SEGA in the Media

SEGA in the Media: Opa-Opa & Zillion

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Before Sonic, before ToeJam & Earl , before Joe Musashi and even a few months before Alex Kidd, SEGA’s mascot was a sentient little spaceship called Opa-Opa, hero of the Fantasy Zone. Though there’s some debate regarding who was the “true” mascot before Sonic came around, I personally put myself in Opa-Opa’s camp. Why? Well, aside from cameoing in a bunch of SEGA games from the ‘80s, a few of which you can read about here, Opa-Opa was also a supporting character in an anime SEGA partially funded, Zillion.

Zillion is a 1987 sci-fi anime from Tatsunoku Productions. It centers around White Knight J.J. and his fellow White Knights Apple and Champ as they defend the earth colony Maris from the evil Nozas, an alien race intent on wiping humans off the face of the planet. The White Knights battle the forces of evil with their signature weapon, the Zillion Weapon System, a Master System light gun (literally, complete with the cord) capable of destroying the Nozas, who are otherwise invulnerable to human weaponry.

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SEGA in the Media: FOX’s “Dads” takes the Dreamcast hostage

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FOX’s live action sitcom Dads, from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, is one of the fall season’s worst shows reviews-wise. Perhaps the production crew knew they had a stinker on their hands and threw a Dreamcast into the set dressing. Hey, if it worked for The Drew Carey Show, it could work for them. The series follows two guys named Warner and Eli who are successful video game developers who are forced to have their fathers move in with them, thus explaining the Dreamcast sitting on Seth Green’s desk. Why a modern game developer would have so many pieces of 90’s era hardware on his work desk is unknown. Perhaps they’re indie Dreamcast developers? In any case, save yourself the trouble watching the show and just enjoy the image above.

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A trio of Sonic Lost World videos from Sonic Boom/Summer of Sonic

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Tonight’s Sonic Boom event was host to some awesome music, cool giveaways. great guests and some exclusive videos (I REALLY wish I could have gone). First up is a new trailer for Sonic Lost World showing off some brand new areas and a return of an old gameplay formula. Hope you like grinding!………A lot!

Liked the Japanese cutscene last week? After the jump, check out an extended, full English version! Also, we finally put up the HD Summer of Sonic trailer from last week that we somehow missed!

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Sakura Wars The Movie to be rereleased by Funimation in Blu Ray format

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News has it that Funimation has picked up the license rights to rerelease Sakura Wars: The Movie on Blu Ray Disc this morning. A source from Twitter states that the movie will still retain the Geneon Dub with added extra features. The movie was previously released on DVD and PSP UMD by Geneon a few years back. The movie’s plot follows the Imperial Assault Force after Lt. Ogami Ichiro departs to Paris and are later introduced to Star Division’s member Rachete Altair to battle against the upcoming evil that is descending upon the Imperial Capital.

If your a fan of SEGA media, you should check this movie out when it’s rereleased on Blu Ray. Now if only Funimation can obtain the TV series rights for Toonami. Hit the jump to see the Twitter announcements.

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SEGA in the Media: Parks and Rec peeks inside Andy and April’s toolbox

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SEGA in the Media is back! Did you know that a certain SEGA Genesis classic made an appearance in the 2011 Halloween episode of NBC’s Parks and Recreation? You probably did, given this clip is almost two years old. In the episode, characters Andy and April throw a Halloween party, and Ron Swanson occupies himself by fixing up their house. Upon requesting their toolbox, Ron is handed a plastic bag filled with various items including… well, why don’t you watch it?

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SEGA in the Media: “MANOS – The Hands of Fate” fan game pays homage to Alex Kidd

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Fans of MST3K, bad movies and early 80’s film to game adaptations should really check out the iOS game MANOS – The Hands of Fate. Based on a movie that many consider to be the worst ever made, ranked #4 on the IMDb bottom 100, Manos is an 80’s inspired platformer with numerous homages to both classic games and bad b-movies. SEGA fans should recognize the death animation, in which the player turns into a transparent ghost and flies upwards. This, according to the game’s developer, was an homage to the Master System’s Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Nice to see the Master System getting some homages, the Master is pleased.

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Mordecai and Rigby bring their Master System to Comic Con

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Today was Preview Night for the San Diego Comic Con, and I made sure to make the most of it! While I was walking from the Archie booth to the SEGA Arcade across the street to check out SEGA’s Comic Con offerings, I came upon something surprising: a photo shoot starring the Mordecai and Rigby of Regular Show! Then I spotted a television, and then a couch between the throngs of people taking pictures, and I knew what else had to be there: a Master System!

The Master System has long been a part of Regular Show, gaining the show quite a following among some of the people here at SEGAbits. It’s good to see it wasn’t forgotten in the Comic Con photoshoot! I am pretty sure it’s a prop though, and not an actual system. I’m sure some SEGA fans with more energy then me will be able to tell. Still really cool reference to an often overlooked SEGA system!

