One of the megadrive.me crew, Damien McFerran, has written an excellent article for Eurogamer about Sega’s rise to power in the 16-Bit era, and their subsequent fall from grace.
“The stars began to align with the 1989 launch of the Mega Drive – rechristened Genesis – in North America. After a encouraging start, the new console started to chip away at Nintendo’s previously unassailable lead. A savvy combination of faithful arcade conversions and licensed sports titles helped establish a prestigious user-base, but it took a certain blue hedgehog to really hammer home Sega’s message.”
Well worth a read for all Sega fans.