the anime series, was created for the Game Gear and released in North America and Europe as Virtua Fighter Animation. The game was later ported to the Master System by Tec Toy and released only in Brazil. Brazil itself was a market where the series was very popular.[8] Following Sega's exit from the hardware market in mid-2001, Virtua Fighter 4 was ported by Sega to the PlayStation 2 in 2002. Outside of a slight downgrade in graphics, the port of the game was considered well done. This port was followed by Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, an update that added two new characters as well as a host of game balancing tweaks, in 2003. Evolution was immediately released under the PlayStation 2's "Greatest Hits" label in the United States, which lowered its initial sticker price. With the 2003 PlayStation 2 release of Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution arriving in time for the series' tenth anniversary, a remake of Virtua Fighter, Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary, was released exclusively on the PlayStation 2. While the music, stages and low-polygon visual style were retained from the first game, the character roster, animations, mechanics and movesets were taken from Evolution. In the previous PS2 release of Virtua Fighter 4, a button code would make the player's character look like a VF1 model. In Japan, the game was included as part of a box set with a book titled Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary: Memory of a Decade and a DVD. The box set was released in November 2003 and was published by Enterbrain.[9] In North America, the game was included within the home version of Evolution, and in Europe it was only available as a promotional item; it was not sold at retail. A port of Virtua Fighter 5 was released for the PlayStation 3 in Japan and North America in February 2007, and March 2007 in Europe. The PlayStation 3 port is considered extremely faithful to the arcade original, due in part to the arcade hardware (based on Sega Lindbergh platform) and PlayStation 3 hardware sharing NVidia-provided GPUs of comparable capability. A port for the Xbox 360 was released in October 2007 in Japan and North America, and December 2007 in Europe, and contains the additions of online fighting via Xbox Live, improved graphics, and gameplay balances from the newer revision of the arcade game. For years, the designers have held strong on their refusal to add an online mode to console versions of the games; because the gameplay relies so much on timing, any lag would ruin the experience.[10] Eventually, with the Xbox 360 release of VF5, Sega decided to add online capabilities via Xbox Live. Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown was released as a downloadable title for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in June 2012, with online play available in both versions. An updated version of Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown named Version B was released in Japanese arcades in 2015. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life was released for PlayStation 4 in 2016 in Japan and 2018 worldwide and the game features Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown Version B as a mini-game, making the release of Yakuza 6 also the PlayStation 4 debut for the Virtua Fighter series. Spin-offs and adaptations Due to the success of Virtua Fighter 2, a super deformed version called Virtua Fighter Kids was released for the Sega Saturn and arcades in 1996. 1996 also saw the release of Fighters Megamix for the Sega Saturn, a crossover that pitted the cast of Virtua Fighter 2 against the cast of Fighting Vipers as well as other characters in AM2-developed games. Megamix served as a home preview to Virtua Fighter 3 in a few ways, as the game featured the dodge ability found in VF3 and the Virtua Fighter characters had their moves updated to those found in VF3. Some stages and music from VF3 are also in the game. The Virtua Fighter Kids versions of Akira and Sarah appear as hidden playable characters in the game; the character Siba, who was omitted from the first Virtua Fighter also appears as a hidden playable character. In 1996, AM2 began developing a Saturn RPG based on the series, titled Virtua Fighter RPG: Akira's Story, with Akira as the hero.[11] Development moved to the Dreamcast, the Virtua Fighter connection was dropped[12] and the game became Shenmue, released in 1999.[11] Virtua Quest, a simplified role-playing video game (which was also known as Virtua Fighter RPG) with new characters aimed at the children's market, was released for the GameCube in 2004 and the PlayStation 2 in 2005. The Virtua Fighters had their incarnations from Virtua Fighter 4. During the late 2000s, both Sega and Namco showed interest in a possible cross over between Virtua Fighter and Tekken.[13] This crossover would combine all the characters and fighting styles from both games, but any other inclusions are unknown at the moment. Prior to that, both franchises were represented as Mii Brawler costumes in the Nintendo crossover Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, in which Ryu from the Street Fighter series first playable too, whereas Akira himself (based on 10th Anniversary version) physically appeared in the sequel Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an assist trophy character where Kazuya Mishima from Tekken, including Ken Masters as Ryu's echo fighter first playable too. Other media A 35 episodes-long anime television series Virtua Fighter was produced by Tōkyō Movie Shinsha, originally airing on TV Tokyo between 1995 and 1996. In 1995, Shogakukan began publishing a Virtua Fighter 2 manga, with creative oversight from Sega AM2 to ensure the characters were portrayed consistently with their original vision.[14] The games' manga adaptation was written by Kyōichi Nanatsuki and illustrated by Yoshihide Fujiwara starting in 1997. In Japan, Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series, wherein each character in the series had their own Saturn CD showcasing various poses of the fighter, was released around the same time as well. People who collected all the discs could send in their proof of purchases to get a special Portrait CD of Dural. In 2014, Sega formed the production company Stories International for film and TV projects based on their games with Virtua Fighter as an animated project.[15][16] The first Virtua Fighter merchandise was a set of dolls of the first Virtua Fighter cast which Sega produced for their UFO Catchers (a model of claw crane). These proved so popular that supplies ran out almost immediately, so Sega made additional batches and began producing other Virtua Fighter merchandise to put in the UFO Catchers.[14] When these also proved successful, Sega realized that Virtua Fighter merchandise had mainstream potential, and began licensing the property to merchandise producers such as Bandai.[14] Sega has also released soundtrack CDs for the games, and even an album of original theme music for the characters called Dancing Shadows....In other games In Sega's music video game Project DIVA 2nd, Vocaloid Megurine Luka can obtain a Sarah Bryant outfit for gameplay. Jacky Bryant and Akira Yuki appear in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing as partners competing against other Sega characters in races. Akira Yuki, Sarah Bryant and Pai Chan, appear as guest characters in Tecmo Koei's Dead or Alive 5,[20][21] followed by Jacky Bryant in Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate. Akira Yuki, Pai Chan and Dural appear in the crossover RPG Project X Zone, which features characters from Capcom, Namco Bandai Games, and Sega. Akira Yuki, Pai Chan and Dural return in Project X Zone 2 along with Kage-Maru. In Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, Akira Yuki and Pai Chan appears as a playable guest boss where Akira is playable and Pai as assist, though they became regulars in the Ignition update. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mii Brawler costumes based on Jacky Bryant's modern appearance and Akira Yuki's first appearance were released as downloadable content. Akira would also appear in Ultimate as an assist trophy in his appearance in Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary (a polygonal form from the first game with both voice lines and a move set from Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution). Virtua Fighter 2, 2.1, 3, and Virtual Fighter 5: Final Showdown have been near fully-recreated within the Yakuza series of games, as both a playable game inside the in-game arcades and a separate 1 versus 1 multiplayer minigame.[22] Within the game files of Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Yakuza 6, a near full version of Virtua Fighter 5 exists.[1] Reception The original Virtua Fighter sold more than 40,000 arcade units worldwide by 1996,[23] with each unit costing between $15,000 (equivalent to $30,000 in 2022)[24] and £14,000 / $21,000 (equivalent to $43,000 in 2022).[25] Virtua Fighter 2 also sold more than 40,000 arcade units worldwide, adding up to more than 80,000 unit sales of both games by 1996.[26] Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 2 became Sega's best-selling arcade games of all time, surpassing Out Run (1986),[27] which itself had sold 30,000 arcade cabinets by 1994.[28] Virtua Fighter 3 sold a further 30,000 arcade cabinets by 1997,[29] adding up to 110,000 arcade unit sales for the three games combined by 1997. In 1994, Virtua Fighter was the year's highest-grossing arcade game in Japan,[30] one of the year's top five highest-grossing arcade video games in the United States,[31] and one of the year's most popular coin-ops in the United Kingdom.