Sonic 2sDay: A Retrospective on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and its Worldwide Launch on November 24, 1992!
2,503On November 24th, 1992, the greatest 16-Bit game of all time was let out into the world, along with a marketing strategy that still exists today. (Chapter Markers and more below…)
Episode information
GTV 141 “Sonic 2’s Day" Season 7 Episode 19
Original Airdate: November 16, 2022
Produced October 18-November 14, 2022
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Pro and Topaz Video AI, all while riding the train to work and home, back and forth, day after day. Oh, and lunch breaks too!
0:00 Eggman Cares!
0:02 GTV ID: Are You Up 2 It?
0:11 Prologue: 2 Impossible
1:15 Title Screen
1:27 Act: 1 From Worst 2 First
5:05 CM 1: Sonic 2 is Coming! (Japan, 1992)
5:39 Act 2: 2 Fast, 2 Cool!
15:48 CM 2: Hedgehog Hospital (U.K., 1992)
16:10 Act 3: ‘Till 2sDay
25:51 CM 3: Vive una Aventura (Spain, 1992)
26:04 Act 4: 2sDay’s Child
31:57 CM 4: Free Sonic 2! (U.S., 1993)
32:30 Epilogue: A Day 2 Remember
36:25 Credits & Extra Scenes
Other great SEGA videos by GTV!
For The Record: Altered Beast https://youtu.be/cIIw-ypy8Tc
Phantasy Star 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/FZcij7XPdzI
Sega SG-1000 Story https://youtu.be/qBDx83UZ1nw
Sega Mega Drive Perfect Guides https://youtu.be/w37sJi4PU_Q
Meet Mr. Sega! https://youtu.be/bkOsNYAx90I
Phantasy Star II 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/4F3LnKYEv-8
Mega Drive Mini Unboxing https://youtu.be/SJ9ec844sh0
Segata Sanshiro https://youtu.be/NBPNcI9OMbk
Phantasy Star III 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/T-9uSzMkXKs
Sega Solar System https://youtu.be/nwRy3i1VgMk
The American MegaDrive (aka The Origin of Genesis) https://youtu.be/wta-wGtyuq4
Sonic the Hedgehog 30th Anniversary https://youtu.be/I2MYvgNf9lU
Sonic the 8-Bit https://youtu.be/ct1YjTtd8bE
The Zillion Story https://youtu.be/GV65rKJmlag
A Sonic Adventure https://youtu.be/51cwcqcKiFA
The More You Know: Game Gear https://youtu.be/K3bvA41DY4I
Some of the images were captured by BluGenesi. Big thanks to you! https://www.youtube.com/c/Blugenesi His sonic 2 video that features elements that I captured for him will be released on Nov. 24th, so please do watch it.
Other images come from the best preserverators of film and video:
9th key pattern https://www.youtube.com/@shertz43
Grooveraider http://www.youtube.com/grooveraider
Saving the video game https://www.youtube.com/user/savesgaming
Sega 16 https://www.youtube.com/user/Melf00
RGTV https://www.youtube.com/c/RGTVChannel
Video Game Commercials https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl07tIhRoyrtILdFwLqZGLA
Vini 64 https://www.youtube.com/@vini64
The Sonic 2sDay live footage was brought to my attention by Melodies Zone https://www.youtube.com/c/MelodiesZone
The footage is watermarked, yet I was able to have clean footage with no watermark. Hmm... Well, its like they say, life is full of gambles, but you have to have the cash to play.
Music by:
Plasma3Music https://www.youtube.com/c/Plasma3Music
Maxi Loto https://www.youtube.com/c/MaxiLoto
DJ Mykah https://www.youtube.com/c/DJMykah
Partial transcript
In January 1992, the dust had settled from the ’91 Christmas Shopping Season. Millions of game fans across America returned to school or work having made the choice between the Sega Genesis or the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Only one stood as the winner: Beginning in 1992, Sega started a multi year run as the Market Leader of the Video Game Industry in the United States. Just a few years prior, this scenario would have been treated as a piece of laughable fiction.
But Sega took the opportunity to knock Nintendo from its throne. Rather than fight for Nintendo’s share of the proverbial pie, they expanded it and made one of their own. Sega released the Genesis two years before Nintendo’s Super NES. Sega targeted older, more sophisticated game players. Sega recruited celebrities and athletes to give their games relevance to the culture.
Sega openly mocked Nintendo in advertising, while touting the power of the Genesis.
Then in 1991, Sega released Sonic The Hedgehog. The game became the company’s flagship title. The Sonic character became the face of Sega. Sonic was positioned as a faster, cooler alternative to Mario. The Coup de Grace came in July 1991. Sega reduced the price of the Genesis and included Sonic for free with each new unit sold.
The end result was 2.8 million Genesis sets sold in 1991, while the Super NES only sold 2 million.
The sales tally justified Sega’s hard work, while Nintendo was left stunned, relegated to second place status.
1991, was just the first battle of that long drawn out war between Sega and Nintendo.
1992 would be just as competitive as the year before.
Another 1-2 punch was needed, to keep Sega on top and Nintendo on guard. A sequel to Sonic. One bigger, faster and better than the original.
Other Videos By GTV Japan
Other Statistics
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Statistics For GTV Japan
Currently, GTV Japan has 69,771 views for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 across 1 video. His channel published less than an hour of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 content, or 1.19% of the total watchable video on GTV Japan's YouTube channel.