Sonic Mania Day: November 23, 1993 - Sonic CD, Sonic Spinball & Sonic Chaos Released On One Day!

In 1993, Sega followed up Sonic 2sDay with a triple threat, delivering THREE games on one day, November 23rd, 1993: Sonic Mania Day!! (Chapter markers and more below…)

0:00 GTV ID “… you shall be the true Maestro of Dreams”
0:07 Act 1: From Day to Day
2:07 CM 1: Sonic Mania Day (U.S., 1993)
2:24 Act 2: Sonic Boom Can Do Anything
10:03 CM 2 Sonic CD from Mega CD (Japan, 1993)
10:35 Act 3: It’s Sonic, It’s Pinball…
15:09 CM 3: Sonic Spinball for Genesis (U.S., 1993)
15:36 Act 4: Sonic & Tails & Chaos
21:21 CM 4: Sonic Chaos for Game Gear (U.S., 1993)
21:54 Act 5: The Mania is Running Wild!!

Episode Information
GTV 157 "Sonic Mania Day" Season 8 Episode 14
Original Airdate: November 15, 2023
Produced November 6-13, 2023
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and Topaz AI. All paid for with Gainful Employment™

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Partial Transcript

At the end of 1992, Sega found itself on the winning side of its recent battles with Nintendo over control of the American video game market. The year began with Sega Genesis leading the 16-Bit wars with a 60% market share over Nintendo, the former market leader.

The sea change came about from a few key decisions made under the leadership of Tom Kalinske at Sega of America. Sonic The Hedgehog was made the face of the company. His original game, designed specifically to outshine Super Mario World on the Super NES, was designed in Japan with a fair amount of American input. A broader campaign positioned Sega as the alternative for older gamers. The cool place to be, the underground, where things could get a little crazy!

Sega cut the price of the Genesis to $149 with Sonic included, forcing Nintendo to stand out as the more expensive choice, until Nintendo was forced to cut the price of the Super NES as well, losing $50 for each sale.

Sega then doubled-down in 1992 by delivering Sonic The Hedgehog 2! The game was bigger, faster, more colorful and introduced Sonic’s new sidekick, Miles Prower, AKA Tails.

To really bring things home, Sega did something unprecedented: Sonic 2 was released everywhere around the world on the same day! Sega celebrated with a huge media event! Making the day like a holiday. Sonic 2’s Day! November 24th, 1992!

Sonic 2 was the best selling game that year in many markets, with millions more Genesis and Mega Drive sets going home to happy gamers.


Going into 1993, the big headlines continued to follow the battles of Sega and Nintendo. Could Sega three-peat in ’93? Tom Kalinske, and everyone at Sega came up with a plan outdo Sonic 2’s Day, A three-pronged attack called Sonic Mania Day!!



Clips furnished by Vampire Robot, KATU-TV, MTV, RGTV, Longplay Archive. Some clips were reused from Sonic 2sDay but I think you knew that.