[24] In 1995, Virtua Fighter 2 was the year's highest-grossing arcade game in Japan,[32][33] and one of the year's top ten best-selling arcade games in the United States.[34][35] On the Sega Saturn, Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 2 combined together had sold more than 3 million copies worldwide by 1996.[26] Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter Remix sold a combined 1,067,036 copies in Japan.[36] Virtua Fighter 2 sold 1.7 million copies in Japan,[37] and more than 500,000 bundled copies in the United States,[38] for a combined 2.2 million copies sold in Japan and the United States. As of 2023, the franchise sales and free-to-play downloads combined totaled 18 million.[39] Legacy Virtua Fighter is often considered to be the grandfather of 3D fighting games, with each iteration being noted for advancing the graphical and technical aspects of games in the genre. Many 3D fighting game series such as Tekken and Dead or Alive were heavily influenced by Virtua Fighter, and the original Dead or Alive ran on the Model 2 hardware. 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.[5] Its arcade cabinets are kept at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, where Virtua Fighter is the only video game on permanent display.[40] In 1999, Next Generation listed the Virtua Fighter series as number 8 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, "Virtua Fighter is the most elegant fighting game ever created. With only two attack buttons, the game still offers an astonishingly wide range of martial art styles."[41] Virtua Fighter played a crucial role in popularizing 3D polygon graphics.[42][43][44][45] The success of the Virtua Fighter series resulted in Guinness World Records awarding the series seven world records in Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008, including "First Polygon Based Fighting Game", "First 3D Fighting Game", and "First Fighting Game for a 32-bit Console". 1UP listed Virtua Fighter as one of the 50 most important games of all time, crediting it for creating the 3D fighting game genre, and more generally, demonstrating the potential of 3D polygon human characters (as the first to implement them in a useful way), showing the potential of realistic gameplay (introducing a character physics system and realistic character animations for the time), and introducing fighting game concepts such as the ring-out and the block button.[43] Virtua Fighter 2 on the Sega Model 2 introduced the use of texture-mapped 3D characters,[46] and motion capture animation technology.[47] Virtua Fighter 3 on the Sega Model 3 further advanced real-time graphics technology, with Computer and Video Games in 1996 comparing it to CGI and referring to it as "the most astounding display of video game graphic muscle ever in the history of this industry."[48] In 1997, Next Generation stated that Virtua Fighter had supplanted Street Fighter as the premier fighting game series.[49] Some of the Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) staff involved in the creation of the original PlayStation video game console credit Virtua Fighter as inspiration for the PlayStation's 3D graphics hardware. According to SCE's Shigeo Maruyama, the PlayStation was originally being considered as a 2D-focused hardware, and it was not until the release of Virtua Fighter that they decided to design the PlayStation as a 3D-focused hardware.[50] Toby Gard also cited Virtua Fighter as an influence on the use of polygonal characters in Tomb Raider and the creation of Lara Croft.[51] John Romero also cited Virtua Fighter as a major influence on the creation of 3D first-person shooter Quake.[52][53] Team Ico's Fumito Ueda also cited Virtua Fighter as an influence on his animation work.[54] A late 1995 article in Next Generation declared that "The Virtua Fighter series has been, and will continue to be, the yardstick by which all next generation arcade and console fighting games will be measured for a long time coming."[55] According to Eurogamer: "One of Yu Suzuki's most enduring creations once christened every round of new arcade hardware, was a pioneer in 3D graphics and helped establish online fighting. All the while, beneath those achievements emerged a game of exceptional depth and nuance."[56] 1UP.com opined: "Due to its innovation, Virtua Fighter not only influenced competitors' games -- it basically created a genre. Technically, every 3D fighter that came after it owes Virtua Fighter for establishing that a 3D fighter could work. Even today, Tekken still takes inspiration from Sega's series."[57] Game Informer's Andy McNamara wrote: "It has always been my opinion that the Virtua Fighter series is the most intense and balanced of all the 3D fighters on the market. Its control scheme is intuitive, its pacing perfect, and its depth unmatched."[58] in 2006, IGN ranked Virtua Fighter as the 25th greatest game series of all time, explaining that "no other 3D fighter has equaled VF in terms of difficulty and depth." (wikipedia.org) "A handheld TV game or plug and play game is an integrated home video game console and game controller, usually battery powered, which connects directly to a television. The game software is built directly into the unit, which is typically designed to look like a toy or classic game console controller with the addition of a composite video cable to connect the unit. These systems usually contain either a collection of classic games or original games based on licensed properties. Because the game software is integrated into the game unit and almost never designed to be changed by the user, these game systems are typically marketed as electronic toys or collectibles rather than game consoles. Several manufacturers produced these devices beginning in the 1990s, though the concept became best known with the release in 2002 of Jakks Pacific's Atari Classic 10-in-1 TV. Most manufacturers have their own trademarked names for these systems, such as Radica's Play TV or Majesco's TV Arcade; however, most retailers refer to them as "TV games" or "plug and play" games. History From the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, three things happened: the retro game movement started to gain momentum, the price of system on a chip technology fell dramatically, and car television sets became popular. Several unlicensed family games, such as the TV Boy, were produced. These factors led to manufacturers officially licensing classic games. The first TV games include collections of classic games; one of the earliest is the Toymax Activision 10-in-1, released in 2001. The first TV games contain collections of classic games, and many manufacturers started incorporating original content and controls. Jakks Pacific reached licensing deals with Disney, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and others. Criticism that video games were contributing to obesity in children led to the development of TV games with motion controls such as the Play TV series, including Play TV Baseball, Play TV Football, and Play TV Barbie Dance Craze in 2003. In 2004, Tiger Electronics created paintball and a The Lord of the Rings sword-fighting game, using a toy sword as the controller. In that year, Radica started producing collections of Sega games, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Columns, and Gain Ground. The C64 Direct-to-TV was released in 2004 by Toy:Lobster and Mammoth Toys with a copy of the Commodore 64 operating system and a virtual keyboard as a hidden extra. In 2005, Jakks Pacific produced original game content for the new Star Wars and Fantastic Four films, and Tiger produced a Jedi lightsaber fighting game using a lightsaber as the controller. In 2005, Milton Bradley started producing TV game versions of Whack-a-Mole and Miniature Golf." (wikipedia.org) "AtGames Cloud Holdings Inc. (formerly AtGames Digital Media Inc.) is an American[1] video game and console manufacturer, known for their Legends Ultimate Arcade and the creator of the connected arcade.[3][4] Since 2011, they have produced and marketed the Atari-licensed dedicated home video game console series Atari Flashback under license from Atari.[5] Additionally, AtGames has produced ColecoVision and Intellivision Flashback consoles, and has worked with Sega on multiple different handhelds and retro consoles. History In August 2014, GameFly announced on its website that AtGames had acquired its online games distribution service.[6] AtGames relaunched this service under the name Direct2Drive in late 2014.[7] In December 2014, AtGames purchased the IP to Calxeda through its subsidiary Silver Lining Systems,[8] and was using the acquired technology to build fabric interconnects for A1100-powered servers as of January 2016. In August 2019, AtGames acquired the royalty interest owed to General Computer Corporation (GCC) for Ms. Pac-Man.[10] In January 2020, AtGames announced a partnership with Taito.[11] In June 2020, AtGames announced a partnership with FarSight Studios in which 22 Gottlieb pinball tables from their Pinball Arcade video game would be ported over to AtGames' newest flagship, the AtGames Legends Pinball (ALP) machine.