RUMOR: Talk of “Early Era Mascot” in ASR Transformed at NZ Expo

By
Tristan Oliver
– October 22, 2012
The Smoking Gun for Segata Sanshiro? Early Saturday, we received a tip from one of our readers, Tenko, who talked about his experience with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed at...

The Smoking Gun for Segata Sanshiro?

Early Saturday, we received a tip from one of our readers, Tenko, who talked about his experience with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed at New Zealand’s Armageddon Expo.  What’s newsworthy about the experience, however, has little to do with his time playing the demo.

We’ll let Tenko explain, in his words, what happened after he was done his hands-on.  We’ve emboldened the important bit:

While chatting to the Sega rep (who took a shine to my Sonic 2 promotional jacket haha) he explained when the game was out, how many tracks etc, advertising the Wreck-it-Ralph crossover at the same time. I mentioned how I was disappointed that Vyse wasn’t in the demo at Armageddon and I loved how the Dreamcast Era characters weren’t being forgotten.

He then piped up and said no definitely not, a flying level build he had recently seen had an early era mascot who he didn’t recognize who’s vehicle turned into a flying Sega console. Take that as you will, I didn’t press him any further as the place was packed and I had finished my turn on the demo, but walked out of the demo area wondering could that be a confirmation of Segata Sanshiro perhaps?

For those unaware, Segata Sanshiro was made famous in a series of commercials in Japan for the Sega Saturn.  One of the advertising character’s core traits was the fact he carried a giant Sega Saturn console on his back during training.  His presence in ASR Transformed has been widely requested among fans, but so far little has been concretely confirmed, other than some talk that “The biggest piece of fan service” will be in the game.

Will this be that fan service?  The circumstances of the talk certainly fit; the Armageddon Expo did take place this past weekend in New Zealand, and ASR Transformed was indeed among the titles on display.  Thing is, Segata Sanshiro was not a Dreamcast era mascot; he had been killed off in Sega’s commercial campaign at the dawn of the Dreamcast era, so some wires may have gotten crossed in that respect.

Since nothing is official, we’ve labeled this rumor, but it certainly appears fans of Segata Sanshiro can get their hopes up.  Thanks to Tenko for tipping us.  If you have news to share, be sure to share it with us.  Click Send Tips at the top of every page, or tip us on Twitter.