Sega Archives 2016

180 Pages·2012·56.88 MB·English

by  Sega Archives

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From the
makers of
THE ULTIMATE COLLECTOR(cid:146)S GUIDE TO CLASSIC SEGA

Welcome to
Since its origins as Service Games in the 1940s, Sega has been one of the most
infl uential players in gaming history. From arcades fi lled with sit-down cabs, market-
dominating consoles, an iconic mascot in Sonic the Hedgehog and everything
in-between, Sega has certainly had its ups and downs. Sega brought so many new
things to the gaming world, including downloadable games way back in 1994 and
a motion sensing controller called the Sega Activator. The Mega Drive, know as the
Genesis in North America, sold a staggering 30 million units. But Sega’s hopes and
dreams came crashing down around its ears with the Dreamcast’s disappointing
launch in 1998. It marked the company’s fi nal foray into home consoles and ushered in
the era of third-party so(cid:2) ware development for other gaming platforms.
With Sega Archives you can relive Sega’s colourful history, from early coin-op capers
and the abandoning of the Master System’s fi rst mascot, Alex Kidd, to the gamble and
subsequent failure of the Mega-CD and Mega Drive 32X. We’ve scoured the
Retro Gamer archives to bring you amazingly in-depth articles on some of Sega’s
biggest games and franchises, as well as looking at the home consoles. It’s the
perfect way to celebrate Sega’s timeless achievements.
In association with magazine

