Sega Corporation
Type	Subsidiary
Founded	June 3, 1960
Headquarters	Shinagawa, Tokyo
Key people	Hajime Satomi Hisao Oguchi Mike Hayes Yu Suzuki Takashi Iizuka
Industry	Video Games
Products	Various Video Games SG-1000 Master System Sega Genesis Game Gear Sega CD Sega Pico Sega 32X Sega Saturn Dreamcast
Employees	5,349 (Sega Sammy Holdings "Entertainment Contents Business")
Parent	Sega Sammy Holdings
Website	http://www.sega.com (US) http://www.sega.co.uk (Europe) Sega Corporation (Japanese, Japan)
Article on Wikipedia	Sega

Sega (株式会社セガ), officially stylized asSEGA, is a multinational video game software and hardware development company, as well as a former home computer and game console manufacturer.

Currently headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan, the company is famous for many notable game franchises, includingSonic the Hedgehog,Bayonetta,Virtua Fighter,Streets of Rage,Phantasy Star,Sakura Wars, andValkyria Chronicles. Many of its popular games are developed by its subsidiary studios, such asSonic Team (Sonic the Hedgehog,NiGHTS into dreams...) andRyu Ga Gotoku Studio (Super Monkey Ball,Yakuza / Like a Dragon, andJudgment). It also includes franchises from companies acquired by them, such asPuyo Puyo (acquired in 1998 fromCompile),Total War (underCreative Assembly, acquired in 2005),Shin Megami Tensei andPersona (underAtlus, acquired in 2013),Two Point (underTwo Point Studios, acquired in 2019), andAngry Birds (underRovio Entertainment, acquired in 2023). Outside of their portfolio of original IPs, for many years Sega had made various games based on other licenses: from sportsmen likeJoe Montana, musicians likeMichael Jackson; to franchises of the caliber ofMickey Mouse,Ghostbusters,Hatsune Miku,Initial D,Spider-Man,Warhammer,Jurassic Park,Happy Days,X-Men,McDonaldland, theSummer Olympic Games,Alien,Asterix,Star Trek, etc. Sega was notablyNintendo's greatest rival company during the fourth generationconsole war with the launch of the Sega Genesis. Since then, the company has made frequent collaborations with Nintendo, including releasing exclusive games for their consoles and occasionally developing games involving their IPs, such asF-Zero GX,F-Zero AX and theMario & Sonic crossover sports series.

History[edit]

Sega's origins can be traced back to 1940 with the founding of a company namedStandard Games, a developer of coin-operated amusement and gambling machines meant for military use in Honolulu, Hawaii. After selling Standard Games in 1945, the founders createdService Games in 1946, which served a similar purpose. Service Games would expand into many other countries, with Japan being particularly successful. The current Sega logo first appeared in 1954, on the Diamond Star slot machine. After increasing pressure from the US government looking into the criminal business practices of gambling, most of the company was dissolved on May 31st, 1960. On June 3rd of that year, Martin Bromley, one of the founders, formed two different companies. Nihon Goraku Bussan, the first company, was made to acquire the remains of Service Games and act as distributor of the machines that Nihon Kikai Seizō, the second company, would develop. The companies would merge in 1964, retaining the Nihon Goraku Bussan name. The company would then acquire Japanese photo booth distributor Rosen Enterprises, and was renamed toSEGA Enterprises Ltd. In 1969, Sega would be sold toGulf and Western Industries, who would act as their parent company and distributor.

Sega, now calledSEGA Enterprises Inc., would see major growth throughout the 1970s during the arcade boom. Early hits include games likePeriscope,Love Tester,Heavyweight Champ,Monaco GP, andHead On, along with securing the license toFrogger. After arcade revenue started to wane in the early 1980's, Gulf and Western decided to sell off the arcade division of Sega toBally Manufacturing while retaining the R&D division. Also at this time, Sega decided to move to the home hardware industry. This led to the SC-3000 computer and the SG-1000 game console in 1983. While not failures, both were greatly outpaced by Nintendo's Famicom. However, this was enough for Gulf and Western to sell off the remainder of Sega. An investor group led by former executives bought all the splintered assets in 1984 to form the modern Sega Enterprises Ltd. Sega would then redesign the SG-1000 into the Sega Mark III in 1985, known internationally as the Master System. While performing much better and dominating the console market in some regions, the Master System was still behind the Famicom, which broke out into other regions as the Nintendo Entertainment System.

In 1985, Sega formally ended their relationship with Bally and reentered the arcade scene internationally, creating some of the better-known arcade titles of the late 1980s. At this time, they focused on a style of gaming known as体感 (taikan, literally "body experience"); these were arcade titles with moving cabinets designed to emulate experiences that couldn't be recreated with a standard control scheme, such as driving vehicles. Well-known hits during this time includeHang-On,Out Run, andAfter Burner. The company additionally introduced the UFO Catcher in 1985, which remains the most widely-distributed Japaneseclaw crane to this day. Bolstered by their success in the arcades, they decided to create a new home console that would directly compete with Nintendo, and in 1988, they launched the Sega Mega Drive, known as the Genesis in certain regions. While seeing initial profit, Nintendo almost immediately dented their revenue forecast by debuting the Super Famicom in 1990, releasing in other regions as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System a year later.

