Sega World Tour '91
From Sega Retro
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| Sega World Tour '91 |
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Sega World Tour '91 was a series of events held by Sega of America (sponsored by Nickelodeon) to promote sales of the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in the US).
Starting in September 1991 and concluding in November, the company held events in 25 US shopping malls across the country showcasing their produce. Holographic arcade game Time Traveler was demonstrated, and Sonic the Hedgehog was in attendance[1]. There were also competitions, including winning a day trip for four to Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios, Florida, or a 1991 Jeep Eagle[2].
The primary purpose was to drive home a message it had delivered at Summer CES 1991, where the company put a Genesis running Sonic the Hedgehog next to a Super NES running Super Mario World and invited people to choose their favourite. Sega's (likely biased) polling from the World Tour suggested 88.84% prefered Sonic compared to 11.16% for Mario, of a sample size of roughly 26,000 8-14 year olds[1][3]. This 9:1 ratio led to Sega claiming they had the most popular video game system at the time. The Game Gear also came out favourably to the Game Boy.
Destinations
Sega ran three routes simultaneously[2], spending three days in each location:
Tour 1
1991-09-13: Springfield Mall, Springfield, Virginia
1991-09-20: Monroevillee Mall, Monroeville, Pennsylvania
1991-09-27: Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania
1991-10-04: Smith Haven Mall, Lake Grove, New York
1991-10-11: North Shore S.C., Peabody, Massachusetts
1991-10-18: Garden State Plaza, Paramus, New Jersey
1991-10-25: Brunswick Square, E. Brunswick, New Jersey
1991-11-01: Freehold Raceway Mall, Freehold, New Jersey
Tour 2
1991-09-06: Town East Mall, Mesquite, Texas
1991-09-20: Northwest Plaza, St. Louis, Missouri
1991-09-27: Wonderland Mall, Livonia, Michigan
1991-10-04: Parmatown Mall, Parma, Ohio
1991-10-11: Northgate Mall, Cincinnati, Ohio
1991-10-18: North Riverside Mall, Riverside, Illinois
1991-10-25: Lincolnwood Town Center, Chicago, Illinois
1991-11-01: Randhurst S.C., Mt. Prospect, Illinois
1991-11-08: Northtown Mall, Blaine, Minnesota
Tour 3
1991-09-13: Alderwood Mall, Lynnwood, Washington
1991-09-20: Southland Mall, Hayward, California
1991-09-27: Vallco Fashion Park, Cupertino, California
1991-10-11: Plaza at W. Covina, W. Covina, California
1991-10-18: Lakewood Center Mall, Lakewood, California
1991-10-25: Fallbrook Mall, West Hills, California
1991-11-01: Del Amo Fashion Center, Torrence, California
Despite its name, Sega did not tour the world with this concept, or indeed even leave the shores of the US.