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Sega is a trademark of the Sega Holdings Co., Ltd
Sega Archives © 2016 Imagine Publishing Ltd
ISBN 978 1785 463 723
Part of the
bookazine series
42
22
Contents
30
36 50
8 HISTORY OF: SEGA 36 T HE STORY OF ALEX KIDD 74 MAKING OF: SHINOBI
The ups and downs of one of the most influential A lex Kidd is gaming’s greatest underdog. Discover N oriyoshi Obha speaks about this significant Mega
players gaming has ever seen the life and games of the Master System’s Drive release
18 RETROINSPECTION: underappreciated mascot 78 RETRO REVIVAL: ROCKET KNIGHT
MASTER SYSTEM 42 AFTER BURNER
T his brainchild of Nobuya Nakazato meshed a
The Master System played a significant role W e take a definitive look back at a classic arcade cutesy action platformer with imaginative level
in introducing gamers to the concept of the game and unravel its brilliance design and memorable bosses
‘home arcade’ 50 HISTORY OF: SONIC 80 ULTIMATE GUIDE: ROAD RASH
22 TOP 25 MASTER SYSTEM GAMES
S onic the Hedgehog is one of the most W as it really as simple as Super Hang-On with
T he essential countdown of the Master System’s recognisable mascots of all time. Here we chart the fighting? We look at what made EA’s motorbike
greatest games Blue Blur’s story so far racing game truly stand out
30 M AKING OF: WONDERBOY III: THE 60 CELEBRATING THE MEGA DRIVE 86 SEGA’S BIG GAMBLE
DRAGON’S TRAP
R elive the triumphs of Sega’s 16-bit wonder E xtending the life of the Mega Drive might have
We interview Ryuichi Nishizawa about his machine through the eyes of those who lived and seemed like a safe bet, but Sega lost consumer
magnificent adventure and the ten short months it breathed it trust trying it
took to create it 68 TOP 25 MEGA DRIVE GAMES 96 HISTORY OF: STREETS OF RAGE
34 RETRO REVIVAL: FANTASY ZONE
Sega’s console is over 25 years old, so here are our H ow Sega created a trilogy of the most playable and
Take a look at one of Sega’s original cute-’em-ups top 25 16-bit classics memorable examples of the fighting genre
6 | SEGA ARCHIVES
80
68 102 158
152
174
100 RETRO REVIVAL: QUAKSHOT 130 RETRO REVIVAL: VIRTUA FIGHTER 152 MAKING OF: SHENMUE
D onald Duck finally got his time to shine thanks to W e discover what made Virtua Fighter stand out R ecord-breaking, technically astounding, but
Sega of Japan’s deal with Disney from the crowd, and why it still does today cripplingly expensive and still unfinished. Why does
102 MAKING OF: GOLDEN AXE 132 MAKING OF: PANZER DRAGOON Shenmue continue to command such a following?
158 HISTORY OF: CRAZY TAXI
I nspired by the antics of an oiled-up Arnold W e catch up with ex-Team Andromeda artist
Schwarzenegger , Golden Axe was one of the Kentaro Yoshida to examine the creation of a brace O ver 15 years since the series first blasted The
first scrolling beat ‘em ups with a Western-style of spectacular Saturn games Offspring into arcades, we flag down Kenji Kanno
fantasy setting 138 RETRO REVIVAL: OUT RUN for a chat about Sega’s hit driving franchise
110 CELEBRATING THE SEGA SATURN 168 20 SEGA GAMES YOU’VE
I mpressive sound and bright, exciting visuals made NEVER PLAYED
2 2 years ago the Sega Saturn failed to run rings Out Run an absolutely mind-blowing arcade racer
around its competition, but we argue that it can still in 1986 W e take a look at some of the best Sega
stand proud beside them 140 RETROINSPECTION: DREAMCAST games that failed to get the attention
they deserved. Do you own any of the games
120 TOP 25 SATURN GAMES
A bridge too far or a misunderstood masterpiece? on this list?
T he essential countdown of the Saturn’s Whatever your opinion of Sega’s final console, the 174 RETRO REVIVAL: THE HOUSE
greatest games Dreamcast is worth a second look
OF THE DEAD 2
126 MAKING OF: RADIANT SILVERGUN 146 TOP 25 DREAMCAST GAMES
W hy we love this frantic and terrifying
Radiant Silvergun is the game that once launched a T he essential countdown of the Dreamcast’s lightgun game, full of the most
thousand eBay bids and we check out why greatest games relentless zombies
SEGA ARCHIVES | 7
8 | SEGA ARCHIVES
THE HISTORY OF SEGA
Scream it out loud: In the immediate years following the defeat of Japan But he wasn‘t the only active US businessman in Japan.
in the World War II, General Douglas MacArthur In 1945, Irving Bromberg and his son, Marty Bromley,
Sega has been one of oversaw widespread political, economic, military and formed a company called Service Games in America which
social reforms during the United States‘ occupation of distributed coin-op machines to various US military bases. In
the most infl uential the former empire. The country was still reeling from the 1951, laws restricting their transportation were put in place
devastation of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and which meant there was an abundance of machines lying
Nagasaki, but during its rebuilding a sense of opportunity unused, so Marty began exporting them to Japan (later
players gaming has
began to arise. shipping machines to the UK, too, starting with the Sega
David Rosen, a United States Air Force offi cer, stationed Bell one-armed bandit).
ever seen. But, as
in Japan during the Korean War, had spotted the country’s David also wanted to ship machines from the US to
potential. He had noted how Japanese artists produced Japan. He spent a year negotiating with the Japanese
David Crookes shows, impressive painted portraits based on photographs and, on authorities before being allowed to import $100,000 worth
leaving for the United States, he grew a business sending of machines. Sourcing them from Chicago, they tended to
