Sega had to throw cold water on this battered old hero, and send him in hungover to whatever mediocre brand deal they could find. There was a desperation to keep pushing Sonic into the limelight. After panicked cries of ‘Oh shit!’, they began to develop and release games for other platforms. With no console, Sega had no exclusivity. Unfortunately, the console AND Sega were already dead in the water by then, and the once-great video game titan never made a console again. In a final attempt to salvage their empire, Sega released Sonic Adventure 2, in 2001. Instead, something called Chu Chu Rocket fucking happened. The thing they didn’t do was use their own IP effectively enough to sell units. With respect to Sega, they always had a desire to innovate and they did. And Sega, well, managed to fuck that up too. It had internet connectivity, it has analogue sticks, shoulder triggers, it should have been phenomenal. In 1998, Sega released their last home console, the Dreamcast. Sonic was a superstar, there was nothing preventing him and Sega from reigning over the games industry forever. Sega released a handful of games for the Megadrive that weren’t amazing by any stretch but they featured Sonic and his mates and that was all that mattered. “Sonic the Hedgehog is streets ahead of every game of this genre currently available!” - Computer & Videogames magazine, 1991 “Definitely, without a doubt, positively the most incredible action game ever created for the Megadrive!” - EGM, 1991