Article 26—Sonic The Hedgehog 3 world
premiere (1994)
Sega’s Sonic
the Hedgehog 3 made its public debut
in the small town of Punxsutawney,
Pennsylvania, of all places. The
self-described “weather capital of the world” hosts
an annual ceremony where hundreds gather to see if legendary
groundhog prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil will see his own
shadow, which is said to predict a delay in the onset of spring
weather. But on February 2, 1994, Phil saw an even bigger
shadow: that of the Sonic balloon from Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade. Sega completely
invaded Punxsutawney that day, affixing a Sonic 3 button to
every lapel and giving the locals a taste of its latest Genesis
cartridge on demo kiosks installed at Punxsutawney Junior High.
This video is a VHS rip of the Sonic 3 satellite feed
provided by Sega’s PR firm at the game’s launch. It
includes interviews with Punxsutawney residents and the
tuxedo-clad “inner circle” of luminaries who care
for Phil and preside over the event each year. It also shows
some behind-the scenes footage of the Sega event staff
unrolling and inflating the Sonic balloon. Watch for a brief
shot of the huge “instruction manual” sign
explaining the
order in which the balloon’s
compartments were to be inflated; it's fascinating. (Apparently, some sections contained
helium, others contained air and some had a precise mixture of
the two.)
The Sonic balloon seen here made its first
appearance in the 1993 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,
where it had a disastrous showing. Strong winds blew it into a
light pole, which punctured the canvas. This caused Sonic to
deflate and collapse to the ground, where he broke the shoulder
of an off-duty policeman! Still, Sonic’s appearance made
him the first-ever video-game character balloon to appear in
Macy’s parade. And he was obviously repaired in time
for his big day in Punxsutawney (where the
wind wasn’t much calmer, as this footage indicates).
The video also includes an original Sonic 3 TV commercial
with a Punxsutawney theme, some game footage and interviews
with two industry insiders. One was a buyer for the Wherehouse
retail chain, the other was the senior editor of VideoGames magazine.
Yep...that’s me, yammering about Sonic 3 in full 1990s SoCal
Game Magazine Editor regalia: V-neck VideoGames sweater,
popped collar and metal mullet. (Hey, it was my
first time on TV; cut me some slack!)