it has certainly had its American images across the Pacifi c. When he returned involve shooting and David operated more than 1,000 gun
to Japan he saw the rising need for ID photos and so corners, with Shoot The Bear being a typical offering.
ups and downs… he undercut Japanese photographers by importing fast- Rosen Enterprises and Service Games grew fast,
processing photo booths. His business succeeded for years. opening arcade centres and bowling alleys. But as
SEGA ARCHIVES | 9
SEGA KEY
competition grew and Service Games fell under heavy July 1983 (the same day as Nintendo‘s Famicom),
PLAYERS scrutiny by US and Japanese authorities, the two joined throwing in a home computer – the SC-3000 – for good
forces. Sega Enterprises was formed in 1965 and David measure (basically adding a keyboard and hardware
became president. expansion support to the console). But the downturn
David Rosen in sales and expense of the arcades worried David. He
PERISCOPE AND BEYOND
The founder of Rosen Enterprises tried to persuade manufacturers and distributors to sell
merged his company with Service Sega‘s fi rst original game, Periscope, was developed in conversion kits rather than entire, completed cabinets but
Games in 1965, becoming CEO of what 1966 and it cost 30 yen or 25 cents to play. The machine he was roundly mocked. The games industry crashed
became known as Sega Enterprises. He was some ten feet deep and six feet wide, with a and Gulf And Western wanted out.
stayed with the company in various roles periscope controller, cardboard cut-outs of ships which In 1984, Sega‘s US assets were sold to Bally/Midway.
until his retirement in 1996. moved horizontally and lights which represented the David was offered the Japanese division for $38 million,
player’s torpedoes as they sped towards their target. It promoting him and Hayao Nakayama – who had run a
Masami Ishikawa was also the fi rst game Sega had exported from Japan distribution company bought by Sega in 1979 – to seek
Ishikawa joined Sega’s amusement rather than imported and it began doing so well, Gulf And fi nancial backing. CSK Holdings, led by Isao Okawa, was
machine division in 1979 and became Western snapped it up in 1969. among the concerns, stepping forward with the cash.
leader of home console R&D division, David Rosen remained at the company’s helm and Nakayama became CEO of the ‘new’ Sega while David
Away 27. He worked on producing the Sega decided to take a piece of the-then burgeoning worked from Los Angeles.
SG-1000, Master System and Mega Drive videogame market. It published Gremlin Industries‘
ARCADES AND CONSOLES
before returning to arcade. monochromatic arcade maze game, Blockade in 1976
before merging its operations with Gremlin three years In 1984, the SG-1000 was discontinued in favour of the
Hayao Nakayama later. Popular titles such as the innovative dot-eating SG-1000 II which came with detachable controllers and
Named as the executive producer on a car maze game, Head On in 1979, were created under the ability to play Sega Card games. It only lasted around
host of Sonic games, Nakayama was the Gremlin/Sega or Sega/Gremlin branding label. 15 months but it helped to lay the groundwork for the
CEO of Sega from 1984 to 1999. He was Subsequent games, such as Turbo in 1981 and Zaxxon in years to come. Notably, a young games designer called
a fi rm believer in Sega’s need to control 1982, saw Sega on a roll. Yuji Naka created a game called Girl's Garden alongside
its own hardware platform. Sega also entered the home console market with Hiroshi Kawaguchi, while Yu Suzuki developed the 2D
the 16-colour, 8-bit Zilog Z80-based SG-1000 on 15 boxing game Champion Boxing and the groundbreaking
Michael Katz motion-controlled Hang-On for the arcades. It had players
» Sega found great success with its Eighties arcade
Having worked for Lever Brothers, games and that coin-op heritage continues to this day. sitting on a large motorbike fi tted with a screen.
Mattel, Coleco, Epyx and Atari, Michael The arcades were where the company continued to
Katz became president of Sega Of make its mark. The introduction of the System 1 and
America in 1989 a month a(cid:2) er the System 2 boards saw the production of games such
launch of the Mega Drive and stayed on as Flicky, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns and Wonder Boy. The
for a couple of years. System 16 arcade board underpinned some 40 games
including Shinobi, Altered Beast and Golden Axe. Yet
Tom Kalinske Sega wasn't about to give up on home consoles. It
Widely seen as the man who turned released the SG-1000 Mark III in Japan in October
around Sega’s console hardware 1985. It also decided to take this machine to the USA
fortunes, the former Mattel and Matchbox and Europe the following year, renaming it the Master
CEO was Sega Of America’s innovative
president and CEO from 1990 to 1996. He
sanctioned the ad attacks on Nintendo.
Yuji Naka
Having created Girl’s Garden for the
SG-1000, Naka went on to code Sonic
The Hedgehog for the Mega Drive. He
became producer at Sega Enterprises
in Japan, working on Saturn and
Dreamcast games.
Yu Suzuki
The long-time head of Sega’s famed AM2
development division directed many of
the company’s most successful games,
with the likes Hang-On, Space Harrier,
Virtua Racing and Shenmue showcasing
the developer’s technical advances.
Hidekazu Yukawa
Dubbed ‘Mr. Sega’, Yukawa became
Sega’s popular senior managing director
during the era of the Dreamcast. He also
appeared in numerous off beat adverts in
Japan promoting the system and made
in-game cameos.
10 | SEGA ARCHIVES