I later took several pictures of the SEGA Arcade booth across the street at 200 Harbor Drive, Suit 120. You can see them after the jump. Unfortunately, my camera died before I could take the last few pics, so expect more tomorrow. I’ll also be keeping an eye out for cosplayers. Hint hint!

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SEGA Memories: Sonic Adventure 2 Commercials

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Of all the things I remember about the Dreamcast days, the Sonic Adventure 2 commercial is about the only ad that actually sticks in my mind. Why? Well, for one, it was the only Dreamcast ad I ever actually saw on television. Thanks to Youtube I know that the Dreamcast had the sort of ads that console makers never even bother with these days. I don’t know what Master Chief and Marcus Fenix are doing in my Xbox, but I know exactly what Sonic and other Dreamcast stars are doing in my little white box: having a never ending dance party!

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SEGA in the Media: Tosh.0 reveals how Sonic died

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I’m starting to think comedian Daniel Tosh is a Sonic fan. Back in 2010 his Comedy Central show Tosh.0 did a segment on real life speed runs, based off of a Sonic 2 speed run video. On the March 13th episode of this year, Sonic got another mention in a segment on a failed parkour video. After showing a woman smashing her face into a concrete wall, Tosh quipped “of course the greatest parkourer of all time was Sonic the Hedgehog – who died turboing through a triple corkscrew. He got greedy.” You can see the full segment at the Tosh.0 show page, tell them SEGAbits sent you.

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SEGA in the Media: Breaking Bad plays a Broken, Bad Sonic Game

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The AMC series Breaking Bad has depicted some pretty detestable things, including producing and selling meth, but perhaps the show’s biggest offense was the depiction of characters enjoying Sonic ’06. In the eleventh episode of season four, titled “Crawl Space”, the character Jesse plays a two player match of Sonic vs. Shadow in Wave Ocean with his girlfriend’s son. Warning: the following clip features some very bad pretend video game playing.

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SEGA in the Media: Space Ghost Emerald Coast to Coast

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My favorite tv show of the 90’s featuring my favorite game of the 90’s, it’s a match made… in space! On the November 11th, 1994 episode of Cartoon Network’s Space Ghost Coast to Coast, upon returning from commercials Space Ghost is caught up in a game of Sonic and Knuckles. It must have been a long commercial break, as Space Ghost has reached Hidden Palace Zone. Before cutting to Space Ghost, Zorak dances to the Sonic and Knuckles title screen theme. Just as Space Ghost is about to defeat Knuckles, he is interrupted by the guest and continues with the show.

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SEGA in the Media: “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” doesn’t have SEGA

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With the Jurassic Park trilogy releasing on blu-ray this week, I thought it would be a fitting time to highlight a nod to SEGA in the second film “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”. An actual SEGA console does not appear, but our beloved gaming company does get a mention in the dialogue. While preparing to leave for another island filled with dinosaurs, Ian Malcolm is trying to persuade his daughter to go and stay with a friend of his. Unfortunately, she doesn’t want to go for a number of reasons, but the main one is that the woman “doesn’t have SEGA”. To quote Muldoon from the first film: “Clever girl.” Interestingly, I did not find this line of dialogue in the film’s script, so it looks like it was something added on the day of shooting. Perhaps Spielberg wanted to infuse a real world issue a kid would have, and staying with somebody who doesn’t have a SEGA is a great reason to not want to go. Perhaps they should get the girl a Game Gear or a Nomad?

Hear the audio of the scene here, or listen below in the embedded player:

She Doesn’t Have Sega. She’s Such a Troglodyte

Speaking of SEGA and Jurassic Park, head on over to our forums to discuss the many Jurassic Park games found on SEGA consoles.

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SEGA in the Media: Sonic and the Simpsons

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As a child of the late 80’s and early 90’s, two of my biggest obsessions were Sonic the Hedgehog and The Simpsons. Despite having very little to do with each other, both franchises were at their heights in the early 90’s. Sonic’s first game saw release in the summer of 1991, just as The Simpsons were nearing the end of their second season, debuting a number of episodes that came to define the series and showed that they had greatly improved upon the so-so first season. The Simpsons had also invaded the world of video games in 1991, with the release of Konami’s The Simpsons Arcade and, of note to SEGA fans, a number of Master System, Game Gear and Genesis titles. 1993 saw the release of The Simpsons Comics series and Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog, both still in print to this day, a rare feat for licensed comics.

It was only a matter of time before The Simpsons and Sonic crossed paths by way of The Simpsons propensity to reference popular culture. In this week’s SEGA in the Media we take a look at all the moments Sonic appeared on The Simpsons!

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The Weekly Five: Saturn in the Media

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Before Saturn Month is considered to be completely over, I thought I’d squeeze in one more Saturn related Weekly Five. This week, we combine our regular SEGA in the Media feature with the SEGA Saturn. That’s right, five times the SEGA in the Media in one day! So let’s kick things off with…

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