[citation needed] Since then, AtGames has continued its Legends line by adding consoles with arcade control decks (Legends Gamer, Core, and Legends Core Max) as well as their AtGames Legends Ultimate Mini (ALU Mini) and most recently, the AtGames Legends Pinball Micro (ALP Micro). A miniature version of the full size ALP. AtGames has expanded the capabilities of these devices by adding more accessories, like the QuadPlay, a four-player control deck for the ALU. AtGames has also partnered with Magic Pixel Studios to port over their Zaccaria digital pinball tables as well as to develop new pinball tables taken from various intellectual properties. Products AtGames Legends Ultimate Arcade AtGames Legends Ultimate Arcade Starting in 2018, AtGames has released HDMI dongle "Mini Console Sticks", bundled with Sega Genesis-like controllers dubbed "Flashback Blast!" These consoles contain multiple games from different companies, such as Bandai Namco, Atari and Taito.[12] Starting in 2019, the consoles included games licensed from Disney including Tron, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, and the Star Wars games.[13] In November 2019, AtGames released the 66-inch tall Legends Ultimate arcade cabinet,[3] featuring 350 built-in licensed arcade games on a 24-inch HD screen.[14] In December 2019, AtGames announced its ArcadeNet service, offering games on demand for streaming, download, and purchase on the Legends Ultimate arcade platform.[15][16][17] In August 2020, AtGames announced that the Legends Ultimate 1.1 would hit retail on August 31, 2020,[18] featuring a library of 300 arcade titles from Atari, Data East, Jaleco, The Tetris Company, and Disney.[18] In September 2020, AtGames announced the Legends Gamer series of wireless arcade controllers, including the Legends Gamer Mini, Legends Gamer and Legends Gamer Pro.[19] The Legends Gamer Mini comes with 100 classic arcade and home video games, while the Legends Gamer and Legends Gamer Pro come with 150 classic arcade and home video games including titles from Disney, Taito, and The Tetris Company.[20] Controversies In 2018, AtGames sent an incorrect version of its Bandai Namco Flashback plug-and-play console to reviewers. The review copy contained authentic emulated arcade ROMs while the released version contained NES versions, which were considerable downgrades and did not match the review copies.[21] In 2019, AtGames acquired the royalties owed to GCC. AtGames had initially approached the GCC group members about licensing Ms. Pac-Man for potential products. Bandai Namco filed a lawsuit against AtGames alleging that AtGames misrepresented itself as licensed to make Ms. Pac-Man products, and created Ms. Pac-Man mini-cabinets under those claims. The suit also alleged unfair competition, false advertising, and copyright infringement.[22] The case was ultimately dismissed on October 27, 2020. Beginning with the 2022 Arcade Archives release of Pac-Land in Arcade Archives, the Ms. Pac-Man character has been removed from games that previously featured her." (wikipedia.org) "The Sega Genesis, also known as the Mega Drive[b] outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as the Mega Drive, and in 1989 in North America as the Genesis. In 1990, it was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, Ozisoft in Australasia, and Tectoy in Brazil. In South Korea, it was distributed by Samsung Electronics as the Super Gam*Boy and later the Super Aladdin Boy.[c] Designed by an R&D team supervised by Hideki Sato and Masami Ishikawa, the Genesis was adapted from Sega's System 16 arcade board, centered on a Motorola 68000 processor as the CPU, a Zilog Z80 as a sound controller, and a video system supporting hardware sprites, tiles, and scrolling. It plays a library of more than 900 games on ROM-based cartridges. Several add-ons were released, including a Power Base Converter to play Master System games. It was released in several different versions, some created by third parties. Sega created two network services to support the Genesis: Sega Meganet and Sega Channel. In Japan, the Mega Drive fared poorly against its two main competitors, Nintendo's Super Famicom and NEC's PC Engine, but it achieved considerable success in North America, Brazil, and Europe. Contributing to its success was its library of arcade game ports, the popularity of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series, several popular sports franchises, and aggressive youth marketing that positioned it as the cool console for adolescents. The 1991 North American release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System triggered a fierce battle for market share in the United States and Europe known as the "console war".[4][5] This drew attention to the video game industry, and the Genesis and several of its games attracted legal scrutiny on matters involving reverse engineering and video game violence. Controversy surrounding violent games such as Night Trap and Mortal Kombat led Sega to create the Videogame Rating Council, a predecessor to the Entertainment Software Rating Board. 30.75 million first-party Genesis units were sold worldwide. In addition, Tectoy sold an estimated 3 million licensed variants in Brazil, Majesco projected it would sell 1.5 million licensed variants of the system in the United States and smaller numbers were sold by Samsung in South Korea. By the mid-2010s, licensed third-party Genesis rereleases were still being sold by AtGames in North America and Europe. Many games have been re-released in compilations or on online services such as the Nintendo Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam. The Genesis was succeeded in 1994 by the Sega Saturn. History Further information: History of video games Development The Japanese Mega Drive logo In the early 1980s, Sega Enterprises, Inc. – then a subsidiary of Gulf+Western – was one of the top five arcade game manufacturers active in the United States, as company revenues surpassed $200 million between July 1981 and June 1982.[6] A downturn in the arcade business starting in 1982 seriously hurt the company, leading Gulf+Western to sell its North American arcade manufacturing organization and the licensing rights for its arcade games to Bally Manufacturing.[7][8] The company retained Sega's North American R&D operation, as well as its Japanese subsidiary, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. With its arcade business in decline, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. president Hayao Nakayama advocated that the company leverage its hardware expertise to move into the home console market in Japan, which was in its infancy at the time.[9] Nakayama received permission to proceed with this project, leading to the release of Sega's first home video game system, the SG-1000, in July 1983.[10] While it had sold 160,000 units in Japan, far exceeding Sega's expectations,[11][12] sales at stores were dominated by Nintendo's Famicom which had been released the same day. Sega estimated that the Famicom outsold the SG-1000 by a 10-to-1 margin.[10] The SG-1000 was replaced by the Sega Mark III within two years.[13] In the meantime, Gulf+Western began to divest itself of its non-core businesses after the death of company founder Charles Bluhdorn,[14] so Nakayama and former Sega CEO David Rosen arranged a management buyout of the Japanese subsidiary in 1984 with financial backing from CSK Corporation, a prominent Japanese software company. Nakayama was then installed as CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd.[15] In 1986, Sega redesigned the Mark III for release in North America as the Master System. This was followed by a European release the next year. Although the Master System was a success in Europe, and later in Brazil, it failed to ignite significant interest in the Japanese or North American markets, which, by the mid-to-late 1980s, were both dominated by Nintendo.[16][17][18] With Sega continuing to have difficulty penetrating the home market, Sega's console R&D team, led by Masami Ishikawa and supervised by Hideki Sato,[19] began work on a successor to the Master System almost immediately after that console launched.[20][21] In 1987, Sega faced another threat to its console business when Japanese computer giant NEC released the PC Engine amid great publicity.[22] To remain competitive against the two more established consumer electronics companies, Ishikawa and his team decided they needed to incorporate a 16-bit microprocessor into their new system to make an impact in the marketplace and once again turned to Sega's strengths in the arcade industry to adapt the successful Sega System 16 arcade board into architecture for a home console.[21][23] The decision to use a Motorola 68000 as the system's main CPU was made late in development, while a Zilog Z80 was used as a secondary CPU to handle the sound due to fears that the load to the main CPU would be too great if it handled both the visuals and the audio.[21] The 68000 chip was expensive and would have driven the retail price of the console up greatly, but Sega was able to negotiate with a distributor for a tenth of its price on an up-front volume order with the promise of more orders pending the console's future success.[10] The appearance of the Mega Drive was designed by a team led by Mitsushige Shiraiwa that drew inspiration from audiophile equipment and automobiles. Shiraiwa said this more mature look helped to target the Mega Drive to all ages, unlike the Famicom, which was aimed primarily at children.[24] According to Sato, the Japanese design for the Mega Drive was based on the appearance of an audio player, with "16-bit" embossed in a golden metallic veneer to create an impression of power.[12] The console was announced in the June 1988 issue of the Japanese gaming magazine Beep! as the Mark V, but Sega management wanted a stronger name. After reviewing more than 300 proposals, the company settled on "Mega Drive". In North America, the name was changed to "Genesis".