Segata Sanshiro
With an advertising campaign around the fictional judo master Segata Sanshiro (Japaneseせがた 三四郎Segata Sanshiro ) the game console Sega Saturn in Japan in 1997/98 marketed. Name and figure are a parody of Sugata Sanshiro from the novel by Tsuneo Tomita. Akira Kurosawa filmed the substance in his directorial debut Judo Saga - The Legend of the major Judo by 1943.
The role of Segata Sanshiro was played by Hiroshi Fujioka, in Japan by the television series Kamen Rider ( 1971) became popular.
Due to the unusual commercials the figure of Segata Sanshiro quickly became popular and helped the Sega Saturn in Japan to a greater success than in other sales regions. In the commercials people of Segata Sanshiro are physically punished who enjoy other recreational activities playing with the Saturn console. It seemed a CD single with three titles based on the song from the commercials.
Unusually, the end of the campaign, by the successor Dreamcast ( sales start November 1998) is was necessary: In his last appearance Segata Sanshiro saves the headquarters of SEGA against a missile attack and dies in the explosion.
SEGA has released a video game to Segata Sanshiro:
- Segata Sanshiro Shinkenyūgi (せがた 三四郎 真剣 遊戯) for Saturn (29 October 1998) - also the last published by SEGA game for the console
Guest appearances and other phenomena
In the Japanese version of Virtua Fighter 4 is called an AI profile for the character Akira Yuki " Segata ".
There is also a guest appearance in the Japanese game Rent A Hero No.. 1 ( Katakana :レンタ ヒーローNO.1 ) for Dreamcast and Xbox.