High Score Recap Ep 4 – This is War

High Score Recap Ep 4 – This is War

By Julie and Douglas Shepard

Star Wars vs. Star Trek. Marvel vs. DC. Coke vs. Pepsi. It's a universal truth that when there are two giants in a commodity, they must engage in a turf war that causes fans to choose sides. Thus it was with video game consoles. Anyone who grew up in the 1980's-1990's knew very well about the “Console War.” This would create a “divide” between the 2 sides: Nintendo and Sega. Kids would take a “side” with what consoles that they had at home, the consoles themselves being too expensive for most homes to have more than one. (A trend that Sony and Microsoft uphold to this day.) More than anything, this “Console War” would be defined by the mascots that each side had: bouncy plumber Mario for Nintendo and turbo-charged blue hedgehog Sonic for Sega. But Sega was looking for an edge they could develop against Nintendo, and that would come from something that would define the Genesis: Sports games.

This episode began by talking about the path that led Sega to the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega had been trying to define themselves with a mascot for years, but it had not really worked out. From the start, they felt they were outmatched and felt that their best chance was to simply take a swing. Having the Genesis as competition against the Nintendo Entertainment System was a very smart move.

Originally, Sega was best-known for their arcade cabinets (and rightly so, since they were very defining of the era). Wanting in on the American home console market, they created Sega of America and released the Genesis (Sega Megadrive in other regions) there. To gain a truly competitive edge, they hired Tom Kalinske, who would run the campaign against Nintendo and bring Sega into a strong  position in the North American Market. He was scouted specifically by the CEO of Sega Japan, Nakayama Hayao. After a little bit of cultural strife (and being very impressed by the tech of the Genesis and the handheld Sega GameGear) with his presentation to the Japanese Board of Directors, Kalinske launched into a plan he defined in only 5 steps:
1) Lower the price
2) Defeat Mario
3) More Sports
4) Cool for Teens
5) (Make fun of Nintendo)

So, how did these steps shake out?
1) The console's price was lowered from $189 to $149.
2) Developers Yasuhara Hirokazu and Ohshima Naoto created Sonic the Hedgehog, who literally took off running and proved an ideal mascot. He has stayed so popular that a movie about him was released just this year.
3) Kalinske saw the importance of good sports games early on, and pushed their development. His plan would bear fruit on the sports front.
4) The Sega World Championships helped develop the needed hype, tying in with MTV to target the right audience. Alongside this, he pushed for an ad campaign promoting Sonic as a cool, rule-breaking character.
5) Kalinske would also help spearhead the famous “Sega Does what Nintendon't” ad campaign, promoting Nintendo (and Mario) as stodgy and boring.

Yasuhara Hirokazu talked about the inspirations behind Sonic the Hedgehog's gameplay. The biggest one of these was Roller Coasters and other thrill rides. This led to the basic concept of having the famous loops in the game. They designed from that inspiration for the levels. He later explained the connection the Game Designer has with the Player, with the small rewards that the Designer would leave the player that showed them the proper path.

Ohshima Naoto talked about Sonic the Hedgehog's design process. The basic concepts were something that could run faster than anyone and could curl up and attack. The first thought was a rabbit, later a panda, but eventually the hedgehog was suggested. These ideas led Ohshima to design 3 characters while in New York City on a personal trip. He used this time to do an informal field test to determine which would work the best. This poll, which the Hedgehog won, gave him the confidence that it could succeed in the US. Sonic was blue because it was Sega's color at the time. Thus, Sonic the Hedgehog was made.

Chris Tang was a Nintendo World Champion Finalist and a Sega World Champion, and later worked in the Gaming Industry across many different positions. He talked about his experiences getting to the Sega World Championship, “Rock the Rock,” with its ties to all things rock: Hard Rock Cafe, MTV (which ran Rock Music Videos at the time, believe it or not), and the location of the grand final at “The Rock,” Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay. He talked about his strategies to win the different rounds of competition and what basic techniques he used, with a thorough breakdown of the final round.

Game developer Trip Hawkins wanted to bring a more accurate adaptation of American Football to video games. To this end, he made is own company, which you may have heard of: Electronic Arts (EA). To get things done right, he contacted football legend John Madden, who agreed to meet him and take a train ride from Denver to Oakland. Madden liked the idea of a football video game tied to his name. When Hawkins proposed the 7v7 Football, Madden insisted on 11v11, true-to-life for football. Trip agreed to take the task on. Development would last 4 years, becoming known in EA as “Trip's Folly.” With the help of game producer Joe Ybarra, they would release a game on the Apple II. Then it was just a question of EA getting access to a more powerful system. When brought to the Genesis, Hawkins was a lot happier with the look of the game. Madden endorsed the game even more upon its console release, making it a huge success and launching a franchise of annual releases that continues to this day.

Gordon Bellamy's passion for Madden Football had him cold-calling EA to get a job there. It did eventually work, getting a lucky entry-level position interview. When he got onto the Madden team working for EA, he immediately pushed for a major change: the ethnicity of players. Memory limitations of the time meant that players could only be rendered with one skin tone, and the developers had made them Caucasian. Bellamy pointed out the importance of representation in video games. His point was heeded; when Madden '95 was released, all the players were African American. It helped a lot of people feel represented in something they loved.

Sega launched aggressive ad campaigns to promote the Genesis to Teenagers and older. Sonic was a great mascot for this, with his more abrasive and rebellious personality. TV ads were fast and exciting, ending with someone simply shouting “SEGA!” as the tagline. Kalinske also used a number of guerrilla marketing tactics: sending play booths with both Genesis and NES to malls, hiring college students to help promote the Genesis by going around and playing it where they could (Sega provided them with the console and games to help). This was in addition to making commercials that would sass Nintendo in good humor. This helped promote the image that Sega needed to get that older audience (and by proxy, some of the younger ones too).

This episode ended with the sides in their playful rivalry of “Sega vs. Nintendo.” This drew in gamers from all walks of life and all ages. Everyone could find something to enjoy on the consoles. This did help push gaming forward. Seeing some of the creators from the inside and the influences on their choices was great. This episode followed a more interconnected format, tying back to the plan developed to help launch Sega into the North American Market and “sell a million units.” It was different for the series but something welcome.

The next episode will be focused on something that would impact gaming from its creation to the present day: the ESRB.


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