Sonic the Hedgehog
Due to the success of "Sonic" games on the Sega Genesis, the series was introduced to the Master System and the Game Gear. Sega began by releasing "Sonic the Hedgehog", a 2D platform game, in 1991. The game featured Sonic's ability to run and to jump at high speeds like its Mega Drive/Genesis counterpart but with notably different level design and music. Sega later released "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" another 2D platform game, in 1992. The game differed from its Genesis counterpart with different levels and music and by not including a "spin dash" maneuver. It also featured a different storyline in which Doctor Robotnik kidnaps Tails, who is non-playable in the Master System/Game Gear version. "Sonic Chaos"/"Sonic and Tails" (Japan), released in 1993, was similar to the earlier two Sega Master System/Game Gear "Sonic" games, but featured Tails as a playable character. A sequel, "Sonic Triple Trouble"/"Sonic and Tails 2" (Japan), a 2D platform game, was released in 1994 for the Game Gear and introduced a new character, Nack the Weasel, who, along with Knuckles and Doctor Robotnik, raced to collect the Chaos Emeralds. One of the last games for the Sega Game Gear, "Sonic Blast", was released in 1996 and featured prerendered sprites.
1993 congressional hearings on video games
During this period, two key players were Nintendo and Sega. Nintendo had been instrumental in helping to recover the North American market after the crash with the introduction of the Nintendo Entertainment System; in 1990, with its release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Nintendo sales accounted for 90% of the US market. However, to avoid repeating one of the issues that caused the crash, Nintendo took care to limit and review what third-party games could be made for its platforms to avoid a glut of poor games. Sega, which had already released its Mega Drive in Japan, found their sales to be lagging behind Nintendo. In a aggressive campaign aimed at the United States market, the Mega Drive was renamed the Sega Genesis, and heavily pushed the game "Sonic the Hedgehog", with its titular character aimed to become Sega's mascot and rival that of Nintendo's Mario. Sega was less selective about what titles it wanted for the platform, allowing many more third-party games onto the system to increase its library in contrast to Nintendo's. Further, Sega used marketing language purposely aimed at Nintendo, such as "Sega does what Nintendon't". By 1992, Sega had obtained 65% of the US gaming market, overtaking Nintendo's dominant position. Subsequently a strong rivalry between Nintendo and Sega was formed, referred as the "Console Wars", which continued through the next decade and into the fifth generation of consoles, after which Sega dropped out of the hardware market and became principally a game developer and publisher, and at times working collaborative with Nintendo.