Remember Segata Sanshiro on the Sega Saturn’s 22nd anniversary

The Saturn did not succeed in United States because we did not have a frightening martial artist stalking us and demanding that we play Sega’s 32-bit console like in Japan. At least, that’s my working theory.

Everyone remembers that console companies like Nintendo and Sega had mascot characters, but companies often had human (albeit fictional) mascots as well. You might remember Sony’s PlayStation executive Kevin Butler, but Sega’s Saturn spokesperson Segata Sanshiro predated Butler by several years. In Japan, actor Hiroshi Fujioka portrayed Sanshiro as an intense, Chuck Norris-like Judo master whose sole mission on Earth was to get you to play Sega Saturn. And he was awesome and worth remembering today, which is the 22nd anniversary of the Saturn’s release in the United States.