Sega Champs Square Off in (Not-So-) Sunny Hawaii (Video Games & Computer Entertainment - April 1991)

Yesterday I posted Video Games & Computer Entertainment's (VG&CE) 1990 coverage of the Nintendo World Championships debut in Dallas, Texas. Not to be outdone by Nintendo, Sega hosted its own competition that same year. This three-page article from VG&CE's April 1991 issue details the Sega Genesis World Championship finals held in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 22, 1990. Unlike Nintendo, Sega didn't cater to all ages as the competitors were all college students who earned their spot in the finals by winning events held at American universities. There also weren't any special cartridges created for this event as Sega used the regular Genesis cartridges of Shadow Dancer, Mickey Mouse in the Castle of Illusion, and Joe Montana Football. The top prize was an Eagle Talon vehicle valued at $18,000.

The Nintendo World Championships: Dallas, Texas (Video Games & Computer Entertainment - June 1990)

In 1990 Nintendo of America held the Nintendo World Championships which took place in 30 cities across the United States and Canada with the finals hosted by Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. That's according to this four-page article from Video Games & Computer Entertainment's June 1990 issue that covers the first stop on the tour in Dallas, Texas. Wikipedia, not a 100% accurate source, states that it was held in 29 U.S. cities with the finals in Universal Studios Hollywood, and makes no mention of Canada other than to say it previously was host to the Nintendo Challenge Championship. I'm going to assume the magazine is more accurate since it was written in 1990 and the writer was at the even in Dallas. Either way, Nintendo's event took place around North America and is still remembered today, largely because of the cartridge used at the event. The cartridge features portions of Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris, and there are both gray and gold case versions. The gray cartridge was given out to finalists in each city and the gold cases were used for the finals which makes it quite rare. In 2015 the Nintendo World Championships returned and were last held in 2017.

Year 8: January Update

The blog has made it through seven years now! I didn't really have any expectations on how long I'd do this when I started and I've slowed considerably over the years but it's been a good run and I'll keep going. If you don't recognize the toys in the image below, those are the California Raisins that were created for an advertising campaign in 1986. They became quite popular which led to a variety of merchandise like the figurines pictured, as well as music albums, clothing, posters, and a comic book mini-series. Capcom even developed a California Raisins game for the Nintendo Entertainment System that was completed but never released.

The video game awards took place in December as they always do. Though I really don't care too much about awards for games or any other media, I do watch these for the new game unveilings. If you're curious, Baldur's Gate III, Alan Wake II, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom were among the top games at the show. Being a Sega fan it was nice to see a trailer showing off new versions of Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, and Shinobi. Streets of Rage is a bit of an odd choice to bring back and seems unnecessary because DotEmu released Streets of Rage 4 in 2020. I'm not sure what to think about Golden Axe's new look and the last attempt at a modern Golden Axe starring Tyris Flare didn't go over too well. I'm still hopeful though since the original is one of my favorites and a goal this year is to finally post a full playthrough on the YouTube channel. While Shinobi will be side-scrolling, the others all feature 3D graphics. Here is an image from a .pdf file on Sega Sammy's corporate website.

I'm currently trying to come up with a YouTube channel name where I'll upload the commercials that I deleted from the Vault 1541 channel last year. I'll likely put other clips from VHS tapes on there too when I do get it up and running. I have the header image ready which is a Kermit the Frog sitting on a toy chair watching a TV which is actually a Viewfinder-like souvenir. Here is a photo I'm not using where I colored (in Photoshop) the plastic souvenir white on the TV screen. That ET figurine looks perfect for the channel but I decided there were too many characters and that I should make something simpler. 

Back in the April 2023 blog update I mentioned how E3 2023 had been canceled. Last month it was officially put to rest as the Entertainment Software Association stated E3 will not be returning. The second week of June 2023 was still a very busy time for gaming news and will likely continue to be through various digital presentations despite there being no expo to attend. Something that still isn't dead is the Intellivision Amico. In the October update I wrote about the Amico games being released on PC and consoles, and Intellivision has since launched apps for Android and iOS. I'd thought the actual Amico system must be dead, however, the company still hopes to release it. Hard to believe, isn't it?

Thanks for reading the blog and Happy New Year!

-Jonathan