Press release: 1995-10-24: Sega begins 24-hour countdown to "Vectormania"

This is an unaltered copy of a press release, for use as a primary source on Sega Retro. Please do not edit the contents below. Language: English Original source: The Free Library

 Oct. 24, 1995, will go down in history as "V-Day," the day Sega of America turned video gamers around the country into "Vectormaniacs."

"VectorMan," Sega's most challenging and sophisticated Sega Genesis game, hits store shelves nationwide tomorrow with more than $160,000 in cash and prizes to be awarded in the first-ever "Play to Win" challenge.

Upon completion of the game, lucky players who have one of the randomly seeded winning cartridges will see a final screen declaring "You Win!" with a secret phone number and address. Winners have a chance to win the grand prize -- $25,000, one of 10 first prizes -- $10,000, or one of 90 second prizes -- a Sega Saturn system with "Virtua Fighter."

To claim prizes, players must first call the secret phone number and then mail in their winning "VectorMan" cartridge to the secret address (see note below).

"VectorMan is the fastest, most challenging and chaotic 16-bit video game ever created," Mike Ribero, executive vice president, Sega of America said. "Add to that the `play to win' element and you've got `Vectormania,' which will be nothing short of an all-out race to the finish."

The main character, VectorMan, achieves seamless and fluid movement throughout the game with Sega's innovative "Vector Piece" animation techniques. Composed of mechanical shapes and spheres, VectorMan can morph freely and smoothly into mechanical incarnations such as a high-speed drill, jet fighter, dune buggy, mechanical fish or a bomb. With an arsenal of ultra-tech weapons at his disposal, VectorMan battles a sophisticated army of "orbots" to save the Earth.

VectorMan pushes the edge of Genesis technology to create action-packed 3D worlds with 60-frame-per-second animation, the highest speed gameplay ever seen on a 16-bit videogame machine.

"Adding such innovative technology to the 16-bit development system, `VectorMan' will set a new standard for gameplay on the Genesis," added Ribero. "The gameplay is so spectacular, players won't be able to get enough of VectorMan."

There is no purchase required to play the contest and winners can also participate by handwriting their name, address, age and phone number on a postcard and sending it to "Sega Play to Win Contest," P.O. Box 7531, Melville, N.Y. 11775-7531.

All entries must be received by July 31, 1996. Rated KA, "VectorMan" carries a suggested retail price of $59.99. For more information about the contest, consumers can call 415/591-7529.

Sega of America is the arm of Tokyo-based Sega Enterprises Ltd. responsible for the development, marketing and distribution of Sega videogame systems and videogames in the Americas. Sega Enterprises is a nearly $4 billion company known as the industry leader in interactive digital entertainment media, and is the only company that offers entertainment experiences both inside and outside the home.

Sega of America's World Wide Web site is located at http://www.segaoa.com.

Note: Contest void where prohibited. No purchase necessary. For a complete listing of all contest rules and restrictions, please contact Sega of America.

CONTACT: Sega of America

Angela Edwards, 415/802-3908

or

Manning, Selvage & Lee

Christopher Kingry, 213/782-6600, ext. 229
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