Convention Report: SEGAbits visits MomoCon 2014 – Hatsune Miku, Sonic the Hedgehog, & SEGA’s history

Hello SEGAbits readers and followers! Kori-Maru here back from Atlanta, Georgia to bring you SEGA coverage from MomoCon, one of the fastest growing all ages conventions in Georgia where anime and gaming collide. This also marks the very first time SEGA attended MomoCon to promote Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd. Just to be prepared for the convention, I decided to cosplay as Akira Yuki from the Virtua Fighter series in his VF2 attire. Be sure to hit the jump for videos from the SEGA panels, pictures, and a video interview with Aaron Webber and Sam Mullen as we discuss about SEGA and Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd.

Arriving at the convention, my friends and I were rooming at the Hilton hotel across from the Marriott hotel, with both hotels linked together via a sky bridge making more room for the convention. The following day, the convention was filled with cosplayers and attendees as they were excited for this year’s MomoCon. The first thing I visited at the convention was the Game Room, located under the Hilton hotel and featuring tons of arcade, indie, and console games free to play! I managed to try my hands at SEGA’s arcade classic title, Shinobi, along with tons of arcade games. SEGA also had playable versions of Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd on PS3 and Vita. While I’m not a skilled player at rhythm games, but I was still amazed by the music.

SEGA were also doing surveys for Hatsune Miku for attendees at MomoCon to take. A good strategy for the company to branch out their Japanese IPs.

After my visit in the Game Room, I roamed around the convention floors in my Akira Yuki cosplay. There were a few people who were aware of the Virtua Fighter franchise, however numerous attendees mistook me for Ryu from Street Fighter and Gohan from Dragon Ball Z. To my surprise, I’ve bumped into Johnathan “Persona” Kim, Senior Animator of Skullgirls, on the show floor. Instantly recognizing my cosplay, he took a picture of me performing Akira’s Byakko Soushouda while holding my signed Sega Dreamcast.

The panels I attended were more video game related than anime, with two of the panels being “Breaking to the Game Industry” and “Game Journalism”, as I would love to join the game industry in the near future. A few interesting notes were giving on how to enter the game industry and how networking really helps with your career. But enough about me, let’s get on the SEGA stuff!

During MomoCon, SEGA held three panels. Starting with “Behind the Scenes of Sonic”, Associate Brand Manager of SEGA of America Aaron Webber discussed the history behind the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise to the audience from video games to the media. Webber joked about Tails’ death in Sonic Boom during the panel, describing his death similar Nicholas Cage in the Wicker Man to give the audience a laugh. Trivia questions were included for true hardcore Sonic fans to answer. The panel ended with teaser footage of the upcoming Sonic Boom television series and a surprise announcement of a new Sonic title, which I will let viewers watching the panel video figure out for themselves. I also happened to meet Matt from Tails Channel at the panel. Another interesting note I would like to add was that I was able to assist SEGA towards the end of the panel by giving away free Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics to the audience as they left. It was a great honor assisting SEGA with this panel!

The second panel featured the “History of SEGA”, telling the story of how the company started. One of the interesting things about this panel was that the SEGA employees hosting gave the audience a brief history lesson about SEGA of America, such as mentioning former President Tom Kalinske, who happened to be our special podcast guest during the convention week, and many key figures that changed the future of the company such as Al Nilsen (who we also interviewed), Madline Schroeder, and Shinobu Toyoda. SEGA also showed off how Sonic became an icon, consoles that the company created over the years, and the merger with Sammy Corporation.

The last panel featured Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd, as Aaron Webber and Sam Mullen discussed how Hatsune Miku was able to come to the West thanks to the huge fanbase that the franchise has. Unfortunately, I was unable to record the panel and gameplay for Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd due to copyright laws with Crypton Media. However I was able to interview Aaron Webber and Sam Mullen about the upcoming game which will be released in Fall of 2014!

Here are the panel videos, video interview and pictures to view from MomoCon. Enjoy!

Behind the scenes of Sonic, hosted by Aaron Webber

History of SEGA, hosted by the SEGA crew

SEGAbits Interview: Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd with Aaron Webber and Sam Mullen

Bonus video: Kori-Maru plays Shinobi, the original arcade game.

MomoCon Pictures

Special Thanks to my friends who have helped out taking pictures and recording the panels. Also to Aaron, Sam, and Steve of SEGA of America for the awesome picture we took with the Dreamcast and letting me after assisting them with the panels.

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