Originally founded back in June 1960, Sega is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. To kick things off, the company has opened up a brand new website, along with the reveal of a brand new promotional character.
We don't know which fact makes us feel more old - that Sega has been around for so long or that 1960 was 60 years ago - but we do know that we've been treated to lots of wonderful games as a result of its existence over the years.
Sega Holdings Chairman, Haruki Satomi, has shared the following message to fans of the brand, highlighting the fact that a "variety of special contents" are planned:
This year, sixty years will have passed since Nihon Goraku Bussan Co. Ltd., the predecessor of SEGA, was established on June 3, 1960. We are indebted to everyone who has patronized the SEGA Group for many years, and would like to express our deep gratitude to all of you.
We want to astonish the world with breath-taking experiences that no one in the world has ever imagined. We want to be a company that continues to provide inspirational experiences to everyone in the new world of the future.
That is why we must overcome all obstacles and keep taking on new challenges.
The key message of the 60th anniversary, “GO SEGA”, expresses such aspirations.
The SEGA Group is planning a variety of special contents for this 60th anniversary. Through these special contents, we will deliver the passion of the SEGA Group to the entire world.
Of course, we already knew that Sega has promised to share fresh Sonic-related news every month this year, but it looks like there could be plenty more in the pipeline, too.
We'll leave you with this wonderfully Japanese video starring 'Sega Shiro', a new character who has been introduced as part of the celebrations. Interestingly, he's played by Maito Fujioka, who just so happens to be the eldest son of Hiroshi Fujioka - the man who advertised Sega Saturn in Japan as 'Segata Sanshiro' (thanks, GoNintendo).
[source 60th.sega.com, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 69
SEGA is 60 years old on this year ?! 😮
Wow, even older than KONAMI (50 years).
And still no direct....
I love SEGA. Wish they were still making consoles though.
@PickledKong64 I wanted to write the same... Nintendo should make an announce.. blaming the virus, the E3 or I dunno... it's not possible anymore...
This looks to be a good year for Sega fans with this, Streets of Rage 4 and 3 Panzer Dragoon games in development 😃
I remember Edge commenting on the merger with Sammy being the death of the company and they were right. I adore Sega and will defend the Master System > NES argument until my dying breath but they are a shadow of their former glory and it has taken external studios who have a clear love for their franchises to carry them through the last few years.
Yu Suzuki shouldn’t be begging cap in hand to the general public to fund development of his titles, JSRF, Skies of Arcadia and the like should be getting HD updates, not languishing in emulator hell.
I will say this much though: the merch in their online store is amazing.
@Illusion you mean SErvice GAmes?
How about some more Master System and Sega Saturn games on the Switch?
(Perhaps a Sega Master System Collection?)
My love for Sega runs deep...from the very first day I brought home my Sega master system back in 1986 which blew my mind!
Happy Birthday, Sega.
The video is so Japanese, I love it and it cracks me up even though I don't understand a word lol
Time to celebrate with a Skies of Arcadia remaster!
So... no VF6, right?
Happy birthday SEGA! Great to still see you around with providing great products. Your iconic logo shines brightly again, which is always a good sign for gamers community.
Just please, give us more of your goods on our beloved big N console. I wish to play some Yakuza 0's dancing sub-missions on the handheld mode while I'm draining my drinks lonely in the club.
@carlos82 3 Panzer Dragoon games in development? THREE? I had no idea. I only knew about the one that I was hoping would be out by now.
@Alpha-2002 exactly what I came to say 😞
So where’s the news about the upcoming sonic game?
I'm glad they're still around, even though they've dropped the ball more times than I can count by now, especially when they were still producing and releasing hardware. And they're still screwing up Sonic, with more misses than hits, where Sonic games are concerned.
But to this day, I'm still a proud Dreamcast owner. For arcade game lovers, it's still one of the best consoles ever made. I'm VERY curious about those special content announcements, but I will keep my expectations in check. You may never know with today's Sega...
Anyway, Happy Anniversary, Sega!
On a side note: that logo also kinda looks like it says "Go Sega", which is also a nice cheer.
@joey302 Yep, same as me. From the Master System through to the Dreamcast, with all the contraptions in between and my many days spent hanging around in arcades, I was a SEGA kid.
