The Sega-Samsung Partnership

Did you know that Sega had to circumvent an anti-Japanese embargo imposed by South Korea? That's right. To circumvent the embargo, Sega had to outsource production of their Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis and Saturn consoles in South Korea to Samsung. The same can be said with Nintendo, who had to outsource production of the NES, SNES, N64 and Game Boy to South Korean automaker Hyundai just to bypass the embargo.

Games that could have saved the Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn is best known for being a commercial failure. However, its sales figures in Japan tells a far different story from the Western markets.

But what if there were games that could have saved the Sega Saturn? If such games existed, what could those games be, and what would they look like?

Knuckles Chaotix: The only Sonic game the 32X would ever have throughout its entire lifespan. It could have done better if it was on the Sega Saturn. It was also the Sonic game that saw the return of Mighty the Armadillo, who last appeared in SegaSonic the Hedgehog, a Japan-only arcade title. This game would have ended up a Sega Saturn title if the dismal 32X did not exist...

A Segata Sanshiro martial arts game: Segata Sanshiro. The patron saint of the Sega Saturn, and someone who would have probably been considered a worthy opponent to F-Zero's Captain Falcon. He was conceived as the advertising mascot for the Sega Saturn, and this helped the Sega Saturn overtake the Nintendo 64 in the Japanese market. The Sega Saturn would probably have done far better if Segata Sanshiro had his very own martial arts game similar to Chuck Norris Superkicks.

Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000: This 32X-exclusive title received mixed reviews, mostly negative after its initial release. It has never seen a re-release to this very day. Maybe Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 would have done far better if the 32X did not exist and the game was released on the Sega Saturn instead...

With all that said, if the Sega Saturn had these three games, the Sega Saturn's story would probably have taken a far different course. On a side note, Happy 30th Anniversary, Sega Saturn!

Sega games and characters © Sega.

Existing in the Same Century

Fun Fact: The last Sega console and the last dynasty of the Chinese monarchy both existed in the same century. In fact, the Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1912, while the Sega Dreamcast was released in Japan at the end of November 1998.

It's crazy to think about historical events that happened within the same century. For example, the 20th Century witnessed the commissioning of the 1906 version of HMS Dreadnought and the commissioning of the first Arleigh Burke-class destroyer within the same century. However, we must remember that within less than 100 years, we went from not being able to fly to the very last Sega console, the Dreamcast, launching in North America.

On a side note, Happy 25th Anniversary, Sega Dreamcast!

Sega's Colossal Mistake

Author's Note: This comic was made using the Gru's Plan meme from Despicable Me.

Sega had no idea that Sony and Squaresoft were planning to release Final Fantasy VIII on the 9/9/1999 as well when Sega proposed to launch the Dreamcast in the North American market on that very day itself. This fateful decision happened amid the discontinuation of the Sega Saturn in Western markets.

Despicable Me © Universal Pictures/Illumination Studios.

Discount Sale Items that are hard to find

When it comes to discount sales in 2024, great items from yesteryear are now hard to find. Some good examples would be discontinued consoles from Atari and Sega, as well as Plug & Play consoles, HVC-101 Famicoms and even Eastern European Famiclones such as Poland's Pegasus. Then again, console redesign models such as the Atari 2600 Jr, HVC-101 Nintendo Famicom, New-Style Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis 3 are going to be easier to find in a discount sale due to being late in the market. So if you do not mind buying redesigned consoles at a discount sale, now may be your last chance to do so, and time is running out.

Madou Monogatari Reunion

It finally happened. The original Madou Monogatari series that Sega's Puyo Puyo originated from has gotten a new entry 25 years after the launch of the Sega Saturn Madou Monogatari, which happens to be published by Sega. All of this would not have been possible if not for Compile Heart, D4 Enterprises and Sega agreeing to come together to revive Madou Monogatari.

All we have to say about this is "Welcome Back, Arle."

Keeping Up With Commodore

As an Australian Commodore C64 commercial slogan goes, "Are you keeping up with the Commodore? 'Cause the Commodore is keeping up with you!" The title for this comic is loosely based on that catchy slogan from the Australian Commodore C64 commercials.

There was a time when during the days of arcades being prohibited in Singapore, computer shops would let people play on computers for a rental fee. One of these computers people played on was the Commodore C64. It was simply put it, the saviour of the video game scene in Singapore during the 1980s. The Commodore C64 also became popular in Poland in the years that followed after the fall of communism (In 2016, an article was written about a Polish auto repair shop in Gdansk being the owners of a Commodore C64 that was still running for 25 years). Commodore's C64 also laid the foundations for the Amiga, another Commodore product that, like the C64, has a special place in our hearts long after Commodore went out of business. It gets better when you find out that Sega had ports of After Burner and Golden Axe on both the C64 and Amiga, even when the Sega Genesis was already available on the market at that time. How's that for an incredible legacy?

