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Through the turbulent early ’90s Sega of America underwent a massive transformation that resulted in market dominance. Employees of the company during this time took part in a roller-coaster of a business that rose and crashed almost too fast to comprehend. One person with a front row seat to these events was Scot Bayless, a former Technical Director and producer for SOA.
Few people have as deep an understanding of what Sega was like during its transitional period of the early ’90s as Steve Hanawa does. An integral part of the U.S. team during the Master System era, he saw the company make the jump to 16-bit and grow into a gaming powerhouse. Sega-16 chatted with him recently about his experiences there.
Working at Sega of America during its heyday offered a chance to see a company on the rise. From the birth of a certain blue hedgehog to the introduction of a CD add-on, there was always something Sega-related in the news. One of the people responsible for ensuring that the company was always in the limelight was Al Nilsen, former head of Sega’s marketing division. During his tenure, he oversaw the birth of Sonic, the creation of Sega Visions, and the much beloved Sega Scream. Sega-16 recently chatted with Mr. Nilsen and got the goods on a bunch of 16-bit morsels of news.
Mark Cerny, aside from being an arcade legend, was also the founder and head of the Sega Technical Institute, a domestic development group at Sega that released such innovative titles as Comix Zone and The Ooze. Oh, and it was responsible for a little game called Sonic The Hedgehog 2.
When Ken Balthaser arrived at Sega, the Genesis had yet to be launched. As the company frantically geared up for its second stab at the American market, he quickly had to adjust to his new role as Head of Product Development, a role he held until 1995. During his tenure, he oversaw the releases of such controversial games as Fantasia, Buster Douglas “Knockout” Boxing, and Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football.