You've probably already heard about Sega's new Rambo coin-op, but to be fair it seems this average-looking title might be upstaged even before its official release. Now, who is the biggest celebrity Sega could think of to promote this one? Did they go the obvious and employ the services of Stallone? How about someone with greater deity-like status to Sega fans? Does the name Hiroshi Fujioka ring any bells? That's right, Segata Sanshiro himself has been lured out of retirement (or should that be resurrected?) to help sell this new licensed arcade product! This move clearly smacks of Sega desperately reconnecting with its more successful past, and from what I've seen at http://kotaku.com/393890/magical-segata-sanshiro-mullet-makes-rambo-return it's great to see a company with so much heritage looking back while managing to keep things a little fresh at the same time. After all, would Iwao Hazuki ever resort to using a machine gun? Probably not, but who knows where this may lead - if Fujioka's back on board perhaps he could reprise his role for the rumoured future Shenmue projects or maybe even to advertise the re-releasing of Saturn games on a console download service or possibly even officially supported PC emulation? As a self-confessed "old school" hardcore Sega enthusiast, the news of Hiroshi's comeback proves the Sega of old may still be alive in the post-Sammy-merger somewhere...
I will never understand why SEGA left the viral-ad scene that they pionered. For example, get into any car forum and theres a high chance that you'll see a GIF from the SR2 ad (the one where everything drifts). Anyway, I dont know if this is really a comeback at all, most like the Sammy guys pulled their heads out of their asses and finally came up with a good idea.
When SEGA actually do advertise most them are pure genius. One of my personal favorites; http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=J4irvGfVXa8
When the Saturn magazine switched formats to cover the Dreamcast, they ran a cover story 'eulogizing' the character. As is the case with fictional obituaries, many people assumed that the actor had died instead. I have a copy of that issue lying around here somewhere, I'll see if I can generate a scan. No promises.
I think this is a great step forward. EVERYBODY in Japan knows Segata-san Shiro :nod: Even my wife who has no interest in games knows the character. He's instantly likeable just as the actor who plays him. I hope this is a new move that Sega will continue. They need to get back to the place they once stood. Yakumo
Neither Segata Sanshirou ever really died nor the actor who played him! The first will live on forever in Sataan otakus hearts, the other one is simply not dead ^^ Talking of REZ commercials: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=n5qscOsp7Ko ...
At least Sega didn't try showing a certain peripheral made for the PS2 version of Rez in that advert!
Ahhh Segata Sanshiro, i wish we had those ads in the uk since that would have made me buy a saturn, i love those ads. anyway it looks like sega are doing something good and if they continue they can at least start heading in the right direction, but it may just be a one of so we will have to wait and see.
Pictures! I was wrong about the content of the article. It seems to be an interview with the actor. Doesn't mean people didn't interpret it as a real obituary though. Anybody able to translate the text in a meaningful way?
