NEW 100% UNOFFICIAL 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 Imagine Publishing Ltd Richmond House 33 Richmond Hill Bournemouth Dorset BH2 6EZ (cid:8) +44 (0) 1202 586200 Website: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk Twitter: @Books_Imagine Facebook: www.facebook.com/ImagineBookazines Publishing Director Aaron Asadi Head of Design Ross Andrews Editor In Chief Jon White Production Editor Hannah Westlake Designer Perry Wardell-Wicks Senior Art Editor Greg Whitaker Printed by William Gibbons, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XT Distributed in the UK, Eire & the Rest of the World by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU Tel 0203 787 9060 www.marketforce.co.uk Distributed in Australia by Gordon & Gotch Australia Pty Ltd, 26 Rodborough Road, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086, Australia Tel +61 2 9972 8800 www.gordongotch.com.au Disclaimer The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this bookazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the bookazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This bookazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. 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