[23] Rosen said he insisted on the name as he disliked "Mega Drive" and wanted to represent "a new beginning" for Sega.[25] Sato said some design elements changed, such as the gold "16-bit" wording, in case it was mistaken for yellow. He believed the changes represented different Japanese and American cultural values.[12] Launch Sega released the Mega Drive in Japan on October 29, 1988, though the launch was overshadowed by Nintendo's release of Super Mario Bros. 3 a week earlier. Positive coverage from magazines Famitsu and Beep! helped to establish a following.[23] Within two days of release, the console's initial production run sold out.[26] However, Sega only managed to ship 400,000 units in the first year. In order to increase sales, Sega released various peripherals and games, including an online banking system and answering machine called the Sega Mega Anser.[23] Nevertheless, the Mega Drive was unable to overtake the venerable Famicom[27] and remained a distant third in Japan behind Nintendo's Super Famicom and NEC's PC Engine throughout the 16-bit era.[28] Sega announced a North American release date for the system on January 9, 1989.[29] At the time, Sega did not possess a North American sales and marketing organization and was distributing its Master System through Tonka. Dissatisfied with Tonka's performance, Sega looked for a new partner to market the Genesis in North America and offered the rights to Atari Corporation, which did not yet have a 16-bit system. David Rosen made the proposal to Atari CEO Jack Tramiel and the president of Atari's Entertainment Electronics Division, Michael Katz. Tramiel declined to acquire the new console, deeming it too expensive, and instead opted to focus on the Atari ST. Sega decided to launch the console through its own Sega of America subsidiary, which executed a limited launch on August 14, 1989, in New York City and Los Angeles. The Genesis was released in the rest of North America later that year.[30] The European version of the Mega Drive was released in September 1990,[31] at a price of £189.99,[32][33] i.e. $337 (equivalent to $703 in 2022). The release was handled by Virgin Mastertronic, which was later purchased by Sega in 1991 and became Sega of Europe.[34] Games like Space Harrier II, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Golden Axe,[33] Super Thunder Blade, and The Revenge of Shinobi were available in stores at launch. The console was also bundled with Altered Beast.[32] The Mega Drive and its first batch of games were shown at the 1990 European Computer Entertainment Show (ECES) in Earl's Court.[35] Between July and August 1990, Virgin initially placed their order for 20,000 Mega Drive units. However, the company increased the order by 10,000 units when advanced orders had exceeded expectations, and another 10,000 units was later added following the console's success at the ECES event. The projected number of units to be sold between September and December 1990 had eventually increased to 40,000 units in the United Kingdom alone.[36] Other companies assisted in distributing the console to various countries worldwide. Ozisoft handled the Mega Drive's launch and marketing in Australia, as it had done before with the Master System.[37] In Brazil, the Mega Drive was released by Tectoy in 1990,[38] only a year after the Brazilian release of the Master System. Tectoy produced games exclusively for the Brazilian market and brought the Sega Meganet online service there in 1995.[39] Samsung handled sales and distribution in Korea, where it was named Super Gam*Boy and retained the Mega Drive logo alongside the Samsung name.[40] It was later renamed Super Aladdin Boy.[41] In India, Sega entered a distribution deal with Shaw Wallace in April 1994[42] in order to circumvent an 80% import tariff, with each unit selling for INR₹18,000.[43][44] In Russia, Sega officially licensed the console to local distributor Forrus in 1994,[45] replaced in 1996 by Bitman. That year, the video game console market generated between $200,000,000 (equivalent to $384,000,000 in 2022) and $250,000,000 (equivalent to $480,000,000 in 2022) in Russia, with Sega accounting for half of all console sales in the country. However, only about 15% of the sales were official Sega units distributed by Bitman, while the rest were unofficial counterfeit clones.[46][47] North American sales and marketing For the North American market, former Atari Corporation Entertainment Electronics Division president and new Sega of America CEO Michael Katz instituted a two-part approach to build sales. The first part involved a marketing campaign to challenge Nintendo head-on and emphasize the more arcade-like experience available on the Genesis,[48] with slogans including "Genesis does what Nintendon't".[23] Since Nintendo owned the console rights to most arcade games of the time, the second part involved creating a library of recognizable games which used the names and likenesses of celebrities and athletes, such as Pat Riley Basketball, Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf, James 'Buster' Douglas Knockout Boxing, Joe Montana Football, Tommy Lasorda Baseball, Mario Lemieux Hockey, and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker.[22][49] Nonetheless, Sega struggled to overcome Nintendo's presence in consumers' homes.[50] Tasked by Nakayama to sell one million units within the first year, Katz and Sega of America sold only 500,000.[23] At the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (Winter CES) in January 1990, the Sega Genesis demonstrated a strong line-up of games which received a positive reception for approaching arcade-quality graphics and gameplay as well as for providing non-arcade experiences such as Phantasy Star II.[51] In mid-1990, Nakayama hired Tom Kalinske to replace Katz as CEO of Sega of America. Although Kalinske knew little about the video game market, he surrounded himself with industry-savvy advisors. A believer in the razor and blades model, he developed a four-point plan: cut the price of the console, create an American team to develop games targeted at the American market, expand the aggressive advertising campaigns, and replace the bundled game Altered Beast with a new game, Sonic the Hedgehog.[50] The Japanese board of directors initially disapproved of the plan,[52] but all four points were approved by Nakayama, who told Kalinske, "I hired you to make the decisions for Europe and the Americas, so go ahead and do it."[23] Critics praised Sonic as one of the greatest games yet made, and Genesis sales increased as customers who had been waiting for the release of the international version of Nintendo's Super Famicom, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), decided to purchase a Genesis instead.[50] The SNES debuted against an established competitor, while NEC's TurboGrafx-16 failed to gain traction, and NEC soon pulled out of the market.[53] In large part due to the popularity of Sonic the Hedgehog, the Genesis outsold the SNES in the United States nearly two to one during the 1991 holiday season. Sega controlled 65% of the 16-bit console market in January 1992, the first time Nintendo had not been the console leader since 1985.[54] The Genesis outsold the SNES for four consecutive Christmas seasons[55] due to its two-year lead, lower price point, and larger game library compared to the SNES at its release.[56] Sega had ten games for every game on SNES, and while the SNES had an exclusive version of Final Fight, one of Sega's internal development teams created Streets of Rage, which had bigger levels, tougher enemies, and a well-regarded soundtrack.[56] ASCII Entertainment reported in early 1993 that Genesis had 250 games versus 75 for the SNES, but limited shelf space meant that stores typically offered 100 Genesis and 50 SNES games. The NES was still the leader, with 300 games and 100 on shelves.[57] Sega's advertising positioned the Genesis as the cooler console,[56] and coined the term blast processing, an obscure and unused graphics programming method, to suggest that its processing capabilities were far greater than those of the SNES.[58][59] A Sony focus group found that teenage boys would not admit to owning an SNES rather than a Genesis.[60] With the Genesis often outselling the SNES at a ratio of 2:1,[61] Nintendo and Sega focused heavily on impression management of the market, even going to the point of deception; Nintendo claimed it had sold more consoles in 1991 than it actually had, and forecasted it would sell 6 million consoles by the end of 1992, while its actual U.S. install base at the end of 1992 was only just more than 4 million units.[62] Due to these tactics, it was difficult to ascertain a clear leader in market share for several years at a time, with Nintendo's dollar share of the U.S. 16-bit market dipping down from 60% at the end of 1992 to 37% at the end of 1993,[63] Sega claiming 55% of all 16-bit hardware sales during 1994,[64] and Donkey Kong Country helping the SNES to outsell the Genesis from 1995 through 1997.[55][65][66][67][68] According to a 2004 study of NPD sales data, the Genesis maintained its lead over the Super NES in the American 16-bit console market.[69] However, according to a 2014 Wedbush Securities report based on revised NPD sales data, the SNES outsold the Sega Genesis in the U.S. market by 1.5 million units.[70] Electronic Arts To compete with Nintendo, Sega was more open to new types of games, but still tightly controlled the approval process for third-party games and charged high prices for cartridge manufacturing.