In 1994 Sega executed a twopart strategy for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Part one of the plan involved getting up awfully early one winter morning as a longtime local tradition became national.
(Chapter markers and more below...)

0:00 GTV ID: An Early Spring Where Available
0:04 Intro: More in '94!
1:00 Act 1: Three's a Crowd
10:16 CM 1: Sonic 3 Is Coming (U.S., 1994)
10:33 Act 2: Hedgehog Day
20:13 CM 2: Sonic 3 From Mega Drive (Japan 1994)
20:30 Act 3: Casting a Long Shadow
25:22 Coming This October! Sonic & Knuckles VS. Donkey Kong Country!!


Episode Information
GTV 161 "The Story of Sonic 3" Season 9 Episode 1
Original Airdate: January 29, 2024
Produced January 1027, 2024
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and Topaz AI. All paid for with Gainful Employment™

Videoclips furnished by Vampire Robot, Digital Neo Human, Videogame Epherema and RGTV.
Gameplay assistance by Blugenesi

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Partial transcript
In January 1994, when the dust had settled from the ’93 Christmas season, Sega found itself on top again, ahead of their main rival Nintendo. Most figures from that era will estimate a 60/40 split. In hard numbers The Sega Genesis reached lifetime sales of 13.5 million units, while The Super Nintendo Entertainment System reached 11.3 Million. In one year Sega, almost sold 6,000,000 units, about 1 and a half million more than Nintendo. Sega had moved from profits of a few million dollars only a few years before, to $3.6 Billion at the end of 1993. “The Rise of Sega,” led by CEO Tom Kalinske was documented throughout the media.

Nintendo was no slouch during this period, with quality software and aggressive pricing, but fell short for the last three years, the entire lifetime of the Super NES.

The battles of Sega and Nintendo, which later came to be known as the “Console Wars” were a boom for everyone. Hundreds of great 16bit games, on hardware that cost $99. There was much to be excited about, wether you owned a Genesis or SNES and by 1994, more than few had both.

The origin of Sega’s 90s success came from Sonic the Hedgehog. The character was placed front and center as the face of the company, offering a more exciting alternative to Mario. The games were fastpaced, exciting and colorful, showing off the best graphics the Genesis could pull off. Sonic also made it to the portable Game Gear and in some areas the 8Bit Master System.

Sonic reached maximum exposure on November 24th 1992, with a historic first for video games: A simultaneous worldwide launch for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Sonic 2sDay.

Sega followed up the next year with Sonic Mania Day, on November 23rd, 1993. Rather than “Sonic 3” the public was given “three Sonics” with Sonic CD on the Sega CD, Sonic Spinball on the Genesis and Sonic Chaos on the Game Gear. Despite the quality offerings of Sonic Mania Day, the demand for Sonic 3 was intense and only grew over time.