Though no one knew it at the time, the key to Sega’s success in the mid ’90s was its stellar marketing. As the first company to directly challenge Nintendo, the upstart company launched a massive advertising blitz that almost brought the giant to its knees, eventually snatching away its hardware dominance. Interestingly enough, all of it was very close to never happening at all, and the results obtained were far beyond even Sega’s own ambitious expectations. Read the full history of the Genesis’ promotional history in our latest feature Marketing the Genesis: Sega’s Advertising 1989-1996.