[71] The American publisher Electronic Arts (EA) sought a better deal, but met resistance from Sega.[72] They decided to reverse-engineer the Genesis, using a clean-room method similar to the method Phoenix Technologies had used to reverse-engineer the IBM Personal Computer BIOS around 1984.[73] The process began in 1989, led by Steve Hayes and Jim Nitchals.[74] They created a controlled room in EA headquarters nicknamed "Chernobyl", to which only one person was allowed access, Mike Schwartz. Schwartz reviewed Sega's copyrighted development manuals and tools, studied the Genesis hardware and games, and wrote original documentation that summarized his findings. The process took him about a month.[72] His work was reviewed by EA's lawyers before being disseminated to Hayes and Nitchals to verify its originality, and subsequently to the rest of the developers to let them build games.[73] After a few months, EA began developing for the Genesis in earnest.[72] The EA founder, Trip Hawkins, confronted Nakayama the day before the 1990 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), informing him that EA had the ability to run its own licensing program if Sega refused to meet its demands. Sega relented, and the next day EA's upcoming Genesis games were showcased at CES.[72] EA signed what Hawkins described as "a very unusual and much more enlightened license agreement" with Sega in June 1990: "Among other things, we had the right to make as many titles as we wanted. We could approve our own titles ... the royalty rates were a lot more reasonable. We also had more direct control over manufacturing."[74] After the deal was in place, EA chief creative officer Bing Gordon learned that "we hadn't figured out all the workarounds" and "Sega still had the ability to lock us out ... It just would have been a public relations fiasco."[72] EA released its first Genesis games, Populous and Budokan: The Martial Spirit, within the month.[74] The first Genesis version of EA's John Madden Football arrived before the end of 1990,[74] and became what Gordon called a "killer app".[72] Taking advantage of the licensing agreement, Gordon and EA's vice president of marketing services, Nancy Fong, created a visual identifier for EA's Genesis cartridges: a yellow tab molded into the casing....Library See also: List of Sega Genesis games A screenshot of Sonic the Hedgehog, taken from its first level, Green Hill Zone The Genesis library was initially modest, but eventually grew to contain games to appeal to all types of players. The initial pack-in game was Altered Beast, which was replaced with Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991.[23] Top sellers included Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Disney's Aladdin.[137] Sega Enterprises focused on developing action games, while Sega of America was tasked with developing sports games. A large part of the appeal of the Genesis library was the arcade-based experience of its games, as well as more difficult entries such as Ecco the Dolphin, and sports games such as Joe Montana Football.[23] Compared to its competition, Sega advertised to an older audience by hosting more mature games, including the uncensored version of Mortal Kombat.[23] The arcade hit Street Fighter II by Capcom was initially released on the SNES. As the Genesis continued to grow in popularity, Capcom released a Genesis version, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition,[138] which sold more than a million copies.[139] One of the biggest third-party companies to support the Genesis early on was Electronic Arts. Trip Hawkins, founder and then president of EA, believed the faster drawing speed of the Genesis made it more suitable for sport games than the SNES, and credits EA's success on the Genesis for helping catapult the EA Sports brand.[140] Another third-party blockbuster for the system was the port of Mortal Kombat. Although the arcade game was released on the SNES and Genesis simultaneously, the two ports were not identical. The SNES version looked closer to the arcade game, but the Genesis version allowed players to bypass censorship, helping make it more popular.[141] In 1997, Sega of America claimed the Genesis had a software attach rate of 16 games sold per console, double that of the SNES....Reception At the time of its release, the Genesis received positive reviews. Andy Storer of New Computer Express praised the console's responsive controls and graphics, and said the Genesis was "straight out of the future".[202] Similarly, Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) in a 1989 preview of the console spoke highly of the system's hardware but questioned Sega's ability to support the console given their difficulties with the Master System.[203] New Computer Express called the Genesis "the [console] to have" in 1990, rating it 5 out of 5 stars while predicting the console would lead the market.[204] In the same year, EGM complemented how well the Genesis' games took advantage of the console's hardware, but expressed concern about the slow pace of new releases of games, with four reviewers scoring the console 9, 8, 8, and 10 out of 10.[205] Reviewing the Genesis in 1995, Game Players noted that its rivalry with the Super NES was skewed by genre, with the Genesis having superior sports games and the Super NES superior RPGs. Commenting that the Genesis hardware was aging and the new software drying up, they recommended consumers buy a next-generation system or a Genesis Nomad instead, but also advised those who already owned a Genesis to not sell it.[206] In a 1997 year-end review, a team of five EGM editors gave the Genesis scores of 4.5, 5.0, 4.0, 4.5, and 7.5 – for all five editors, the lowest score they gave to any of the five consoles reviewed in the issue. While their chief criticisms were the lack of upcoming game releases and dated hardware, they also concurred that the Genesis was clearly inferior to the Super NES in terms of graphics capabilities, sound chip, and games library. John Ricciardi, in particular, considered the Genesis overrated, saying he had consistently found more enjoyment in both the Super NES and TurboGrafx-16, while Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer recommended it based on its selection of classic titles and the high value-for-money of the six pack-in games Sega was offering at the time.[207] Legacy The Genesis has often ranked among the best video game consoles. In 2009, IGN named it the fifth best video game console, citing its edge in sports games and better home version of Mortal Kombat, and lauding "what some consider to be the greatest controller ever created: the six button".[208] In 2007, GameTrailers named the Genesis as the sixth best console of all time in their list of top ten consoles that "left their mark on the history of gaming", noting its great games and solid controller, and writing of the "glory days" of Sonic the Hedgehog.[209] In January 2008, technology columnist Don Reisinger proclaimed that the Genesis "created the industry's best console war to date", citing Sonic the Hedgehog, superior sports games, and backward compatibility with the Sega Master System.[210] In 2008, GamingExcellence ranked it sixth of the 10 best consoles, declaring, "one can truly see the Genesis for the gaming milestone it was."[211] At the same time, GameDaily rated it ninth of ten for its memorable games.[212] In 2014, USgamer's Jeremy Parish wrote, "If the Atari generation introduced video games as a short-lived '70s fad ... and the NES generation established it into an enduring obsession for the young, Sega's Genesis began pushing the medium toward something resembling its contemporary form", expounding that the system served as "the key incubator for modern sports franchises", made "consoles truly international" by providing Western third-parties previously put at a disadvantage by Nintendo's restrictive licensing policies with a more profitable alternative, created "an online subscription service" that foreshadowed "PlayStation Plus more than 15 years early" with the Sega Channel, and "played a key role in ensuring the vitality and future of the games industry by breaking Nintendo's near-monopolistic hold on the U.S. and awakening the U.K. to the merits of television gaming".[213] For his part, Kalinske highlighted Sega's role in developing games for an older demographic and pioneering "the concept of the 'street date'" with the simultaneous North American and European release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.[214][215] John Sczepaniak of Retro Gamer noted, "It was a system where the allure was born not only of the hardware and games, but the magazines, playground arguments, climate, and politics of the time."