Question about the Genesis Launch

[Gunstar Zero]

Poor NEC guy felt like Rick Santorum in the first GOP debates. XD Just sitting there quietly to himself "I...I have stuff too. =( "

[Cornholio857]

IIRC he did get to show off the TG-16. I think they made it its own episode on YouTube. But yeah, I thought it was hilarious that he was just sitting there like "O......k.........." LOL

[Black_Tiger]

On the subject of Johnny Turbo: That is a hilarious footnote in video game advertising, but if you want to see an even campier, yet way more awesome swipe at sega, look no further than the Lords of Thunder promo tape:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5EamsCbLos

I disagree with the claim that TTI didn't try to turn the Duo's fortune around, though. TTI actually made a very big marketing push in 1992 - the last push, actually. It was a very different, and much more agreesive campaign than NEC ran earlier in the Turbo Grafx life-time.

Speaking of early turbo grafx marketing, while the lords of thunder promo is more well known, the lesser-seen 1989 "Get Turbo Charged" campaign was actually a lot more personal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geZ7I-d8jQ0

NEC really had no idea how to market the turbo grafx, but looking back now, you have to appreciate the approach they took. It was absolutely the wrong approach, but they knew they had a killer library in japan to fall back on and had no idea what they should and shouldn't have brought over. A very unique, and interesting tactic.

I didn't mean that TTi was suicidal from day one. They did a lot of things right, such as puttig together the greatest pack-in software of all time. But people involved with TTi at the time of the Johnny Turbo garbage have described the environment at that specific time and how it was just a joke at the expense of a couple coworkers and that they were just burning off their advertising budget.

It's similar to the last days of the Saturn, when Sega wasn't busting its ass to bring over all the great imports or even bothering to print enough games for the user base that there actually was and mocked them instead.

[TheSonicRetard]

I didn't mean that TTi was suicidal from day one. They did a lot of things right, such as puttig together the greatest pack-in software of all time. But people involved with TTi at the time of the Johnny Turbo garbage have described the environment at that specific time and how it was just a joke at the expense of a couple coworkers and that they were just burning off their advertising budget.

It's similar to the last days of the Saturn, when Sega wasn't busting its ass to bring over all the great imports or even bothering to print enough games for the user base that there actually was and mocked them instead.

Ah, ok, my mistake. i thought you were saying that when TTi took over for NEC, that they basically threw in the towel. For what it's worth, I thought TTi did an awesome job considering the dire situation. Pre TTi, the only Turbo game I knew of was bonk, and I had seen it maybe once demoed at a store. I saw occasional reviews in magazines, but it was largely ignored. By 1991, there was no Turbo presence and I had sort of forgotten about them.

then 1992 came around and it was night and day. Suddenly, even though they were still a very distant third place, the turbo grafx (or rather, turbo duo) was back. It was a thing. It might have been a failing thing, but it existed in my mind. I thought the advertising of that time (johnny turbo excluded) was actually pretty good.

I have soft spot for TTi and all things Turbo, though. I like what they did with TZD, which, in my mind, puts them well ahead of Sega's late efforts with the saturn. Long after the Turbo Duo was dead in the US, you could still see TZD ads in the back of egm, offering imports via mail order. The Turbo grafx/duo was probably the most import friendly system ever to be released in the US, if only because they constantly acknowledged and informed their userbase of the japanese market, and incouraged them to dip in.

[Black_Tiger]

Ah, ok, my mistake. i thought you were saying that when TTi took over for NEC, that they basically threw in the towel. For what it's worth, I thought TTi did an awesome job considering the dire situation. Pre TTi, the only Turbo game I knew of was bonk, and I had seen it maybe once demoed at a store. I saw occasional reviews in magazines, but it was largely ignored. By 1991, there was no Turbo presence and I had sort of forgotten about them.

then 1992 came around and it was night and day. Suddenly, even though they were still a very distant third place, the turbo grafx (or rather, turbo duo) was back. It was a thing. It might have been a failing thing, but it existed in my mind. I thought the advertising of that time (johnny turbo excluded) was actually pretty good.

