SEGA
Sega Corporation is a Japanese multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Shinagawa City, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world.
Sega has a massive catalogue of video games, but some of its most popular franchises include Sonic the Hedgehog, Phantasy Star, Puyo Puyo, Ristar, Vectorman, ToeJam and Earl, Alex Kidd, Shenmue, Streets of Rage, Panzer Dragoon, Nights into Dreams, Ecco the Dolphin, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, House of the Dead, Altered Beast, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, Alien Soldier, Space Harrier, Wonder Boy, Samba de Amigo, Virtua Fighter, Yakuza, Seaman, and others.
History
Sega previously developed and manufactured its own brand of home video game consoles, such as the Sega Mega Drive (known as the Sega Genesis in North America), the Sega Saturn and the Sega Dreamcast, from 1983 to 2001. On January 31, 2001, Sega announced that they ceased production of the Dreamcast, effectively exiting the company from the home console business and market. While arcade development would continue unchanged, the restructure shifted the focus of the company's home video game software development to consoles developed by various third-party manufacturers.
Sega developed many Disney video games that were released exclusively on their own consoles throughout the 1990s. Sega's mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, his friends Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Blaze, Cream, Amy, and Silver, and his worst enemy, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, the main antagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, made cameo appearances in Wreck-It Ralph in 2012 and its sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet in 2018. Prior to that, reruns of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog were shown on Toon Disney from 1998 to 2003, and reruns of Sonic Underground aired on Disney XD in 2012.
Paramount Pictures currently holds the rights for the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog film series and related media. Additionally, Sonic characters (in their live-action iterations) would appear in several Nickelodeon-related advertising and other media to promote the movies such as Nickelodeon's broadcast of the NFL Wild Card Game and the Kids Choice Awards. Sonic-related TV shows had aired on Nickelodeon such as Sonic Boom (though only in Germany and the Netherlands), the Paramount+ exclusive series Knuckles and the Netflix exclusive Sonic Prime.