[23] Sega of America's marketing campaign for the Genesis was widely emulated, influencing marketing in the subsequent generation of consoles." (wikipedia.org) "Sega Corporation[a] is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California, and London. Its division for the development of both arcade games and home video games, Sega Games, has existed in its current state since 2020; from 2015 to that point, the two had made up separate entities known as Sega Games and Sega Interactive Co., Ltd. Sega is a subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings. From 1983 until 2001, Sega had also developed video game consoles. Sega was founded by American businessmen Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart as Nihon Goraku Bussan[b] on June 3, 1960. Shortly after, the company acquired the assets of its predecessor, Service Games of Japan. In 1965, it became known as Sega Enterprises, Ltd., after acquiring Rosen Enterprises, an importer of coin-operated games. Sega developed its first coin-operated game, Periscope, in 1966. Sega was sold to Gulf and Western Industries in 1969. Following a downturn in the arcade business in the early 1980s, Sega began to develop video game consoles, starting with the SG-1000 and Master System, but struggled against competitors such as the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1984, Sega executives David Rosen and Hayao Nakayama led a management buyout, with backing from CSK Corporation. In 1988, Sega released the Mega Drive (known as the Genesis in North America). The Mega Drive struggled against competition in Japan, but the Genesis found success overseas after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 and briefly outsold its main competitor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, in the US. Later in the decade, Sega suffered several commercial failures such as the 32X, Saturn and Dreamcast consoles. In 2001, Sega stopped manufacturing consoles to become a third-party developer and publisher, and was acquired by Sammy Corporation in 2004. In the years since, Sega has been more profitable. Sega Holdings Co. Ltd. was established in 2015; Sega Corporation was renamed Sega Games Co., Ltd., and its arcade, entertainment and toy divisions separated into other companies. In 2020, Sega Games and Sega Interactive merged and were renamed Sega Corporation. Sega has produced several multi-million-selling game franchises, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Total War, and Yakuza. Sonic, Sega's mascot, is internationally recognized. Sega is one of the world's most prolific arcade game producers, with long-running series such as Virtua Fighter and Initial D Arcade Stage. Its name and branding are used for affiliated companies that operate amusement arcades and produce other entertainment products, including Sega Toys; however, these are largely separate ventures. Sega is recognized for its video game consoles, creativity and innovations. In more recent years, it has been criticized for its business decisions and the quality of its creative output....1982–1989: Entry into the game console market and arcade resurgence Further information: SG-1000 and Master System A Sega SG-1000 console Following a downturn in the arcade business starting in 1982, Gulf and Western sold its North American arcade game manufacturing organization and the licensing rights for its arcade games to Bally Manufacturing in September 1983.[24][25][26] Gulf and Western retained Sega's North American R&D operation and its Japanese subsidiary, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. With its arcade business in decline, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. president Nakayama advocated for the company to use its hardware expertise to move into the home consumer market in Japan.[27] This led to Sega's development of a computer, the SC-3000. Learning that Nintendo was developing a games-only console, the Famicom, Sega developed its first home video game system, the SG-1000, alongside the SC-3000.[28] Rebranded versions of the SG-1000 were released in several other markets worldwide.[28][29][30][31] The SG-1000 sold 160,000 units in 1983, which far exceeded Sega's projection of 50,000 in the first year but was outpaced by the Famicom.[28] This was in part because Nintendo expanded its game library by courting third-party developers, whereas Sega was hesitant to collaborate with companies with which it was competing in the arcades.[28] In November 1983, Rosen announced his intention to step down as president of Sega Enterprises, Inc. on January 1, 1984. Jeffrey Rochlis was announced as the new president and CEO of Sega.[32] Shortly after the launch of the SG-1000, and the death of company founder Charles Bluhdorn, Gulf and Western began to sell off its secondary businesses.[33] Nakayama and Rosen arranged a management buyout of the Japanese subsidiary in 1984 with financial backing from CSK Corporation, a prominent Japanese software company.[34] Sega's Japanese assets were purchased for $38 million by a group of investors led by Rosen and Nakayama. Isao Okawa, head of CSK, became chairman,[19] while Nakayama was installed as CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd.[35] A Master System console In 1985, Sega began working on the Mark III,[36] a redesigned SG-1000.[37] For North America, Sega rebranded the Mark III as the Master System,[38] with a futuristic design intended to appeal to Western tastes.[39] The Mark III was released in Japan in October 1985.[40] Despite featuring more powerful hardware than the Famicom in some ways, it was unsuccessful at launch. As Nintendo required third-party developers not to publish their Famicom games on other consoles, Sega developed its own games and obtained the rights to port games from other developers.[36] To help market the console in North America, Sega planned to sell the Master System as a toy, similar to how Nintendo had done with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sega partnered with Tonka, an American toy company, to make use of Tonka's expertise in the toy industry.[41] Ineffective marketing by Tonka handicapped sales of the Master System.[42] By early 1992, production had ceased in North America. The Master System sold between 1.5 million and 2 million units in the region.[43] This was less market share in North America than both Nintendo and Atari, which controlled 80 percent and 12 percent of the market.[44] The Master System was eventually a success in Europe, where its sales were comparable to the NES.[45] As late as 1993, the Master System's active installed user base in Europe was 6.25 million units.[45] The Master System has had continued success in Brazil. New versions continue to be released by Sega's partner in the region, Tectoy.[46] By 2016, the Master System had sold 8 million units in Brazil.[47] During 1984, Sega opened its European division of arcade distribution, Sega Europe.[48] It re-entered the North American arcade market in 1985 with the establishment of Sega Enterprises USA at the end of a deal with Bally. The release of Hang-On in 1985 would prove successful in the region, becoming so popular that Sega struggled to keep up with demand for the game.[49] UFO Catcher was introduced in 1985 and as of 2005 was Japan's most commonly installed claw crane game.[50] In 1986, Sega of America was established to manage the company's consumer products in North America, beginning with marketing the Master System.[51] During Sega's partnership with Tonka, Sega of America relinquished marketing and distribution of the console and focused on customer support and some localization of games.[41] Out Run, released in 1986, became Sega's best selling arcade cabinet of the 1980s.[52] Former Sega director Akira Nagai said Hang-On and Out Run helped to pull the arcade game market out of the 1982 downturn and created new genres of video games....1989–1994: Genesis, Sonic the Hedgehog, and mainstream success Further information: Sega Genesis A Sega Genesis Model 2 With the arcade game market once again growing, Sega was one of the most recognized game brands at the end of the 1980s. In the arcades, the company focused on releasing games to appeal to diverse tastes, including racing games and side-scrollers.[53] Sega released the Master System's successor, the Mega Drive, in Japan on October 29, 1988. The launch was overshadowed by Nintendo's release of Super Mario Bros. 3 a week earlier. Positive coverage from magazines Famitsu and Beep! helped establish a following, with the latter launching a new publication dedicated to the console, but Sega shipped only 400,000 units in the first year.[54] The Mega Drive struggled to compete against the Famicom[55] and lagged behind Nintendo's Super Famicom and the TurboGrafx-16, made by NEC, in Japanese sales throughout the 16-bit era.[56] For the North American launch, where the console was renamed Genesis, Sega had no sales and marketing organization. After Atari declined an offer to market the console in the region, Sega launched it through its own Sega of America subsidiary. The Genesis was launched in New York City and Los Angeles on August 14, 1989, and in the rest of North America later that year.[57] The European version of the Mega Drive was released in September 1990.[58] Former Atari executive and new Sega of America president Michael Katz developed a two-part strategy to build sales in North America. The first part involved a marketing campaign to challenge Nintendo and emphasize the more arcade-like experience available on the Genesis,[57] with slogans including "Genesis does what Nintendon't".[54] Since Nintendo owned the console rights to most arcade games of the time, the second part involved creating a library of games which used the names and likenesses of celebrities, such as Michael Jackson's Moonwalker and Joe Montana Football.[5][59] Nonetheless, Sega had difficulty overcoming Nintendo's ubiquity in homes.[60] Despite being tasked by Nakayama to sell a million units in the first year, Katz and Sega of America sold only 500,000. After the launch of the Genesis, Sega sought a new flagship line of releases to compete with Nintendo's Mario series.[62] Its new character, Sonic the Hedgehog, went on to feature in one of the best-selling video game franchises in history.