I have soft spot for TTi and all things Turbo, though. I like what they did with TZD, which, in my mind, puts them well ahead of Sega's late efforts with the saturn. Long after the Turbo Duo was dead in the US, you could still see TZD ads in the back of egm, offering imports via mail order. The Turbo grafx/duo was probably the most import friendly system ever to be released in the US, if only because they constantly acknowledged and informed their userbase of the japanese market, and incouraged them to dip in.

The Turbo/Duo brand only failed to be the most successful brand of the generation. The Turbo line still lasted a generation and was successful enough to provide the games that it did, instead of just cashing and burning. TTi had more of a handicap than NEC did. NEC had a fresh start and a pile of good software ready to go and streaming in from Japan. TTi could never compete with Sega and Nintendo, but still managed to keep the brand going long enough to put out a substantial number of games. I think that under the circumstances, TTi pulled off a miracle.

[Gunstar Zero]

its kind of a shame too. I never even heard of the TurboGrafx as a kid. I didn't play a TG16 game till I got my wii and instantly loved it. It was an honorable little console. Shared a lot in common in terms of its gameplay with the genesis in some regards I felt.

[kool kitty89]

Yeah true. The aggressive marketing campaigns such as the Genesis Does what Nintendon't ads were there since '89. I don't mean to give Kalinske credit over Katz. I posted the interview for the idea of packing in Sonic with the Genesis but I guess I pasted too much. After that though, Kalinske pretty much took the ball and ran over it, and I mean ran over it. I definitely agree that the company would have been better off with Katz. Improving communication between SoA and SoJ was an issue that definitely needed to be addressed.

Actually, I don't think Genesis Does kicked in until mid 1990. (Katz didn't join Sega until the tail end of 1989 -late November iirc- and they were still running the "We Bring the Arcade Experience Home" ads into early 1990 before the new campaign hit full-force)
I haven't been able to find an exact date of when they started "Genesis Does" . . . or how late they were running the arcade-at-home ads either. (but mid 1990 seems a pretty safe bet)

As to the pack-in issue, it's anyone's guess what would have happened without Kalinske . . . and we also don't know if Katz had pushed for any other pack-in changes prior to that (that's something to possibly ask if Melf ever does a followup interview with him). However, there were the added free-game offers that effectively extended the available pack-ins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7nsBoqJ6s8


Hmm, actually . . . I'm a bit confused by that commercial, it features Joe Montanna (which wasn't released until January of 1991), which would imply that's a 1991 ad. (but it features the Altered Beast bundle still . . . or was that still the standard during early fall 1991?) And if it is 1991, that would be under Kalinske and not Katz too.

I am quite happy to read that alot of people agree that Castle of Illusion is a very stunning title. I do remember remarking at how beautiful the visuals were. It was almost as if you were staring at a Disney featurette. The colors are vibrant and the animation is smooth. It would be a good pack in title that admittedly both boys and girls could play. The issue is that SEGA would probably have to pay royalities to Disney. A loss of overall profit for SEGA.

Yes, royalties could have been a factor (assuming there were royalties and not an up-front licensing fee), though that would be one more investment to consider in general. (short of that, Revenge of Shinobi was probably the best option all-around . . . probably with a broader appeal than Golden Axe and more impressive in some respects too)

kool kitty89, I would agree with that assessment. Nintendo's actions did not go unnoticed for too long back in the 1990s. I think there was a few dailys that actually took issue with the anticompetitive tactics that Nintendo used. In hindsight, I can't really blame Nintendo. Nintendo was only doing what any other smart corporation would do to secure their market share. Part of their goal is to stifle their competition or at least choke it to submission. One cannot forget that profit maximization is one of the caveats to being a successful business.

In the US/Europe, Nintendo started changing some of their policies to be more open (due to litigation and Sega), though overall they stayed significantly tighter than Sega by a wide margin. (and to this day they insist on total control on manufacturing of DS games similar to the NES/SNES/n64 -not sure about disc based platforms)

That didn't happen in Japan until the PS1 though . . . prior to that, Nintendo held up the same policies from the Famicom days (more or less), and it was an even bigger issue in Japan due to the insult to the honor/respect of those publishers (where in the west, the biggest issue was how it hurt their bottom line).