Console and Computer Equality

Let's face it. All of these consoles and computers featured in this comic would have moderate success in Singapore if not for the video game prohibition of 1983 that saw arcades banned for several years. Part of the prohibition included Singapore Broadcasting Corporation banning any telecast of video game commercials whatsoever. Even educational games such as Oregon Trail and Basic Math/Fun With Numbers were also affected by the prohibition.

While video game consoles and home computers were not banned by the prohibition, the period of that prohibition greatly affected the Commodore C64 and the Colecovision, and these two gaming machines were more popular than some of these consoles and computers featured in this comic. Sometimes, we just cannot have nice things, all because we had to protect our morals.

30 Years of Puyo Puyo

Can you believe it's been 30 years since the now-defunct Compile released a puzzle spin-off of Madou Monogatari that ultimately became Sega's best-selling franchise that's not Sonic the Hedgehog? In fact, unlike Sonic, Puyo Puyo is the best Sega IP that does not have a tarnished reputation. It just had to wait until their crossover with Tetris to finally make their big time entrance in the international market, which the series had been waiting for since Puyo Pop Fever.

Happy 30th Anniversary, Puyo Puyo. You are by far better than Sonic the Hedgehog.

Licensing Disaster

Credits to SonikkuForever for providing footage of a hilariously bad Pakistani McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Sega LCD handheld games via YouTube.

While fan-made memes based on Sega's characters such as Sanic and Ugandan Knuckles look like low quality designs, character design standards in Pakistan are far lower than average. While most of the Sonic characters in the Pakistani McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Sega LCD handheld games look like themselves, Rouge, unfortunately looks more like a naked rat. This means that the Pakistani McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Sega LCD handheld games would be considered so terrible that Ugandan Knuckles would be considered a marvelous masterpiece. But the designs are still better than Sanic.

And it was not just Sonic characters that got such a poor treatment in Pakistan. Crash Bandicoot, Hello Kitty and several others have also fallen victim to poor quality character design standards in Pakistan. Therefore, if you want to do business in the Pakistani market, don't even think about TV advertisement design. Pakistani TV advertisement designs are horrible.

Annual Online Sale

It's the annual 9.9 Sale, and e-commerce sites Shopee and Lazada are giving out special offers. However, the Sony PlayStation and the Sega Dreamcast are being left out of this annual special offer sale on their anniversary day. After all, who wants to celebrate milestone anniversaries of video game consoles that are no longer in production with a special offer sale?

Speaking of anniversaries, happy anniversary Sony PlayStation and Sega Dreamcast.

If The 32X Did Not Exist...

In my honest opinion, the 32X was a commercial failure that should never have existed. Sadly, there is no place for what ifs. But if the 32X did not exist, all of its titles, including Knuckles Chaotix, would have ended up as Sega Saturn titles, which would greatly improve the Sega Saturn's reputation and sales numbers.

On a side note, Happy 25th Anniversary, Sega Saturn.

Sega Genesis Mini Rejects

Only two more weeks until the launch of the Sega Genesis Mini (a.k.a. the Sega Mega Drive Mini in Japan and PAL regions) in anywhere except Europe and the Middle East.

The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Mini is now available in all regions where this mini console is sold, and Singapore is on the list of countries where the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Mini is available.

The Sega Genesis Mini will have 42 games, with 40 of them being available from the start while the other two titles are bonus titles based on canceled ports of Darius and the Sega arcade version of Tetris. However, some of the best games from the Sega Genesis archives will not be featured in any version of the Sega Genesis Mini, which will be a huge disappointment for some customers.

The seven games featured in this comic that did not get featured in the Sega Genesis Mini's final lineup, regardless of version, will have their disappointing absences and its reasons explained:

1. Sonic Eraser: Sonic Eraser was launched in 1991, shortly after the first Sonic The Hedgehog came out. It tried to build on the success of Columns and Sonic 1 by being the first puzzle game in the Sonic series. Unfortunately, it was only available through Sega Meganet, which never reached worldwide availability. This makes Sonic Eraser one of the lost Sonic titles, and not featuring this game as a bonus title will disappoint Sonic fans everywhere.

2. Twinkle Tale: Twinkle Tale is a forgotten top-down shooter published by Toyo Recording. This game, which was the only game that Toyo Recording published, will not see any re-release whatsoever because Toyo Recording is not interested in selling off the rights to Twinkle Tale to anyone else.