[63][64] Sonic the Hedgehog began with a tech demo created by Yuji Naka involving a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a winding tube; this was fleshed out with Naoto Ohshima's character design and levels conceived by designer Hirokazu Yasuhara.[65] Sonic's color was chosen to match Sega's cobalt blue logo; his shoes were inspired by Michael Jackson's boots, and his personality by Bill Clinton's "can-do" attitude.[66][67][68] Nakayama hired Tom Kalinske as CEO of Sega of America in mid-1990, and Katz departed soon after. Kalinske knew little about the video game market, but surrounded himself with industry-savvy advisors. A believer in the razor-and-blades business model, he developed a four-point plan: cut the price of the Genesis, create a US team to develop games targeted at the American market, expand the aggressive advertising campaigns, and replace the bundled game Altered Beast with Sonic the Hedgehog. The Japanese board of directors disapproved,[60] but it was approved by Nakayama, who told Kalinske, "I hired you to make the decisions for Europe and the Americas, so go ahead and do it."[54] In large part due to the popularity of Sonic the Hedgehog,[60] the Genesis outsold its main competitor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), in the United States nearly two to one during the 1991 holiday season. By January 1992, Sega controlled 65 percent of the 16-bit console market.[69] Sega outsold Nintendo for four consecutive Christmas seasons[70] due to the Genesis' head start, lower price, and a larger library compared to the SNES at release.[71] Nintendo's dollar share of the US 16-bit market dropped from 60% at the end of 1992 to 37% at the end of 1993,[72] Sega claimed 55% of all 16-bit hardware sales during 1994,[73] and the SNES outsold the Genesis from 1995 through 1997....In 1990, Sega launched the Game Gear, a handheld console, to compete against Nintendo's Game Boy. The Game Gear was designed as a portable version of the Master System and featured a full-color screen, in contrast to the monochrome Game Boy screen.[77] Due to its short battery life, lack of original games, and weak support from Sega, the Game Gear did not surpass the Game Boy, having sold approximately 11 million units.[78] Sega launched the Mega-CD in Japan on December 1, 1991, initially retailing at JP¥49,800.[79] The add-on uses CD-ROM technology. Further features include a second, faster processor, vastly expanded system memory, a graphics chip that performed scaling and rotation similar to the company's arcade games, and another sound chip.[80][81] In North America, it was renamed the Sega CD and launched on October 15, 1992, with a retail price of US$299.[80] It was released in Europe as the Mega-CD in 1993.[79] The Mega-CD sold only 100,000 units during its first year in Japan, falling well below expectations. Throughout the early 1990s, Sega largely continued its success in arcades around the world. In 1992 and 1993, the new Sega Model 1 arcade system board showcased in-house development studio Sega AM2's Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter (the first 3D fighting game), which, though expensive, played a crucial role in popularizing 3D polygonal graphics.[82][83][84][85] In addition, complex simulator equipment like the rotational R360 kept Sega competing with machines by rival arcade companies, including Taito.[86] New official region-specific distributors and manufacturers, including the UK's Deith Leisure, allowed Sega to sell its machines outside of Japan with ease.[87] Sega's domestic operations division also opened hundreds of family-oriented suburban Sega World amusement arcades in Japan during this period,[88] as well as large over-18s "GiGO" facilities in the high-profile urban areas of Roppongi and Ikebukuro.[89] In 1993, this success was mirrored in overseas territories with the openings of several large branded entertainment centers, such as Sega VirtuaLand in Luxor Las Vegas.[90][91] In 1994, Sega generated a revenue of ¥354.032 billion or $3,464,000,000 (equivalent to $6,839,000,000 in 2022).[92] In 1993, the American media began to focus on the mature content of certain video games, such as Night Trap for the Sega CD and the Genesis version of Midway's Mortal Kombat.[93][94] This came at a time when Sega was capitalizing on its image as an "edgy" company with "attitude", and this reinforced that image.[55] To handle this, Sega instituted the United States' first video game ratings system, the Videogame Rating Council (VRC), for all its systems. Ratings ranged from the family-friendly GA rating to the more mature rating of MA-13, and the adults-only rating of MA-17.[94] Executive vice president of Nintendo of America Howard Lincoln was quick to point out in the United States congressional hearings in 1993 that Night Trap was not rated at all. Senator Joe Lieberman called for another hearing in February 1994 to check progress toward a rating system for video game violence.[94] After the hearings, Sega proposed the universal adoption of the VRC; after objections by Nintendo and others, Sega took a role in forming the Entertainment Software Rating Board.[94] 1994–1998: 32X, Saturn, falling console sales, and continued arcade success Further information: Sega Saturn and 32X Sega began work on the Genesis' successor, the Sega Saturn, more than two years before showcasing it at the Tokyo Toy Show in June 1994.[95] According to former Sega of America producer Scot Bayless, Nakayama became concerned about the 1994 release of the Atari Jaguar, and that the Saturn would not be available until the next year. As a result, Nakayama decided to have a second console release to market by the end of 1994. Sega began to develop the 32X, a Genesis add-on which would serve as a less expensive entry into the 32-bit era.[96] The 32X would not be compatible with the Saturn, but would play Genesis games.[35] Sega released the 32X on November 21, 1994, in North America, December 3, 1994, in Japan, and January 1995 in PAL territories, and was sold at less than half of the Saturn's launch price.[97][98] After the holiday season, interest in the 32X rapidly declined.[96][99] A Sega Saturn console Sega released the Saturn in Japan on November 22, 1994.[100] Virtua Fighter, a port of the popular arcade game, sold at a nearly one-to-one ratio with the Saturn at launch and was crucial to the system's early success in Japan.[101][102][103] Sega's initial shipment of 200,000 Saturn units sold out on the first day,[5][103][104] and it was more popular than the PlayStation, made by Sony, in Japan.[103][105] In March 1995, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske announced that the Saturn would be released in the US on "Saturn-day" (Saturday) September 2, 1995.[106][107] Sega of Japan mandated an early launch to give the Saturn an advantage over the PlayStation.[104] At the first Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles on May 11, 1995, Kalinske revealed the release price and that Sega had shipped 30,000 Saturns to Toys "R" Us, Babbage's, Electronics Boutique, and Software Etc. for immediate release.[106] A by-product of the surprise launch was the provocation of retailers not included in Sega's rollout; KB Toys in particular decided to no longer stock its products in response.[106] The Saturn's release in Europe also came before the previously announced North American date, on July 8, 1995.[108] Within two days of the PlayStation's American launch on September 9, 1995, the PlayStation sold more units than the Saturn.[109][110] Within its first year, the PlayStation secured over twenty percent of the US video game market.[111] The console's high price point, surprise launch, and difficulty handling polygonal graphics were factors in its lack of success.[112] Sega also underestimated the continued popularity of the Genesis; 16-bit sales accounted for 64 percent of the market in 1995.[113][114] Despite capturing 43 percent of the US market dollar share and selling more than 2 million Genesis units in 1995, Kalinske estimated that, if prepared for demand, another 300,000 could have been sold.[115] Sega announced that Shoichiro Irimajiri had been appointed chairman and CEO of Sega of America in July 1996, while Kalinske left Sega after September 30 of that year.[116][117] A former Honda executive,[118][119] Irimajiri had been involved with Sega of America since joining Sega in 1993.[116][120] The company also announced that Rosen and Nakayama had resigned from their positions at Sega of America, though both remained with Sega.[116][121] Bernie Stolar, a former executive at Sony Computer Entertainment of America,[122][123] became Sega of America's executive vice president in charge of product development and third-party relations.[116][117] Stolar was not supportive of the Saturn, believing its hardware was poorly designed.[5] While Stolar had said "the Saturn is not our future" at E3 1997, he continued to emphasize the quality of its games,[5] and later reflected that "we tried to wind it down as cleanly as we could for the consumer."[123] At Sony, Stolar had opposed the localization of certain Japanese PlayStation games that he felt would not represent the system well in North America. He advocated a similar policy for the Saturn, generally blocking 2D arcade games and role-playing games from release, although he later sought to distance himself from this stance.[5][124][125] Other changes included a softer image in Sega's advertising, including removing the "Sega!" scream, and holding press events for the education industry. Sega partnered with GE to develop the Sega Model 2 arcade system board, building on 3D technology in the arcade industry at the time. This led to several successful arcade games, including Daytona USA, launched in a limited capacity in late 1993 and worldwide in 1994. Other popular games included Virtua Cop, Sega Rally Championship, and Virtua Fighter 2.