The Console War between SEGA and Nintendo is legendary for a reason. Both companies fighting for dominance in the recently resurrected home market. SEGA wanted to prove themselves while Nintendo still wanted to keep their spot at the top. It was also a time when kids on the playground swore their alliances and had debates on which game or system was better. This time in gaming is my personal favorite to learn about, partially because I was alive during this time, but mostly because I was so young that when I picked a side the war was essentially over.
I picked the SEGA side for one reason and one reason only, Sonic the Hedgehog. I don’t know what it was about that spikey blue blur that attracted me to him but somehow it worked. I liked the design, I loved the music in the stages, the sounds, everything about Sonic I loved. Unfortunately the only way I could play his games was at my next door neighbor’s house when I lived in Murrieta California. He had a Genesis and we would take turns playing Sonic 2 and when I moved away, I would sometimes go to his house when we were visiting other friends. When I did move into my new house my new next door neighbor had a Super Nintendo. Our families were pretty close since my neighbor were also in the same kindergarten class. Even though I would spend hours going back and forth between Super Mario World and Street Fighter II, I would yearn to play Sonic and a Genesis.
So why am I even mentioning the Console Wars in the first place? What can I say about them that hasn’t already been said? Well I’ll tell you. These past few years I have been collecting the mini consoles that companies have been putting out as a little novelty gift for the gamers in their lives. These mini consoles have become a huge hit (the PlayStation Classic being the only major dud) but once the SNES Mini was announce everyone thought that SEGA would put one out as well, they did but they did one thing that they should’ve done in the 90’s. SEGA waited. Granted there technically was a SEGA mini out that was made by AT Games, but that system is cheap and I don’t count it. SEGA knew the Genesis’ anniversary was coming out, and so they waited, actually played Nintendo’s game and for once they actually beat them. Now there’s a full-fledged review on the SEGA Genesis Mini right here on this site, and even though I’m a bit late to the game, I have to admit SEGA won the Minis.
Now the SNES and NES Minis are nothing to sneeze at, but a big turn off for some when the SNES Mini came out was that Nintendo only put 21 games in the system. Sure a bunch of those games are great 40 plus hour RPG’s and one can play Super Mario World over and over again without getting bored. Heck I stood in line at Target at 5 am to get my SNES Mini when it came out, it’s a fun system. Yet SEGA got them where it hurts by increasing the games and making it the same price as the SNES Mini. 42 games are in this system with 1 never having a North American release (Mega Man: The Wily Wars) and a version of Tetris that we never got to play outside of a arcade.
Even though SEGA lost the console wars that they eventually stopped making home consoles, the Genesis Mini is a good little comeback for them. Will it help SEGA get back in the console market? Probably not, but with nostalgia being a big marketing thing nowadays it’s nice to see SEGA back in the game. Even if it is with this one mini console.