Nintendo virtually went out of their way to bully 3rd parties. (to the point of requiring a humiliating public apology from Namco after their attempt to drop Nintendo and publish for other platforms in the late 80s -that's one of the big reasons that Sony got Namco as a flagship developer)

Had Sega or NEC managed to provide solid alternative platforms to publish on (and be more attractive to publishers overall), that hold could have been broken much earlier (after all, most 3rd parties wanted to ditch Nintendo, but practically couldn't). It wasn't until the Saturn and PS1 vs N64 that that changed. (mostly the PS1)
The fact that NEC was only strong in Japan and Sega in the west also complicated things. (Nintendo was the only one with strong domestic and international market share)

[Bastardcat]

The "Genesis does" adds were supposed to make people drop their NES like bad habit, but it had the opposite effect on people who were actually quite content with their NES. When I was a kid all I remember thinking was "Well these guys are being dicks, I don't really want to buy anything from them!", this was before seeing those TTi ads mind you. There's a biiiiiiiiiig difference between "Our shiny console is cooler than that lame old one you own!" and "Sega is run by satanic robot communists who want to eat your babies! Buy our console, full of games you've never heard of!"

[SEGA.GENESIS1989]

kool kitty89, although I have to admit that Revenge of Shinobi is a great game (it's my personal favorite game by a wide margin), quite possibly Golden Axe may have been a better option. If we consider both the male and female demographic, could Golden Axe appearl to both boys and girls alike?

Maybe, SEGA could have increased sales if they had to center their pack in game around a character that would appeal to both boys and girls. Mario was a cute character that was loved by kids of all ages! I imagine if you had to ask any young woman who owned a Nintendo product back in the day what was their favorite video game character at the time, I would half hazard a guess that most would say Mario.

Maybe SEGA should have considered centering their mascot around a "Alex Kidd" type of character in order to appeal to a broader audience? Who knows?

[chessage]

Hmm, actually . . . I'm a bit confused by that commercial, it features Joe Montanna (which wasn't released until January of 1991), which would imply that's a 1991 ad. (but it features the Altered Beast bundle still . . . or was that still the standard during early fall 1991?) And if it is 1991, that would be under Kalinske and not Katz too.

Joe Montana signed with Sega in March of 1990 (see here & here). It's a September, 1990 commercial:

Sega of America, marketer of Genesis and No. 2 in the field, is going the celebrity route in its campaign, also beginning this week.

[Black_Tiger]

The "Genesis does" adds were supposed to make people drop their NES like bad habit, but it had the opposite effect on people who were actually quite content with their NES. When I was a kid all I remember thinking was "Well these guys are being dicks, I don't really want to buy anything from them!", this was before seeing those TTi ads mind you. There's a biiiiiiiiiig difference between "Our shiny console is cooler than that lame old one you own!" and "Sega is run by satanic robot communists who want to eat your babies! Buy our console, full of games you've never heard of!"

Although the Johnny Turbo shouldn't have been released even as a joke, it was still a sarcastic comic that didn't use Sega's actual name and was only published in a few game magazines.

Sega saturated network television with a live action commercial, depicting a Nintendo player as over weight and mentally challenged who clubs himself with animal corpses to screw up his vision so that his Gameboy games have a swirl of color across them.

[Bastardcat]

Huh, I don't remember those. Sounds like Sega had a case of sour grapes though.

[Kamahl]

Huh, I don't remember those. Sounds like Sega had a case of sour grapes though.

[NeoZeedeater]

It's Randy from My Name is Earl.

Bashing the Game Boy's monochrome screen was the smartest thing they could have done from an advertising perspective. It points out the primary technological advantage of the Game Gear. And the humour in these type of ads made them much more effective than those Atari-bashing Intellivision ads from years earlier. Sure, it wasn't enough to surpass Nintendo's massive head start for portable gaming but the GG was fairly successful for a short while anyway.

[Bastardcat]

Touting the color screen was a smart move, but a smarter move would have been releasing higher quality games. Two things have always stopped me from owning a Game Gear: The terribly short battery life, and the fact that there is nothing on it I particularly find worth spending money on.