Have you experienced the Genesis Power Team? In case you missed it over the weekend, the awesome video above did the rounds on blogs and social media. The video features a young Tyler Esposito and his dad, doing a promotional video for the Sega Genesis to convince distant family members to upgrade from their Nintendo consoles. Tyler’s dad has since sadly passed away, and the video was uploaded as a tribute – Tyler now runs the Sega Channel YouTube account, carrying on the Sega video tradition. We caught up with Tyler to ask him a few questions about this awesome video:
How influential was your dad on your love of Sega?
Extremely. I definitely discovered video games on my own at an early age, but he was eager to fuel the passion. Oddly enough, for years he’d fallen away from the scene, but as I gained interest around the age of 3 or 4, he quickly fell in love with gaming again. My Dad had a background in independent film-making. He produced a number of short films in the 80′s. It was that love of cinema and storytelling that had him swooning for video games. Early SEGA games like Altered Beast and Golden Axe featured characters and fantasy worlds stripped right out of his favorite movies (e.g. Jason and The Argonauts, Conan The Barbarian).
What’s your earliest memory of playing videogames?
Driving the Ecto-1 Ghostbusters car in the Master System version of Ghostbusters. I was 3 years old and it was really the only part of the game I could get through! My Dad used to tell the story of the first video game I ever played. It was the arcade version of Space Harrier. He’d taken me to the movies to see “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”. I was only 2 years old, but showed interest in the movie theater’s Arcade. He let me stand on a chair and control the game. I started YOUNG!
What’s your favourite Genesis game and why?
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master. That game is just the complete package. Highly immersive. Beautiful graphics and art design. Great challenge. I love the combat and visual tone of the game. It’s ninja combat mixed with sci-fi elements! That’s so perfect. It was a groundbreaking game at the time and I feel like it’s aged quite well.
Why do you love Sega so much?
To this day, I find myself returning to the classic Sega games more often than Nintendo, Atari, or the others. I think it’s a combination of their signature style and appeal. Sega just had a voice, you know? They had that edginess to them. They were such innovators! I always felt like they were the company responsible for propelling the industry forward. At the time, the Sega CD was just mind-blowing technologically. The Sega Channel cable subscription service in 1994 was YEARS ahead of it’s time. Of course the Dreamcast was the first console to bring gaming online. When Sega was a major player, you could just count on them to bring something new to the table. Something fun. And really, I have so much nostalgia for Sega. My Dad and I shared so many memories and moments sitting in front of a Sega console. Those are some of my most cherished memories of him. That pure innocence and excitement. I’ll never forget it.