Sonic’s Secret Genesis

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loved it when I was playing a video game and I would catch a reference or cameo of a character from a totally different game they were always fun little Easter eggs and I don’t know I guess it made me feel like the games were connected in a big universe together thus began my secret games series I’ve previously talked about Mario’s secret NES games and Mario’s secret gameboy games but now it’s time to move on to the number one request Sonic the Hedgehog So let’s take a look at the system that made him famous the Sega Genesis before we begin a few ground rules number one Sonic’s name or any characters from the Sonic universe can’t be in the title of the game number two Sonic or any characters from the Sonic universe can’t be on the cover art of the game number three the cameo must actually be Sonic Some games have text alluding to him or you’ll see his red shoes but Sound isn’t actually on screen and number four Sonic Appearing on the Sega logo start up screen doesn’t count with these rules in place we know for sure that you won’t be expecting to find Sonic in any of these games okay let’s do it these are Sonic’s secret Genesis games released in May of 1992 in North America Sports talk baseball has many cool features including real player statistics full season play and battery backup saves one of the most impressive features is the play-by-play commentary nowadays this is pretty standard in a sports game but back in the early 90s this was very exciting to hear so where does sonic come in no he’s not fielding grounders or stealing second but if you manage to hit a homerun sonic appears on the jumbotron in the outfield if you’re a baseball fan I Highly recommend sports talk baseball it’s one of the best if not the best baseball games on the Genesis when it comes to tactical role-playing games Shining Force 2 is considered one of the all-time great sIGN even put it at number 48 of their top 100 video games of all time but enough about that where Sonic after you beat the game sit on the end screen for a few minutes to unlock a secret battle this is the hardest fight in the game you fight just about every single bossin one map and the map is in the shape of Sonic cool one of the rarest and most valuable games on the Sega Genesis Crusader of centy is basically a Legend Of Zelda clone however it’s not as good it has a rough translation a severe lack of puzzles and swinging your sword just doesn’t feel as good as it does in the Legend of Zelda but without comparing it to Zelda Crusader of centy is a decent little action RPG when you reach the beach area early on in the game you’ll find Sonic catching some rays on a beach chair if you speak to him he’ll say tisk tisk i’m a gallant hedgehog don’t messor you’ll get burned see what I mean by rough translation it’s art alive yep some might say this was Sega’s answer to Mario Paint but art alive actually came out a year earlier there’s not much to art alive it’s basically a paint program for your Sega Genesis Sonic makes an appearance as a character you can stamp on your creations there’s even a few toejam and earl stamps sonic has a couple of poses you can choose from to really make your drawings stand out let’s jump across the pond for a minute and look at ultimate soccer on the MegaDrive I find it really odd that a game that only came out in Europe is called ultimate soccer and not ultimate football but I digress this game has some pretty robust options like changing how much the soccer ball weights you’ll see Sonic right away in the main menu as you choose what game mode you want to play in the early days of the Genesis Sega hoped to attract an older audience by pushing their lineup of sports games most of the games were endorsed by athletes too there was Buster Douglas Knockout boxing Arnold Palmer tournament golf and of course Joe Montana football it seemed like a good match Montana was one of the all-time great quarterbacks he wore the number 16 and the genesis was the hot new 16-bit console fun fact the first Joe Montana game was developed by Park Place productions the same team who made John Madden football but for the sequel Joe Montana football developer duties were handed off to BlueSky software Joe Montana football boasts it has the first ever live play-by-play which was impressive at the time but it doesn’t work all that well anyway here’s Sonic well if you score a touchdown different scenes play out on the jumbotron there’s a this and pay their Sonic in December of 1994 Sega Launched a new service Sega channel in partnership with Time Warner Cable Sega Channel would deliver games to the Genesis through a coaxial cable for $15 a month players could download a selection of games demos and cheat codes while this isn’t technically a video game sonic does make an appearance at the startup screen he runs by and jumps on the power switch surprisingly sega channel lasted almost four years seems like a good topic for a future episode let’s take a look at Wimbledon Championship tennis which features a surprisingly good soundtrack seriously take a listen this game has an official Wimbledon License but no real players as far as a tennis game goes well it’s tennis as for our blue hedgehog friend his cameo only appears in the European version of the game his posters are plastered around the court as advertisements well that’s kind of boring out runners is the third game in the classic outrun series and if you haven’t played it well get on it it’s a fantastic arcade racer unfortunately this is just another show Sonic’s picture cameo in the Mega Drive Version of this game he’s on a billboard at the beginning of the race cheesecome on Sega is this all we’re gonna get for the sonic cameos there’s one game left show me something cool let’s wrap things up with Ayrton Senna’s super Monaco GP – apparently Ayrton Senna Himself supervised the production of this game fancy now I’ll admit I have no clue when it comes to Formula One racing but I decided to look into it more and Ayrton Senna is considered one of the greatest drivers ever sadly he died in arace crash two years after this game came out as far as the game itself super Monaco GP 2 is right up your alley if you like Formula One racing but we’re sonic well let’s see did you catch that he’s down there at the bottom when you select your rival in World Championship Mode well over all those cameos were little disappointing so how about a bonus let’s look at some game gear games released only in Europe the Sega game pack foreign one contains four games including columns flash penalty shootout pan-american Road rally and championship tennis which is where we find Sonic the Hedgehog like Mario he has taken up the job of chair umpire but unlike Mario he doesn’t make any calls he just watches the ball go back and forth come on Sonido your job let me start by saying I did not like Tom and Jerry the movie as a kid so the idea of playing this game is not appealing at all nevertheless yes Sonicis in this game in stage two once you pass the sega restaurant there’s a poster of Sonic in the bookshop he looks well it’s the game gear they did their best that wraps up sonic secret Genesis Games overall not as exciting as Mario’s Many hidden appearances still throwing sonic into so many random games was evidence that back in the 90s Sega Really saw him as their flagship character and he still is today if you have a suggestion for a secret game episode let me know in the comments below personally I think a Final Fantasy Episode would be good but tell me what you think that’s all for this episode of the gaming historian thanks for watching funding for gaming historian is provided in part by supporters on patreon