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WorksheetsConsole Wars
Total questions: 64
Worksheet time: 34mins
What was a reality of Nintendo Mania in the mid 80s?
Consoles and games especially were near impossible to find; low stock
The Satanic Panic scared people away from the hardware
Kids started having seizures
Arcades became super popular again
How big of a player was Sega in the 80s in the console arena?
Barely at all
A powerhouse
Market share leader
Sega didn't make consoles in the 80s
Which of the following was Tom Kalinske's big success before the Sega Genesis?
GI JOE
Flintstones Vitamins
My Little Pony
Nightrider
How did Tom Kalinske get Mattel's attention?
Reading the Flintstones Vitamins letters of thanks from parents to the senate
Thanksgiving Day Parade with Sonic Balloon
Barbie Costume event
Fireworks during CES
What was Tom Kalinske's first big win at Mattel?
Barbie!
Hot Wheels
Star Wars
Mortal Kombat
Who came from Japan from Sega to find Tom Kalinske on vacation in Hawaii?
Hayao Nakayama
Hiyo Nekojima
Shigetsu Noyoji
Shigeru Miyamoto
What was Nintendo's stake in the video game industry in the 80s?
95%
25%
75%
55%
How did Nintendo maintain its monopoly of retailers?
They threatened retailers to not carry other systems or charge less than they asked.
They made the best software possible.
They ran great tv ads.
They gave retailers ability to charge whatever they wanted.
What happened as a result of the lawsuits against Nintendo regarding its monopoly?
Nintendo gave out coupons for its own games, which only helped them
Nintendo lost market share.
Nintendo started Nintendo Power magazine.
Nintendo created Donkey Kong Country
Japanese companies tend to...
Exert tight control over their foreign branches
Let their subsidiaries act independently.
Take huge risks.
Promote females high up.
Paul Rioux of SEGA was a veteran of Vietnam and...
used that experience and approach to marketing - which is like war
had PTSD and was conservative in his risk-taking
Actually hit a Nintendo employee during a meeting
Helped helm realistic war games
What was Tom Kalinske's approach to take on Nintendo from a demographic perspective?
Nintendo catered to children - Sega would cater to teens.
Sega would corner Nintendo's market with more fun games
Sega would cater to adults
Sega would make games for babies
How did the initial meeting where Tom Kalinske pitched his marketing strategy to Sega of Japan go?
Hayao Nakayama was furious - but honored his deal to do what he wants in America.
Standing ovation.
Hayao Nakayama was furious and undermined his decision.
Doubt and uncertainty but respectful and measured.
What was Sega's advertising approach in regards to Nintendo?
Take them on directly, which was very not Japanese, and mock them.
Make their own market and ignore Nintendo.
Create the coolest arcade games and forego console.
Make vocaloids.
What was the first packed-in game for the Sega Genesis?
Altered Beast
Sonic the Hedgehog
Afterburner
Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
What was the general attitude towards Sega console games in the 80s?
Good graphics but boring gameplay.
High-octane and edgy, great gameplay.
Great gameplay, bad graphics.
Confusing and foreign.
What was the issue with Altered Beast's image?
Dark, almost Satanic - too edgy, not an amazing game either. Scary.
Too sanitized and too weird for US audiences.
Too many references to Christianity.
Not scary enough, mismatched tone.
Who was the director of marketing at Sega of America that ended up picking the Sonic out of the characters pitched to go up against Mario?
Al Nilsen
Al Nealson
Hal Nelson
Ollie Nollis
What did Sonic originally have in his design from Japan?
A girlfriend named Madonna and a rock band,
A mohawk and a gun.
A jetpack and rabbit ears.
3 fingers instead of 4
When Sega employees saw Sonic for the first time - what happened?
the mood at the global company changed immediately
Mass quitting
Anger towards the US, fervor in Japan.
In-fighting and politics
What was the initial response to the Super Nintendo from American Consumers?
They hated the idea of having the original NES become obsolete, looked at as a grift.
Looked forward to the next revolution in gaming.
Many sold their NES
Economic recession
Where was Sonic's big first win against Mario?
CES 1991
CES 1992
E3 1992
HBO 91
Typically launch cycles for games start long before release, with Sonic they...
Waited until the last minute to surprise Nintendo
Played Super Mario World, got scared, and waited for Nintendo to make the first move.
