Happy Birthday, Sonic the Hedgehog? - Sonic Retro
sonicretro.org
During the holiday season of 1991, the Sega Genesis was already two years old. Jumpstarting the 16-bit era, its sales still paled in comparison to the Nintendo Entertainment System, and with the Super Nintendo finally coming out in the United States, it might have been a safe bet to think Nintendo would continue its dominance in the market. But SEGA had an ace up their sleeve, something that could directly compete with Super Mario World – Sonic the Hedgehog. Suddenly, that safe bet was called into question. Come January ‘92, SEGA had done the impossible – market share in the U.S. for the home console market was split down the middle, with SEGA just ever so slightly having the edge. Aggressive marketing, mall tours, a character design that instantly encapsulated everything that was hip and cool in the new decade. There was no doubt “Sonic Mania” was just beginning. It’s easy to look back and go “of course Sonic would succeed.” But what was it like to have lived in that moment? Not even as a kid who got a Genesis for Christmas, but as someone who picked up Sonic the moment it came out? Imagine being one of the […]

The short version: while Sonic 1’s official release date was June 23rd, 1991, several Usenet posts around that time make it clear stores in various parts of the US were stocking it up to two weeks beforehand. (There’s also some discussion of pre-release coverage of the game, if you’re curious.)

It’s an interesting look at an era of gaming where synchronized, nationwide release dates in America weren’t really a thing. (As the article notes, it took quite a bit of planning to get the sequel out on “Sonic 2-sday” across the country, and even then didn’t immediately become the standard.)