3. Valis 3: The original Valis was available on the Sega Genesis, but Valis 3 was no doubt the best Valis game where Yuko was playable, because she is no longer alone in her fight against evil. The Sega Genesis version, while not as great as the TurboGrafx-16 version due to several levels being cut from the game, featured a new level that was not featured in the TurboGrafx-16 version. However, Sunsoft, who now owns the rights to the Valis series, does not want to re-release any of the Valis games for both the Sega Genesis Mini and the TurboGrafx-16 Mini.*

4. Panorama Cotton: The Cotton series is known for being a side-scrolling shooter, but Panorama Cotton was basically a rail shooter game similar to Space Harrier, but with the titular poster girl instead. It was also the only game in the Cotton series to be on the Sega Genesis. Success Corporation, the owner of the Cotton series, still exists today, but have been hardly focusing on the Cotton series until their recently proposed reboot of the series.

5. The Lost Vikings: Great companies had to start somewhere, and in Blizzard's case, that would be The Lost Vikings, which first came out in 1992 for the Sega Genesis. And it's a disappointment that it will not be one of the 40 games pre-installed on the Sega Genesis Mini because the Sega Genesis version of The Lost Vikings was the first version of the game to be released, meaning gamers will never have a piece of Blizzard's history.

6. Pulseman: Pulseman was a Sega Genesis title developed by Game Freak. It did not get enough attention from anywhere outside Japan because North America could only obtain the game through the Sega Channel. Being a non-Pokemon title developed by Game Freak before the release of the Pokemon series as a whole, the absence of Pulseman would be a disappointment, given that it was part of Game Freak's history before Pokemon. But then again, the game's titular protagonist did not show up in any Sega Superstars titles because of licensing complications involving Game Freak, and said licensing issues could have prevented Pulseman from being re-released on the Japanese version of the Sega Genesis Mini.

7. Ristar: Perhaps the biggest disappointment would be leaving out Ristar from the Sega Genesis Mini. There are some people who would like Ristar to be re-released on the Sega Genesis Mini, but Ristar will not be among the 40 pre-installed games featured on the Sega Genesis Mini.

Other games that did not make the cut that were not featured in this comic:

Flicky: Before the likes of Sonic and Alex Kidd, Flicky was the unofficial mascot of Sega. Nowadays, he has always been a minor Sonic character. On top of that, 2019 marks the 35th anniversary of Flicky's arcade debut, and the Sega Genesis version of Flicky not being listed on the Sega Genesis Mini's game lineup is not the right way to mark Flicky's 35th anniversary, and that is excluding the Game no Kanzume Otokuyou version included with the Japanese and East Asian versions of the Sega Genesis Mini.

Streets of Rage 1 and 3: All versions of the Sega Genesis Mini will have Streets of Rage 2, but not the first and third installments of the Streets of Rage series? It would make more sense if all three Streets of Rage games are on the list.

Phantasy Star 2 and 3: Like Streets of Rage 2, Phantasy Star 4 will be on all versions of the Sega Genesis Mini, but Phantasy Star 2 and 3 gets left out from all versions? What's the point?

Earthworm Jim 2: Earthworm Jim has a sequel, but it gets left out?

Ecco: The Tides of Time: Ecco the Dolphin also had a sequel, and it is also getting left out?

Rocket Knight Adventures and Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures and its sequel were well acclaimed games from Konami, and the opossum hero from these two games was well-liked. But bad decision making from Konami, and both games being omitted from the Sega Genesis Mini means players will not have a chance to see Sparkster again.

*Note: As of 2020, Edia now owns the rights to Telenet's entire game catalogue after purchasing it from City Connection, who somehow acquired the rights from Sunsoft.

Update: Ristar is now available on the Sega Genesis Mini 2, but not featured in the Japanese version, though.

Shared Anniversary

Author's Note: This was supposed to be my tribute to the 30th Anniversary of the Famicom and SG-1000, but multiple delays mean it will have to be my tribute to the 35th Anniversary of the Famicom and SG-1000 instead.

Was it a coincidence that Sega launched the SG-1000 on the same day Nintendo launched the Famicom? Because these two video game consoles both came out in Japan on the 15th of July, 1983, like Konata just said in the last panel.

These two consoles, however took different paths. The Famicom ended up being more successful than the SG-1000, resulting in the SG-1000 being discontinued when the Master System came out in Japan, while the Famicom continued being in production until 2003, 2 years after Sega went third-party after they discontinued production of the Dreamcast.

Anyway, like Konata said in the second panel of this comic, Happy 35th Anniversary, Famicom and SG-1000.