Started making a cartoon to promote Sonic before release.
Toured malls ahead of time before any word of the Super Nintendo.
After literally placing the gameplay of Sonic above Mario on video displays, what did Sega do next?
USA mall tour of the same thing
Ran Sonic beating up Mario ads
Payed for Super Nintendo displays to be at game stores underneath Sonic for comparison.
Put two 32 bit chips in their system to combat Nintendo.
Sega was one of the first Japanese / gaming companies with...
High level Female executives
Licensed games from movies and TV
A team in Europe
Film production experience
When people wore Sonic suits, they expected Disneyland type behavior from little kids to hug and kiss them like someone in a Mickey suit but...
Instead, Teens would high-five, pal around, and even got a bit aggressive
Beat up Sonic and injured the person inside the costume
were terrified of the blue monstrosity
challenged Sonic to a race
How did Sega get around Nintendo's monopoly on retail, specifically Wal-Mart?
They opened up a game store in front of Wal-Mart HQ in Arkansas, football stadium ads, billboards around the area.
They gave Wal-Mart exclusive access to their games launches ahead of time.
They installed Sega Channel and led players download games
They lowered the price of consoles at Wal-Mart and got people hungry for more.
Once Sega got into Wal-Mart, what happened with other retailers?
No longer scared of Nintendo, they allowed Sega in.
Seeing their failure, other retailers did not buy in
Other retailers lost market share and stopped selling games.
Retailers started discounting Nintendo.
Showing how important marketing is - how did Reebok pose a serious challenge to Nike?
The Reebok Pump, tho it didn't actually make anything better, caught consumer attention.
Reebok hired Charles Barkley to go against Jordan
Reebok invented flashing lights on their shoes
Reebok made a public basketball match of Reebok vs Nike
How did Sega start?
American David Rosen was there during WW2 and got an idea to sell arcade games there to US service members
Japanese playing card company
US Army offshoot in Japan after WW2
Sonic
Why is "Welcome to the next level" a good marketing slogan?
Tells the competition they're behind, tells consumers they're ahead of the game w/ something new.
It's clearly about video games.
It shows the level of investment you're in for.
Nintendo's slogan was "Leveling the playing field" and this was a good head-to-head statement.
What was the simple little sound bite that helped make Sega viral?
The "SEGA!" scream.
The "SAY WHAT? SAY GUH!" campaign.
"PLAY IT LOUD!"
What did Sega represent against Nintendo?
Nintendo was the Soviet Union, Sega was anti-establishment molotov throwers.
Sega was family friendly compared to Nintendo.
Sega was Goliath, Nintendo was David.
Sega was innovation was Nintendo was stale.
What was the catchy fabricated marketing term for the speed and graphics of Sega games that actually wasn't really used that much?
Blast Processing
Boom Rendering
Bazooka Loading
Last Processing
What did the advertising campaign SEGA had in the early 90's do in terms of playing Nintendo?
It made playing Nintendo uncool.
Made Nintendo cool.
It made Nintendo more relevant.
Nintendo started making less software.
What was Sonic 2sday?
The first midnight launch event ever for Sonic 2, kicking off a marketing/retail strategy that nearly everyone now uses.
The day they announced Sonic 2.
Sonic's 2nd birthday on a Tuesday.
When they would release new music albums.
What was brilliant in the 2 of Sonic 2 in terms of its design?
You could now player 2 player simultaneous.
There were 2 entire stories you could experience.
There were 2 versions of the game you could get.
There were 2 different Sonics to play as.
What was the Playstation originally supposed to be?
The Nintendo Playstation - competitor to Sega CD - and even maybe even the Sega Playstation.
A DVD player
Arcade at home experience
A desktop PC built into a console meant for multimedia
Why did Sega release the 32-bit Sega Saturn early with no fanfare or marketing?
Fear of the looming Nintendo 64 release, wanting to release before them like with the Sega Genesis before Super Nintendo.
Did not consider Nintendo a threat.
They were ready to release the next Sonic game.
They felt word-of-mouth was all they needed.
How did the Sega Saturn hope to stack up against the 64-bit Nintendo "Ultra 64"
They put 2 32-Bit processors that made programming games a huge challenge.
They had a 3D Sonic in the works.
