Now the 90's starts taking a deeper form. From 1985 to 1988, you had one choice for video-games: Nintendo. (Literally - they would engage in certain business practices to deter any competition.) The Sega Master System was largely unheard of in the United States. It was generally a well-held notion that nobody could really compete with THE Nintendo. Until the Sega Genesis launched in 1989.
The launching of the Super Nintendo in August of 1991 ushered in a new era of a two-party system in which you're either a Nintendo Person or Sega Person. For a couple years, Sega had struggled to find their flagship iconic main character, having earlier attempted to find it with Altered Beast and then with Alex Kidd. However, one character was formed that gave them their answer to Mario: SONIC.
The Sega Genesis had been around since 1989. But now it was like the Marvel of video-games, if Nintendo were the DC Comics - not just in terms of games sold, but in terms of characters. Sonic the Hedgehog was the first Sega character who was able to be spun off into cartoons, animated movies, comic books, and toys.
The 80's was ruled by an 8-bit era in video-gaming, and the 90's was ruled by the 16-bit era.
Nintendo had actually planned for the 8-bit Nintendo to simply stay in business for a good 15, 20 years. The Sega Genesis had pushed them to up their ante to keep up with the 16-bit Sega Genesis, even surpass it in some ways in the technology . . . with a little help from Sony.
The year is 1991, and Nintendo and Sony are good friends, working together to make the system called the Super Nintendo.
Video-games are becoming so hot with young audiences - arguably as hot as pizza - that comic books are beginning to take a backseat and become an outdated, past-decades thing.
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