@OorWullie the devs doing the remake are also remaking Zwei and a separate developer is making a VR game with stages based upon the first 2 and Saga
I hope with the Olympics delayed they really consider re releasing the game next year with added events (basketball, tennis, volleyball) and offer DLC for everyone else. Also let the game owner make a playlist of events they want to participate in.
Together with me now:
SE-GA-TA SAN-SHI-RO
SE-GA-TA SAN-SHI-RO
SE-GA-TA SAN-SHI-RO
SE-GA SA-TAN, SHI-RO
@Alpha-2002 I know hugs I know.
Happy Anniversary Sega!
Now about that Shining Force reboot..
@carlos82 That's great news,cheers.
This would be a good platform to announce the next line of Sega Ages
Sega can’t hype me anymore. I really need to see something developed in-house that isnt mediocre or worse. Fan-developers, even the contracted ones (M2, Christian Whitehead, lizard cube, dot emu, etc.) are the only ones carrying the spirit of old Sega
Announcing a Saturn mini would be very welcome
Dear SEGA, I’m gonna need Sonic Utopia, Sonic Freedom, and S2HD to become officially licensed projects. Put ‘em on my Switch.
The "60 great years of SEGA history" has some questionable highlights. Nothing for classics like Outrun, After Burner, Golden Axe, etc but we get a dedicated slide for "1999:10 Began operation of race horse breeding simulation game ”Derby Owners Club" 🤪
@AlexSora89: OK, OK! I'll go play my Sega Saturn! Just let me out of this head lock, please!
(RIP Segata Sanshiro. He died so the Dreamcast could live...)
Why would you headline this like SEGA was going to reveal a new promotional character from a game or a movie?
Instead you gave me the most weeb s*** I've ever seen. Japanese acting is some of the cheesiest s*** ever.
Stop lying in your headlines.
@glorymade umm.. what lie?
I owe a lot of where I am today to SEGA, mainly to Sonic. If it weren't for Sonic getting me into games at a young age, I don't know if I would be nearly as involved in games as I am, or if I would even like the same games I do now. Sure, it's a series that's hard to love sometimes, but I can always look forward to future projects and love what came before, which I think sums up SEGA as a whole. My only real complaint with their whole company is that they focus way to hard on reselling classic Genesis/Megadrive games. Those games are awesome, but the Saturn and Dreamcast had some great games too.
Thanks for everything SEGA, now please remake Sonic Adventure
Wasn't SEGA supposed to make an announcement on the 20th of each month? Maybe I missed it, or it, like a lot of things lately, was pushed back.
@KayFiOS The 20th news is exclusively for Sonic, and that was going to be the yearly SXSW panel. SXSW got cancelled because of the virus, so now the Sonic news is coming next month
If part of this special content is more Monkey Ball or localizing Yakuza 7 I'm all in.
@ToonStuff Oh, right! Forgot about the panel! Thanks for clearing that up!
@glorymade Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning? It's a new character, based on SEGA's marketing efforts from the Saturn days of old (which is explained in the article, if you didn't just jump to the video and actually bothered reading it). Obviously, you were expecting a new Sonic character, or a new videogame character altogether, and set expectations for what you wanted to see. If you are disappointed, you have only yourself to blame for it.
Master system & Saturn minis please.
@Alpha-2002 that would make the world ok again.
@KayFiOS as a Sega fan since the late 80s i can assure you this was a large disappointment. Sure, nobody said there was a new character from a game or a movie, but since the invention of the Sega Jukebox and the death of the Dreamcast here hasn't been much from Sega aside from work in movies and games so why wouldn't it be safe to assume that's what a new Sega promotional character would be?
If the promotional character isn't gaming based how does this have anything to do with Nintendo?
Sega is really good at doing nothing. How does this article involve Nintendo though?
@glorymade Okay, it's fine to be disappointed, but flying off the handle and accusing NintendoLife of lying is an extreme reaction to a company not announcing a new character in an upcoming videogame.
@glorymade my condolences. It is always rough to lose a loved one.
This is pretty lame. I love Sega Sammy but they need serious help. They used to be the perfect foil to Nintendos early years of over protectiveness. Now they recycle crap endlessly. I still play my Genesis that I bought launch day with Streets of Rage 2 but the Switch is quickly becoming the new defacto Sega machine. Just bring on more ports.
Companies! Enough teases, let's get some announcements!
Cool.
Now bring over Shenmue 1 & 2 HD collection to Switch, pronto!