[127] Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 2 became Sega's best-selling arcade games of all time, surpassing their previous record holder Out Run.[128] There was also a technological arms race between Sega and Namco during this period, driving the growth of 3D gaming.[129] Beginning in 1994, Sega launched a series of indoor theme parks in Japan under a concept dubbed "Amusement Theme Park",[130] including Joypolis parks sited in urban Tokyo locations such as Yokohama and Odaiba.[131] A rapid overseas rollout was planned, with at least 100 locations across the world proposed to be opened by 2000,[19] however only two, Sega World London and Sega World Sydney, would ultimately materialise in September 1996 and March 1997, respectively.[132][133] Following on from difficulties faced in setting up theme parks in the United States, Sega established the GameWorks chain of urban entertainment centers in a joint venture with DreamWorks SKG and Universal Studios during March 1997.[134] In 1995, Sega partnered with Atlus to launch Print Club (purikura),[135] an arcade photo sticker machine that produces selfie photos.[136][137] Atlus and Sega introduced Purikura in February 1995, initially at game arcades, before expanding to other popular culture locations such as fast food shops, train stations, karaoke establishments and bowling alleys.[138] Purikura became a popular form of entertainment among youths across East Asia, laying the foundations for modern selfie culture.[136][137] By 1997, about 47,000 Purikura machines had been sold, earning Sega an estimated ¥25 billion (£173 million) or $283,000,000 (equivalent to $516,000,000 in 2022) from Purikura sales that year. Various other similar Purikura machines appeared from other manufacturers, with Sega controlling about half of the market in 1997.[139] Sega also made forays in the PC market with the 1995 establishment of SegaSoft, which was tasked with creating original Saturn and PC games.[140][141] From 1994 to 1999, Sega also participated in the arcade pinball market when it took over Data East's pinball division, renaming it Sega Pinball.[142] In January 1997, Sega announced its intentions to merge with the Japanese toy maker Bandai. The merger, planned as a $1 billion stock swap whereby Sega would wholly acquire Bandai, was set to form a company known as Sega Bandai, Ltd.[143][144] Though it was to be finalized in October of that year, it was called off in May after growing opposition from Bandai's mid-level executives. Bandai instead agreed to a business alliance with Sega.[145] As a result of Sega's deteriorating financial situation, Nakayama resigned as Sega president in January 1998 in favor of Irimajiri.[118] Nakayama's resignation may have in part been due to the failure of the merger, as well as Sega's 1997 performance.[146] Stolar became CEO and president of Sega of America.[123][147] After the launch of the Nintendo 64 in the US during 1996, sales of the Saturn and its games fell sharply in much of the west.[123] The PlayStation outsold the Saturn three-to-one in the US in 1997, and the latter failed to gain a foothold in Europe and Australia, where the Nintendo 64 would not release until March 1997.[111] After several years of declining profits,[92] Sega had a slight increase in the fiscal year ended March 1997, partly driven by increasing arcade revenue,[92] while outperforming Nintendo during the mid-term period.[148] However, in the fiscal year ending March 1998, Sega suffered its first financial loss since its 1988 listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as both a parent company and a corporation as a whole.[149] Shortly before the announcement of the losses, Sega discontinued the Saturn in North America to prepare for the launch of its successor, the Dreamcast, releasing remaining games in low quantities.[118][123] The decision to discontinue the Saturn effectively left the North American home console market without Sega games for over a year, with most of its activity in the country coming from arcade divisions.[150] The Saturn lasted longer in some Europe territories and particularly Japan, with it notably outperforming the Nintendo 64 in the latter.[119] Nonetheless, Irimajiri confirmed in an interview with Japanese newspaper Daily Yomiuri that Saturn development would stop at the end of 1998 and games would continue to be produced until mid-1999.[151] With lifetime sales of 9.26 million units,[152] the Saturn is retrospectively considered a commercial failure in much of the world.[153] While Sega had success with the Model 3 arcade board and titles like Virtua Fighter 3, Sega's arcade divisions struggled in the West during the late 1990s.[154] On the other hand, Sega's arcade divisions were more successful in Asia, with Sega's overall arcade revenues increasing year-on-year throughout the late 1990s, but it was not enough to offset the significant declining revenues of Sega's home consumer divisions....Legacy Sega is one of the world's most prolific arcade game producers, having developed more than 500 games, 70 franchises, and 20 arcade system boards since 1981. It has been recognized by Guinness World Records for this achievement.[336] Of Sega's arcade division, Eurogamer's Martin Robinson said, "It's boisterous, broad and with a neat sense of showmanship running through its range. On top of that, it has something that's often evaded its console-dwelling cousin: success."[337] The Sega Genesis is often ranked among the best consoles in history.[338][339][340] In 2014, USgamer's Jeremy Parish credited it for galvanizing the market by breaking Nintendo's near-monopoly, helping create modern sports game franchises, and popularizing television games in the UK.[341] Kalinske felt Sega had innovated by developing games for an older demographic and pioneering the "street date" concept with the simultaneous North American and European release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.[342] Sega of America's marketing campaign for the Genesis influenced marketing for later consoles.[343] Despite its commercial failure, the Saturn is well regarded for its library,[108][344][345] though it has been criticized for a lack of high-profile franchise releases.[5] Edge wrote that "hardened loyalists continue to reminisce about the console that brought forth games like Burning Rangers, Guardian Heroes, Dragon Force, and Panzer Dragoon Saga."[346] Sega's management was criticized for its handling of the Saturn.[5][108] According to Greg Sewart of 1Up.com, "the Saturn will go down in history as one of the most troubled, and greatest, systems of all time".[344] The Dreamcast is remembered for being ahead of its time,[347][348][349] with several concepts that became standard in consoles, such as motion controls and online functionality.[350] Its demise has been connected with transitions in the video game industry. In 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, Duncan Harris wrote that the Dreamcast's end "signaled the demise of arcade gaming culture ... Sega's console gave hope that things were not about to change for the worse and that the tenets of fast fun and bright, attractive graphics were not about to sink into a brown and green bog of realistic war games."[351] Parish contrasted the Dreamcast's diverse library with the "suffocating sense of conservatism" that pervaded the industry in the following decade.[352] In Eurogamer, Damien McFerran wrote that Sega's decisions in the late 1990s were "a tragic spectacle of overconfidence and woefully misguided business practice".[55] Travis Fahs of IGN noted that since the Sammy takeover Sega had developed fewer games and outsourced to more western studios, and that its arcade operations had been significantly reduced. Nonetheless, he wrote: "Sega was one of the most active, creative, and productive developers the industry has ever known, and nothing that can happen to their name since will change that."[5] In 2015, Sega president Haruki Satomi told Famitsu that, in the previous ten years, Sega had "betrayed" the trust of older fans and that he hoped to re-establish the Sega brand.[353] During the promotion of the Sega Genesis Mini, Sega executive manager Hiroyuki Miyazaki reflected on Sega's history, saying, "I feel like Sega has never been the champion, at the top of all the video game companies, but I feel like a lot of people love Sega because of the underdog image."[354] Former Sega management cited the absence of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games on their home consoles as a reason for the console division's struggles, especially in Japan.[355][356] In his 2018 book The Sega Arcade Revolution, Horowitz connected Sega's decline in the arcades after 1995 with broader industry changes. He argued that its most serious problems came from the loss of its creative talent, particularly Yuji Naka and Yu Suzuki, after the Sammy takeover, but concluded that "as of this writing, Sega is in its best financial shape of the past two decades. The company has endured."" (wikipedia.org)
  • Condition: New
  • Brand: AtGames
  • Type: Microconsole
  • Platform: Sega Genesis
  • Color: White
  • Model: Arcade Nano
  • Connectivity: Composite RCA
  • Year Manufactured: 2010
  • Features: Retired
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: China
  • Resolution: 480p

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