By 1991, Sega made a plan to drop the price of all systems and bundle the console withSonic the Hedgehog, a game featuring a new mascot designed to directly contend with Nintendo'sMario. This proved to be a highly successful move, even briefly over taking Nintendo in market share and starting what came to be known as the fourth generationconsole war. Sega would redesign their console several times, as well as release addons such as the Mega CD and Sega 32X, which received generally mixed reception. Sega also created the portable Game Gear using the same architecture as the Mark III; despite being more technologically advanced than Nintendo's Game Boy, it ultimately did not make as much of an impact due to a number of design issues, notably its inferior battery life. By the end of the generation, Nintendo would retake their dominance in the console industry due to brand confusion caused by Sega's poor marketing and the failure of the Mega Drive's addons. Despite this, Sega was still kept afloat by its arcade development; they were one of the first companies to embrace fully 3D-rendered games, releasing groundbreaking titles such asVirtua Racing,Daytona USA, andVirtua Fighter.

With their next console, the Saturn, Sega's American branch announced that it would release on September 2nd, 1995, but surprised everyone—including third-party developers and distributors—when they later announced the Saturn would actually release ahead of schedule on May 11th. This resulted in a stunted launch that soured public relations and created a tense atmosphere within the company, culminating in the resignation of Sega of America's then-president,Tom Kalinske. While the Saturn performed modestly well in its native Japan, it never matched the numbers of the preceding Mega Drive; in America, it never recovered from its rocky launch, and it lagged behind the competing Nintendo 64 and PlayStation. Additionally, developers struggled to work with the console's complicated hardware, as it was intended primarily for 2D games at a time where 3D gaming was beginning to dominate the home console scene. After a mere three years on the market, Sega discontinued the Saturn and developed a new console intended to remedy these problems.

Released in 1998 in Japan and 1999 elsewhere, the Dreamcast was developed based on Sega's 3D arcade hardware at the time, and included a number of revolutionary features, such as native Internet connectivity and a controller that doubled as a memory card. Despite initially having a successful launch, its problems stemmed primarily from being released at the wrong time; the advanced hardware and features resulted in a high price tag for the console and its games, and the 2000 release of the PlayStation 2 completely overshadowed the rest of its lifespan, resulting in a rapidly-shrinking consumer base. Even among console owners, Dreamcast games were also notoriously simple to pirate, further cutting into the system's profitability. On January 31st, 2001, Sega announced that it would officially pull out of the console market and become a third party developer and publisher, which is how it operates today. On October 1st, 2004, they merged with Japanese pachinko companySammy Corporation to formSega Sammy Holdings; Sega Corporation still exists as a subsidiary of the company. On September 2013, Sega Sammy Holdings acquiredAtlus, obtaining the publishing rights for franchises such as theMegami Tensei series and its various subseries such asPersona.

InSuper Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

Sega was described as being in "special collaboration" with Nintendo regardingSonic's inclusion inBrawl, where he andSolid Snake became the first third-party characters to appear in the series. Additionally, other characters from theSonic franchise, such asShadow, Tails, Knuckles, and Silver, have minor roles inBrawl, and the iconicSonic level,Green Hill Zone, appears as a stage. Content fromF-Zero GX also makes itsSuper Smash Bros. debut in this game in the form of music, stickers and updated designs of featuredF-Zero characters.

Jun Senoue was brought in to do an arrangement for theSonic the Hedgehog series,Angel Island Zone.

InSuper Smash Bros. 4[edit]

Sega's mascotSonic returns as a third-party character inSuper Smash Bros. 4. Additionally,Windy Hill Zone, a stage from their Nintendo (3DS/Wii U) exclusiveSonic Lost World, appears inSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U, whileGreen Hill Zone returns fromBrawl inSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. TwoMii Brawler costumes based onAkira Yuki andJacky Bryant from Sega'sVirtua Fighter series appear asdownloadable content. In addition, Mii costumes based offKnuckles andTails appear for the Mii Brawlers and theMii Gunners, respectively.Bayonetta from theBayonetta series is another newcomer, available asDLC. She is Sega's second playable fighter inSuper Smash Bros.

InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

BothSonic andBayonetta return as third-party playable characters. In addition, theGreen Hill Zone stage returns fromBrawl andfor 3DS as well as theWindy Hill Zone stage fromfor Wii U and theUmbra Clock Tower stage from both versions ofSmash 4.Shadow returns as an Assist Trophy.Knuckles,Rodin, andAkira Yuki also debut as new Assist Trophies. Akira andJacky Bryant also return as Mii Brawler costumes.Joker fromPersona 5, developed and published by Sega's subsidiaryAtlus, makes an appearance as aDLC character.

Jun Senoue makes a return toUltimate withMega Man 4 Medley, along with new arrangers forUltimate with Tomoya Ohtani withBomb Rush Blush, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi withF-ZERO Medley, and Hideaki Kobayashi withMidna's Lament.

Trivia[edit]

• All three fighters and their respectiveuniverses owned by Sega were created by different companies; Sonic was created by Sonic Team, Bayonetta was created byPlatinumGames, and Joker was created byAtlus.
  • All three playable fighters have theirvictory themes taken directly from their home games. However, in Bayonetta’s case, the theme itself isn’t from theBayonetta games, but the individual parts are directly taken. In Sonic’s case inUltimate, the Act Clear fromSonic the Hedgehog (2006) was sped up and slightly abridged.

This page uses content fromWikipedia. The original article was atSega. The list of authors can be seen intheir page's history. As withSmashWiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Super Mario Wiki has an article onSega.

• Companies
• Sonic the Hedgehog universe
• Bayonetta universe
• Persona universe
• Virtua Fighter universe
• F-Zero universe
• Sega