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Nintendo’s Summer 1992
Even though SNES was perhaps less “cool” than Genesis, Nintendo made up for lost time early on. Between April and the first day of September 1992, SNES released some absolute blockbusters in North America. During this time, we got Contra III: The Alien Wars, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Mario Paint, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Timeand finally Super Mario Bros.. That’s an INSANE selection of games coming out in just a few months.
This lineup says something about how bulletproof Nintendo’s first-party production was and how strong their third-party support was. The three third-party games on this list are unique in their relationship to their Genesis counterparts. Genesis had a Alien Wars sequel, which came out a full two years later. Her version of it Ninja Turtles Game was Hyperstone Heistwhich is a weaker variant of Turtles in Time and came out months later. Street Fighter IIGenesis would eventually be a port of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition over a year later, but they added content from the sequel, Street Fighter II Turbowhich was already running on SNES at the time. Sega fell behind and had to find a way to change the conversation and make up lost ground.
Sega CD makes things more complicated
Sega was still making faster technological advances than Nintendo, and their next piece of hardware was ambitious. The Sega CD (or Mega CD) was released in North America in late 1992 and seemed like a big deal. This Genesis accessory allowed for more storage and the ability to create full-motion video. Nintendo tried to get Sony and Phillips to work on CD technology, which ultimately came to nothing and basically led to Sony becoming a competitor later on. Oops!
The Sega CD had some decent games, but was not the runaway success Sega had hoped for. While FMV games seemed like a huge step forward at the time, most games that used the technology were abysmal overall. These included Night trapwhich was to be a remarkable publication for reasons we will discuss later.
Sonic 2sDay shakes up the status quo
Of course there was a sound Sequel. Of course, it was an excellent sequel, with sidekick Tails who could be controlled by a second player. Sega knew they had a real hit on their hands and wanted the release to be something special. Back then, games didn’t have set release dates. They just hit stores and were eventually put on shelves. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 did more than that, and set a major trend in the process.
While the game came out three days early in Japan, it was set for November 24, 1992 everywhere else. Sega made a huge production out of it, throwing a big launch party with young sitcom actors like Joey Lawrence, Dustin Diamond, and Jonathan Taylor Thomas. It was a huge effort to make sure everyone had the game ready that day, but it was worth it. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 would be Genesis’ second biggest seller, right after its predecessor, which was itself a pack-in title. Heck, the sequel sold over five times as much as the original pack-in game Altered animal!