Happy birthday Sega or should I say Service Games. To celebrate please give us a Sega Direct and show us the games. Also where's the Panzer Dragoon remake? I need that in my life.
The rhetoric (phrases like "That is why we must overcome all obstacles and keep taking on new challenges") sounds more than a bit ironic given how myopic Sega's focus has been on Sonic since they left from making consoles.
I've no idea what form of "new content" they're talking about (new games, a new mini-console), but perhaps a hint is in the phrase "Go Sega". Could they be trying to emulate the Switch (at least the portable aspect) somehow? While I'd LOVE to see Sega return to console-making, I'd much, MUCH rather see a fully functional home console than another Game Gear-type device. I rarely play portable games at all (and NEVER mobile games, so heads up, Sega AND Nintendo!).
First console purchased with Xmas money with my brother was the master system. I saw it in Woolworths I think a few months before playing hang on housed in an arcade cabinet, I was entranced. I think this was 1988. Happy times playing hang on endlessly for hours x x x x x x
Still on my knees here, begging for a port of Ecco the Dolphin for switch...
Still waiting for Sega Forever titles that aren't Genesis games or 1 of the 5 Dreamcast ports they've dumped everywhere...
That sega commercial is pretty good.
@Anti-Matter Sega is actually much older than 60, Im surprised the writer missed it in the article. It was originally founded in 1940 (making them 80) in America as Standard games. It changed its name to Service Games (Se Ga... Sega) in 1951. The business expanded to Japan to provide US military bases with coin op machines. in 1960 they shed the full name of Service Games and just kept the shorter Sega. Sega was actually an American company until 1984, when it was fully absorbed by Japanese leadership. It had actually put out its first console as an American company, the SG-1000
Just to clarify for any readers, in case this article doesn't get updated. Sega isn't claiming it is 60 years old, or celebrating the 60th anniversary of Sega. Sega is celebrating the 60th anniversary of Nihon Goraku Bussan's founding. Sega is actually 80 years old. The website linked in this article explains it.
We need Segata to come back and stop this Coronavirus by making it play Saturn!
Why does SEGA keep teasing annoucements,if you have something to say just say it.It's hard to be excited when the last few years have been disappointments after disappointments(with few exceptions here and there).
@AlexSora89 Sega Satuuuuuurn, shirooooooooo!
For all you Sega-loving fans, this is pretty much a must-do:
Go to this site, and use the mouse wheel to scroll through Sega's history, and simultaneously scroll through some really great memories for quite a few of us...
@OorWullie let’s hope Sega does something awesome to celebrate like a Master, Saturn or dreamcast Collection for all 3 consoles!! Or dare I say a Sega arcade collection but with the ages line, unlikely. 😊
@Isaix See that's the reason why if Sega return to make consoles again they would failed hard against Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony cause they just don't know how to make their announcement feel exciting anymore. I believe the Genesis/Mega Drive and the Dreamcast are the only two consoles they ever make that feel anything of exciting.
@NoPhysicalNoBuy
Or a mini Dreamcast.
Sega is older then 60 though
David Rosen laid the foundation for the company in 1954 already
Just find the code for Panzer Dragoon Saga already.
Remaster it, and sit back and reap the rewards.
That ad is pretty amazing
Here's my translation
Group of 3 girls
Girl 1 : Guess what'll be popular after tapioca!
Girl 2: Cheese tea?(???)
Girl 1: Nope!
Girl 3: Pearl juice!(??)
Girl I: Wrong
Sega Shiro: It'll be Sega!
Girls: wha...
Sega Shiro: Sega!
Group of 2 girls
Girl 1: After rugby, what do you think will catch on nex-
Sega Shiro: Sega will!
Computer lab
Boy: So after we get 5G it'll be
Sega Shiro: Sega!!
Classroom
Teacher: The imperial age after Reiwa (the current one) will be-
Sega Shiro: Sega!
Boy: So, what comes after Sega?
....
Sega Shiro: Sega!!!!
Girl: What is Sega?! Who are you???
Sega Shiro: Sega Shiro, Sega Shiro, Sega Shiro-oooo
" I want want you to know about this, right now. Sega is 60!"
Love they're sticking to legacy with Sega Shirou, with both characters and actors alike.
Wish their website would GO a little faster
Somebody strap a dreamcast to his back and make him punch something. (the dogi top on his shoulders was a nice touch though). They better make him dress up as Santa in Dec as well.
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