They stopped focusing on the BITS of the hardware and more on the software.
They had arcade games and Nintendo didn't.
When Steve Race left Sega to go to Nintendo, what was one of his petty tactics to "out-Sega" Sega?
Popping Sonic Balloons at a hotel event and drowning it in a pool.
Mooning Sega out a window.
Sabotaging the Thanksgiving Macy's Day Parade
Buying out Times Square with ads mocking Sega
How many units did the Sega Saturn sell?
Less than 10 million.
20 million.
100 million.
4 million
Sega VS Nintendo is a perfect example of the...
American Dream - David vs Goliath
way companies make each other worse
Japanese polite business tactics
death of the author
How many units did the Nintendo 64 sell?
30 million
5 million
100 million
10 million
How many units did the Sony Playstation sell?
Over 100 million units!
50 million units
25 million units
10 million units
At the time of the movie Console Wars - what was the total video game industry worth?
150 billion+, more than movies and music!
100 billion+, more than TV!
300 billion+, more than movies and music and TV!
1 trillion+, more than movies and music and the car industry
What was the big game that came out on both Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo that caused a huge divide in terms of cut content?
Mortal Kombat with censored violence on Super Nintendo, but full gore on Genesis.
Rocket Knight Adventures
Aladdin
Lion King
What did Sonic 2 offer that was rarely seen?
2 player split screen
Michael Jackson composed soundtrack
Free food with game purchase
Cartoon tie-in
Who is the savior of the industry, redefining it in the 80s?
Nintendo
Sega
Atari
Capcom
What kind of company was Nintendo originally?
A playing card company from the 1800s.
A slot machine company / pachinko
Yakuza
Home appliances
Who is "The Guy" at Nintendo - making Donkey Kong, Mario, Zelda, Starfox
Shigeru Miyamoto
Shogi Katsumoto
Shinji Ihaya
Shoryu Ken
What's the Japanese name of the Nintendo Entertainment System?
The Famicom - aka Family Computer
The FafuMa aka Family Fun Machine
Ninetendo
The Vasucom, aka Versus Computer
What was the release order of the following consoles?
Sega
Genesis
Sony
Playstation
Nintendo
Famicom
Atari
2600
Microsoft
XBOX
If there was no NES was never released, there probably would...
not be a video game industry, especially as we know it
Landed on Mars
arcades would still be popular
no major changes
What US Senator led the charge against video game violence?
Joe Lieberman
Joseph Lieberan
Joe MacMillan
Joe Mama
What Nintendo Product did Bill White show the senate to implicate Nintendo as also pushing violence on kids?
The Super Scope light gun
The Menacer Light Gun
The Zapper light gun
The Liberator Light Gun
What did Nintendo do in retaliation to losing market share from Sega?
They adopted similiar tactics, fighting them openly and adopting an edgier marketing strategy.
They doubled down on kid-friendly content.
They began working on their next CD-BASED console.
They sued Sega for dishonest market tactics.
What was the "Play it Loud" marketing campaign?
Nintendo's response to Sega - edgy, teen-centric, in-your-face 90's marketing.
An ad campaign to sell Nintendo's new speakers.
An ad campaign to sell the audio capabilities of the N64
A series of music-based games exclusively for Super Nintendo.
What did Sega do to counter Nintendo's rising against them in the mid 90's?
Chase the newest tech w/ the online Sega Channel, 32X, etc.
They focused on Software.
They focused on their next console.
What was the first major strategy that Hayao Nakayama of Sega overrode in Sega of America?
The rapid launch of Sega Saturn before N64 w/ no marketing or retail support
Not allowing Sonic the Hedgehog to be packed in with a Sega Genesis.
The launch of the 32X add-on for Sega Genesis.
Giving Sonic a girlfriend named Madonna.
What big competitor rose during the Console Wars that tried to join forces with both Nintendo and Sega but neither company bit?
Sony
Panasonic
Atari
Konami
Why did tension build between Sega of America and Sega of Japan?
The wild success of the Genesis in the west lead to jealousy in Japan - dismissiveness, and undermining
SOA was rude to Japanese executives due to their success in US
SOJ hated Sonic and didn't understand how it sold so well in US
SOJ wanted to focus on arcades while SOA wanted to focus on consoles
What price did the Sega Saturn originally sell for?
399
499
599
299
